OXYGEN seems to be in fashion in nostrum-land. We have seen the “liquid oxygen” on sale from the duty-free trolley on Continental Airlines (12 July 2008). Now Matthew Beasley introduces us to O2-BOO2ST at . We are informed that “empirical scientific evidence proves that oxygen deficiency is linked to a vast variety [of] – if not all – health problems and disease”. The accuracy of this statement would depend on the severity of the deficiency: we tend to associate acute lack of oxygen with just one health problem – namely, death.
Clicking on the “What is” link, we discover that the product “has one of the highest concentrations of bio-available stabilized oxygen available today”. If this means, as we suspect, that the product is a solution of hydrogen peroxide, then this high concentration of a key component of most home-made bombs is distinctly alarming. You might find it difficult convincing the security services that you are carrying it purely for health reasons.
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The website of the UK government’s commendably displays its electricity usage – in “kilowatt-hours per hour”. Justin Gough would like that in watts
THE US state of Pennsylvania recently passed a law banning anyone from texting while driving a vehicle, Mark Levin tells us, and the state’s Department of Transportation sought to publicise on roadside billboards.
Mark says that on the Interstate 76 near Philadelphia, he happened to see one of these signs. It read: “No texting law is in effect.”
“So,” Mark asks, “am I allowed to text while driving or not?”
The last time before the last time
THE BBC, Matthew Smith tells us, is covertly seeking people able to violate causality. The UK corporation’s online survey about its “view again” facility, iPlayer, asks: “Thinking specifically about the last time you played a programme on the BBC iPlayer, can you please tell us what you did once it had finished playing?”
The first of the multiple-choice answers to this question is: “I watched or listened to another programme on the BBC iPlayer.”
In which case… Oh, never mind.
EXITING London’s British Museum through one of its gift shops, a colleague’s eye was caught by one of his favourite artefacts: a figurine with a flattish, square, sharp-cornered head from the early Bronze Age Cycladic culture of the eponymous islands in the Aegean Sea.
The replica statuette, around 20 centimetres high, was made of resin and was hard, which caused him to squirm at the wording on the accompanying placard: “Suitable for internal or external use.”
Our colleague hopes this refers to houses rather than bodies.
IN A report on the disposal of chewing gum, Graham Perkins tells us, his local paper Milton Keynes Citizen stated recently that “Approximately 7.5 billion pieces of gum are consumed each year and 3.5 billion pieces, or close to 4.2 billion tonnes, are disposed of irresponsibly”.
Graham makes that 1.2 tonnes per piece of gum. “Quite a mouthful,” he comments.
Who is responsible for climate change?
WE REPORTED on 24/31 December 2011 an announcement in UK newspaper The Daily Telegraph that Chris Huhne, then UK Energy Secretary, was the minister “who is responsible for climate change”.
Now that Huhne is no longer a minister, someone else has to take over the responsibility – and Jessica McCafferty has discovered who that is.
Researching for a school project, she came across a NASA page entitled Global Climate Change at , which explains that “Global Climate Change is produced by the Earth Science Communications Team at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory”. So now we know.
READER Lynda Prior sends us a photo of a lengthy notice on Bruny Island, 50 kilometres south-east of Hobart, Tasmania, Australia. The sign describes the life of the local colony of “muttonbirds”, or short-tailed shearwaters (Puffinus tenuirostris).
A paragraph is devoted to the “old tradition” of “muttonbirding”, which Lynda thought must now be firmly in the past. Apparently not. The notice continues: “Today chicks are commercially harvested for their flesh by Aboriginal and European Muttonbirders.”
The notice concludes: “Permits are required for harvesting as the birds are wholly protected.”
“Do they speak a different language here in Tasmania?” Lynda asks.
FINALLY, Sparkling Hill luxury resort in Vernon, British Columbia, Canada, is “a beautiful place to visit”, Rose Harryman tells us. She is, however, a little dubious about its newsletter’s claim that the air in the resort’s “world famous cold sauna” is “chilled to -1100C”.