BOBBLE-HEAD dolls started out as caricatures of everyone’s favourite baseball stars and have grown in popularity. The dolls’ outsized heads, as the name suggests, bob about with only the slightest nudge. Baseball stars really know they have made it when the manufacturers issue a bobble head of them. American footballers, rock musicians and Disney characters have all been given bobble-head treatment.
Now scientists have got in on the act with the first-ever bobble head of a biologist. And who better to feature in this role in the year of the 50th anniversary of the discovery of the structure of DNA than James Dewey Watson himself? We’ve always known that scientists were as important as baseball stars.
You can see Watson bobbling about on the website of New York company SciVon Enterprises () and if you are sufficiently impressed you can place your order for this unique product together with a plastic model of DNA. We wonder which famous scientist will be next for the bobble-head treatment.
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OUR item about “the size of Disneyland” (Feedback, 8 November) and the subsequent correspondence about silly scientific comparisons in the 51¶ŻÂţ letters pages (29 November, p 29) prompted reader Andrew Robertson to inform us that the English county of Norfolk excels in this particular art. By way of proof, he offers these quotes from an article entitled “Gritty facts” in a recent Norfolk County Council newsletter:
“Norfolk County Council will stockpile 13,000 tonnes of salt for the coming winter, that’s about the same weight as 1625 killer whales.
“Each gritter will be sent out carrying on average 6.5 tonnes of salt, that’s the equivalent of 12 polar bears.
“It sounds a lot, but not when you consider the 56 frontline gritters will be covering a distance of 1839 miles of priority routes. That’s almost the same distance as to Moscow and halfway back!”
Surely this kind of writing deserves some kind of award.
SEVERAL puzzled readers have sent us this entry from the BDH chemical data sheets, which are widely used in laboratories throughout the UK:
“Eyes: irrigate thoroughly with water. If discomfort persists obtain medical attention.
“Skin: wash thoroughly with soap and water.
“Mouth: wash out mouth thoroughly with water. In severe cases obtain medical attention.
“Wear appropriate protective clothing. If local regulations permit, mop up with plenty of water and run to waste, diluting greatly with running water. Wash site of spillage thoroughly with detergent and water. If material has entered surface drains, it may be necessary to inform local authorities.”
What is the hazardous product that all this refers to? It’s water. And no one seems to know if the entry is there in all seriousness, or if it’s a joke.
AFTER 30 years of “daylight saving” – moving the clocks forward in the spring and then back again in the autumn – there is still an Abolish Daylight Saving Committee in New South Wales, Australia.
Added to the usual claims of such campaigns – for example, that the extra hour of daylight in the evening in summer fades the curtains – is a new one from ADSC spokeswoman Judith Hall, of Gunnedah, who told the Sydney Morning Herald: “No man has the right to choose the time of the rising and setting of the sun, only God.”
Reader John McCallum, who told us about this, is surprised Hall doesn’t explain why God doesn’t simply exercise this choice. When people insist on moving their clocks forward, He should just move the sunrise forward and thwart them that way.
FROM the department of overstating one’s case. John Wriglesworth is the “housing economist” for Hometrack, “the only independent property research and database company in the UK”. In an article on Hometrack’s website, Wriglesworth concludes, “There is more chance of finding Elvis on the moon than there is of a house price crash next year.”
Is he taking bets?
ONE of the ingredients listed on the Costcutter “Pioneer Snacks” sandwich bought by reader Anton Oussik was “antioxygen”.
Oussik is concerned. He points out that the effects of antimatter coming into contact with the human digestive system are not yet fully understood. Products containing antimatter, he says, ought to carry a warning label on them.
FINALLY, a number of readers have been surprised to come across an entry in the play.com catalogue that states: “Acre Of The Moon. In stock. Usually dispatched within 24 hours. Our price: £19.99 Delivered.”
Sadly, we are not told how this feat of engineering is accomplished.
From the department of meaningless reassurance. Reader Rob Wetselaar recently bought some mangoes. Each of them had a sticker on it stating “Environmentally grown”
