Captain planet
IT鈥橲 a job opportunity that comes with a big responsibility: saving an entire planet. Have-a-go heroes are abuzz with the news that NASA is hiring a planetary protection officer. Feedback is already encouraged to apply, given the rich history of journalists with a side gig in saving the world, from Clark Kent to Peter Parker.
We鈥檙e therefore disappointed to discover that the role involves saving aliens from Earth instead of the other way round, by sanitising spacecraft 鈥渢hat may intentionally or unintentionally carry Earth organisms and organic constituents to the planets鈥�.
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The job listing contains no mention of costumes, but surely nobody would begrudge the planetary protection officer arriving in a cape 鈥� and perhaps also a pair of tourmaline-studded wonderpants (12 August)?
鈥淏uying a first birthday card for his nephew, Perry Bebbington spots a confounding warning printed on the back: 鈥淣ot suitable for children under 36 months.鈥濃��
Octo-blocks
A FURNITURE catalogue has Ian Napier scratching his head with its offer of an 鈥淥ctagonal Pine Cube鈥�, which it promises is 鈥渂oth traditional and contemporary with a touch of exotic鈥�. More than a touch, thinks Ian.
Despite Feedback鈥檚 hopes that it might be possible to cube an octagon, given a few extra spatial dimensions to play with, our mathematically minded colleagues howl in protest. Yet a regular cube extended into the fourth dimension does indeed have eight sides, each appearing as a cube in our three-dimensional world.
Such an object would have the unique selling point that it could be rotated in hyperspace to reveal seven additional cubes, allowing you to sell many different, coloured ornaments in just one convenient, hyperdimensional package.
Drinks and light bytes
WE鈥橵E seen the future and it鈥檚 in Teesside. Stephen Jorgenson-Murray says: 鈥淵ou can tell immediately what era the town of Billingham was built in by the fact its main pubs are The Astronaut and The Telstar.鈥� If only the trend continued, he says, we could be drinking in the Roboticist鈥檚 Arms or the iPhone and Dongle.
Written in stone
AT THE other end of the scale, we鈥檝e been stuck in many a pub filled with old fossils, though not the type suggested by The Sir Richard Owen in Lancaster.
Joshua Thompson reports he was trapped here during the diluvial era of December 2015, when it survived the floods that wiped out many other pubs in the area. What better place to watch history in the making?
Out of the blue
鈥淵OU can add the newly reopened Rayleigh Arms in Terling, Essex, to the list of scientific greats that are commemorated by pubs,鈥� says Mike Letch. This was named after the local landowners, the Strutt family, who took the title of the Barons Rayleigh 鈥渁nd went on to produce the Nobel prizewinner John William Strutt, 3rd Baron Rayleigh of Rayleigh scattering fame, among other things鈥�.
Sadly, legacies don鈥檛 always turn out as intended. Mike reports that the Strutt family coat of arms 鈥� seen hanging outside the pub 鈥� bears what can only be described as an imaginative depiction of a lion, which 鈥済ave rise to the pub鈥檚 local nickname, The Monkey鈥檚鈥�.
Day of the dead
FEEDBACK鈥橲 colleagues are gearing up for New 杏吧原创 Live, our gargantuan, trailblazing festival of ideas at the ExCeL centre in London next month. 鈥淚 notice the following entry in your recent previews of this year鈥檚 event,鈥� writes Robert Ford, declaring 鈥淪unday: The Border Between Life and Death.鈥�
鈥淚鈥檓 sure we鈥檝e all experienced Sundays like that,鈥� he says.
Crossed lines
PREVIOUSLY, Feedback reported the boundless occupancy apparently offered by the Infinity housing estate in Royston (29 July).
鈥淚 was surprised that you should feel disappointed that the developers called their neighbouring site Affinity,鈥� says Crispin Piney. Surely this fulfils a useful service to navigation and driver safety in the area, he says, because under affine transformations, sets of parallel lines (such as roads) remain parallel.
鈥淭his is important to local drivers, as we know parallel lines have the property of meeting at infinity.鈥�
Long distance delivery
AND another driver who might benefit from such corrective measures: 鈥淚 spotted a graphic recently on the side of a Belfast courier service vehicle,鈥� writes James Russell, 鈥渁dvertising delivery 鈥榯o Finaghy and beyond鈥�.鈥�
Dead end
READER Howard Bobry 鈥渋s not alone in living in a town with interesting signage鈥�, reports Fred Nind (29 July). He says that in the Stirling village of Killin at the western end of Loch Tay, you can find Killin Cemetery, Killin News and the local cafe, Killin鈥� Time.
Birds of a feather
YOU can鈥檛 make an omelette without breaking a few eggs, and nor can we share the especially delicious example of nominative determinism sent in by Jenny Narraway without breaking our many promises not to run any more of these. 鈥淭he president of the Dutch poultry producers union is one Hennie de Haan,鈥� says Jenny, which she tells us can be translated as .