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#18238 11/29/01 08:12 AM
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old hand
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I remember seeing an episode of Candid Camera where the teaspoons in a diner were made of gallium.

Patrons would nonchalantly stir their cuppa, only to pull out a spoonless handle - the rest having melted in the coffee!!

Hopefully the camera crew got to each punter before they swallowed any!

stales


#18239 11/30/01 12:25 AM
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Patrons would nonchalantly stir their cuppa, only to pull out a spoonless handle
Ohmigawd, how funny!


#18240 11/30/01 01:02 AM
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That could give the restaurant's coffee a bad reputation.


#18241 11/30/01 02:12 AM
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> That could give the restaurant's coffee a bad reputation

You don't need to use gallium to get the same effect with airline coffee. Their stuff has the same effect on stainless steel!

stales


#18242 11/30/01 09:13 AM
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Something dead is feasted on by maggots. The term makes sense, figuratively applied.

Gallium: Any others like it? And what's gallium's SG? Maybe Dali's watches were made of it...?


#18243 11/30/01 03:37 PM
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I looked at dictionary for etymology of maggot, and was surprised to find it related to word "mawkish".


#18244 12/01/01 08:24 AM
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Wordwind, weren't maggots pieces of music at one time? Sort of light pieces a busy Renaissance man would jot down in his spare time?

Bingley


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#18245 12/01/01 01:23 PM
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Bingley, I'm still searching for music and maggots--you would know that there would be a rock group, huh? But look at the link below, and scroll down to 1100 - 1700 AD for something on spotaneous regeneration... Will try to refine my search a bit and see whether there's any musical maggots. (Remember Maggot in The Dirty Dozen?)

http://www.mygradnet.com/Biotech/early_history.htm

And skating on ice:

Wouldn't ice be of the lightest minerals? It's certainly found in the natural world, and it floats on water... What would be the metaphorical situations here for when our coldest natures float upon our liquid ones?

Brrrrrr regards,
Figure Eight


#18246 12/01/01 02:50 PM
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http://www.biology.clc.uc.edu/courses/bio114/spontgen.htm: It is easy in hindsight to regard earlier views with smug superiority, for the notion of "spontaneous generation" is of course ridiculous on the scale of complex organisms. However, past generations aceepted "spontaneous generation" only as applicatble to certain lower animal, for which that belief was supported by good evidence and was well accepted by reputable authority, in particular by Aristotle.

http://www.accessexcellence.org/AB/BC/Spontaneous_Generation.html: It was not until quite late that careful experimentation demonstrated that not even bacterial life arises by spontaneous generation. Louis Pasteur devised the clinching experiment in 1859.



#18247 12/01/01 03:45 PM
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Dear WW: After managing to avoid a large number of rock groups I found one reference as an example of your word "maggot". No definition, however.

A Maggot
Thomas Arne (1710-1778)

The large and appreciative audience were particularly enchanted with the
delightful Maggot by Arne,


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