Beats me how those uncouth people across the Atlantic can think of such a combination!

It's them flipping colonials mate, I gave up long ago.... ;-)

Dont knock it until you've tried it! It was one of my favorites when I was A boy. ;-P

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Beats me how those uncouth people across the Atlantic can think of such a combination!

It's them flipping colonials mate, I gave up long ago.... ;-)

Nothing wrong with us folks from the 'colonies'! I really wonder about the folks being ruled by Queen Bessy though....

My Mother likes Peanutbutter and Onion sandwiches, that's a strange but tasty combo according to her.
Canada does consider Queen Bessie as our Head of State. ;-P

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Let the colonies invent their own.

My youngest son (32 on April 24) likes smooth peanut butter and marmite sandwiches, and actually the combo is nice in small doses.

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Go away, I was asleep

You have to wonder what happened to Science in schools. I am teaching a lesson on 'Microwave Oven Safety' tomorrow.

I understand the hope is to make science more relevant so pupils will engage with it more. But cooking baked beans should be done in a cooking lesson. Oh wait...Cooking lessons are now called 'Food Tech'. Maybe they teach them about Newton and Faraday there.

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You have to wonder what happened to Science in schools. I am teaching a lesson on 'Microwave Oven Safety' tomorrow.

Ah yes I once made a microwave detector, its fun to walk around the kitchen while the cooker's on.
Also if you like I'll come show your class my celebrated "ball lightning" demo inside a microwave ...

You have to wonder what happened to Science in schools. I am teaching a lesson on 'Microwave Oven Safety' tomorrow.

Ah yes I once made a microwave detector, its fun to walk around the kitchen while the cooker's on.
Also if you like I'll come show your class my celebrated "ball lightning" demo inside a microwave ...

I have asked for a microwave and a microwave detector. I have to supply my own beans, bread and eggs.

Unfortunately, this is one of my less 'enthusiastic' classes and I suspect my efforts to inspire may be about to fall on deaf ears. They are the sort of teenagers that think they've done you a favour just by turning up and to expect anything else from them is taken as a personal affront.

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You have to wonder what happened to Science in schools. I am teaching a lesson on 'Microwave Oven Safety' tomorrow.

You are joking of course? Simple - don't put metal plates in it......

I understand the hope is to make science more relevant so pupils will engage with it more. But cooking baked beans should be done in a cooking lesson. Oh wait...Cooking lessons are now called 'Food Tech'. Maybe they teach them about Newton and Faraday there.

In my day the girls went off to Domestic Science lessons, whilst us boys went to the woodwork class. It all worked extremely well for many years until the loony left got involved with education, then it all went down the pan.

I understand the hope is to make science more relevant so pupils will engage with it more. But cooking baked beans should be done in a cooking lesson. Oh wait...Cooking lessons are now called 'Food Tech'. Maybe they teach them about Newton and Faraday there.

Well okay if you dont like the ball lightning, get a tray of something that shows obvious signs of cooking like marshmallow or scrambled-egg-mix and bung it in not on a turntable.
Sit down and measure cooked and uncooked areas of surface, discuss wavelengths, Faraday and Hertz. Eat the results.

In my day the girls went off to Domestic Science lessons, whilst us boys went to the woodwork class. It all worked extremely well for many years until the loony left got involved with education, then it all went down the pan.

Oh yes, make a fruitbowl on the lathe and spend the next 12 lessons doing french polishing.
Cant remember many excting things in Metalwork apart from the stuff done at the forge. A gate latch, a cold chisel. A big box of sodium cyanide powder for case-hardening (dont eat it, said the teacher).

Oh yes, make a fruitbowl on the lathe and spend the next 12 lessons doing french polishing.

OMG!!! Do you mind. I've still got mine!!!

Cant remember many excting things in Metalwork apart from the stuff done at the forge. A gate latch, a cold chisel. A big box of sodium cyanide powder for case-hardening (dont eat it, said the teacher).

Oh yes!!! 6" lengths of 3/4" hex bar drilled 1/4" about 5" up. Small 1/8" hole drilled down to connect. Tuppenny banger contents rammed up the spout, one ball bearing behind it. Gripped in a workshop vice ready to go, one match held against the drill hole. Voila! one cannon Drake would be proud of!

Er Um, we broke a window and all got 50 lines each.............

In my day the girls went off to Domestic Science lessons, whilst us boys went to the woodwork class. It all worked extremely well for many years until the loony left got involved with education, then it all went down the pan.

I assume you are being deliberately provocative.

I know I've always been far better at woodwork than cooking. Don't see why I should have been shoved into a subject I wasn't good at just because of my gender.

Even when I was at school we still had some mathbooks with separate questions for the boys and girls. After puzzling over a maths question about knitting I gave up and did the one 'for boys' about cement mixing. I had (and still have) no idea what purl means, but I know how to mix cement.

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I assume you are being deliberately provocative.

Who? me?

I know I've always been far better at woodwork than cooking. Don't see why I should have been shoved into a subject I wasn't good at just because of my gender.

Absolutely agree actually.

Even when I was at school we still had some mathbooks with separate questions for the boys and girls.

Never came across that, and if it was so, that is outrageous.

After puzzling over a maths question about knitting I gave up and did the one 'for boys' about cement mixing. I had (and still have) no idea what purl means, but I know how to mix cement.

Mum taught me to plain and purl, and cast off, when I was about 7, haven't a clue now....

Oh yes!!! 6" lengths of 3/4" hex bar drilled 1/4" about 5" up. Small 1/8" hole drilled down to connect. Tuppenny banger contents rammed up the spout, one ball bearing behind it. Gripped in a workshop vice ready to go, one match held against the drill hole. Voila! one cannon Drake would be proud of!

Oh yes, everyone had variations. and something called Jetex Fuse was safe, but string soaked in potassium nitrate solution and allowed to dry was cheap. Either allowed you to get behind something in time.
Something done with tiny pieces of iodine I recall, then you dropped them down the stairwell and they were ready 5 mins after hitting the floor - where they'd explode with large violet puffs of smoke when anyone walked near.

And best not talk about uses of that big bottle of phenolphthalein....

Phil, will you stop doing this, you are rattling so many old memories. Good god, yes Jetex engine stuff, I remember that. You'll be on about tiger nuts and frozen jubblies next.....

Hmmm... after reading the latest posts, I begin to understand
that im probably androgynous - Im sorry - I didnt choose
it... and didnt really know it either, before now. :p

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Oh yes!!! 6" lengths of 3/4" hex bar drilled 1/4" about 5" up. Small 1/8" hole drilled down to connect. Tuppenny banger contents rammed up the spout, one ball bearing behind it. Gripped in a workshop vice ready to go, one match held against the drill hole. Voila! one cannon Drake would be proud of!

Oh yes, everyone had variations. and something called Jetex Fuse was safe, but string soaked in potassium nitrate solution and allowed to dry was cheap. Either allowed you to get behind something in time.
Something done with tiny pieces of iodine I recall, then you dropped them down the stairwell and they were ready 5 mins after hitting the floor - where they'd explode with large violet puffs of smoke when anyone walked near.

And best not talk about uses of that big bottle of phenolphthalein....

..and this is why these chemicals are so tightly controlled in school now!

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In my day the girls went off to Domestic Science lessons, whilst us boys went to the woodwork class. It all worked extremely well for many years until the loony left got involved with education, then it all went down the pan.

I assume you are being deliberately provocative.

I know I've always been far better at woodwork than cooking. Don't see why I should have been shoved into a subject I wasn't good at just because of my gender.

Even when I was at school we still had some mathbooks with separate questions for the boys and girls. After puzzling over a maths question about knitting I gave up and did the one 'for boys' about cement mixing. I had (and still have) no idea what purl means, but I know how to mix cement.

LOL and I did typing classes in year 10. One reason was that I knew computers were going to be big and I want to get a leg up and the second reason was that the rest of the class were girls and I wanted to get my leg over.....

Something done with tiny pieces of iodine I recall, then you dropped them down the stairwell and they were ready 5 mins after hitting the floor - where they'd explode with large violet puffs of smoke when anyone walked near.

And best not talk about uses of that big bottle of phenolphthalein....

..and this is why these chemicals are so tightly controlled in school now!

I cant remember what oxydant went with the iodine but it was very sensitive, sometimes the wind would trigger it.
But you could get potassium nitrate anywhere, and of course phenolphthalein is a quite innocent indicator (till you add a little to [someone else's] tea).
I took all that stuff for granted, even the smoke and big pong of almonds when you stuck a redhot lump of steel into the cyanide powder.

Phil, will you stop doing this, you are rattling so many old memories. Good god, yes Jetex engine stuff, I remember that. You'll be on about tiger nuts and frozen jubblies next.....

My most favourite motor was the Atom 35, using Jetex smoke pellets for propulsion. It used to make balsa wood gliders fly well when screwed to the base and the ignita wick was lit.




Regarding Phil's question - I used to make lots of nitrogen triiodide by dissolving iodine crystals in 88 ammonia for 2 hours, with lots of shaking. Drain, wash and store in wet paper towels.

Leave on the floor and and watch it dry. Lots of small bangs, with purple stains, when walked on.

I also used a ground up and intimately mixed formulae of potassium chlorate (the perchlorate was better) and sugar. When confined and shocked, that really blew.

I never lose an eye brow

One lab chemical I played with was a variation on nitrosoamine. This was a colourless liquid which turned venal blood red when mixed with urine.

We tried it out in the female toilets at Redlands teacher training college, Bristol, in the mid 1960s.

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Go away, I was asleep