Jurassic parp
IT SEEMS Uranus isn’t the only stinky gas giant in our solar system (12 May).Catching up on his 51¶ŻÂţ backlog, Jeff Dickens was drawn to Feedback’s discussion of the science of flatulent animals, and particularly how birds are immune to such digestive grumbles (14 April). “This set me thinking. Coprolites are common through the geological record, and particularly noteworthy near the K/T boundary, where the poor critters seriously had the wind put up them!”
Yet in Jeff’s eyes, these fossilised droppings more closely resemble mammalian deposits than those left on his car by modern-day birds. The discrepancy has left Jeff wondering: did dinosaurs fart?
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We can confirm that dinosaurs were indeed raising a stink during the Jurassic. Our diligent colleagues have reported as much, noting that herbivorous sauropods probably produced so much methane that their farts warmed the planet by 1°C (12 May 2012, p 12).
“”In reference to the duck caught on a Swiss speed camera,” writes Jake Burger, “can I suggest that rather than sending a ticket, the authorities just stick it on his bill?””
Drink problem
THE organic food movement is partly fuelled by a desire to “detoxify” the dinner table. But you can have too much of a good thing.
The Australian Organic Products (AOP) website bills itself as the “most trusted online retailer” for natural and eco-friendly products. Michael Marx directs us to their listing for ““.
As well as the customary fruitloopery about alkalising your body and balancing blood sugars, the website advises: “To get the full benefits [of] Celtic salt, be sure to keep your body hydrated by drinking half your body weight in litres of filtered drinking water.”
“Now I’m not a small man, well over 100 kilograms, but I don’t think I have the capacity for 50-plus litres of water, presumably per day,” says Michael. Nor should he: drinking as little as 4 litres of water in one sitting can result in death from water intoxication.
It is unclear whether the AOP figure is meant to be calculated using kilograms, pounds or stone, but all will return an ambitious daily fluid intake. As Paracelsus said, the dose makes the poison. Feedback recommends taking the AOP’s guidance with a large pinch of (Celtic sea) salt – you’ll need the electrolytes.
Stepping up
UK CABINET positions come with a wide brief, and newly appointed home secretary Sajid Javid’s own briefs were straining as he adopted a splayed-leg pose for the cameras.
Why are UK politicians doing this? The answer lies in research by psychologist Amy Cuddy and the millions of views her TED video on power poses has racked up.
Cuddy found that adopting an expansive posture makes volunteers feel more powerful and perform better in interviews. The finding was seized on by self-help gurus, some of them clearly employed by politicians.
Alarmed at the continuing spread of politicians’ legs, Cuddy tweeted a warning that the stance is for self-preparation only, and that “adopting high-power poses in actual interactions is very likely to backfire”.
Grandstanding politicians should also note that follow-up studies have failed to replicate Cuddy’s findings, leading many to argue that the power-pose effect doesn’t exist. Time for all concerned to adopt a new position on the matter?
Damp squib
FOR the city of Houston, it must have seemed like a money-saving idea: encourage people to adopt a nearby street drain, allow them to name it and hand them the responsibility of making sure it was kept clean and clear of debris all year round.
Unfortunately, anybody logging into the Adopt-A-Drain website could claim and name a drain without any checks. Inevitably, a flood of internet wags descended on virtual Houston to pepper it with watery puns. It’s Draining Men, Purple Drain, Stormy Drainiels, Thomas the Thirsty Trench and the inevitable Drainy McDrainface were just some of the names submitted before the city council pulled the plug.
A chip off the old block
FEEDBACK has fallen off the nominative determinism wagon so often that we have taken to running behind it. This week Dennis Miller hands us an irresistible example.
“I have been supporting you by not sending in howlers as I encounter them,” he writes. “However, watching a program on flint knapping, I recently wondered whether we had any flint deposits down under.”
The answer is yes, and Dennis has dug up proof: The Flint Report, a 1989 document from the South Australian Department of Mines and Energy, by geologists D.J. Flint, R.B. Flint and M.W. Flintoft.
Foul fruit
A SUSPECTED gas leak that prompted the evacuation of 500 people from a Melbourne university was really someone’s misplaced snack.
Victoria Police escorted staff and students away while firefighters in breathing equipment searched the campus. The source of the smell turned out to be a rotting durian fruit left in a cupboard.
The famously pungent fruit is a delicacy in many South-East Asian countries. Detractors describe its aroma as resembling turpentine, dirty gym socks, dead rats and now, presumably, city gas.
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