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(Image: Paul McDevitt)

Feedback is our weekly column of bizarre stories, implausible advertising claims, confusing instructions and more

Band on bankers

THIS publication鈥檚 influence seems wider than we thought. Two years ago we reported on research into the world鈥檚 economic network, including a beautiful diagram depicting the 1318 transnational corporations at the (22 October 2011, p 8).

This month, we found the same diagram on posters on the London Underground, advertising Antiphon, the new album from 鈥� described by as an 鈥渋mpeccably realised meld of bucolic 70s folk and radio-friendly soft rock鈥�.

Feedback is still combing the lyrics for references to network topology and to the ownership of the means of production.

Mystery spam reaches Jeff Hecht: why does somebody want to rent him apartments in Ulan Bator? Do they know he has written about dinosaur fossils in Mongolia?

The answer is aisle 42

SUPERMARKET ASDA startled Freddy Heppell by requesting: 鈥淧lease put unwanted leaflets from magazines in this bin. This bin is also located in aisle 42.鈥� When he attempted to observe it in that aisle, it was not there. Perhaps its quantum waveform had collapsed and it was no longer in a superposition of aisles.

Magic knickers not upheld

FEEDBACK thought promises that Far Infra Red Rays have been 鈥渟cientifically proven to鈥� melt away鈥� subcutaneous fat and smooth out the skin鈥�, and that these benefits could be obtained by buying underwear containing Scala Active BioCrystals, were too good to be true (2 April 2011). John Boyle alerts us to the fact that agrees with us.

Seller was unfortunate, perhaps, that its ad was read by one Ken Harvey in an in-flight magazine 鈥� en route to a sceptics鈥� conference. The administration publication of retractions online and on paper, ruling that the seller 鈥渦nlawfully made claims that 鈥楢ctive BioCrystals鈥� in the products caused them to be effective in fat reduction, cellulite reduction, reducing body measurements, and reducing clothing size.鈥�

Belgium collapsed 鈥� who knew?

EUROSTAR appears to have re-shaped space, as well as travel times from London to the real world. Piet Roos sends details of his daughter鈥檚 booking to visit him in Belgium, helpfully annotated 鈥淎rrives Any Belgian station (via Brussels) at 20:05鈥� Duration 02h 01m鈥�. Does Belgium know it has been collapsed into a point by a database designer carelessly confusing an offer on prices to 鈥淎ny Belgian station鈥� with a place in space?

Daft dimensions in print

MORE dimensional confusion arises in the reporting of last month鈥檚 alleged UK discovery of gun parts made in a 3D printer.

Nicola Normandale reports BBC news presenter John Humphries reading, apparently untroubled, the headline: 鈥淧olice in Manchester have seized what they believe are parts for the first 3D gun ever found in this country.鈥� 鈥淎s opposed to all those tricksy 2D guns we鈥檝e been used to in the past?鈥� she asks. Nicola also points us to a headline in The Guardian newspaper on 25 October: 鈥溾��. Indeed.

Negative-mass software

A THEORETICAL treatment of the question over what mass, if any, software and other data have continues to elude us (9 November). Readers have, however, offered practical suggestions. A couple of you suggest that 鈥渂urning鈥� information onto a CD will reduce its mass. But further investigation reveals that the data is, in fact, recorded on a rewritable CD by a laser changing a crystalline metallic film to an amorphous state; and on a write-only disc by a laser鈥檚 effect on a photosensitive dye. So now we know.

Others recalled the days when software was stored on punched cards 鈥� transporting Feedback back to the special sensory experience of a basement full of computer science students in 1970s nylon shirts. Douglas Shiell notes that 鈥減resumably the net mass of the software was negative, since it was expressed as holes in the card鈥�. Indeed it would be, compared to a card full of 鈥渂lank鈥� characters, each encoded with no holes.

Custom and practice

FINALLY, customs officials have provided some even more practical, if theoretically unsound, guidance on the above question of the materiality of software. Robert Cailliau recalls crossing into Switzerland in 1984 carrying the first spreadsheet program to run on an Apple Macintosh, bought in France at a price equivalent to 600 Swiss Francs. He duly declared the item, but the thick book of customs duties didn鈥檛 have an entry for 鈥渟oftware鈥�.

After 鈥渦nsuccessful attempts at describing to the officer what 鈥榮oftware鈥� was, I decided to go for 鈥榚lectronics鈥�,鈥� Robert recalls: 鈥淗e dutifully weighed the disc, did a calculation and charged me about 0.30 francs import duty.鈥�

And Douglas Shiell recalls a colleague being stopped at customs with a deck of punch cards: 鈥淲hen he was asked if it had any value, he showed the official the cards, and said 鈥榥o, they鈥檝e been used鈥� and was allowed to pass.鈥�