The Financial Times wouldn't immediately spring to mind as the paper to read for sophisticated humour. But every so often the economically trained writers fix their gaze on some anomaly of contemporary life and turn it into a laugh.
Years ago I remember a little gem of a pretend advert which said "Communist with own knife and fork seeks fellow communist with own steak and kidney pudding".
Then the other day there was a report of an article that had appeared in the Scientific American magazine. Come the food crisis, the piece had apparently said, we should grow crops nourished by solar powered lamps and irrigated with domestic waste water on each floor of purpose-built skyscrapers.
To which the FT helpfully put forward what it claimed was an even better solution. Use land, it suggested, fields of which can be found in the countryside. Sunlight and rain would fall on the crops without the use of expensive technology. And these "food augmentation resource modules" could be given the snappy acronym "Farms".
Comments (2)
As the mass of solid fuel is melted and consumed, the candle grows shorter. Portions of the wick that are not emitting vaporized fuel are consumed in the flame. The incineration of the wick limits the exposed length of the wick, thus maintaining a constant burning temperature and rate of fuel consumption. Some wicks require regular trimming with scissors (or a specialized wick trimmer), usually to about one-quarter inch (~.7 cm), to promote slower, steady burning, and also to prevent smoking.
Posted by Cristopher Hoople | March 12, 2010 10:00 AM
Posted on March 12, 2010 10:00
In a movie theater each step in the aisles is usually marked with a row of small lights, for convenience and safety when the film has started, hence the other lights are off. Traditionally made up of small low wattage, low voltage lamps in a track or translucent tube, these are rapidly being replaced with LED based versions.
Posted by Hollis Sturz | March 13, 2010 6:42 PM
Posted on March 13, 2010 18:42