Seemingly trivial things that intrigue you

briantrumpet

https://foodsguy.com/mold-on-butter/

With dairy products, we are all accustomed to being extra cautious when it comes to storage. Most milk-based products need to be kept cool at all times, otherwise, they deteriorate very quickly. So why is butter so different?

It all comes down to the high fat and low water content of butter. This inhibits the growth of mold, even at room temperatures. However, butter can still go moldy under the right conditions.

What Causes Mold On Butter?
Butter is a relatively stable dairy product and normally has a long shelf life. Unlike other milk-based items, such as yogurt, butter does not go moldy easily.

In fact, it can be stored in the refrigerator for up to three months, even after it has been opened! However, butter can go moldy, and there are a few reasons why this may happen.

1. Contamination
The main culprit in many households is the use of contaminated utensils. And yes, we all know how that happens, and many of us are guilty of it ourselves!

When you’re making a batch of sandwiches for the family, sometimes it just seems easier to use the same knife for everything. So, you butter one round of bread, spread on the peanut butter or jam, then move on to buttering the next round of bread.

And now your butter is contaminated with tiny particles of whatever you have filled your sandwiches with – oops!

Even if you wipe your knife clean when you switch between sandwich fillings, contamination will still occur. And even if you are just buttering bread or toast, crumbs are inevitably going to end up in your butter!

2. Heat
Exposure to heat greatly increases the likelihood of your butter going moldy. The first reason for this is that heat will promote the growth of mold, allowing it to spread and grow more quickly.

Secondly, when butter is warm, it becomes softer. This allows the mold to penetrate deeper into the butter itself.

3. Air
For mold particles to contaminate your butter, they will normally travel through the air. Butter which is not kept in an airtight container is much more likely to become moldy.

Air also causes another problem – oxidation. This is a natural process where food deteriorates when exposed to air. This causes your butter to become rancid and unpalatable.

4. Salt
In the grocery store, you will see two types of butter – salted and unsalted. Salt is an excellent preservative and will inhibit the growth of mold on butter.

Unsalted butter is much more likely to go moldy, particularly if stored at room temperature.

briantrumpet

In my experience, it'll go rancid long before it goes 'moldy'.

Pross

Alright, maybe more the breadcrumbs stuck in the butter but it is the contaminant not the jam itself going moldy.

pangolin

I'm enormously pleased that we've completely ignored Rick's issue and are debating the metric he chose to use to make his point.

rick_chasey

https://www.economist.com/graphic-detail/2023/01/10/why-did-teenage-suicides-decline-during-americas-first-covid-19-lockdowns

This article.

Teenage suicides dropped under lockdown.

Also, the Economist is quite punchy with the lede...

Shortly before the start of the American school year in September 2022 a grim meme began to circulate. Teenagers posted pictures of nooses on social media, calling them “back-to-school necklaces”. For some children, however, such thoughts were no joke—as a new working paper indicates.

Suicide is the second most common cause of death for American children aged between 12 and 18. Benjamin Hansen of the University of Oregon, Joseph Sabia of San Diego State University and Jessamyn Schaller of Claremont McKenna College studied the relationship between suicides and school schedules during the covid-19 lockdowns of 2020. They found that suicide rates among children aged 12 to 18 fell substantially during school closures. Alas, they increased to 12-18% above pre-pandemic levels after schools reopened.

Really remarkable stat, and says something about schools and mental health, but I'm not entirely sure what.

pblakeney

rick_chasey said:

Really remarkable stat, and says something about schools and mental health, but I'm not entirely sure what.

I'm no expert but I'll guess bullying and peer pressure.
Especially so for the young who haven't developed coping mechanisms.

rick_chasey

Yeah sure, it’s bullying. But what’s the solution if there is one?

First.Aspect

rick_chasey said:

Yeah sure, it’s bullying. But what’s the solution if there is one?

Other than armed guards for when one of then comes back after a couple of years with a gun, there's no magic bullet.

Children are like any other people, but without the restraint. i.e. just generally fairly vile.

pblakeney

rick_chasey said:

Yeah sure, it’s bullying. But what’s the solution if there is one?

People have been asking that questions for centuries.
I'm not going to pretend to have a solution.

briantrumpet

.

First.Aspect said:

rick_chasey said:

Yeah sure, it’s bullying. But what’s the solution if there is one?

Other than armed guards for when one of then comes back after a couple of years with a gun, there's no magic bullet.

Children are like any other people, but without the restraint. i.e. just generally fairly vile.

Capable of being so, yes, but maybe I'm just lucky that the ones I work with are, on the whole, lovely, and they let me play with their brains, which is fun.

briantrumpet

@pinno - just keeping up the comma count for you there.

First.Aspect

briantrumpet said:

.

First.Aspect said:

rick_chasey said:

Yeah sure, it’s bullying. But what’s the solution if there is one?

Other than armed guards for when one of then comes back after a couple of years with a gun, there's no magic bullet.

Children are like any other people, but without the restraint. i.e. just generally fairly vile.

Capable of being so, yes, but maybe I'm just lucky that the ones I work with are, on the whole, lovely, and they let me play with their brains, which is fun.

Really? Or do you maybe not get to see how, when teachers back is turned, kids home in on any weaknesses with surgical precision?

Jezyboy

rick_chasey said:

Yeah sure, it’s bullying. But what’s the solution if there is one?

I think bullying is a lot less socially acceptable than it was...but obviously still goes on, and with social media, follows the victim in a way that it didn't in even my generation.

I think that millennials will at least be better aware of raising kids and social media, than previous generations. I feel like that should help somehow...

rjsterry

pangolin said:

I'm enormously pleased that we've completely ignored Rick's issue and are debating the metric he chose to use to make his point.

Just needs a graph

rjsterry

briantrumpet said:

.

First.Aspect said:

rick_chasey said:

Yeah sure, it’s bullying. But what’s the solution if there is one?

Other than armed guards for when one of then comes back after a couple of years with a gun, there's no magic bullet.

Children are like any other people, but without the restraint. i.e. just generally fairly vile.

Capable of being so, yes, but maybe I'm just lucky that the ones I work with are, on the whole, lovely, and they let me play with their brains, which is fun.

Would tend to agree. Almost all the ones I've had any interaction with seem great. I'd say lack of understanding of the consequences of actions more than lack of restraint. The sad bit is seeing kids at infant school age that are already 'trouble' and then seeing how their parents interactions with school staff, etc and thinking 'well no wonder they think that's how you deal with life'. By the time they've had 9 or 10 years of that it's going to take a lot of unpicking.

rjsterry

Jezyboy said:

rick_chasey said:

Yeah sure, it’s bullying. But what’s the solution if there is one?

I think bullying is a lot less socially acceptable than it was...but obviously still goes on, and with social media, follows the victim in a way that it didn't in even my generation.

I think that millennials will at least be better aware of raising kids and social media, than previous generations. I feel like that should help somehow...

You'd think, but the number of parents that let their 8/9 year old have a WhatsApp account, etc. is scary.

rjsterry

briantrumpet said:

@pinno - just keeping up the comma count for you there.

Steady, on.

briantrumpet

Jezyboy said:

rick_chasey said:

Yeah sure, it’s bullying. But what’s the solution if there is one?

I think bullying is a lot less socially acceptable than it was...but obviously still goes on, and with social media, follows the victim in a way that it didn't in even my generation.

I think that millennials will at least be better aware of raising kids and social media, than previous generations. I feel like that should help somehow...

Sure, it goes on, and children can be really cruel to each other, but there has been an enormous effort on the part of the school I work at on the welfare side, for both pupils and staff, not just because of what they legally must do these days. Ofsted put a lot more weight on this these days, I think.

I know that one or two incidents have really caused some deep soul-searching amongst senior management, and I thought it notable that prior to one of the half-term breaks, an email went out to all pupils that they needed downtime and shouldn't be revising, and staff had been under instructions not to set homework. Staff also get drummed into them to watch out for signs of bullying (not least as it's part of the specified safeguarding issues), and year on year, the exhortations to report any concerns to the pastoral care system are amplified.

When you see children actually really looking out for each other, not just their immediate friends, then you know that at least part of the culture/ethos is working.

I never did read Lord Of The Flies... mostly because I hated being told what to read.

pinno

briantrumpet said:

@pinno - just keeping up the comma count for you there.

Can you put a Venn diagram or graph to show the rise in your use of commas?

rjsterry

briantrumpet said:

Jezyboy said:

rick_chasey said:

Yeah sure, it’s bullying. But what’s the solution if there is one?

I think bullying is a lot less socially acceptable than it was...but obviously still goes on, and with social media, follows the victim in a way that it didn't in even my generation.

I think that millennials will at least be better aware of raising kids and social media, than previous generations. I feel like that should help somehow...

Sure, it goes on, and children can be really cruel to each other, but there has been an enormous effort on the part of the school I work at on the welfare side, for both pupils and staff, not just because of what they legally must do these days. Ofsted put a lot more weight on this these days, I think.

I know that one or two incidents have really caused some deep soul-searching amongst senior management, and I thought it notable that prior to one of the half-term breaks, an email went out to all pupils that they needed downtime and shouldn't be revising, and staff had been under instructions not to set homework. Staff also get drummed into them to watch out for signs of bullying (not least as it's part of the specified safeguarding issues), and year on year, the exhortations to report any concerns to the pastoral care system are amplified.

When you see children actually really looking out for each other, not just their immediate friends, then you know that at least part of the culture/ethos is working.

I never did read Lord Of The Flies... mostly because I hated being told what to read.

I found the whole thing a bit heavy handed and not particularly subtle.

briantrumpet

rjsterry said:

briantrumpet said:

Jezyboy said:

rick_chasey said:

Yeah sure, it’s bullying. But what’s the solution if there is one?

I think bullying is a lot less socially acceptable than it was...but obviously still goes on, and with social media, follows the victim in a way that it didn't in even my generation.

I think that millennials will at least be better aware of raising kids and social media, than previous generations. I feel like that should help somehow...

Sure, it goes on, and children can be really cruel to each other, but there has been an enormous effort on the part of the school I work at on the welfare side, for both pupils and staff, not just because of what they legally must do these days. Ofsted put a lot more weight on this these days, I think.

I know that one or two incidents have really caused some deep soul-searching amongst senior management, and I thought it notable that prior to one of the half-term breaks, an email went out to all pupils that they needed downtime and shouldn't be revising, and staff had been under instructions not to set homework. Staff also get drummed into them to watch out for signs of bullying (not least as it's part of the specified safeguarding issues), and year on year, the exhortations to report any concerns to the pastoral care system are amplified.

When you see children actually really looking out for each other, not just their immediate friends, then you know that at least part of the culture/ethos is working.

I never did read Lord Of The Flies... mostly because I hated being told what to read.

I found the whole thing a bit heavy handed and not particularly subtle.

In that case I'll save myself the effort and remain ignorant, and read a book on fungus instead, which is waiting on the shelf, once I've finished whatever it is that I've got on the go now.

rick_chasey

I am genuinely surprised suicides *went down* in lockdown.

Obvious when you see the stats as to why but I would have said the absolute opposite if I was guessing.

briantrumpet

rick_chasey said:

I am genuinely surprised suicides *went down* in lockdown.

Obvious when you see the stats as to why but I would have said the absolute opposite if I was guessing.

I think that the predictions were that they'd go up, particularly from those who wanted to tell us that lockdowns were evil, though I didn't see anyone arguing they'd go down.

First.Aspect

.

briantrumpet said:

rick_chasey said:

I am genuinely surprised suicides *went down* in lockdown.

Obvious when you see the stats as to why but I would have said the absolute opposite if I was guessing.

I think that the predictions were that they'd go up, particularly from those who wanted to tell us that lockdowns were evil, though I didn't see anyone arguing they'd go down.

You only posted an article about teenagers in the US though.

briantrumpet

First.Aspect said:

.

briantrumpet said:

rick_chasey said:

I am genuinely surprised suicides *went down* in lockdown.

Obvious when you see the stats as to why but I would have said the absolute opposite if I was guessing.

I think that the predictions were that they'd go up, particularly from those who wanted to tell us that lockdowns were evil, though I didn't see anyone arguing they'd go down.

You only posted an article about teenagers in the US though.

Hey, just because I replied to the wrong comment in reply to you about bullying, no need to get your own back by quoting me in reply to RC...

rick_chasey

First.Aspect said:

.

briantrumpet said:

rick_chasey said:

I am genuinely surprised suicides *went down* in lockdown.

Obvious when you see the stats as to why but I would have said the absolute opposite if I was guessing.

I think that the predictions were that they'd go up, particularly from those who wanted to tell us that lockdowns were evil, though I didn't see anyone arguing they'd go down.

You only posted an article about teenagers in the US though.

Ah sorry. I forgot you need to debate the data and not the argument again.

As you were.

First.Aspect

rick_chasey said:

First.Aspect said:

.

briantrumpet said:

rick_chasey said:

I am genuinely surprised suicides *went down* in lockdown.

Obvious when you see the stats as to why but I would have said the absolute opposite if I was guessing.

I think that the predictions were that they'd go up, particularly from those who wanted to tell us that lockdowns were evil, though I didn't see anyone arguing they'd go down.

You only posted an article about teenagers in the US though.

Ah sorry. I forgot you need to debate the data and not the argument again.

As you were.

I find it helps to have some semblance of informed argument, I'm afraid.

pinno

First.Aspect said:

rick_chasey said:

First.Aspect said:

.

briantrumpet said:

rick_chasey said:

I am genuinely surprised suicides *went down* in lockdown.

Obvious when you see the stats as to why but I would have said the absolute opposite if I was guessing.

I think that the predictions were that they'd go up, particularly from those who wanted to tell us that lockdowns were evil, though I didn't see anyone arguing they'd go down.

You only posted an article about teenagers in the US though.

Ah sorry. I forgot you need to debate the data and not the argument again.

As you were.

I find it helps to have some semblance of informed argument, I'm afraid.

What?!

rick_chasey

First.Aspect said:

rick_chasey said:

First.Aspect said:

.

briantrumpet said:

rick_chasey said:

I am genuinely surprised suicides *went down* in lockdown.

Obvious when you see the stats as to why but I would have said the absolute opposite if I was guessing.

I think that the predictions were that they'd go up, particularly from those who wanted to tell us that lockdowns were evil, though I didn't see anyone arguing they'd go down.

You only posted an article about teenagers in the US though.

Ah sorry. I forgot you need to debate the data and not the argument again.

As you were.

I find it helps to have some semblance of informed argument, I'm afraid.

I post an article I find interesting, and you complain the article doesn’t contain the data you want to discuss.

Roger.

briantrumpet

rick_chasey said:

Roger.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IC7pZSd8iRg