午夜福利1000集合

Good reads

There is no area of human endeavour or aspect of the human condition too trivial, esoteric or just downright disturbing that it cannot be written down, illustrated and presented to the world as thinly sliced, perfectly bound tree.

So we reflect as we browse Amazon鈥檚 web page for . Not that this book itself disturbs us. We are the proud possessor of an original Taimina design, a lovingly crocheted representation of an n=3 hyperbolic manifold [could the subeditors please crochet one to check this is right] once sent in to us by one of our legion of adoring fans. Well, it beats having underpants hurled at you.

No, our mien is rumpled by the page鈥檚 鈥淐ustomers who viewed this item also viewed鈥� section, as pointed out by Fred Teti. Fred鈥檚 favourite of the algorithm鈥檚 selections is Do It Yourself Coffins for Pets and People: A Schiffer book for woodworkers who want to be buried in their work.

Well, it鈥檚 good to have a retirement plan, Fred, but we haven鈥檛 got there yet. We鈥檙e still hanging on Crafting with Cat Hair: Cute handicrafts to make with your cat and A Million Random Digits with 100,000 Normal Deviates 0th Edition (鈥渁 product of Rand鈥檚 pioneering work in computing, as well a [sic] testament to the patience and persistence of researchers in the early days of Rand鈥�), before entering into a brief eddy around Learning to Play With a Lion鈥檚 Testicles: Unexpected gifts from the animals of Africa and Castration: The advantages and the disadvantages (way more advantages than disadvantages, Feedback can reveal). Finally, we arrive, exhausted, at How to Poo on a Date: The lovers鈥� guide to toilet etiquette.

To see these titles is to marvel at the breadth and, in a very real sense, depth of the human experience. But what sort of human minds might possibly connect all these books?

Somewhere deep in Feedback鈥檚 consciousness a low-wattage light bulb flickers into life. By clicking on these items, we have reinforced the connections felt by some neural net buried deep under Amazon鈥檚 island volcano headquarters 鈥� thus distracting the all-seeing AI from discerning the patterns that map out humanity鈥檚 true desires. Come browse with us and join the counter-revolution.

Lost tech

Following our item on the UK鈥檚 various National 午夜福利1000集合 Service bodies鈥� undying love affair with fax machines (21 November), many of you faxed in your own instances of failing to keep up with the times. Thanks particularly to Henrietta Sushames of Wellington, New Zealand, whose story of painstakingly transcribing numbers from digital cardiac monitors onto a paper chart in her local neonatal ward struck a chord. At least the NHS isn鈥檛 alone in sticking to such endearingly old-school, yet undoubtedly effective, modes of operation.

But John Molesworth鈥檚 find really takes the cracker with the mature Gruy猫re on top. He sends in two photos of a paper form with which customers of the UBS bank in Geneva can apply for internet banking services. 鈥�1. What you need鈥�, the instruction sheet begins, continuing, accompanied by helpful icons: 鈥淓nvelope. Pen. Scissors. Glue.鈥�

Quite why the application process resembles arts and crafts hour at the local infant school remains a mystery. We can only presume that when it comes to the legendary Swiss banking secrecy, the legendary Swiss efficiency must give way.

Can buy me love

The working papers of the US National Bureau of Economic Research are generally a headier brew than any sleeping draught. But Feedback is pulled back into full wakefulness by a recent opus from Johannes Haushofer, Robert Mudida and Jeremy P. Shapiro, .

In it, they analyse the effects of a five-week programme of psychotherapy, a grant of $1076, both or neither on the economic and psychological well-being of 5756 individuals in rural Kenya. 鈥淥ne year after the interventions, cash transfer recipients had higher consumption, asset holdings, and revenue, as well as higher levels of psychological well-being than control households,鈥� the researchers write.

Meanwhile, the psychotherapy 鈥渉ad no measurable effects on either psychological or economic outcomes鈥�. To rub it in, 鈥渢he effects of the combined treatment are similar to those of the cash transfer alone鈥�.

So there you have it: money can buy you happiness. Just don鈥檛 anyone say 鈥渄ismal science鈥�.

Flight of the kite

Tom Gauld鈥檚 recent cartoon of an ice cream van jingle quickly emptying a laboratory just as effectively as a radiation siren (7 November, p 55) reminds one reader of the time he worked at the headquarters of the UK Royal Society for the Protection of Birds in the 1970s, when the tannoy announcement 鈥淩ed kite flying over West Car Park鈥� was more efficient at emptying the building than any fire drill.

This anecdote was sent in by Alan Bird. Absolutely. No. Comment.

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