Bust a myth

[PaulB]

His name was Fleming, and he was a poor Scottish farmer. One day, while trying to make a living for his family, he heard a cry for help coming from a nearby bog. He dropped his tools
and ran to the bog.

There, mired to his waist in black muck, was a terrified boy, screaming and struggling to free himself. Farmer Fleming saved the lad from what could have been a slow and terrifying death.

The next day, a fancy carriage pulled up to the Scotsman's sparse surroundings. An elegantly dressed nobleman stepped out and introduced himself as the father of the boy Farmer Fleming had saved.

'I want to repay you,' said the nobleman... 'You saved my son's life.'

'No, I can't accept payment for what I did,' the Scottish farmer replied waving off the offer. At that moment, the farmer's own son came to the door of the family hovel.

'Is that your son?' the nobleman asked.

'Yes,' the farmer replied proudly.

'I'll make you a deal. Let me provide him with the level of education my own son will enjoy If the lad is anything like his father, he'll no doubt grow to be a man we both will be proud of.' And that he did.


Farmer Fleming's son attended the very best schools and in time, graduated from St. Mary's Hospital Medical School in London, and went on to become known throughout the world as the noted Sir Alexander Fleming, the discoverer of Penicillin.

Years afterward, the same nobleman's son who was saved from the bog was stricken with pneumonia.

What saved his life this time? Penicillin.


The name of the nobleman? Lord Randolph Churchill .. His son's name?


Sir Winston Churchill.



I don't know how many times I've heard that story and am always surprised at the expectation of your gullibility by the teller. It is, of course, a load of old cobblers. http://www.snopes.co...rge/fleming.asp

 

[ASC1951]

It is, of course, a load of old cobblers.

Of course. For one thing, Fleming didn't discover penicillin. He was beaten to that by Duchesne 30 years earlier and possibly Pasteur 20 years before that. And the curative properties of certain moulds have been known since the mists of time.

All Fleming did was isolate and produce it, which several others did at the same time.

 

[dellzeqq]

This story has been going around for at least fifty years - my grandfather told it to me.

I thought Florey (he of the building) was the person who isolated and produced it?

 

[PBancroft]

This story has been going around for at least fifty years - my grandfather told it to me.

I thought Florey (he of the building) was the person who isolated and produced it?

I wouldn't have believed the story above - I'm too sceptical for that - but I don't know the true Fleming story, or rather didn't. It's quite interesting when you dig into it.

I love the myths that kids tell each other. Things that sound reasonable when you're not into double digits, but absurd at an older age but somehow hang in there.

I remember being told (and potentially believing to a certain degree) that McDonalds donates to the IRA. Heck, I wrote my dissertation on conspiracy theories, and part of me still loves the Darwin Awards. I love stories, they can be fun, even if they aren't true... as long as you don't believe in them too far.

 

[ChrisKH]

What's inside the middle of a Jaffa Cake?

[Bamber Gascoine] Come on, I'm going to have to hurry you now [\Bamber Gascoine]

 

[Theseus]

What's inside the middle of a Jaffa Cake?

[Bamber Gascoine] Come on, I'm going to have to hurry you now [\Bamber Gascoine]

air

 

[ChrisKH]

air

No and it's not orange either.

Apparently it's Apricot pulp, sugar and a squirt of tangerine oil. Not a myth as such, I just wanted to share.

 

[Theseus]

No and it's not orange either.

Apparently it's Apricot pulp, sugar and a squirt of tangerine oil. Not a myth as such, I just wanted to share.

... but that's not in the middle. It sits on the top. The middle of the total volume is somewhere in the cake and cake is mainly air.

 

[ChrisKH]

... but that's not in the middle. It sits on the top. The middle of the total volume is somewhere in the cake and cake is mainly air.

There was me thinking I had posted in the Cafe, rather than P&L.

 

[gary r]

its not impossible to sneeze with your eyes open,I can do it

 

[Theseus]

There was me thinking I had posted in the Cafe, rather than P&L.

Is there a lot of discussion about cake in P&L then? There was a long thread in informal rides, but I think all the cakes were home made.

 

[astrocan]

A Jaffa Cake is a biscuit.

You have to do more than call it a cake, to make it a cake.

 

[ChrisKH]

A Jaffa Cake is a biscuit.

You have to do more than call it a cake, to make it a cake.

By law it's a cake. A biscuit when it's left for a long time goes soft. A cake when it's left for a long time goes hard.

Now tell me, what happens to a Jaffa Cake? And I know as I had to throw out three hard ones yesterday.

 

[Theseus]

A Jaffa Cake is a biscuit.

You have to do more than call it a cake, to make it a cake.

Nope,

The story I heard was that the taxman tried to get extra money out of them as they classified it as a chocolate biscuit, which has higher VAT (or something) than just a biscuit. Cakes have an even lower level of this tax.

It all went to court and jaffa made an extra large version to show that it was a cake.

I think the acid test is that when they go stale a cake goes hard and a biscuit goes soft.

However I could be wrong and just made that all up.


ETA: Beaten by Chris.

 

[Theseus]

Does the French infernal revenue charge different rates of tax for biscuits, biscuits with chocolate on them and cakes, or are they all lumped together under one rate?