Obscure Box

This blog is currently undergoing a migration from one host to another.

Some things may not work for a while, and images may not be visible until I can upload them again.

Apologies.

I know MasterChef is popular but I'm thinking someone's cooking the numbers a bit too much on who's watching the Channel 10 series.

The Australian's Lara Sinclair tells in "MasterChef sparks Coles sales surge" (Monday 21 June 2010) of the shows success and the impact on sales for sponsors.

While advertising has boosted sales, it's the products and ingredients featured on the program that have famously caused runs on the goods. Sales of everything from rabbit to certain spices and even lamb brains have gone up after being featured on the program.

So who's watching the program?

Dr Huntley's research shows 70 per cent of Australians credit the show with making them more interested, experimental and enthusiastic about food, while the split of female to male viewers is surprisingly balanced at 64 per cent to 58 per cent.

Sorry? Run that by me again.

Dr Huntly is described as "Social researcher Rebecca Huntley, who conducts the annual Ipsos Mackay report into the mindset of Australians..."

I'd like to know more about the Australians she is studying. If 64 per cent of the audience is female and 58 per cent is male, that adds up to 122 per cent.

Uh?

When 17 Century philosopher Rene Descartes penned a letter to a mate back in 1641 it's safe to say he'd never heard of Google, let along the internet.

A philosopher's stolen letter found in a Google search (Source: Haverford College)

The letter to Marin Mersenne later found itself as part of a collection of documents at the Institut de France (Institute of France). From here it was one of many items stolen Italian mathematician Count Guglielmo Libri in the 1800s, according the Associated Press article "Pa. college to return stolen letter by Descartes" (Monday 31 May 2010).

He was convicted in absentia of several thefts in France in 1850 but had already fled to England, selling the documents to collectors and booksellers.- AFP

Rene Descartes

Along comes Erik-Jan Bos, a Dutch scholar of Descartes, who late one night January night enters "autographed letter" and "Descartes" into the Google search box.

He finds the letter at Haverford College, in Pennsylvania in the US, and promptly contacts the school about his find seeking a full scan of the letter. The school was somewhat shocked to find it was the holder of stolen goods.

"We're not in the business of keeping stolen property," college President Stephen Emerson is reported to have said in the AP copy.

The tale ends well though as the school has now returned the original letter to Institut in Paris, says the Agence France Presse article "Thinking man's mystery: Stolen Descartes letter returned" (Wednesday 9 June 2010).

"I thought that if the shoe had been on the other foot, that if material had been stolen from our library, we would be very grateful if it were returned," John Anderies, head of special collections at Haverford, said in the article.

As for Google, the search engine darling is naturally delighted in the role it's played.

"Search isn't a solved problem, but it certainly helps solve problems ... " John Saroff, Strategic Partnership Development Manager, Google TV Ads writes in the Official Google Blog post "Searching for Descartes, solving a centuries-old international mystery" (Sunday 6 June 2010).

A good point indeed. Searching is one thing, but knowing how to search, what to look for, where to look and what to do with what you've found is another thing altogether.

I wonder what Descartes would have thought of all this? A man famous for the phrase "I think, therefore I am" and a man famous for his own search for knowledge.

The Royal Tweets

So the British Monarchy is on Twitter.

The Queen has apparently been a big fan of the World Wide Web for many years so I suppose it's no surprise that Her Majesty would also want the Monarchy to keep up with modern trends and enter the online social network marketplace.

When I last looked an impressive 39,109 people were following the Royal Tweets, on a verified account too.

But the Royal Family is following no-one.

Typical of the Monarchy! All talk and no listening.

Sometimes a news feed offers too much.

Take this offering today from ninemsn.com.au.

Too much information!

A gruesome story with an equally gruesome offer of "Photos Video Watch live" if the feed is followed.

Thankfully the full story "Teen rushed to hospital after tongue piercing" (Tuesday 4 May 2010) doesn't contain any video or ability to watch live the piercing, or the bloody result of the piercing.

Not so gruesome photo

It does contain a photo - just a headshot of the 15-year-old victim Reece-Marie Hall - and not a piercing in sight.

The ninemsn.com.au copy is based on an earlier story in Britain's Daily Mail.

However, more details are given on the online version of the story from the Hull Daily Mail in "Girl, 15, has emergency operation after tongue piercing" (Monday 3 May 2010).

That story includes more comment from Reece-Marie Hall and more reaction from victim's mother Leeanne Hall aged 35, including one line that should server as a warning to anyone considering a tongue piercing.

"Reece-Marie now has a lisp and I can't always understand what she's saying. I hope it isn't a permanent thing." - mother