THERE is a story going around that illustrates the way Chinese whispers on
the Internet can lead to the formation of urban myths.
According to the story, at the end of September, astronomer Larry Webster
renovated the Web camera on top of the 150-foot solar tower at Mount Wilson
Observatory (www.astro.ucla.edu/~obs/towercam.htm), north of Los Angeles. For a
change of scenery, Webster swivelled the camera’s view of the telescope dome and
pointed it down the hill towards the night-time city lights below. On a whim, he
added a car antenna in the foreground with an antenna ball on top featuring the
logo of the US fast-food chain, Jack in the Box.
The distinctive image on the Web prompted amused phone calls from around the
country, the most notable being one from a representative of Jack in the Box,
thanking Webster for the free advertisement. Mindful of the need for funding,
Webster asked the representative for a donation from the company. “Sure, will a
thousand do?” was the reply.
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Webster agreed delightedly, and sure enough, a week later, the donation
arrived—a thousand antenna balls.
That’s the story, and it’s fairly close to what really happened. But just to
keep the record straight, here’s how Webster himself tells it: “A gentleman from
Jack in the Box corporation somehow was made aware of the towercam image that
showed the little `Jack’ antenna ball, and sent me an e-mail asking if he could
use the image in their in-house newsletter. I sent him back a reply that it
would be OK with us, but at the same time hinted that the corporation could help
out the towercam project if they were so inclined. I received no direct response
to this hint, but several days later I got a package from Jack in the Box that
contained half a dozen of the little antenna balls.
“I suppose this story just ran away with itself!”
IT SEEMS that employer commitment to recruits is on the slide. A recent
advert in The Daily Telegraph included this description:
“With regard to location, to some extent the client has an open mind, with
Southern England or the Benelux being almost potential options.”
Being open-minded ourselves, we wonder if to some extent the salary for this
job is almost a potential option too.
THE old ways are the best.
John Cooper tells us he recently bought an Iiyama Visionmaster Pro411
monitor—a sophisticated piece of electronics, you would think.
The user manual includes the following advice in the troubleshooting section:
“Due to the nature of the Diamondtron NF CRT, in rare cases, a misalignment of
the aperture grille may happen by the shock or vibration caused during
transportation. If a black vertical line appears on the screen, apply a light
shock to the side of the monitor with your hand.”
As Cooper comments: “‘Twas ever thus.”
READER Keith Jones is worried. He cut out the article “The dark side of black cats”
(4 November, p 27)
to use in a lecture on pets and disease, and found that
without thinking he had written “Mew Scientist” as a caption.
He wishes he had done it on purpose, but he hadn’t.
TRY as we may, we can’t seem to keep the lid on the topic of nominative
determinism. It keeps popping up again when we least expect it.
For example, after several days of torrential rain last month caused rivers
to burst their banks and inundate villages in many parts of Britain, credit for
accurately predicting the problems this caused around the country was claimed by
the Meteorological Office forecasting director, Colin Flood.
OFFICES around Britain have recently been engaged in the annual debate
on where to go for their Christmas meal.
Reader Erica Bower received a faxed menu from a local restaurant called Wine
& Moussaka. One of the items on it was “Geek Salad”.
Unfortunately, Bower is a vegetarian, so she was obliged to turn down the
tempting offer to dine out on computer nerds.
WELL, YES, it could happen. But Jeanette Hamman was still a little taken
aback by the instructions on the clothes drier at a laundromat at Longmont,
Colorado: “Check inside machine for children, pets, and foreign objects before
loading and starting.”
OUR STORY about the signs on the lavatory that said “Ladies” and “Slippery When Wet”
(16 September)
reminded reader Andrew Fiedler of another sign on a loo
door: “Out of Order. Sorry for the Inconvenience.”
AND in another restroom, Alistair Scott spotted a boldly lettered sign by the
wash basin—put up, presumably by an overzealous human resource
person—which simply said: “Think!”
A little lower down to the left, next to a dispenser on the wall, someone
else had made a sign in exactly the same size and font that said:
“TDz!”
