SensNews May 2020

Sensor100 2020 18 The LastWord A few years ago,The LastWord was a regular feature of Sensor100 which included bizzare, off-topic and other amusing items which didn't fit anywhere else. The pandemic lockdown provides an opportunity to re-introduce this feature from time to time. How toWaste Government Funds: COVID-19 detection dogs trial launches The UK Department of Health and Social Care announced that it had provided a grant of £500,000 to a project to train dogs to detect coronoavirus. The dogs, who suc- cessfully detect certain cancers, will undergo intensive training to see if they can spot coronavirus before symptoms appear. The answer is possibly, but the question is why does this matter? Just as dogs are not used to screen for cancer, they won't be used to screen for Covid19. It is certainly not worth £500k to find out. There are a lot better uses of DHSC Innovation Funds; Sensor100 will be pleased to offer advice if DHSC officials are short of ideas. DHSC Press Release 16 May Off-Topic: Gautier Cognac 1762 sells on on-line auction for £118,000 In an online auction, an Asian bidder purchased one of the three remaining bottles of the worlds oldest cognac for £118k. Sotheby's claimed the cognac was still drinkable, but is hard to know if it was a good use of £118k. When I lived in Boston, Dukes in St. James's was my London Hotel. The bar tender, Salvatore Calabrese, had accumlated a collection of vintage brandy and port which he sold to unsuspecting Americans at exhorbitant prices per shot. I had once done Salvator a minor favour, and in return he gave me dribble from a shot glass of a 17?? cognac which he had just sold. It was unbelievably smooth as I recall but I wouldn't have paid a few hundred pounds for a full shot. It was a constant source of amusement to my Boston colleagues that I knew Salvatore, and indeed a number of other prominent London bar tenders. Sotheby's Press Release 13 May