AFTER reading our feature on how Kate Middleton snared her mate, by Geoffrey Miller (23 April, p 37), Karoline Schmidt was minded to contradict the statement that Prince William “possesses the good genes destined to make this a biologically beneficent union”. She remembered having read that going bald early indicates a heightened risk of prostate cancer.
To make sure she was right, she typed “prostate cancer bald” into a famous search engine, only to discover that the risk of getting cancer when you’re bald depends on the newspaper you read, at least in the UK. The Daily Telegraph lets readers know that “Going bald early ‘doubles prostate cancer risk'” (), while The Daily Mail assures “Good news for bald men at last: Hair loss ‘almost halves the risk of prostate cancer'” ().
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Karoline concludes that it’s not only important to make the right choice when selecting a mate. If you’re bald, picking the wrong newspaper can seriously impair your health.
“The flyer John Whalley got from Perfect Pizza told him that it offered “Savings of up to and over £250”. “So absolutely no ambiguity there, then,” says John”
“EVEN charities are joining in the fruitloopery,” Andy Ball notes. He draws our attention to a report in the online magazine Third Sector () which begins with this delightful sentence: “The holistic health charity the Maperton Trust has been reprimanded by the Advertising Standards Authority for claiming a badge with a picture of a unicorn on it could repel head lice.”
The report continues: “The charity’s website describes the badge, on sale from the site for £19, as ‘a small device using the latest technology to repel head lice from infesting children and adults… It is in the form of a badge of the unicorn and is pinned to the clothing of the individual’.”
The ASA has told the Maperton Trust to remove from its website all claims that the badge can repel head lice.
IN A quarter-page advertisement in London’s Evening Standard on 12 May, John Everest noticed, Shelley von Strunckel offered “live astrology consultations” at £1.50 per minute on BT landlines. “Shelley’s team of professional astrologers are available now to answer your questions,” the ad promised. “Find out what 2010 has in store.”
We think we might be able to do this too. Here are a couple of Feedback’s predictions for the year:
In April, a volcano in Iceland with a name no one can pronounce will erupt, ejecting a cloud of ash that will disrupt air traffic all over northern Europe for over a week.
Then, two months later, the football World Cup will take place. Spain will be the winner.
How are we doing? Can we have our £1.50, please?
READER Peter Bell is puzzled by this claim on a website advertising a transport conference at : “A recent report by Analysys Mason predicts that by 2020 there will be a rise from 6 billion (present day) to between 16 and 44 billion digitally identifiable, potentially linked, electronic devices per head of population on this planet.”
Peter is particularly intrigued by the assertion that we are already carrying around 6 billion devices each. “Given that I don’t carry any more than two or three such devices at any one time, and I don’t know anyone else who does, some people must be carrying a hell of a lot of devices for the average to be 6 billion. How do they do it?”
NASA rotates Earth the wrong way
“OF ALL the organisations on Earth,” says Larry McCloskey, “one might think that one of those most likely to know the direction of Earth’s rotation would be NASA.”
But it seems it doesn’t. By way of proof, Larry invites us to observe the first few seconds of the official NASA video at .
Larry’s right. The Earth is going round the wrong way.
YOU would have thought that the Marksman 400W Submersible Dirty Water Pump would be a) submersible, and b) used for pumping dirty water. So did Mark Inwood, until he read the instructions and was told he must “not use it in moist or wet environments” and he must not “use in damp locations”.
REPORTING on France’s successful bid to host the 2018 Ryder Cup, The Times of London stated on 18 May that George O’Grady, the European Tour chief executive, said “The bids were evaluated on their merits and France was a unanimous winner by a narrow but very clear margin”.
John Salaman says he doesn’t quite understand the mathematics of this.
FINALLY, the bumblebee nesting box in John May’s garden has a label that says it has an “interactive window for safe viewing”.
“That’ll be a window you can see through then,” comments John. “What will they think of next?”