杏吧原创

The effontery

. With so much uncertainty about the coming months, it is little wonder that many organisations are diversifying, branching out and adding strings to bows that were previously left unstrung. Which is why we applaud investment bank Goldman Sachs for thinking about the long-term stability of its organisation and launching its own font.

That鈥檚 according to The Verge, at least, which recently reported on the bank鈥檚 surprising pivot to digital calligraphy. Dubbed Goldman Sans, French for Goldman without, the name has a certain succinct oxymoronicity that we at Feedback find refreshing.

But the news doesn鈥檛 end there. The font, which resembles a sort of socially distanced Calibri with oddly flaccid lower-case 鈥榣鈥檚, is free for all to employ, provided it isn鈥檛 used to disparage Goldman Sachs. Forgive us while we make a quick call to our art editor to double-check what font New 杏吧原创 uses these days鈥�

Pi-eyed

Our thanks to Perry Bebbington for picking up the gauntlet Feedback threw down some weeks ago, when reporting on a highly inefficient way of calculating the value of pi. We challenged readers to do the opposite: namely, to come up with a way of defining pi to more digits than are required in the definition itself (for instance, 22/7 gets you pi to three figures so doesn鈥檛 quite do the job).

鈥淵ou can represent pi precisely using only 2 digits,鈥� writes Perry. 鈥淎ll you have to do is set your number base to pi then pi itself becomes 10.鈥� That wins 12 points from us, Perry 鈥� sadly, we can鈥檛 remember which number base that is supposed to be in.

Botchicelli

! The restoration of religious iconography doesn鈥檛 ordinarily fall within Feedback鈥檚 purview, but forget about that for a moment 鈥� it happened again! Eight years after a Spanish fresco of Jesus was restored by what we will politely call an enthusiastic amateur, a 17th-century painting of the Immaculate Conception has received the same treatment.

The saintly face of the Virgin Mary has been given an uncanny, emojified flatness, with her eyes 鈥� instead of looking upwards at her creator 鈥� pleading with the viewer to be rescued. The Times quoted a Spanish restoration specialist as saying that terrible restorations were 鈥渇ar more common than you might think鈥�. Oh goody 鈥� bring on the next one!

Back in time delivery

It has been a good long while since Feedback鈥檚 attention was last directed towards absurdities generated by well-meaning algorithms in the retail industry, a drought we are now delighted has come to an end. A reader has contacted Feedback to let us know of the difficulties they encountered trying to order a canoe from Amazon. 鈥淭he item is only in stock on the 4th July,鈥� writes the reader, 鈥渂ut if you choose Premium Delivery, they will start up the Time Machine and get it to you on the 1st of July!!鈥� The cherry on the cake? The reader鈥檚 name: Duncan Purchase.

Possibly improbable

Two weeks ago, to our lasting shame and chagrin, we used the nonsense phrase 鈥渕ore than probable鈥� in describing a hypothetical event. Feedback correspondent Bob Mays is gentle but firm in his written reprimand.

鈥淲hat numerical probability should I understand by that? How does it compare to my favourite 鈥榪uite possible鈥�?鈥� he asks. 鈥淒o we need a lookup table for all the words and phrases that describe a level of probability?鈥�

That might be helpful, Bob, although it is less than certain (but quite possibly more than unlikely) that we might nonetheless reoffend.

Jargon busters

On the subject of verbal abuse, our metaphorical mailbags are idiomatically heaving with examples of words and phrases whose habitual misuse grates upon your ears. The epicentre of everyone鈥檚 frustration appears to be the word epicentre, which appeared in practically every email we received.

This unanimity of annoyance reminds Feedback of how everybody in the world claims their least favourite word is moist, a statistically improbable result that makes us want to have a word with whoever is programming reality. But back to epicentre. As Larry Stoter rightly points out, the epicentre of an earthquake isn鈥檛 the point at which it begins, but the spot on the planet鈥檚 surface directly above it.

Valerie Stevens suggests that 鈥渏ournalists seem to think that an epicentre is a centre somehow more extreme and that this is a way of emphasising the concept of 鈥榗entral鈥�. 鈥� I think you may have put your finger on the epinub of the problem here, Valerie 鈥� we will be having a word with the rest of the editorial staff as soon as possible.

Real GOATs

Thank you also to the many, many members of the nominative determinism brigade (we should print T-shirts) who wrote in to say that a 20 June article on how 鈥淕oat milk could make cheaper cancer drugs鈥� featured lead researcher Goetz Laible.

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.

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