51动漫

MATSUSHITA鈥橲 European headquarters has rushed out a press release which tells how the company 鈥渂est known for its Panasonic and Technics brands 鈥� has announced that it is donating about 拢2 million to help the victims of the [earthquake] disaster鈥� in Japan. Matsushita tells us it has also 鈥渁lready supplied over 30 000 torches and batteries free-of-charge 鈥� as well as 10 000 extra batteries and some 100 oil-fired heaters鈥�.

The announcement then goes on to repeat the reminder that 鈥淧anasonic and Technics are the brand names for Matsushita Electric Industrial Company, one of the world鈥檚 largest manufacturers of consumer electronics and ranked 8 in the Fortune 500 [with] 13 sales and 18 manufacturing companies in Europe 鈥� employing 14 500 people and with joint ventures and Siemens, Philips and Bosch鈥�.

The Japanese people have been shocked by the failure of building technology that they had trusted to withstand earthquakes, and by the poor response of their emergency services. They might also be a little surprised at the way one of their largest companies is already making publicity capital out of its post-quake charity.

A SERIES of advertising hoardings round London proclaims the rather tasteless message: 鈥淐hristians make better lovers鈥�. Feedback wishes to demur from this proposition. Christians make excellent saviours of souls and some have shown great expertise at organising church f锚es, but lovers? Surely not. Their minds are too focused on higher things.

To be a good lover, we would think, requires an involvement in the here and now, an ability to pay attention to what, out of delicacy, we shall call bits and pieces, together with an appreciation of the structures that hold them together and makes them work. We therefore propose an alternative advertising campaign to be mounted, hopefully, by one of the appropriate professional institutions: 鈥淓ngineers make even better lovers鈥�.

THE postbag at 51动漫 reveals that many people knew nothing about the change in Britain鈥檚 mains voltage, from 240 to 230 volts, at the beginning of the year, despite Feedback鈥檚 warning on 10 December. Some strongly believe it will matter a lot over the coming years, while others are equally sure it will not.

We can now report a twist to the tale. The change was dictated by European standard HC 472-S1, which came from CENELEC, the European Electrotechnical Standardisation Committee. It harmonises mains voltage all over Europe at 230 volts, so that manufacturers of electrical equipment don鈥檛 have to make different models for different countries.

Taken at face value, it means that most of Europe should now be pumping an extra 10 volts through its existing 220-volt electrical equipment, making electric fires and lamps glow brighter, burn out faster and cost more to run. Meanwhile, householders in Britain should be getting 10 volts too few for their 220-volt appliances, so that fires run cooler, lamps look dimmer and redder, and everything last longer and costs less to run.

In fact, thanks to some fancy footwork by the standards committee, nothing has acutally changed. When Britain was running on a nominal 240 volts, national regulations let the voltage vary by +6 per cent or 鈭�6 per cent, from 225.6 volts to 254.4 volts. This coped with variations in load, for instance when everyone is cooking Sunday lunch and the supply network is strained.

Now that Britain is on 230 volts, the supply can vary by +10 per cent or 鈭�6 per cent, from 216.2 volts to 253 volts. So the voltage coming out of British wall sockets remains the same, even though the rules have changed. In 200-volt countries, the tolerance has until now been 卤10 per cent. Now that the nominal voltage has risen to 230 volts, the tolerance has been changed to +6 per cent or 鈭�10 per cent. This preserves the status quo there, too.

The next change is for the tolerance on 230 volts to change across Europe to a common 卤10 per cent, which happens on 1 January 2003. Meanwhile, the new pan-European equipment that is designed and marked for use with 230 volts will give different power outputs in different countries, for as long as they go on relying on the tolerances to continue with their old voltages. So watch out for labels on electric fires and light bulbs which quote the power in watts, with copout phrases like 鈥渨hen used on 230 volts鈥�.

THE legal situation on EMC, or electro-magnetic compatibility, is a lot less relaxed than the one on voltages. Manufacturers now have just one more year in which to comply with Europe鈥檚 draconian regulations. From 1 January 1996 virtually all electrical equipment sold to the public must be designed and built so that it neither causes, nor suffers, interference.

At present, computers are likely to spoil TV pictures or radio sound when used near a receiver. They can also corrupt their own stored data when used near other household equipment. If this is still happening in a year鈥檚 time the manufacturers of the offending equipment face severe penalties. Their products can be withdrawn from the market, and the makers fined 拢5000 pounds and jailed for three months.

Philips鈥� components division recently showed Feedback some ferrite cores that clip onto the wires and cables which connect computer equipment, and soak up the interference that they usually radiate. The little gadgets are apparently already selling well. Said the marketing manager cheerily: 鈥淚t seems to concentrate minds wonderfully when company directors suddenly realise they can go to prison鈥�.

WE promised on 7 January that we wouldn鈥檛 punish any more examples of 鈥渘ominative determinism鈥�, but this little selection was irresistible. One offering comes from H. S. Curtis, who culled it from an Australian newspaper: 鈥淛antzen, the swimsuit company, is introducing a new bust-enhancing swimsuit for 鈥�95. The venture was announced in a press release from Jantzen president Jay R. Titsworth.鈥�

And Tim Birkhead tells us that he recently attended a spermatology congress in Australia. Among those present were John Roger, Jim Cummins, Bill Breed and Karen Mate.

On the other hand, Alan Tye raises a note of dissent. 鈥淚f authors gravitate to fields appropriate to their surname,鈥� he writes, 鈥渢hen how does one account for the fact that Peter Cotton, Dave Shirt, Nigel Collar and Alan Tye [myself] are all, not textile researchers, but ornithologists?鈥�