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Like it? Could be better? Or did we just miss something?
Let us know what you think on anything in the latest issue. Email flipside@flipside.org.uk or write to the editor at the address here .
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In the article on ‘weird sports’ you describe the ‘weirdest’ as being mountain unicycling. To those that do it, it isn't weird at all! However, who's the guy in the picture that is the background to the article. I don't think it's in the UK - the mountains behind are not British.
DW (unicyclist with L plates) by email
We’re don’t know who the cyclist is but you’re right about the mountains – the photographer tells us it was shot in the San Juan Mountains, Colorado, USA
I have always loved your magazine and it has brought many hours of reading which, without you, may have been ‘games on the computer’ or ‘nothing to do’ moments. I have read every issue since September 2005 and I am glad that I haven't missed much (before then). I am now making my GCSE choices and I don't really want to drop any subjects, except maybe Religious Studies!
All of my friends are now introduced to Flipside and most of my old issues are ‘on loan’ to them, but I know they don't want to give them back!
You probably do not need any more ideas but I am really interested in how people make films, so it would be great to see something about what role does what (Producer, Composer) and some examples of these jobs. Looking forward to the next issue
OT by googlemail.com
Glad you like Flipside, OT, and yes, we’ll take up your idea – we’re working on it now so keep your eyes peeled.
Kabaddi may seem weird to Europeans but it’s huge in Asia [Flipside 10 Weirdest Sports, Issue 21]. Channel 4 used to broadcast the sport and maybe if they’d carried on it would be just as big in Britain and we wouldn’t think it weird.
KP by googlemail.com
Here’s something else that always happens in films [Movie Myths, Issue 21]. The baddie’s car always explodes in a huge great ball of fire – even if it’s just bumped in a car park. But I’ve never heard of it happening like that in the real world.
GE by tesco.net
I think growing your own house is a brilliant idea [Ultimate Treehouse, Issue 21]. But there are two big problems: security and the law. How do you stop people breaking in? And I doubt you’d be allowed to live in one of these, or sell it on when you move? I don’t think the housing bit of the government would allow it? It is cool though and cheap. I don’t see how I’ll ever buy a house so maybe if I start growing one now by the time it’s ready there will be no burglary and the government will have changed the laws to allow it. Or maybe not.
WS by aol.com
After reading your article on graffiti [The Writing on the Wall, Issue 21] I saw two interesting stories about Banksy’s pieces. One mural sold for over £100,000 at auction and then street cleaners in Hackney accidentally scrubbed one off a wall. I’m not sure who’s madder: the person who paid so much money or the Council.
HW, London
Letters from Issue 20
The fact the extinct plesiosaur couldn’t lift its head above the water is not the only reason they couldn’t have survived as the Loch Ness Monster [Nessie Theory Blown Open, Issue 19, p3]. The lake is probably too cold to support the cold-blooded creature and it is also a freshwater lake (the plesiosaur probably lived in saltwater) that was only formed 10,000 years ago during the Ice Age. The conservationist Sir Peter Scott gave the Loch Ness Monster a ‘scientific’ name: Nessiteras rhombopteryx, which means ‘the wonder of Ness with the diamond shaped fin’ but is also an anagram of ‘Monster hoax by Sir Peter S’.
KS by aol.com
I liked your article on the secrets of cricket [Howzat! Issue 19]. It’s just a shame that the England team didn’t read it to get some tips! As I write this, there may just still be time!
JW by btconnect.com
I always thought that the Cybermen were the best Dr Who monsters and now I know why – there’s a true idea behind them [Spare Parts Surgery, Issue 19]. But knowing how Daleks were thought up make them less scary – who can really be frightened of anything based on a pepper pot?
GP by gmail.com
OK, so it’s a great console, but why oh Wii is it called that? The codename Revolution would have been better. Anything would have been better. Nintendo’s explanation is: ‘Wii sounds like ‘we’, which emphasizes that the console is for everyone. Wii can easily be remembered by people around the world, no matter what language they speak. No confusion, No need to abbreviate. Just Wii.’ Yes, but as long as it also sounds like ‘wee’, people will still take the… Like your headline ‘Wii yourself soon’ on p61.
WH by hotmail.com
In the middle of winter in Denmark and Sweden, people cut holes in the ice and jump in because they think it’s good for them. I’ve always thought they were crazy but your story that it might make people live longer if you lower their body temperature made me think again.
Colin by yahoo.co.uk
Why didn’t David Blaine throw up when he was spinning round in the gyroscope for 16 hours?
SJ by email
I think clones would be good because we could clone nice people so there are more nice than nasty ones and the world would be a better place.
Natalie, Edinburgh
Mmmm, nice idea but it might not work – perhaps people’s upbringing and environment would always produce nasty people again
Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series is excellent (there are 35 books in total). Check out his first ones – The Colour of Magic and The Light Fantastic. I recommend the books rather than the film you reviewed on p.69 as you can get so much more into a book.
A really big fan from Portsmouth
Letters from Issue 19
I thought your coverage of Casino Royale was overkill, but now I’ve seen the film I think you had a license for it! There’s loads of publicity about it in magazines and papers but your stuff was very different to what they did, going much more behind the scenes and actually trying things out like Parkour. Well done! Can’t wait for the next one.
LP by gmail.com
Having just seen your feature on trainers, I thought I’d send you this picture (right) of a really weird pair of trainers I saw in a shop window near me – customized Nike running spikes! But I don’t think I’d be allowed to put them on in the school gym!
SH, London
I liked the little bit you did on the pyramids but could you do more on Egypt please? There must be so many more amazing things still buried in the desert sands in Egypt, maybe not seen for thousands of years.
KE by btconnect.com
Animals like snails and squid certainly have some weird mating rituals [Animal Passion, Issue 18] but you missed out the weirdest of all – humans! We must have the strangest when you think about it.
GY by email
As a zoologist I am curious as to why there is a photo of a Water Flea( a crustacean) on page 7 [Gross Corner on parasites in issue 17] when the flea reference is to the Insect flea Pulex sp which looks nothing like a Daphnia! And also curious as to why there is another unnamed animal below which looks like a tick of some sort- presumably a parasite to illustrate the para 'Men are twice as likely as women...'? Just curious at the mismatch of images and text
Sue DT by email
Whoops! Our mistake, sorry. We won’t let it happen again!
Letters from Issue 18
I had to look at your cover picture twice before realising it was a fake. But it got me thinking: has Jeremy Clarkson ever really been seen on a bicycle?
TW by compuserve.com
I really like Flipside but did you really have to print those pictures of dead bodies in the latest issue – the special effects ones from horror films and, worse, the real ones in the article about how bodies rot?
HR by ukonline
Well, the film ones aren’t real and the others, erm, were. Maybe it’s just a sign that your not cutout to be a forensic scientist or doctor?
Cool that British team Jackie Hunt and Mike Shelton, who were in your article on powerboat racing in the latest issue, went on to win the World Championship. Britain can win at some sports!
JO by hotmail.co.uk
Is you ultimate bike in the last issue really the ultimate? I’m not so sure. There are some fantastic racing bikes and mountain bikes you can buy for a lot more money.
HT, Bradford
Well, we set out to build the ultimate for everyday use and a lot of visitors to our stand at the Cycle Show, where we had it on display, agreed. Think you had to try it out to be convinced!
At last! A top bike for the kind of cycling most normal people do! I can’t afford it but it’s given me a few ideas…
LD by email
In issue 15 in the games section, you said that there were 7000 downloadable playstation 1 games for the PSP. I do not think that there are this many, are there really? Please could you let me know.
Richard Pover by hotmail.co.uk
We said that there would be this many by the end of 2007 – still a long way off I’m afraid!
Letters from Issue 17
In your 3-D issue you claim that the longest time that someone has spent hanging in the air under a kite is 13 seconds. However I believe that it is more like 49 seconds. Go to www.naish.tv and click on kitesurfing and then scroll down the list until you come to a video called hangtime. After watching this video you will see what I mean.
TB by email
I really like the magazine and i find it really funny, and the gizmo bit is great, but i'd like it if there was more reviews and gizmos!
MC by hotmail.com
Look out for Christmas gadgets special!
It’s great that you have finally put a bit about spies and especially Alex Rider, as I love the books and the movie Stormbreaker. Also I cannot wait for the 7th book Snakehead to come out in 2007 and for Point Blanc to come out as a movie.
I do think that Alex Rider has got the best gadgets out of all the spies, as they look like an everyday object (eg the backpack) but are not as they do amazing things to help Alex on his mission (eg: if you pull the right cord on the backpack it turns into a parachute).
Are there going to be any more Flipside issues with Stormbreaker in?
Helen, 14, Portsmouth
Thanks, Helen, we’ll do our best
Prince Charles should read Flipside. If he did he’d know that he doesn’t have to have seven boiled eggs in the morning so he could choose the one done just right. He could just use one of the inventions for timing eggs mentioned in your True Stories pages [Issue 16]
HJ by btconnect.com
At last! Occam’s Razor in a magazine. Our teacher told us about this and then you used it on ways to explain UFOs. I wonder why more mad conspiracy theory people don’t think of it? It’s so obvious. But then maybe that’s it, it’s too obvious and they don’t want to lose their mad conspiracy theories?
GW by email.
Thanks, GW, you can still read about it here.
Could you do something please on how I could get rich enough fast enough to pay the £100,000 for a holiday in space before I die? The only way I can think of is to sell our house but I think my mum and dad might notice! But for that, we could all go…
HJ by yahoo.com
I’m probably sure you guys are really annoyed at me for spamming your inbox, but I think it’d be cool if you guys did like a review on decent online games!
MC by hotmail.com
We’re on to it. And don’t apologise, MC, we always like to hear from our readers!
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