RANDOM NOTES

Dominion, Volume 28, Issue 97, 18 January 1935, Page 8

RANDOM NOTES

Sidelights on Current Events (By Kickshaws.) Serum tactics in England may be oliaotic, «but overseas conversion seems pretty slick. » » » This transport of wine in tank steamers sounds all right to motorists, but what we would like to know is whether the wowsers would- object if it came our of the bowsers. » » » It is all very well for Oxford, to build a boat for the boat-race unparalleled in size, but if they lose by a length their loss will also be unparalleled. » « » “F.J.M.” writes“ Will you kindly inform me what King George’s surname is? Also what does ‘George R.l.’ mean? and on the various coins of the realm ‘Georgivs V. Dei Gra: Britt. Omn: Rex: Fid: Def: Ind: Imp.” [During the Great War H. M. King George signed a proclamation adopting for the Royal Family the style of the House and Family of Windsor. His surname is therefore Windsor. The inscription mentioned is the contraction of the Latin, which, being translated into English, reads: George V., King and Emperor, by the Grace of God, King of all the Britains, Defender of the Faith, Emperor of India. The “Omn” was inserted when King Edward came to the Throne. * * * News that the Oxford boat in this year’s race will be the “biggest ever” leaves most of us cold. It is a matter of moment, however, to the makers of the boat who, in fact, make the boats for both Oxford and Cambridge. The fact is that these boats are not standard size such, for example, as a Cup Defender. They are made to fit the crew. The average weight ef a racing • eight used in the Oxford and Cambridge race is 2Solbs. The length is normally close to 62ft. 6in,, the beam 2ft. and the depth 9Jin. By producing, under forced draught, so to speak, some six or seven horsepower the crew are able to propel these boats at a pace of some 12 miles an hour for a fraction of an hour. This seems to represent the limit of what flesh and blood can do in the water. The reason why one crew wins and the other loses depends, apart from the total horsepower generated, upon the design of the boat anil the oar. There are subtle differences in oars. The average weight of one of these oars is 9Mb. During the race each oar will cut the water some 600 times. A set of oars may cost £lOO. Cambridge favours a siin. blade and Oxford a 6in. blade. * * * There is a saying that the only crooked thing about the annual Oxford versus Cambridge boat race is the course. This is probably true. While other sport has wandered' dangerously near the border line, this race still maintains a dignity that might well be copied in other spheres. Custom decrees that the president of the boat club that lost last year’s race shall send a polite challenge to the victors., There are, in fact, no written rules at all. Another unwritten rule is that the two crews shall not row trials over the same course at .the same time. Even secret trials are banned. On one occasion Oxford rowed a secret trial but there was such a row about the row it is doubtful if this will ever happen again. The tradition is that everything about the race must .be open to publicity as far as possible. For that reason, newspapers have already received details about the size of the Oxford boat and the weight of the crew. On one occasion when Cambridge tried to refuse to disclose the weight of their crew they capitulated to public-opinion and guaranteed that this lapse would not occur again. ~ ♦ Possibly it is true, as stated in the news yesterday, that actinium, valued at £200,060 an ounce, is the world’s rarest metal and more powerful than radium. Radium is therefore placed in the curious position of costing some £lOO,OOO an ounce more than the world’s rarest metal. One would hesitate to say that there is a “radium ring” but it is significant that when radium was first made in the laboratory it cost only a fraction of its present price. As for the lasting power of radium aud actinium the matter does not seem to be of interest to us. Radium lasts 2,500 years, which is enough to go on with. Our 26 ounces of radium will probably outlast our civilisation. Probably before then it will be possible to produce radium emanations artificially. Even to-day this is possible in a small way. It is a matter of producing high electrical voltages. When some 10 million volts can be produced and controlled we shall have our synthetic emanations controllable by the snick of a switch. » » ♦ The one outstanding thing about the price of radium is that it 'becomes obvious that gold is not a particularly expensive metal, even at £6 an ounce. As a matter of fact there are 27 metals, many of them found in New Zealand and. Australia, which are more valuable than gold. There are even certain hard types of steel which cost more than gold. They are used for special work in connection with turning work on lathes. In fact one of these steels is so hard it is possible to turn glass on a lathe. Probably we have by no means done with metals in the world. Stronger and yet stronger metals are bound to replace what we use to-day. Steel one inch square may support about 170 tons. The total sounds large enough, but it every atom in the steel were doing its j’ob properly even a bar of iron the same size would support 900 tons. The time may vet come when we have produce: metals so strong that a motor catchassis will be built of material no thicker than fencing wire. This is where the rare metals will come into their own. It is only by judicious combination of rare and common metals that this miracle will come about.

“Would you kindly through the medium of your column describe the life of the blow-fly?” asks "Inquirer. [The blow-fly has the hardest working life of any living creature —it consists of one long swat. It is also chased bv a chalcid wasp, so the only thing left for a blow-fly to do is to lay a few thousand eggs with as much expedition as is possible. This the female blow-tly does on decaying animal matter, blankets, rugs, cooking pots, and carrion, live sheep and grease. There is one breed of blow-fly in such a hurry that it does not wait to lay eggs but produces live maggots instead The maggots require decayed animal master or, at the worst, tainted with animal matter. The maggots normally burrow into the ground to change into flies via the pupal stage, but, at a pinch, they can do so in the open. There are several types of blow-flies, but the two one n’leets mostly rejoice in the names of “Anastellorhina augur” and “Neopollenia stygia.”]