dark looks » Nonsense

Beata Ignoranza

Mike — Sat, 24 Sep 2011 15:58:16 +0000

I see the Italian education minister is now claiming the Italian government funded the tunnel [sic] from Geneva to L’Aquila along which the neutrinos in this week’s news appeared to travel fractionally faster than the speed of light.

For just 45 million euro — what a bargain! — this fantastic piece of civil engineering has led to the discovery of superluminal velocities, in her words an “epochal victory”.

Personally I’d like to know who the contractor was on the tunnel, because a tunnel of (veery roughly) some 500 miles (that’s more than 20 times longer than the channel tunnel), presumably running a couple of miles below the surface of the earth in consequence, sounds like a pretty good bargain. Especially when one estimate of the Channel Tunnel costs put them at £4650 million in 1985 money.

That gives you a construction cost of .. let’s see… £90,000/mile, compared to the Channel Tunnel costs of £148,000,000/mile (3 s.f.), or one one-thousand, six hundred and forty-fourth of the cost. I knew Italian builders were good, but this really does take the biscuit.

Also — who knew neutrinos needed a tunnel?

Random Misfires

Mike — Fri, 23 Sep 2011 22:31:22 +0000

Yet another snippet entering what passes for my consciousness more-or-less unbidden:

“As ridiculous as two walnuts judging a quilting competition and failing all entries for not resembling penguins.”

Annals of Patronising Everything

Mike — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 18:14:19 +0000

We all know know that everything is labelled in line with the principle that, whatever it is, it is fatally dangerous when misapplied; and must therefore be warned of to within an inch of its (and my) life, lest I accidentally snort a litre of toilet cleaner or try to put out a housefire with a teabag. I have just accumulated the latest gem, found on an air-freshener I bought to remove the scent of damp plaster from the flat: “Air fresheners do not replace good hygiene practices”. This means, presumably, that I will have to go and fish my toothbrush out of the bin….

It’s a simple head code: anyone can catch it

Mike — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 08:46:38 +0000

What you always knew happened in the dealership