Pride and prediction
AS ISAAC NEWTON famously wrote, “if I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.” But what about those who managed to see very far indeed, without such an enviable vantage point?
That is the question Mike Whittaker is left pondering after he read George Eliot’s novel The Mill on the Floss, which contains the passage: “does not science tell us that its highest striving is after the ascertainment of a unity which shall bind the smallest things with the greatest?”
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“It would seem that a unification of quantum mechanics and gravity has long been a goal of science, even back in the mid-1800s,” says Mike. “Do we know of any other examples of literary foreshadowing of later issues?” Examples of pre-science prescience to the usual address, please.
In self-denial
WHAT’S in a name? A lot of unnecessary legal baggage, according to an organisation that encourages people to abdicate their own name to free themselves from any contracts they have entered into.
, Swansea and elsewhere, directing residents to (a website Feedback can’t help but point out was registered by someone who kept theirs – in this case, Brand Newman).
The reader formerly known as Naomi Rippengale reports, “I am delighted to hear that I can give up my name and live in my house without paying the mortgage.”
Our legal colleagues tell us this is “freeman-on-the-land nonsense”, a legal fantasy previously invoked by Harley Street herbalist Errol Denton in his trial under the Cancer Act. Initially, he refused to confirm his name, insisting to the judge that “Mr” Errol Denton was a corporate fiction that bore no relation to the man in the dock.
“Lens maker Irix offers “special neutrino coatings” on their latest model. Guy Fraser wonders how on Earth Irix gets them to stick.“
Piping hot
MacBrayne ferry to the Scottish island of Mull, Tony Cuthbert was warned by a sign in the bathroom that read “CAUTION HOT WATER – TEST HOT WATER PRIOR TO USE”. But what should he test it with? Does MacBrayne assume that passengers will be carrying thermometers at all times? “In the end, I braved it with a finger,” says Tony. “After all, I have plenty spare if I lose one.”
Green grocer
WHEN it comes to restoring the reputation of a greenhouse gas, every little helps. A sandwich board at Johnnie Walker’s local supermarket offers the proud news that “We have taken the opportunity to upgrade our refrigeration plant”, informing him that the new model incorporates “environmentally friendly carbon dioxide, a natural gas refrigerant.”
Lost in translation
FEEDBACK previously puzzled over a clipping from Lanzarote that touted the impressive book-carrying capacity of the island’s camels (19 March). “This may be a case of mistranslation,” writes Noel Cramer, “as the Spanish for book is libro, whereas the similar word libra means pound.”
Noel is consequently reminded of a German-speaking friend living in France, who once asked him whether he wore “small moons”. Noel says “it took me some time to realise that he was speaking of glasses – the French word being lunettes“.
Hop, skip, dump
THE financial sector is filled with animals: bulls, bears, cash cows and so on. So our surprise is tempered when we hear from Doug Nichols that the latest edition of Good Money, produced by fund manager Australian Ethical, creatively describes the nation’s food waste as “the equivalent weight of 500 million adult red kangaroos every year”.
As Doug points out, this seems an impractical sort of unit, given that nobody would ever throw away a whole kangaroo of food in one go (let alone a million).
Staring at his fridge, Doug wonders “how would I measure the waste quantity of a mouldy bit of cheese, or the old floppy carrot that gets thrown away? Are hey micro-kangaroos, or maybe joeys?”
Digital dodge
EASTER Monday is a national holiday in Sweden, during which no newspapers are printed. David Taub ventured online to catch up with the day’s events, where a banner at Svenska Dagbladet informed him: “Here is how to read the newspaper today. There are no newspapers on Easter Monday. You can read your newspaper digitally.” A bemused David wonders “who was this information aimed at?”
Dogged DNA detectives
RESIDENTS in an east London neighbourhood have been raising a stink about deposits left behind by the area’s dog owners – or more specifically, their furry charges.
Barking and Dagenham Council has taken to collecting DNA evidence from unwanted contributions to the borough’s leafy parks.
The only problem is, connecting doo-doo to dog relies on the owner voluntarily adding their own animal to the DNA database – something they’re unlikely to do if they’re in the habit of letting their dog foul the park canines have slipped the leash of government surveillance.
