How to carry millions

“The Arab Spring helped boost diamond prices as the region’s wealthy individuals moved their cash from stocks and bonds to safe-haven investments and tangible assets, a London-based fund manager told CNBC Tuesday,” reports CNBC.com. “ ‘There’s no other way that you can shift millions of dollars around the world in the palm of your hand and I have no doubt that the trouble in the Middle East was causing people to repatriate wealth out of that area,’ said George Godber, fund manager at Matterley Asset Management. The Arab Spring has also helped to push up the price of oil in recent months as Libyan supplies halted and investors feared more trouble in the region.”

War touches schools

“A bomb was last week found at Ikobero Church of Uganda Primary School in Kitholhu sub-county in Kasese district, being used as a bell for change of lessons and calling pupils for school assemblies,” reports Uganda’s Daily Monitor. “According to Mr. Wilson Bwambale, the co-ordinator of the Anti-Mine Network Rwenzori, it was shocking to find out that an unexploded bomb was ignorantly being used as a bell at a school.” The discovery was made when the network took its mine-awareness training program to the institution, which has an enrolment of about 700 pupils. It was fortunate that the school picked a bomb that can only be detonated by a strong force, not merely hitting it with a rock. It is the second bomb to be found in a Ugandan school in the past six months; earlier this year, teachers at Muhindi primary school had confiscated a bomb from pupils who were using it as a plaything.

Got a bug in your ear?

“[W]hy are the nooks and crannies in our faces so attractive to bugs, anyway?” asks The Huffington Post. “According to Philip Koehler, PhD, an entomology professor at the University of Florida, it’s likely because they’re seeking shelter. ‘The insects are probably entering the canal as harborage, for heat, and/or for moisture,’ Koehler told The Huffington Post in an e-mail. … There’s no one-size-fits-all method for removing bugs from people’s ears. … However, if a bug crawls in your ear, you should not try to get it out yourself, said Dr. Benjamin Crane, MD, an assistant professor of otolaryngology at the University of Rochester Medical Center in New York. ‘You can put mineral oil or something in the ear canal to kill the bug, to make it more comfortable for you, but you should then go to an emergency room or to an otolaryngologist’s office to get it removed,’ Crane [said]. Usually, ear-burrowing bugs just provide feelings of discomfort because the ear canal is so sensitive, Crane said, though there’s always the risk that they can perforate the ear drum.”

Does your book read you?

“How would you like it if the bookstore you happened to visit kept track of every book you look at before you make your decision on what to buy?” asks an editorial in The (Syracuse, N.Y.) Post-Standard. “And after the purchase, would it be okay with you if the bookstore recorded how often you read the book, how long you view each page and even any notes you might write in the book’s margins? Well, all those things are happening now with digital books. Many bookstores already collect information about readers and their purchases. But digital book services can collect even more detailed information that is often bundled in a database and sold to marketers or acquired by governments. Are you reading an e-book about an illness you might have or religion or fringe politics? Someone might be looking over your shoulder.”

Death on an escalator

“A 13-year-old boy was killed and 28 other people injured when an escalator at a Beijing subway station suddenly malfunctioned,” Sky News reports. “The rising escalator reportedly changed direction, sending more than 20 passengers crashing down and killing the teenager, who was on the way to the zoo with his father and sister. … It appears the boy and his family were crushed under others who fell. His father is said to be in intensive care at the Peking University People’s Hospital. His sister suffered head injuries and is being treated at a children’s hospital.”

Toking on the road

Responding to the item Driving While Stoned (Social Studies, July 6), James Holtom of Kanata, Ont., writes: “[W]hen I ride my motorcycle I can smell everything from recently cut grass, to road kill, to the perfume used by passengers in the cars ahead of me. But what is most alarming is how often I smell marijuana. I almost never go for a ride on the bike when I don’t smell somebody ahead of me taking a few tokes while driving. It has become a game for me to try to identify which car it’s coming from. … [W]eed smokers might want to know that the motorcyclists behind you can smell it. We know what you’re up to.”