EARLIER this year we reported on attempts to sell “buffered water” and “dehydrated water” to the gullible (Feedback, 10 May). Now reader Max Howland of Seacliff Park, South Australia, tells us of a booth in his local shopping mall dispensing “magnetic water”. Consisting simply of a water dispenser sitting on a large magnet, the promotion assures customers that the water promotes the healing of wounds and burns, has a therapeutic effect on digestive, nervous and urinary systems, and may be beneficial for fevers, sore throats, and menstrual and menopausal discomfort. It is also, apparently, good for kidney ailments, gout, obesity and premature ageing.
The sad thing is, some people must believe this kind of guff, otherwise the companies that spout it would rapidly go out of business.
WHILE on a recent British Airways flight, a chocoholic physicist we know was thrilled to discover an unlikely link between Albert Einstein and the Swiss chocolate bar Toblerone. According to BA’s duty-free brochure, the triangular-shaped confection follows “the same unique recipe patented in 1909 by one Alfred [sic] Einstein, then working as a patent clerk”. And rumours that Einstein approved the patent for the distinctive triangular mould abound on the internet.
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Sadly, the truth is a little less romantic. Although Einstein was working at the Federal Institute for Intellectual Property in Bern, Switzerland, in March 1909, when chocolate manufacturer Tobler registered Toblerone, a spokeswoman for today’s manufacturer, Kraft Foods, confirmed there was “no further connection between Einstein and Toblerone”.
SOLAR garden lights that work by charging a battery during the day and releasing that energy as light at night sound like a good idea. However, reader Ally Allen was puzzled by the instruction manual for the one he bought, which demanded that first-time users “allow the solar light to charge in full sunlight for 24 hours so that the rechargeable battery can reach maximum capacity”. Allen welcomes suggestions as to how this can be achieved other than by taking the lights to the North or South Pole.
READER Jan O’Callaghan was driving along with her children John (11), David (9) and Gabrielle (7). They started looking at clouds. David said: “That looks like a horse.” John said: “That looks like species 8472 from Star Trek Voyager.”
We don’t know what Gabrielle said. But Callaghan tells us John was right.
NEWS of a buffalo-sized rodent fossil uncovered in South America (91av, 27 September, p 20) prompted one palaeontologist to recall what Darwin’s sister said when told that anatomist Richard Owen had identified a hippo-like fossil called Toxodon as a rodent: “What famous cats there must have been in those days!” In fact, Owen was mistaken about the Toxodon, but it was still a nice comment.
A GLITCH in our filing system meant that we lost sight until recently of a letter reader Mary Hewson sent us about a patchwork quilt. She wrote: “I am sure you remember your exciting report on hospital statistics and the alarming rise in tea cosy accidents (Feedback, 9 June 2001). This worried me so much that I felt impelled to make a quilt entitled Attack of the Killer Tea Cosies. It will be one of 700 or so quilts on display at the Festival of Quilts at the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham, UK, on 21 to 24 August ().”
We are, of course, honoured – but sad that it is now too late for us to visit the exhibition.
OVERHEARD from a weary patent attorney talking about one of the organisations that represents inventors: “It’s probably the only body where the lunatic fringe extends right to the centre.”
BACK on the theme of homomorphonymy – the fancy name we coined for homophones, or words with different meanings that sound the same – reader Sean McHugh tells us that his time living in the London suburb of Barking was enlivened by regular examples of the phenomenon. His favourite was the sight of a little white van going round the streets labelled, “Barking Police Dog Patrol”. He also enjoyed a remark he overheard in a local pub: “I live just by Barking.”
WE MAY not have to wait till 2061 for the next viewing of Halley’s comet after all. Reader Craig Boreland recently received a letter from the Scottish Storytelling Centre telling him: “Like Halley’s comet, National Tell A Story Day will reappear this year on Thursday 30 October.”
FINALLY, following our mention of the BBC News website headline “Self parking car hits the shops”, several readers have drawn our attention to a similarly surprising headline that the BBC put out on 16 September: “Exploding star hunters make history.”
Reader Karl Reeves hired a DVD the other week, sat down and watched it, then took it out of the drive to put back in the case – only to find a sticker there reading, “Please rewind”