Feedback is our weekly column of bizarre stories, implausible advertising claims, confusing instructions and more
Guns for the blind
AMERICAN fondness for guns never ceases to amaze. Barry Cash alerts us to a report in USA Today at stating that blind people in the state of Iowa are being granted permits that allow them to purchase guns and carry them in public.
The report explains: “State law does not allow sheriffs to deny an Iowan the right to carry a weapon based on physical ability.”
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According to the article, officials in Iowa’s Polk County say they have already issued weapons permits “to at least three people who can’t legally drive and were unable to read the application forms or had difficulty doing so because of visual impairments”.
“No one [in Iowa] questions the legality of the permits,” USA Today says, “but some officials worry about public safety.” Indeed.
Meanwhile, officials in Deer Trail, Colorado, have received 983 applications, each with a cheque worth $25, for a licence to shoot down any government drones that fly over the town.
No such licences exist at present, but thanks to a Deer Trail citizen’s initiative, a citywide referendum on the idea is to take place on 8 October. Enthusiastic would-be drone hunters are putting in their orders early – see .
According to the Hobart Mercury, David Clark tells us, a meeting about fracking in Oatlands, Tasmania, was addressed by Monash University groundwater specialist Dr Gavin Mudd
It’s raining cement
READING in the London Daily Telegraph about recent using high-powered lasers, Neill Jones says he was struck by how scientists sometimes try experiments that are obviously doomed to fail.
Previous unsuccessful attempts include the US seeding clouds with silver iodide in the 1960s to weaken hurricanes, and the Soviet Union trying to induce rainfall around Chernobyl to prevent the spread of radioactive fallout. These, Neill thinks, are reasonable enough.
However, according to the Telegraph, “More recently, the Russian air force has also been reported to have used bags of cement to seed clouds.” Neill feels sorry for the people living underneath that experiment.
Lots of toothpaste
FEEDBACK’S eye was caught recently by a report in the that fluoride compounds exported from Germany to Syria were declared as being destined for toothpaste manufacture – not for chemical weapons, oh no. It was the amount that struck us: “more than 97 tonnes” of various fluoride compounds during 2005 and 2006.
We reached for a calculator and headed for the bathroom. Its cabinet reveals toothpastes with fluoride doses of 1450 and 1100 parts per million by weight. We don’t have a breakdown of the exact quantities of the different compounds that were shipped from Germany, but the one containing least fluoride is sodium fluoride at 45 per cent fluoride by weight – so in round numbers we can say that the compounds contained around 25 tonnes of fluoride per year (roughly half of 45 per cent of 97 tonnes). That’s enough for 25,000 tonnes of toothpaste.
The at 22.5 million and does not report toothpaste as one of the country’s major exports. So every child, woman and man in the country could be supplied with 1.1 kilograms of fluoride-containing toothpaste per year; maybe more.
Surely Germany’s reputedly meticulous bureaucrats could have spotted how unlikely these amounts were?
Truly staggering
THE that Jenny and Henry Tarbatt noticed advertised in their Expert Verdict catalogue (“always good for the odd chortle”) consists of a metal mesh that is placed under firewood to supposedly increase its burning time by 33 per cent.
“How does this amazing metal mesh work? By spreading the heat and slowing the air across the base of your fire to improve heat generation efficiency,” the advert tells us. “The science? Not quite so simple, but basically the mesh is created by fast-cooling special metal fibres at a staggering rate of 1 million degrees per second.”
“We are… staggered,” say Jenny and Henry.
MRI linked to pork pies
SCIENTIFIC paper title of the week comes to us courtesy of a colleague who assures us, “I kid you not.” He came across the paper in the journal Foods (vol 2, p 393). It is entitled: “.”
Ebay’s fractions of a penny
AUCTION site ebay now lists its fees to the nearest 0.000001 penny. Martyn Ellis sends a screenshot showing a charge of £1.878252 to include a photo of the item he’s selling.
Furry animals not so bright
FINALLY, Jeff Dickens was provoked by our proposition that a written notice apparently intended to be read by rabbits and hares – “Rabbits and Hares this gate must be kept shut” – indicates that these furry animals must be very intelligent (7 September).
Jeff responds with scorn: “These rabbits and hares can’t be that intelligent if they need signs to remind them not to leave gates open in sheep country. Tsk!”