DINNER PARTY INTEL...
The topics you have to be able to discuss this week
1. Fodder for conspiracy theorists
Nasa admitted as far back as 2006 that it couldn’t find the original video recordings of the 1969 moon landing. It now says engineer Richard Nafzger has tracked the tapes down, but the recordings were erased. They were in a batch of 200,000 tapes that were magnetically erased and reused to save money. Last week the space agency released part of a complete digital make-over of the original grainy footage of Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walking on the surface of the moon. It relied on CBS archives for the footage.
“The ANC can’t talk with a forked tongue while letting those responsible [for corruption] get away. [It] will have to pursue them. The pressure from the public is so intense that there cannot be a reversal of what we have achieved.” Popo Molefe, outgoing chairman of the Passenger Rail Agency of SA
2. Avocados pip oil
Mexico, which produces almost half the world’s avocados, is being forced to contemplate what would have been unthinkable a year ago: importing the dietary staple because it has become too costly for Mexicans to buy locally farmed produce. Avocados are believed to have first been cultivated in the Mexican state of Puebla.
Government stats show avocado exports now bring more money into Mexico than petroleum does, according to a report in The Guardian. But avocados sell for about 80 pesos (about R60) a kilogram — the same value as Mexico’s daily minimum wage. High global demand means imports are unlikely to solve the problem.
3. Paid promotion misfire
British actress and L’oréal ambassador Helen Mirren accepts that moisturiser has very little effect. The surprising revelation was made when Mirren represented L’oréal on a panel at an event in France. “I’m an eternal optimist. I know that when I put my moisturiser on it probably does f*** all, but it just makes me feel better,” she said.
The ads Mirren appears in are not digitally enhanced to reduce her wrinkles — something she insisted on when she took up the role. But the gaffe will probably cost her.