Dawn Chorus: The breath of fresh air that costs £8, a bizarre trick for getting rid of slugs and what you need to know about the Beaver Moon

A breath of fresh air? That'll be £8 please sir

An Italian company is selling 400ml cans of air — yes, air — from Lake Como, at €9.90 a pop (about £8).

The 'product' — which is, we'd suggest, a product in the same way that the Emperor's new clothes were — is the brainchild of a marketing 'specialist' called Davide Abagnale.

Surely this can't be real? That's what we thought, and the fact that Abagnale shares his name with the most celebrated fraudster and conman in American history really had alarm bells ringing. But it really does appear kosher: we came to the story via The Times of India, whose report we then traced back to this story filed by CNN last week. And apparently lovers of empty cans are also able to indulge their hobby by buying similar products from Iceland and Canada.

Quiz of the Day

1) The sackbut is a predecessor of which modern instrument? 2) Sevruga, beluga and osetra are all types of what? 3) Commonly found in perfume, the leaves of Pogostemon cablin are used to make which essential oil? 4) The toe loop, salchow, lutz and axel are recognised jumps in which sport? 5) According to legend, which brothers founded Rome?

The internet's new trick for getting rid of slugs: Get them drunk

Gross, but it really does seem to be effective.

No sniggering at the back

Friday 15th November sees the appearance of November's full moon, which is called (and we double-checked this with the Royal Museums Greenwich) the 'Beaver Moon'.

How did it get such an odd moniker? 'There is disagreement over the origin of November's beaver moon name,' the RMG tell us. 'Some say it comes from Native Americans setting beaver traps during this month, while others say the name comes from the heavy activity of beavers building their winter dams.' So now you know.

And finally... write a play, go to sea

Budding playwrights don't have an easy time of it. Just getting your prized script picked out of a slush pile for consideration is hard enough, but then getting it through the various hurdles of finding producer(s), director, cast and venue mean that precious few ever see get a chance to shine.

So the Ambassador Cruise Line's Peel Playwriting Challenge is A Good Thing for those who fancy being the next Tom Stoppard or Harold Pinter. Get writing your play now, for come January 15 you can submit the script for a competition which will see the winning original play performed at sea — as well as a £6,000 cash prize and a cruise holiday for two. Anything else to know? Just a word of caution from my colleague James when musing on this competition. ‘Presumably,' he said, 'in international waters, the crowd is well within its rights to fling you overboard if you waste their time.’

That's it — we're back tomorrow

QUIZ ANSWERS 1) Trombone 2) Caviar 3) Patchouli 4) Figure skating 5) Romulus and Remus

Credit: Strutt and Parker

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