Vantage point
FLAT Earth adherents have offered a prize of $8250 to anyone who can prove the world is round before their forthcoming congress ends (15 April). David Garret accepted the challenge, and outlines his methodology thus: āIāll need a garden chair, some rope, 10 high-altitude weather balloons, a lot of helium and one volunteer from the Flat Earthersā meeting.ā After all, they do say that seeing is believing.
āEnceladus sounds positively inviting, finds Alban de la Soudiere: France24 reports that Saturnās moon offers any alien life present the energy equivalent of ā300 pizzas a dayā.ā
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Courting controversy
ROGER HILL adds that a flat Earth defies not only the laws of physics, but the law of the land. He alerts us to a legal precedent: āAlfred Russel Wallace, the co-discoverer of evolution by natural selection, proved in an English court that the world was round.ā
The case followed a bet in 1870 between Wallace and Flat Earther John Hampden as to the shape of the planet. Their test centred on observations made along the Bedford drainage canal, a 6-mile length of supposedly flat water.
After correcting for refraction, Wallaceās measurements showed the world was still curved, but Hampden refused to accept the result and the case dragged on through the courts for over a decade. Eventually, Hampden was jailed for death threats and libel. Wallace regretted ever taking on the bet, writing that such people ācan never be convincedā.
Feedback cautions David Garret: there must be less troublesome ways to earn $8250.
A sinking feeling
CHINA is well known for its love affair with the 1997 James Cameron film Titanic. In an increasingly materialistic society, the tale of a wealthy aristocratic woman falling for a charming but penniless man seems to sweep away any concerns about the consequences of improper ship design.
Now Hillary Shaw tells us that the Seven Star International Cultural Tourism Resort is planning to build a ā6Dā Titanic experience for holidaymakers. āIām used to the usual four dimensions, three in space and one time,ā says Hillary, ābut two extra dimensions would surely have given the doomed ship more leeway to swerve that iceberg.ā
Feedback is still waiting for the powers that be to standardise those additional entertainment dimensions, but in Yongleās case they must represent love and cold water.
A night in the most expensive cabin on board their replica ship will cost upwards of Ā£11,000, which presumably includes a free transfer to an open-topped lifeboat at 2 am, while those in the cheaper berths are ditched straight into the water, without so much as lovestruck heiress to
Scales of justice
A DRUG-ADDICTED python is one of hundreds of animals being cared for by inmates at a prison in Sydney, reports the BBC. The āvery aggressiveā animal was rescued from a methamphetamine lab, having apparently absorbed the drug through its skin. The snake will be rehomed following the trial of the alleged drug producers, prompting Feedback to wonder if the authorities are planning to call it as a witness ā perhaps to put the
Permanent record
OUR colleague tells us Adobe Analytics wants him to update his login credentials, while reassuring him that āThis login will never expireā. He says: āI suspect the cold truth is this claim is thermodynamically untenable, but for the moment Iām basking in the warm glow of knowing that at least something of me will be left when Iām gone.ā
Thar she blows
WE HAVE been taking a long look at the issue of telescope names, and the shortage of superlatives for them (17 April). Kir Angwin thinks the solution is to āstop using the word ātelescopeā and adopt the old pirate nomenclature of the ābring āem nearā.ā
That way, he says, āwe could have the ābring āem nearerā, the ābring āem even nearerā, and even then the ābring āem roight alongsideā.ā
Feedback isnāt sure about the practicality of this idea, though we do like the notion of renaming the European Southern Observatory āthe Bring Me the Horizon Instituteā.
Freeing up space
AN UNEXPECTED consequence of the first law of thermodynamics? Charles Joynson comments that, as discussed in this magazine, information is now at the core of particle physics. This has consequences for biology, too, he argues. āWe are losing 100 species to extinction each day,ā says Charles, each representing the loss of whatever information was stored in that creatureās DNA. āAt the same time, the total amount of information stored in our computers is growing.ā
Correlation, or causation? If, as Charles ventures, there is only a fixed amount of information that can exist in the universe, the best way to save pandas might be to forget you ever knew they existed.
The high life
THOSE with a bit of spare change left over after shelling out Ā£55,000 on a pair of Sennheiser HE 1 headphones (8 April) can pick up a corresponding travel case from Geekria on Amazon, reveals Adam Justice-Mills. A snip at Ā£20.46, youād be mad to board your private jet without one.
