HERE’s a question that has split the New Scientist London office down the middle. Perry Bebbington writes: “I’ve noticed there seem to be pretend wind generators springing up at business and retail parks. At first glance they look like genuine wind generators, but what gives them away is they always turn at the same speed, even when there is no wind. Who are these companies who are pretending to be green when they are nothing of the sort?”
We consulted our colleagues about Bebbington’s thesis. Several dismissed the idea out of hand, saying that to build and run pretend wind generators would be too expensive and too much trouble to be worth the bother. Others thought the idea was all too possible, comparing it to those shops and bars that falsely claim to have CCTV cameras installed. A similar split can be found on a blog on the topic at .
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Can any Feedback reader supply definitive evidence to confirm Bebbington’s suspicions? If so, please email us or post your comments on this week’s Feedback page at www.newscientist.com.
Meanwhile, let the last word for now go to one of our colleagues who commented: “What next? Fleets of pretend Toyota Priuses that are really Porsches?”
“When Judy Castelino took a flight in a nine-seater plane from Invercargill to Stewart Island in New Zealand, she was relieved to read the notice stating: “The minimum flight crew is one pilot””
HEARING that Rhonda Lenair, a “medical intuitive”, charges in the region of $1000 per hour for her services, Alex Gordon-Brander was sufficiently intrigued to visit her website at . There he found that although half an hour on the phone with Lenair , this does not equate to the exorbitant $990-per-hour rate you might imagine. “Rhonda’s 30-minute consult is very concentrated time – a half hour is equivalent to about 3½ hours,” the site tells us. At this rate, Gordon-Brander notes, she is only charging a more modest $141 per hour.
“This time-compression technology opens all kinds of possibilities,” Gordon-Brander suggests, and goes on to envisage this scenario:
Plumber: “I’ll be finished in an hour.”
Client: “How much will it cost?”
Plumber: “$50 for the parts and I charge $50 an hour for labour.”
Client: “Great, go ahead.”
One hour passes…
Plumber: “That’ll be $10,000.”
Client: “WHAT?”
Plumber: “Sorry pal, I had to concentrate time while working on your spigot valve.”
TAKING the view that saving resources is generally a good thing, Robert Howard proposes a campaign to cut down the verbiage on public signs. Many of the words they use are unnecessary, he suggests, and gives the example of an automatic traffic barrier at his workplace that has a sign beside it saying, “Do not walk under the barrier if open or closed.”
“Assuming,” Howard says, “that it is also not safe to walk under it when the barrier is at some point between these two states, wouldn’t it be more efficient to state ‘do not walk under the barrier’? By being more succinct on our notices we would save valuable materials.”
He gives another example seen at King’s Cross station in London, where there is a huge wooden sign saying: “For Tickets to Cambridge and all other destinations.”
“Shortening this to ‘Tickets’ might have saved a whole tree,” Howard suggests. “And, incidentally, what’s so special about Cambridge?”
COUNTLESS clinical trials of new drugs have compared the supposed cure with a placebo to see if the drug really is effective – but what did the people getting the placebo actually swallow? Jennifer Buettner, an American “mommy”, as she describes herself, learned to her dismay there was no recognised, standardised placebo available anywhere in the world. So she developed a “pharmaceutical grade placebo”, gave it a clever name – – and is now selling it over the internet.
It contains dextrose and natural cherry flavour and is guaranteed to be inert. Who might want to buy Obecalp? Buettner is hoping paediatricians will. “I was amazed to learn of the massive over-prescribing and lack of efficacy in children’s drugs,” she says. “Why, when drugs are not needed, couldn’t children, adults and seniors be given a placebo by their medical authority figure instead?” Obecalp, she concludes, “fills the gap when medicine is not needed but children need something more than a kiss to make them feel better”.
FINALLY, the Meta Thatcham MC1 motorbike alarm spotted by Mike Sands at apparently comes with an unexpected bonus. According to the website, the makers have “extended our free ‘lifetime guarantee’ on this product”. Sands wonders if this means the company expects its product to be useable in the afterlife. If not, what does it mean?
