Initial response
I was amused to read about the effects of your initials on your life span
(Feedback, 8 August).
My initials have provided much entertainment to colleagues
and friends since the BSE crisis began.
I work in the nuclear industry as a radiochemist, so the last thing I need is
something else that could potentially shorten my life span.
Long in the tooth
“We’re not sure when it will be on the market,” says Tetsuo Kakuno of the
“electronic wiggler” that will detect loose teeth
(This Week, 8 August, p 16).
For 15 years, it has been possible to purchase an instrument which “reveals
how well the tooth (or the implant) is anchored in the jaw”. It is called the
Periotest. At http://www.unituebingen.de/periotest/ there is a list of
literature about the Periotest, including a description of the instrument.
Banking on children
The correlation Ivan Dixon found between fertility ratio and life expectancy at birth
(Letters, 15 August, p 51)
may be skewed by a factor raised in the Last Word
(15 February 1997, p 89).
It was pointed out that the average life expectancy in “primitive societies”
was lowered by the high infant mortality rates, and that if an individual
survived into adulthood, they would live much longer than the life expectancy
implied. So the low average life expectancy did not imply that adults generally
died younger than today.
Similarly, it is possible that the life expectancy figures from the World
Bank that he used do not allow for this factor. In that case, the higher
fertility rates in populations with lower life expectancies is nothing to do
with a conscious decision to have children earlier than those with potentially
longer lives. Instead, it shows the necessity to have more children as fewer of
them will live to child-bearing age.
If the figures are available, he should try to re-plot the graphs with infant
mortality rates and see if this is the real correlating factor.
Letter
I write to support Oliver’s letter. It’s time we accepted that people will
have the cars they want.
In 1960, for instance, 65 per cent of trips in German cities were by public
transport, yet despite massive subsidies and punitive taxes on motoring, this
fell to 15 per cent by 1995.
Promoting public transport will have a negligible environmental effect. In my
part of the world, for example, the plan is to double its use by 2020. This
won’t happen, but even if it did, fuel consumption and emissions would be
reduced by no more than 5 per cent.
It is better to make cars cleaner. The hybrids now on the market use half as
much fuel as conventional cars, and with hyperlight, fuel-cell, hydrogen and
solar technologies all progressing, it’s likely cars will be almost totally
clean by 2020.
“But the congestion will be intolerable,” say the anti-cars. This is where
the intelligence being brought to bear on motor vehicles comes in. Cars will be
safer, highway capacities increased three to four times, and congestion reduced
accordingly.
Letter
Oliver argues that everyone should have a car. The problem with this is that
a human being in a car, with its necessary surrounding space when moving,
requires far more space (and fuel) than if the same individual travels on a bus
or train. Our cities, roads and countryside simply haven’t the room.
Letter
The government wants to cut car use鈥攂ut some of its own policies
encourage it. Local services such as schools and hospitals continue to be
closed, forcing people to drive farther.
Housing estates are built without local community services and shops, so cars
must be used. Many people would rather not have the stress of driving, but
because of poor government and council planning they depend on their cars.
Letter
The gravest of the many rash assumptions by Oliver was that “people want
cars”. Which people? Most car owners I know would rather do without if it were
possible.
Private car travel alone cannot meet the needs of everyone in the country.
And even if “environmentally friendly” vehicles could be built, we would still
be left with alienated families, couch potato children and an ever-decreasing
level of physical fitness.
Freeing the towns
Ashley Oliver asserts two “unassailable facts” concerning public transport initiatives
(Letters, 8 August, p 51): they have only a local impact and they
affect far too small a percentage of the population. He is wrong on both
counts.
Proper investment in relatively clean, quiet and comfortable public transport
will free our towns and cities, and make them much more pleasant to live and
work in.
To claim that removing car traffic from town just moves the problem is
patently wrong. At worst, there is no change in out-of-town traffic, but there
is obviously a reduction in urban traffic as a consequence of more people
leaving their cars for public transport. At best, the effect gains momentum as
more fare income results in improvements in public transport, and as fewer
people use their cars because public transport provides a better service.
As for his second point, surely any improvement is better than none? We
simply do not know how many people will be affected by the recently announced
initiatives. The government must work with public transport bodies to entice
more people, especially commuters, out of their cars when journeys can be made
more quickly, cheaply and with less environmental impact by public
transport.
Seagoing sheep
So, according to Bryan Grenfell of the University of Cambridge, “sheep don’t swim”
(In Brief, 15 August, p 25). Oh yes they do.
Some years ago I filmed the flock of Ronaldsay sheep on the island of Lihou,
which lies off the coast of Guernsey. The sheep are unusual in that they graze
mainly on the kelp exposed at low water. During spring tides it is easy to cross
to the mainland via the exposed rocks and pools, which the sheep regularly did
in search of a more varied diet鈥攁nd not to the total joy of the Guernsey
market gardeners.
The turning tide often marooned the sheep. The flock gathered in a bunch on a
rock facing their home across the fast filling channel and then together dived
into the sea and set out for the island. They covered a distance of well over
100 metres and against a fast-flowing tide. They even knew how to aim upstream
so as not to be swept past Lihou by the tide race.
Letter
Some years ago, Vic Hunter, a chemist in a small town near Levin in New
Zealand, decided to get a bigger and better sign erected in front of his
shop.
He was proud of the result, which included his initials, name and occupation.
The sign read: “V D Hunter鈥擟hemist.”
A lot of people posed for photos in front of the shop. Poor old Vic thought
they liked his window display.
Letter
My tutor at sixth-form college had the initials RIP (Robert Ian Powell).
Unfortunately, every piece of work we handed in was supposed to have our name
followed by the initials of our tutor.
Gen on gene crops
The acceptance of genetically engineered crops may depend as much on
education as on further research
(Editorial, 15 August, p 3). And consumers, MPs
and researchers all need educating.
Consumers need to realise that quite ordinary crops contain nasty
toxins鈥攖he solanine alkaloids of potatoes, for example. For its part,
agribusiness would win more trust if we knew that the ecological implications
were addressed, with funds being diverted to good applied ecological studies.
Researchers should be aware of the need for such studies.
A case in point is oilseed rape, or canola in the US (Brassica napus),
in which herbicide resistance has been engineered. Here in west Wales, normal
oilseed rape has been grown for only a decade. Already, it is one of the
commonest roadside aliens and appears as a weed infestation in many newly
ploughed fields.
A close relative is charlock, or wild mustard (Sinapis arvensis),
which shares most of rape’s genetic make-up. Charlock was an extremely serious
arable weed until the advent of herbicides, and it has very long-lived seed
which persists in soil for more than a century.
If the engineered variety of oilseed rape is grown by farmers and crosses
with wild plants, a charlock or a rape variety could turn up as a
herbicide-resistant arable weed with immensely long-lived seeds
(This Week, 15 August, p 5).
The precautionary principle should apply here, as it should in the case of
crops that are given bacterial genes for antibiotic tolerance not because they
need them but as a side effect of the engineering.
I fear that media hype about food safety, and the consequent political panic,
may divert attention from more serious problems.
Feeling foxy
One day last month, around midday, a fox ambled across our garden, scratched
itself, then rolled languidly on the grass for some minutes. Then it slowly
stood up and meandered off.
The explanation for this most unfoxy behaviour became apparent when we
inspected our plastic slug traps, baited with home-brew. These are most
effective, collecting up to 30 slugs a night. This time several of them were
completely empty.
Unlimited limits
The statement issued by the makers of Monster Munch crisps, that “There is no
limit to the number of Limited Edition Bean Bears available”, is only false if
there is a finite number of editions of Bean Bears
(Feedback, 25 July).
If the number of editions is unlimited (though each edition is limited to,
say, one thousand bears), then the assertion remains true, as long as the
Monster Munch crisps folk continue to issue new editions of Bean Bears.
No flies on us
In the report on fly repellents secreted by cows
(This Week, 15 August, p 22),
entomologist Bradley Mullens of the University of California at Riverside
heralds the research as the first time that natural products have been shown to
influence fly behaviour in this way.
Not quite. This very discovery has been put to practical use for centuries.
In a recent television documentary, a visitor sitting in a room in a maharajah’s
old palace, doors and windows open, remarked on the absence of the neighbourhood
flies. A custodian explained that this was the intended result of mixing cows’
urine in the original wall plaster. Plus 莽a change…
Fishy facts
Oi! Alexander Popov was not the only swimmer since Johnny Weissmuller “to win
gold medals for the 100 metres freestyle in two consecutive Olympics”
(“Swim like a fish”, 1 August, p 36).
Dawn Fraser of Australia won gold in this event in 1956, 1960 and 1964. But
she’s female, so perhaps it doesn’t count.
The flushing files
The review of David Bellamy’s book on poo perpetrates the myth that Thomas
Crapper invented the flushing cistern
(25 July, p 60).
Crapper (1836-1910) was a Victorian plumber. His company, Thomas Crapper
& Co, did make flushing toilets and he did lodge a number of patents, but he
did not invent anything important. Flushing cisterns had been around for
hundreds of years before he set up his business in Chelsea in 1861.
Hot as Heaven
In the report on how physicists have used biblical accounts to calculate the
temperatures of Heaven and Hell
(This Week, 1 August, p 21), two values are
quoted for Heaven that seem to presuppose a balmy 27 掳C for Earth.
The good Bishop of Madrid and the physicists in Spain might enjoy such for
large parts of the year, as do we lucky inhabitants of southern California, but
it has not been the happy lot of, say, the unfortunate citizens of Britain this
summer. Using an average global temperature of 15 掳C, a temperature for
Heaven of 211 掳C may be deduced from Isaiah 30:26. Still rather
warmish.
However, Revelation 21:17 gives the thickness of the walls of New
Jerusalem, home of the chosen few, as 144 cubits (66 metres). Those who dwell in
stone castles or old farmhouses appreciate the insulating qualities of thick
walls. How much better would 66 metres be?
Combine this with shining white raiment that reflects most light, and the air
conditioning supplied by luxuriant wings, and perhaps the effective temperature
for the Heavenly Host may be brought down to tolerable levels.
Look in the book
There is a much simpler way to match phone numbers with addresses than the
convoluted route given by Mark Butler
(Letters, 1 August, p 48).
Instead of cold calling, asking for a name and postcode, and finding the
address from a postal code CD-ROM, just look in an ordinary telephone directory.
Would Butler consider this a security risk as well?
Spurning spam
A lawsuit against the WorldTouch spammer
(Feedback, 11 July, and
This Week, 8 August, p 13)
is being pursued by those who work at TidBITSonline
magazine, including Adam Engst.
In the 10 August issue of TidBITS, there was an excellent article by
Geoff Duncan on how to report spam. It can now be found in the back issues
section of their website (www.tidbits.com).
Letter
The attraction of mayflies to shiny horizontal surfaces has been known to the
motor industry for some time鈥擨 have notes going back to 1972. In the
Thames Valley, for example, new cars may be stored close to areas of water prior
to sale. In June, there is often a spate of paintwork damage caused by the
unfortunate creatures homing in on the polarised light reflections, only to fry
on the hot metal surfaces.
Their body fluids can be peculiarly corrosive and often etch right through
the paint film, leaving a recognisable imprint of the insect. I have seen images
that resemble a skilled attempt at marquetry in the paintwork of new cars. If
anyone knows the nature of the corrosive material, it would be of great interest
to those of us involved in producing temporary protective coatings.
Asphalt massacre
Your report about mayflies being deceived into laying their eggs on roads
rather than rivers
(This Week, 25 July, p 16) reminded me of a similar
observation made by Frank Sawyer, perhaps the most famous river keeper, in his
book Keeper of the Stream.
He was standing on a bridge when a swarm of flies “came sweeping to the
bridge . . . and there milled around in confusion . . . the junction of the
river and the (wet) road puzzled them . . . the procession broke up in disorder
. . . many thousands left the river and followed the course of the road . . .
ropping their egg balls and settling on the road. Soon the road for about one
hundred yards either side of the bridge was a mass of dead and dying flies.”
Sawyer’s observation refers to the “Sherry Spinner”鈥攖he female of the
blue-winged olive, Ephemerella ignita鈥攂ut he writes that he saw
the same phenomenon many times and with mayflies as well as Sherry Spinners. He
states that to his eye: “The road, with its wet, shiny black surface, looked
like a stream, for the uneven tarred surface rippled in the evening light like
water running fast over a rough river bed.”
Sawyer regretted the waste of life in such incidents and blamed them on the
lack of thought about the effect on insect behaviour of roads close to rivers.
He suggested making roads close to rivers a different colour, so the wet
surfaces do not look like the rippling shallows of a river.