Enigmatic Bristolians

I suppose we’d better add Sun Ra and George Clinton to Neil Nixon’s roster in Forum [FT449:54]. On a more frivolous note, early Glastonians Stackridge have a bonus track on their 1972 album Friendliness called “Purple Spaceships Over Yatton”. As the same LP contains a reference to Annie Besant “Dusting Her Mausoleum”, I think we can consider these enigmatic Bristolians a little au fait. (I’m assuming, by the way, that “dusting your mausoleum” isn’t a sexual innuendo.)

Richard George

St Albans, Hertfordshire

Oysters

Barry Baldwin may know a lot about the Classics but not very much about nutrition. In FT450:11 he states about oysters: “Inevitably, they were prized as aphrodisiacs, a long-lasting delusion.”

Oysters contain the most zinc, weight for weight, of any other food. Zinc is required for testosterone production and the lack of readily available zinc in the body reduces testosterone. Zinc cannot be stored in the body, so a daily intake is required. Testosterone increases sexual desire in both men and women. Some studies have shown a lack of zinc is implicated in erectile dysfunction and infertility. John West manufacture tins of smoked oysters which go beautifully with a nice single malt.

Dr H Joy

By email

Bacon preservation

Mark Spurlock’s letter about the Exchange & Mart polystyrene pyramid that could supposedly keep a razor sharp [FT448:63] reminded me of something similar. On page 6 of The World of the Unknown – All About UFOs (Usborne 1977, reprinted 2020) there is a pyramid and stand which can be cut out (nowadays photocopying is recommended), assembled and used to try and preserve a bacon rasher. This was to prove (or try to prove) that pyramid shapes were better at preserving foodstuffs than boxes.

I wonder if any FT readers mutilated their copies of All About UFOs and wasted good bacon rashers in carrying out this experiment. If so, please write in.

Gary Watson

Cramlington, Northumberland

We are always glad to receive pictures of spontaneous forms and figures, or any curious images. Send them (with your postal address) to Fortean Times, PO Box 1200, Whitstable CT1 9RH or to sieveking@forteantimes.com

Autokinetic effect

I read the suggestion (“Celestial events”) by Marinus van der Slujis [] that the observation that jolting stars may be due to a mirage, but there is another psychological explanation – the autokinetic effect. This manifests as small points of light against a dark backdrop appearing to shift position. I often see this effect myself, lying in bed at night when the LED on the smoke detector seems to