Ain鈥檛 half hot
While slightly sweltering in a passable imitation of an English summer 鈥� missed it last year, was in the bath 鈥� on the whole, we would rather not be with Sydney Pulver in Philadelphia. He shares a screenshot of his local weather forecast declaring the temperature to be 鈥�94掳F 鈥� like 152掳鈥�.
Feedback is sure the 鈥渓ike鈥� is said with feeling, but with our purely scientific sun hat on, the nature of the equivalence is rather hard to parse.
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鈥�152鈥�, we muse further, is a number hard to translate into a liveable temperature, whatever flavour of 掳 you favour. The closest we can get is with the Delisle temperature scale. This product of the 18th century, a particularly fun time for slightly off-the-wall temperature scales, takes the boiling point of water as its zero and works downwards from there in units two-thirds the size of those in the only slightly later Celsius scale. By that reckoning, 152掳D would be about -1.3掳C, or a shade under 272 kelvin for the absolutists among us.
None of which helps, but then neither does the Fahrenheit scale generally. We are reminded of the ongoing mystery of what exactly Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit first used to define his scale. According to one well-worn story, 0掳F was as cold as Fahrenheit鈥檚 home city of Gda艅sk, Poland, got in winter, while 100掳F was variously Fahrenheit鈥檚 own temperature, that of his dog鈥檚 rectum or that of melting butter.
None of which helps either. It鈥檚 just hot, Sydney 鈥� like so hot.
Beating breast
Avoiding temperature altogether, as seems wise, can you cook a whole chicken by slapping it repeatedly? We have been trying on and off over the years 鈥� save energy bills, save the planet and all that 鈥� and failing. This is just one more factor in our continuing descent into vegetarianism.
Now YouTuber Louis Weisz has succeeded where we and many others have failed. Over the course of very many hours and 135,000 slaps, converted the requisite amount of kinetic energy to thermal energy fast enough for the chicken to retain heat and cook, but gently enough not to slap it into soup.
Big white hats off. With the wisdom of age, however, Feedback recalls that this isn鈥檛 the first such attempt to be crowned with success. As a cutting from the Journal of Irreproducible Results disgorged by our extensive piling system reveals, in 1987, researchers at the University of Southern Arizona slow-cooked a turkey by . We can only presume it took about 5 minutes to get up the stairs again each time.
Stubborn growth
As a loyal subject, Feedback breaks cover to acknowledge the readers who wrote in to note that Her Majesty the Queen was recently presented with a new strain of rose in memory of the late Duke of Edinburgh by Royal Horticultural Society president Keith Weed. Weed has already featured twice in our pages (18 January and 15 August 2020), and we can only marvel at how he keeps popping up, however hard we try to keep him out.
Then there were five
National Geographic declares, excitingly, that . Our elation is only mildly blunted by learning that we haven鈥檛 found a new one down the back of the settee, nor is the publication referring to the slightly cheaty one discovered locked up in Earth鈥檚 mantle.
No, this is the good old Antarctica-engirdling Southern Ocean. The National Geographic Society鈥檚 map policy committee has now decided, slightly later than much of the world, that its distinct circulation and other characteristics mean it merits its own moniker.
Feedback is caught between the rock of thinking there have always been seven seas and the hard place of looking at a map and seeing only one, much like there are only really three continents (and a bit, if we鈥檙e being nice to Australia).
But we admire National Geographic鈥榮 style, which is why we are now declaring, on behalf of New 杏吧原创, the discovery of a fifth fundamental force of nature.
We aren鈥檛 particularly fussed which one 鈥� regular readers will know that physicists are hardly lacking in suggestions 鈥� but on the principle that it should be slightly underwhelming, we are plumping for a Higgs force. The means by which all fundamental particles acquire mass has been for years about whether it counts.
Enough. It鈥檚 a field, it鈥檚 a particle, it does stuff to stuff, and it鈥檚 pretty darned fundamental. We say so.
On the wax
鈥淣asa spacecraft captures first closeups of Jupiter鈥檚 largest moon in decades,鈥� Sam Howison is startled to The Guardian, wondering how regularly it spawns new ones, or indeed how much they vary in size.
Questions beyond our wit to answer, Sam, although on the first one we have reason to believe that the moon in question, Ganymede, has been hanging around since at least 1610. For those who like their moons variable in size, we can only recommend a trick for next time Earth has a 鈥渟upermoon鈥� visible near the horizon: bend over forwards and view it upside-down through your legs. .
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