what I have learned today.

[pcolbeck]

Butyric acid in Hershey's innit? Back from ye olden days before chilled tankers. Apparently the USanians like the taste & smell of vom so much they decided to keep it.

Indeed. Initially it was only Hersheys that did this to make the chocolate cheap and increase profit (didn't have to throw away milk after 72 hours). They then won a massive contract to supply chocolate for American troops ration packs in WWII. After several years eating the stuff the troops came back with a taste for it and then the other US chocolate makers followed suite. USians are so used to it they don't notice the sightly rancid taste.

[Mr Larrington]

Sure it’s not dog's milk?

Nothing wrong with dog's milk.  Full of goodness, full of vitamins, full of marrowbone jelly.  Lasts longer than any other type of milk, dog's milk. […] Plus the advantage of dog's milk is when it goes off it takes exactly the same as when it's fresh.

[Kim]

I saw a sign advertising camels' milk on yesterday's ride.  Which begged the obvious question, to which I suppose the answer is "very carefully".

[The Family Cyclist]

The song Gimme hope Jo'anna is an anti apartheid song

When you actually listen to it then its fairly obvious but I'd clearly never really listened to it before

Did have to find out who Jo'anna was and turned out to be what and Johannesburg

[CAMRAMan]

Eddie Grant did a great version at the 1988 Nelson Mandela 70th Birthday Concert at Wembley. The official video makes the apartheid connection very clear.

[Mr Larrington]

My erstwhile chum Samfast, a FLJS of no fixed ethical standards and last heard of slumming it in Australia, once interviewed Eddy Grant and as a result has a standing invitation to stay at his private island off Guyana.  The bastard.

[Cudzoziemiec]

I saw a sign advertising camels' milk on yesterday's ride.  Which begged the obvious question, to which I suppose the answer is "very carefully".

I understand it's pink, which is actually because it contains traces of blood. Camel blood, obvs.

[T42]

Anyone for camelpox?

[The Family Cyclist]

Anyone for camelpox?

Apparently it gives you the right hump

[ElyDave]

Anyone for camelpox?

Apparently it gives you the right hump

If you drink enough it gives you two

[Zipperhead]

Anyone for camelpox?

Apparently it gives you the right hump

If you drink enough it gives you two

But what does it do to your toes?

[Giraffe]

Makes them grow short, curly hair, obvs.

[Mr Larrington]

That sounds more like hobbititis.

[PeteB99]

That toast alarms smoke detectors have a replace by date. I mean it's obvious they would if you think about it but I never did until I noticed it when replacing a battery this morning.

The two I've checked should both have gone in early 2013.

[Kim]

Related factoid: The half-life of Amerecium 241 is 432.2 years.  The expiry date on smoke detectors is determined by the expected time the electronics will stay functional and correctly calibrated, and applies to optical and heat sensors as much as the ionisation type.

[perpetual dan]

There seems to be a smoke alarm shortage at the moment, so unless it’s fried itself (like two of mine) you might want to hold off the replacements!

[rafletcher]

There seems to be a smoke alarm shortage at the moment, so unless it’s fried itself (like two of mine) you might want to hold off the replacements!

Like many things electronic they’re made in China.

[TheLurker]

Coincidences.  On the idiot box yestere'en a programme about rail freight from which I learnt that Mr. Hershey, he of the !chocolate, built (or had built) a railway and a town both of which were named after him (how modest) on Cuba to take advantage of the readily available sugar supplies.  The railway is still operational and the town of Hershey is still inhabited.

[Mr Larrington]

Henry Ford tried something similar with rubber in Brazil.  Fordlândia was officially abandoned in 1934, though the houses built for the rubber tappers are still in use.  Wikinaccurate says:

The town had a strict set of rules imposed by the managers. Alcohol, women, tobacco and even football were forbidden within the town, including inside the workers' own homes. Inspectors would go from house to house to check how organised the houses were and to enforce these rules.

Banning football?  In Brazil?  No wonder it went titsup.com.

[MattH]

Fordlandia is one of the places that features on Abandoned Engineering - a generally interesting programme if a little irritating in style as it dumbs things down and tries to build up suspense of "what on earth could that have been for?" before the generally obvious reveal.
(Most of the time it was the Nazis. Or someone fighting the Nazis).

[PaulF]

It’s possible to change a set of guitar strings without bloodshed.

[Mr Larrington]

Fordlandia is one of the places that features on Abandoned Engineering - a generally interesting programme if a little irritating in style as it dumbs things down and tries to build up suspense of "what on earth could that have been for?" before the generally obvious reveal.
(Most of the time it was the Nazis. Or someone fighting the Nazis).

My chum Fergus would refer generically to the broadcasters carrying such Stuffs as “The Nazi Channel”.

[Jurek]

There seems to be a smoke alarm shortage at the moment, so unless it’s fried itself (like two of mine) you might want to hold off the replacements!

I've just managed to order a couple from Tool Station.

[Pedaldog.]

It’s possible to change a set of guitar strings without bloodshed.

Ijust get my sister (Sprogs) to do it. New strings and I shed no blood.

[Cudzoziemiec]

That before paradise meant heaven, it meant a garden. Actually derived from Old Persian word referring to both the garden and the wall or other enclosure round it.