Expert of the Week: Dr Chris Stanley

Dr Chris Stanley is a mineralogist of London's Natural History Museum and, presumably, he doesn't really want to work there anymore.

Take this story with the eye-catching headline:

'Kryptonite' discoverd in mine

Wow! The article starts by summing things up:

A new mineral matching its unique chemistry - as described in the film Superman Returns - has been identified in a mine in Serbia.

Let me draw your attention to the phrase "matching its unique chemistry". The expert goes on to say:

Towards the end of my research I searched the web using the mineral's chemical formula - sodium lithium boron silicate hydroxide - and was amazed to discover that same scientific name, written on a case of rock containing kryptonite stolen by Lex Luther from a museum in the film Superman Returns.

Amazing! He continues:

The new mineral does not contain fluorine (which it does in the film) and is white rather than green but, in all other respects, the chemistry matches that for the rock containing kryptonite.

Hang on. This mineral 'matches the unique chemistry' of movie kryptonite except it "does not contain fluorine". Doesn't the fact that the chemical fluorine is not present in this mineral mean that it does not match the unique chemistry?

So, close but no kryptonite for our expert of the week, Dr Chris Stanley of London's Natural History Museum.

Expert of the Week: BBC.co.uk News

While certainly not wanting to make light of the murder of Pakistan cricket coach Bob Woolmer, I noted with some amusement the latest report headline on the BBC News.

Woolmer police 'eliminate no-one'

The reporter isn't credited on BBC.co.uk but someone should tell him, a murder investigation eliminating no-one is not exactly news. Even better, the report goes on to say this:

"Police in Jamaica investigating the murder of Pakistan cricket coach Bob Woolmer say no-one has been eliminated from their enquiry.

But deputy police commissioner Mark Shields told the UK Times newspaper there were no prime suspects."

Now the reason I found this funny was because it reminded me of another quote by a very famous French detective. When asked what he believed about the case he was working on he stated:

"I believe everything and I believe nothing. I suspect everyone and I suspect no one."

The name of this famous French detective: Detective Inspector Jacques Clouseau.

Expert of the Week: Chris Lake, editor of e-consultancy.com

The number of experts quoted in the world of journalism is astonishing but the amount of insight these experts offer is depressingly low.

Toady sees a BBC news report asking What's the cost of e-mailing 1.8m people? That is the number of people that the UK government e-mailed in response to an online petition.

For the answer to this question, the BBC ask Chris Lake, editor of e-consultancy.com:

"Last week I had lunch with someone who sends out 180,000 [e-mails] a week as a newsletter, which cost him £600," he says. "That would make it £6,000, but it could be much less or much more."

So, what's the cost of e-mailing 1.8m people? £6,000. Or much less. Or much more.

Thank you Chris Lake. You are my Pointless Expert of the Week.