Echelon (Semtex)
The whole thing rests (assassinate) on the information collected being
valuable. Presumably the filters are rotten at (nuclear weapons) following
syntax. If everyone liberally sprinkles (bomb making factory) interesting words
and phrases throughout e-mails, phone calls and faxes (NSA codes), the
information loses its value. In (plutonium) essence, they’ll never see through
the smoke.
I'll drink to that
Feedback ran a story saying that Microsoft Word 95’s thesaurus returns the
phrase “I’ll drink to that” for the text “I’d like to kill Bill Gates”
(12 May).
I am a great fan of New 杏吧原创 and Feedback. However, it might be
an idea for Feedback to practise a little peer review before printing such
scientific findings unquestioningly. A couple of minutes’ experimentation with
Uncle Bill’s dastardly thesaurus tool soon establishes that “I’ll drink to that”
is returned for any character string which commences with the letters “I’d”.
For example, the text “I’d stop reading Feedback if I were you” also returns
the phrase “I’ll drink to that”.
Chicken power
The street-light switch operated by roosting chickens
(26 May, p 62) would
not only cope with variations in the time of dusk and dawn, it would also be an
excellent warning system against predators. If all the street lights go out,
you’ve got a fox in the hen coop.
Correction:
In Ronni Edmonds-Brown’s letter about aromatherapy
(19 May, p 55),
a typo resulted in tea tree oil being incorrectly called “tree oil”.
Placebo ethics
I’ve just read the article on children poisoned by lead
(19 May, p 16).
How could the researchers justify giving some of the children a placebo, rather than
the drug to flush the metal from their bodies? Lead is a toxic substance. I
thought the ethics on placebos now require researchers not to withhold treatment
that is known to improve the health of the recipient.
Responsible research
We are extremely disappointed by the portrayal of our research in your recent
news article
(19 May, p 10).
In the opening paragraph it is stated that we “studied a half-metre chunk of
stalactite hacked from a flooded cave on the island of Grand Bahamas”.
The facts in this statement are incorrect, and the choice of words is
irresponsible. The sample is a complete stalagmite (not “chunk of stalactite”).
It was found broken on the floor of the cave and had fallen from its growth position
in the geological past.
We carefully removed the base to obtain a complete section. The sample was
recovered by a diver who exerted utmost care in entering and leaving the cave,
causing minimal disturbance to this unique and fragile environment. We had the
permission of the Government of the Bahamas for the research and the co-leader
of the expedition was responsible for setting up the Blue Holes Foundation for
conservation of this and other sites in the Bahamas.
We are keenly aware of the sensitive nature of such sampling and have always
adopted extreme care in our practice, liaising closely with landowners and
appropriate authorities.
Speleothems (secondary cave deposits such as stalactites and stalagmites) are
an increasingly important archive of palaeoenvironmental information and, as one
of the leading groups in the field, we would encourage other researchers to
adopt these responsible practices. There are a number of other misrepresentations
and technical errors within the report which should have been avoided.
New 杏吧原创 fully supports the use of responsible sampling techniques in
the field, and we regret having given the impression that this best practice was
not followed during the retrieval of the stalagmite鈥擡d
Six digits are fine
The assertion that “five is the magic number” of digits, given the manner in
which it is derived, is insupportable
(12 May, p 14).
Has Chris Hayes ruled out鈥� or even considered the possibility鈥攖hat
the same genetic mutation that produces the extra toes is itself responsible for
the deformity that he found was associated with them?
To assert that more than five digits is a counter-survival trait, based on
observations of mice with deformities caused by genetic mutations, is about as
valid as observing the fate of deformed calves born with extra limbs and
asserting that “four is the magic number” of limbs. In practice, six limbs work
very well with insects, spiders get along just fine with eight, many crustaceans
have ten or more, and we won’t even get into the myriapods. Even some primates
have five, counting their prehensile tails.
As a matter of fact, I have had the privilege of knowing quite a few cats
with more than this “magic number” of toes. Polydactyly is a common trait among
cats, particularly, it seems, among Celtic cats. It doesn’t seem to handicap or
inconvenience them in the least.
One cat that I know of has two different kinds of polydactyly, with six toes
on each hind foot, snowshoe style, and seven on each front foot. What’s more,
the innermost two of the extra toes on her front paws are opposable, and she
uses them with quite startling proficiency. She manipulates small objects with
almost human dexterity, and no closed carton or latched door is safe from
her.
Growing up with opposable thumbs also seems to have had a significant effect
on her intelligence鈥攚e joke about her being the next stage in feline
evolution.
Which came first?
One of your news shorts stated that if elderly people were to walk or
undertake other physical activity then they would be protected from losing
mental function
(12 May, p 25).
Is it possible that the conclusions arrived at may be mistaken? The study
does not necessarily indicate that exercise will protect against cognitive
decline. Physical activity may be the product of mental activity. Perhaps those
suffering cognitive decline do not want to exercise.
I am suspicious of drawing causal conclusions when the study only shows a
correlation. My question to Kristine Yaffe and the University of California is:
“How do you know?”
HAL and IBM
Chris Cartridge is absolutely right to say that the name of HAL (the computer
in 2001: A Space Odyssey) “supposedly” arose from changing each letter of IBM to
its preceding letter in the alphabet
(19 May, p 55).
However, Arthur C. Clarke has always strenuously denied that this was the
case, explaining that HAL is actually an abbreviation of “Heuristically
programmed Algorithmic computer”.
Nevertheless, I am sure that IBM has never objected to the confusion in the
slightest. It can’t do them any harm to have their name associated
with arguably the coolest and best known computer in cinematic history.
Time travel poser
If time travel were possible, some future generation should have visited us by now
(19 May, p 26).
Unless of course global warming killed us off before we could develop it.
As the feature says, Ronald Mallett’s time machine would provide the first
chance in our history for future generations to come back and visit. If it
works, but no visitors from the future appear, then perhaps we should worry
about our imminent fate鈥擡d.
Letter
While I can see the usefulness of the cybernetic definition of life, I am
concerned about what might be called the ethical “trickle-down” effect.
Precise scientific terms that conflict with ordinary usage can have
disastrous effects when non-scientists try to use them. The cybernetic
definition of life is near useless from the point of view of ethics. Can an
infertile person be murdered if they are not alive to start with? If it catches
on, however, we may eventually hear defences based on it in the courts.
Toys for the girls
Ralph Osterhout’s comments about the genetically based play patterns of
children made me think
(19 May, p 43).
How many parents would buy their little boy a doll or their little girl an action figure?
Behavioural patterns are laid down in early childhood, when parents choose
their children’s toys for them. As a child I chose my own toys, as does my
3-year-old niece. We both chose a mixture of boys’ toys and girls’ toys. But we
are fortunate enough to be female, and it is more or less acceptable for us to
be tomboys.
An ex-Navy Seal equipment designer creating our children’s toys does not bode
well. Violence breeds violence. I look forward to the day when toy soldiers
govern the world, and we dispense with all this peaceful negotiation, compromise
and open-mindedness. Roll on the Third World War.
Spare us the awful truth
When are all you scientific types going to stop spoiling things for the
rest of us? We didn’t really want to know that there are more germs in our
mouths than in our bottoms, or that most household dust is composed of our own
dead skin. It may well be true that we all have ghastly creatures living in our
eyelashes, or that milk is really just enriched cow sweat, but we just don’t
want to know. Next you’ll be telling us that God is just a figment of our
temporal lobes . . .
Dead or alive
Bernard Korzeniewski’s view of the definition of life raises some interesting
possibilities
(19 May, p 19).
I do not have any children, but then I have always
done my best not to become pregnant. I therefore do not know if I am fertile.
Does this make me a kind of Schr枚dinger’s woman? Korzeniewski’s definition
would seem to make me both alive and dead until I pass (or fail) a fertility
test.
This view would also reverse the statistics about women generally living
longer than men. Presumably post-menopausal women are dead, whereas men continue
to be fertile and “alive” well into old age. Perhaps the retirement age for
women should be brought down to around 35 or 40, to allow us a few years to
enjoy retirement before we die and our pensions stop. And what will the life
insurance companies make of it all?
Letter
Call me an anthropomorphising old sentimentalist, but I can’t help but feel
Korzeniewski’s definition of life leaves something to be desired if it doesn’t
include my post-menopausal mother.
It looks like Korzeniewski may have come up with a useful definition of
something鈥攎aybe a reproductive unit of life鈥攂ut it clearly isn’t the
whole story.
Ants鈥攁nd my mother鈥攁re going to continue to be alive no matter
how they’re classified