Eating a bit of dirt


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Dessert grapes are treated differently to those use in winemaking. Even so, I am cautious about eating grapes as I was told many years ago that the 'bloom' on grapes was that copper containing antifungal treatment - which it isn't BTW.

 

Copper fungicide (Bordeaux mixture) is still quite widely used not only on grapes but many other commercial fruit crops and in domestic gardens. Toxic it may be but it's far less toxic than many more recent products such as those from Monsanto. It may be different in the USA where the power of Monsanto seems to exceed the power of ALL others.

 

https://www.globalresearch.ca/the-complete-history-of-monsanto-the-worlds-most-evil-corporation/5387964

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CT I think unhealthy eating is more about eating TOO MUCH fat, salt and sugar (and meat) and not about washing fruit and veg before eating them!   I'm sometimes guilty of unhealthy eating, although I do try to be sensible most of the time!

 

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Potassium permanganate crystals (purple) dissolved in water and then sprinkled on the lawn or garden was great for getting worms for fishing bait.

Apparently it made them itch and come to the surface for relief, don't know if it killed them.

Diluted mustard was good too.

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Thanks For the thoughts Loppy.

No luckily apart from a big fire on the Eyre Peninsular about a 6 hour drive away, South Australia has been luckily mostly fire free.

The big fires are in SE Victoria, Queensland  and by far the most affected is NSW. One area that has been particularly hard hit is the area between and behind Ulladulla and Batemans Bay in the Shoalhaven region. Particularly saddening for us as we used  to spend our holidays there when we lived in NSW. Sydney has been shrouded in dense smoke from fires to the north and west of the city.The bush will recover, people will rebuild and the loss of lives thankfully has been minimal.  We are facing 4 days of 40+ degrees next week and I am forever grateful for the volunteer firefighters that give up their time and risk their lives to protect us when these devastating fires hit.

You keep well and have a great festive season

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On 12/12/2019 at 11:49 AM, philmayfield said:

Potassium permanganate mixed with sugar can be spectacular. Don’t try this at home kids! :Shock:

 

 

Potassium Permanganate is an oxidising agent.  I've never used it with sugar but very much doubt it would spontaneously combust. You'd need to light it.

 

However.. PP with Glycerine ( Glycerol) DOES spontaneously combust.  It's good fun and if you put a bit of Glycerol in a container it really isn't visible, so you can amaze your friends/Grandkids by putting a bit of PP into an apparently empty container.... adding a bit of PP and waiting for the results.

 

Potassium Permanganate is also a very good disinfectant.  When my kids had Chicken Pox I used it to give them relief from the scabby itchy phase. 

Put enough crystals in lukewarm bath water to turn it pink.  You really don't need much.. maybe half a teaspoon in a four inch depth of bath water.  Let the kids bathe in it, but keep out of eyes.  It is very soothing and antiseptic.

 

Do not get any crystals on clothing or other things you care about, because it will cause dark brown stains.

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A potassium permanganate & sugar mix is fairly stable if kept dry. All that is needed to set it going is a few drops of water. You can get a spectacular effect if you have a mix of permanganate, sugar and magnesium powder. Stand well away, though.

 

Talking of potassium permanganate, I have in the back of my mind that Boots manufactured it at a plant on Station Street somewhere near or at the back of their printing works. Can anyone confirm this? I don't seem to be able to find any details.

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27 minutes ago, jonab said:

 

 

Talking of potassium permanganate, I have in the back of my mind that Boots manufactured it at a plant on Station Street somewhere near or at the back of their printing works. Can anyone confirm this? I don't seem to be able to find any details.

The Nottingham Heritage Gateway site has a lot of information about Jesse Boots acquisition of everything between the canal and Midland railway.

The Station street laboratory building (I think called no 10) was the subject of a BBC documentary a few years ago. It is (or was) a listed building. At County Hall, one of our accountants had a boyfriend who was a graduate chemist on the site. He left an experiment "cooking" over the weekend. Unfortunately, it displayed an "adverse reaction" - his words. The reaction was adverse enough to blow out several windows, send a plume of smoke visible from across the river, and required several fire engines, His girlfriend told us that they moved him and his experiments to a remote part of the Beeston site.

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Yes, it’s so long ago. It was potassium permanganate and glycerine I was thinking of. The potassium permanganate and sugar mix was the propellant in a two stage rocket that a school friend  launched on the field at Mellish one lunchtime. Unfortunately it exploded on the launch pad. All of the school rushed to see what it was whilst six of us rushed in the opposite direction! The rocket man would normally have been caned but as he suffered from a heart condition he was suspended for a month, allowing him time to revise for his A levels. The rest of us, knowing but not directly responsible, received a mild rebuke!

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