Wet stones
With an unquenchable thirst for exposing fruitloopery, Kathleen James brings our attention to , a company selling water bottles decorated with semi-precious gemstone inserts. 鈥淲e want you to choose to belove, bepowerful, bejoyful and bemagical,鈥� someone has written using a keyboard with a sticky space bar. 鈥淓ach of our four ranges has been designed using gemstones inspired by these qualities.鈥�
Consider us bemused. The company is keen to note that the gemstones don鈥檛 actually come into contact with the drinking water . Instead the (certifiably non-toxic) vibrational energy of the stone transmits itself to the water.
This brings a list of health benefits as long as your credit card receipt. The fluorite in bewater鈥檚 拢19.95 鈥減ositive insert鈥� for a bottle, for example, 鈥渃leanses and stabilises the aura鈥�, as well as apparently doing a shedload of good for, variously, self-confidence, the immune system, the healing of ulcers, balance (mental and physical), shingles and the 鈥渞estructuring of cells and DNA鈥�.
Advertisement
Great stuff, although Feedback can鈥檛 help thinking that the mineral sodalite鈥檚 reported quality of makes it a puzzling choice for use in a water bottle. Help might be at hand, however. Bewater鈥檚 FAQ notes that the company can鈥檛 vouch for any of these bemagical powers, only that they were discovered in 鈥渂ooks and articles that inspire us鈥�, and 鈥渨e never present them as medical advice鈥�. Wise.
It鈥檚 grim up Siberia
Also enjoying mineral-infused waters are visitors to a lagoon on the outskirts of Novosibirsk, Russia. The intense turquoise water of the 鈥淪iberian Maldives鈥� is proving a magnet for bikini-clad Instagrammers hunting the perfect holiday or wedding snaps.
However, authorities have warned that the pond鈥檚 unusual hue is down to the fact it is a dumping ground for ash from a nearby power plant, and contains high levels of heavy metals and other toxins. Skin contact with the water is not advised, nor is paddling across it on unicorn-shaped inflatables.
The Siberian Generating Company issued a statement saying 鈥渨alking along the ash dump is like walking on a military firing range: dangerous and undesirable鈥�. But then again, if anyone can thrive in a pool of toxic waste, it is Instagram users.
A matter of degree
Many parts of the world have been experiencing record temperatures recently, but if a special report on climate change from Sky News in the UK is anything to go by, things are about to get far worse than anyone thought.
Reader Tony Budd is informed that scientists have warned 鈥渢he impacts of climate change would become rapidly more severe once the average global temperature rose more than 1.5掳C (34.7掳F). And the threshold could be reached within a generation.鈥�
Feedback recalls the tirade against the metric system on Fox News we mentioned last month (22 June), and wonders whether this excessive warming in Fahrenheit might be the impetus the US needs to embrace more sensible measurement units. At least for those not embracing the view that climate change is all a Chinese conspiracy.
Worm charming
Sweating in the present heat, Feedback welcomes Russia鈥檚 move to ratify the Paris Agreement, which aims to limit global warming to significantly less than 34.7 degrees above pre-industrial levels. However, Climate Home News with plans to expand wind power capacity: Vladimir Putin is worried about the worms.
Besides expressing well-worn concerns about the number of birds sliced and diced by wind turbines, the Russian president told a conference in Yekaterinburg, 鈥渢hey shake so much that worms come out of the ground鈥�, adding, lest we think otherwise, 鈥淩eally, it鈥檚 not a joke鈥�.
Perhaps, in a decarbonised economy, redundant coal miners might find employment gently pushing agitated annelids back into the earth, Feedback speculates. But leafing through our back copies, the only reference we can find to the worm-turning phenomenon comes in an article from now-emeritus professor of public health Simon Chapman of the University of Sydney (6 October 2012, page 26). There, he lists it as one of the many phantasmal symptoms of 鈥渨ind farm syndrome鈥�, a frightening and highly variable pathology chiefly affecting anti-turbine activists, fossil fuel interests and nimbyish landowners. Fancy that!
Happy accidents
To err is human, to forgive divine. But a well-placed excuse can bridge the gap between the two by alleviating blame, replacing judgement with compassion and granting you an extra day to deliver your copy (here鈥檚 hoping).
, Paulina Sliwa at the University of Cambridge posits a . The key to getting away with transgressions, she says, is to show that your underlying moral intentions were good 鈥� it is just that something went wrong putting them into practice.
Feedback is taking this advice to heart. If you are looking at a blank page, we promise we did write our column, but a dog ate it. An exploding dog.
Got a story for Feedback?
Send it to New 杏吧原创, 25 Bedford Street, London WC2E 9ES or you can email us at feedback@newscientist.com
You can send stories to Feedback by email at feedback@newscientist.com. Please include your home address. This week鈥檚 and past Feedbacks can be seen on our website.