Reporter’s diary

Press, 13 November 1982, Page 2

Reporter’s diary

Hands on TWENTY scientists who met in Christchurch last week decided to investigate setting up an educational science centre in the city. Convened by the Canterbury Promotion Council, the meeting was attended by representatives of the University of Canterbury, Christchurch Teachers’ College, science societies, the D.5.1.R., the Ferrymead Trust and the Canterbury. Museum. They showed enthusiasm for a centre containing exhibits of modern science and working models for the public to touch and operate. The principle of “hands on” rather than “hands off” was considered to be essential. A steering committee of five was set up. Shining 'example REMOVING tarnish from silver usually requires chemiclas and a lot of rubbing. A new product that attracted interest at the Royal Show

offers an alternative method. It consists of a small flat piece of metal with the trade name "Tarnish Magnet.” When immersed in salt water, the metal will remove in seconds the tarnish from any silver that it touches. The metal is an alloy discovered accidentally by a Norwegian scientist while experimenting with electromagnetism. A colleague knocked an old silver ashtray into a beaker containing the metal, the tarnish began disappearing from the ashtray. The manufacturers are not saying how it works, but they assert that, one piece lasts a lifetime and is "101 per cent safe.” The product goes on sale in two weeks for about $l5. Falling about FREDDIE Laker has not been idle since his airline collapsed. A game he invented called “Laker Cubes” went on sale in Britain last week. He had been toying with the idea for some time.

but approached a company with his invention after his business failed. The game consists of 27 small cubes, magnetised so that they all fit together in only one way. One mistake, as they say, and the whole thing falls to pieces. Chronic shortage LIFE is still tough in Poland. The council of the Polish town of Kazimierz Wiekli, in Kielce province, has announced that the only people permitted to have a new suit must be dead. The suits will be sold so that the body may be respectable in its coffin, but even for the dead, new shoes and boots may be had only “under very special circumstances.” By appointment AN AMERICAN oil researcher, Mr Andy Sorelie, has begun drilling" in the Carmel region of northern Israel because Deuteronomy ch. 33 v. 24 promises the

children of Asher that they will “dip their feet in oil.” Sorelie has studied maps indicating the concentrations of Asher’s progeny, and the Israeli Government is helping to finance his operations.

Everything barred SWITZERLAND has come up with a product that would win any most-vulgar-rich present competition. The Credit Suisse Bank is advertising wrist watches that are not merely encased in 18 carat gold. Instead of the usual face and figures showing the hours, the hands turn over miniature gold bars declared at 999.9 fine gold purity: 10 grams for men, five for women. This has nothing to do with sex discrimination but with the weight that can be comfortably carried on wrists. The watch's other drawback is that it is difficult to tell the time, but if you need to know the time, or ask the price, you cannot afford a watch like this.