Feedback is our weekly column of bizarre stories, implausible advertising claims, confusing instructions and more
Please think of the robots!
GOOGLE has obtained a for personalities in robots. , a robot ethicist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology that such patents are not good for robotics research because they may restrict innovation by other companies. Feedback鈥檚 first thought is for the welfare of the robots. We recall the sufferings of Marvin the Paranoid Android, presented as a prototype of 鈥済enuine people personality鈥� in The Hitchhiker鈥檚 Guide to the Galaxy series by Douglas Adams.
Peter Duffell sends a sign from a shop window opposite Nottingham Castle advertising a 鈥淐hristian Duplicating Service鈥�. He, too, had always wondered how the faithful reproduced鈥�
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A puzzling personhood phrase
CHECKING to see whether anyone was ahead of Google here, we found no trace of trademarks on 鈥済enuine people personality鈥�. We did, however, find that Federated Department Stores of Cincinnati, Ohio, held a from 1998 to 2000 on the slogan 鈥渂e a person, not a personality鈥�. Before the Google announcement, this slogan was puzzling 鈥� which may explain its abandonment. We would not be surprised if someone now tried to revive it.
Judicial findings of fact
TRADEMARKS are, to Feedback, a handy way to avoid the troublesome question 鈥渨hat exists?鈥� by making a legal declaration that something does. Thinking of legal definitions of truth leads us to a court case in Taunton, Somerset, UK. Michael Overd, who is in the habit of preaching in the streets of Taunton, he is 鈥渁mazed鈥� that a judge 鈥渟ees it as his role to dictate which parts of the Bible can and can鈥檛 be preached鈥�.
District Judge Shamim Ahmed Qureshi of a public-order offence for referring to the biblical proposition in Leviticus , that a man who 鈥渓ieth with鈥� another man 鈥渟hall surely be put to death鈥�. His Honour helpfully suggested instead Leviticus , which merely states 鈥渢hou shalt not鈥� do that. Somehow Feedback is less alarmed by the judiciary ruling on such matters than by legislatures that attempt, for example, to on the ratio of the diameter of a circle to its circumference鈥�
Overflowing with pi precision
THINKING of pi reminds us: how did you celebrate high-precision pi day (in US date format) on 3/14/15 9:26:54 (14 March)? Our phone alarm failed. Never mind, suggested readers from Australia and the US: why not a British celebration on 31/4/15 at 9:26:54? We won鈥檛 name either, because of their small oversight: April hath 30 days. Tony Power鈥檚 suggestion that 鈥�31 April鈥� is 1 May will, we fear, work only for coders.
The day of glory has arrived!
FRUSTRATED at missing pi day, we thought to explore the French Republican decimal calendar, and in particular year 31 of the third century of the revolution, month 4 (狈颈惫么蝉别), day 15. Each day was divided into 10 鈥渉ours鈥� and each of these into 100 鈥渕inutes鈥�, so there will be another high-precision pi moment on the Revolutionary date 31/4/1 at 5:92.
There is some dispute about how this calendar would have handled leap years, had it not been suppressed in late 1805 (or rather l鈥檃n XIV) and revived only briefly during the Paris Commune uprising of 1871 (l鈥檃n LXXIX, Flor茅al 16, to be precise). But assuming that it would have done so sensibly, and using the handy calculator at we find that pi moment will be some time after lunch on 21 December 2022 in our reactionary terms. Calculating the exact time makes our head hurt.
A persistent knee pain plan
PAIN: this reminds us that at the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia, is studying persistent knee pain, and to this end is carrying out an 鈥渋mpact study鈥�. Mike Ford suspects it will find a direct relationship between impact and pain.
What price Radian Day?
MEANWHILE, Aaron Berney proposes another date for your calendar. 鈥淲hy not ditch the numerology nonsense?鈥� he asks. He proposes celebrating the day on which Earth 鈥渉as travelled through one radian since the start of the year, and has therefore travelled approximately the distance from Earth to the sun.鈥� This falls on 28 February every year, he says, 鈥渟hortly after 3am鈥�. That coincidental date leaves us worrying, though, that 鈥渞adian day鈥� may involve some messiness with leap years.
Viking navigation imagination
FINALLY, the inventive erudition of our readers knows few bounds. Pat Lueck responds to our feature on 鈥淰iking sunstones鈥� (21 March, p 40), connecting it with research that won an Ig Nobel prize. This determined that dogs, when defecating or urinating, tend to align themselves north-south (27 September 2014).
Pat has dug out a snippet saying that according to the 鈥淪kansgaard documents鈥� discovered in 1936 in a Viking burial in England: 鈥淓ric, captain of the vessel, did he, in obeyance to the traditions of sea-faring, start on his journey to the west鈥� eying the sun as it traversed the sea鈥� but鈥� to ensure safe landings did he place a small dog in a large bowl of water thereby steering his craft on an assured path to the new lands鈥︹��
Now, if anyone can just help Pat and ourselves with the source of this wondrous quotation鈥�