What got you flummoxed today?

[Fraufruit]

Yes, Mad Axe Murderer posted about Voyager yesterday in the What Made You Smile thread -

Voyager1 which is currently 22.5 light hours from us has been sending gibberish from the last 5 months.

It's just comeback online. Apparently the program memory has been brutalised and they have to patch the software to avoid the damaged memory

Doing this on a 46 year old space craft with a 45 hour round trip for messages is pretty awesome. It's considered to be outside the solar system because the radiation pressure from the rest of the galaxy is greater than the radiation pressure from our Sun.

[dstanners]

It's not just today, but one of our neighbours has kindly given us a bunch of flowers to say thanks, which made me think of an issue which has flummoxed me for years. Why do German florists take a bunch of flowers, and cut almost all the stems off, leaving a bunch which is about 10cm high?
That is a weird national trait. I remember going to a nearby florists a few years back and selecting some fantastic flowers, thinking they'd look great in some of our tall vases. Stupidly, I turned my back on the florist for a second, and by the time I'd turned back, there they were - short. The sort of thing you could put in a mug rather than in a vase.
I appreciate this is not a significant issue, but I've spent the past few afternoons trying to help Kid 1 prepare for a German Klassenarbeit, so I'm keen to think about any topic which a) can be written in English and b) isn't quite so frustrating.

[Emkay]

My husband recently quit drinking alcohol which is great. Friends came over and brought him some alcohol free beer…0,0% clearly printed on the label. They really did mean well. However, it seems that most, if not all, alcohol free beer (other drinks too probably) usually still contains 0.5% alcohol that doesn’t need to be declared on the label. Could be quite a dangerous hidden ingredient for some.

[Franklan]

My husband recently quit drinking alcohol which is great. Friends came over and brought him some alcohol free beer…0,0% clearly printed on the label. They really did mean well. However, it seems that most, if not all, alcohol free beer (other drinks too probably) usually still contains 0.5% alcohol that doesn’t need to be declared on the label. Could be quite a dangerous hidden ingredient for some.

Read this

Translation by Deepl:

Hidden alcohol in food
A seemingly harmless weekend shopping trip can hide quite a lot of alcohol. It can occur naturally - or be added during production. Here are a few surprising examples:

Grape juice: alcohol is produced through fermentation
It stands to reason that alcohol is hidden in grape juice - after all, wine is made from grapes. Grapevines are colonized by microorganisms - especially yeast fungi. They convert the sugar in the grapes into alcohol in a completely natural way - through fermentation. Grape juice can therefore contain up to 1% natural alcohol by volume. Apple juice has slightly less, but here too alcohol is produced because the ripe fruit ferments slightly before pressing - up to 0.3% by volume. Non-alcoholic beer may also contain alcohol in Germany. During production, fermentation is either stopped or the alcohol produced is subsequently removed. However, some alcohol remains, up to 0.5% by volume. Malt beer is different: it is only slightly fermented during brewing and therefore contains less alcohol. Nevertheless, up to 1% by volume remains in malt beer.

Fruit and vegetables: Alcoholization through fermentation
Sauerkraut is fermented white cabbage - and fermentation means here: The carbohydrates in the cabbage are fermented using lactic acid, i.e. converted by bacteria - into lactic acid and alcohol, among other things. This is why sauerkraut contains up to 0.5 percent alcohol by volume. Bananas can also contain alcohol. Yeast fungi from the ambient air are also at work here. Bananas naturally contain a lot of sugar. When yeast fungi and sugar come together, these are ideal conditions for alcoholic fermentation. Fully ripe bananas can contain around 0.6 percent alcohol by volume.

Bread and cake: Yeast converts carbohydrates into alcohol
Alcohol is also produced during the production of some types of bread because yeast is involved. Yeast is added to make the dough rise and become airy. This happens because the yeast converts the carbohydrates in the grain into carbon dioxide and alcohol, among other things. Despite baking, up to 0.3 percent by volume remains. Pre-packaged cakes can also contain alcohol, but this is usually added for flavor reasons. The list of ingredients will tell you more.

All products containing brandy vinegar, a common ingredient in ready-made products, also contain traces of alcohol. You can't get a buzz from these foods - you would simply have to consume too much of them. But children should not get used to the taste of alcohol too early. And for former alcoholics, the aroma can be a problem and rekindle cravings. So be careful when shopping!

[Emkay]

Thanks @Franklan, I guess the message is to consume nothing like this in excess. Interesting to read about bananas…..oh, dear, bad early adulthood memory. In the days when I never drank any alcohol, at a BBQ, bananas were grilled in their skins. After 2 bananas, I was completely squiffy! Cheap date then!

The beer is bad as it’s a deliberate untruth. For some, including my husband, ANY such hidden alcohol can be a serious problem when combined with certain prescription medications.

[Franklan]

The beer is bad as it’s a deliberate untruth. For some, including my husband, ANY such hidden alcohol can be a serious problem when combined with certain prescription medications.

I once was on a medication that would make you "sea sick" in combination with alcohol. I got a handwritten list from my pharmacist what food and beverages to avoid. It was basically everything listed in the article I posted before...

*AND*

... mouthwash. Yes, I am not kidding, if hubby uses a mouth wash, look at the list of Ingredients!

[bethannbitt]

The beer is bad as it’s a deliberate untruth. For some, including my husband, ANY such hidden alcohol can be a serious problem when combined with certain prescription medications.

*AND*

... mouthwash. Yes, I am not kidding, if hubby uses a mouth wash, look at the list of Ingredients!

A strict NoGo. We once had a resident in the care home where I worked who was an esteemed retired language professor, well down the dementia path but still quite clever, and they had to forbid anyone from bringing him mouthwash or he’d use it to get a buzz.

[Franklan]

A strict NoGo. We once had a resident in the care home where I worked who was an esteemed retired language professor, well down the dementia path but still quite clever, and they had to forbid anyone from bringing him mouthwash or he’d use it to get a buzz.

Look, that is a different problem. Yes, alcoholics will go every route to get a buzz.

However, I was talking about "rinsing your mouth with an alcohol based mouthwash could result in enough alcohol reaching the bloodstream to start the bad reaction with the medication". I wasn't talking about "gulping it down".

[Fraufruit]

I use alcohol free mouthwash. Not so dehydrating.

[snowingagain]

OK, some of you might remember me saying I had misplaced 4 packets of crumpets bought in December 2022. Yay, I found them. Flummoxed as they were somewhere I had actually looked a few times. Perhaps they had walked there, their condition almost merits that possibility.

[sam]

Eldest was mega grumpy about leaving the house to climb a hill. Then bounded up the hill.

[hh-sailor]

Last week was having a "what's going wrong today" week :

Wednesday the bed broke. Took a few hours to fix but it'll last until we move house in the autumn.
Thursday the washing machine broke. All internet fixes were tried but it's dead. New one on order
Friday the kitchen hotplates (ceran but not induction) stopped working. Again, trawled the internet for fixes - nothing.

Sunday flummox: Hot plates started working again after ignoring it for 48 hrs.

WTF ???

[Sannerl]

Last week was having a "what's going wrong today" week :

Wednesday the bed broke. Took a few hours to fix but it'll last until we move house in the autumn.
Thursday the washing machine broke. All internet fixes were tried but it's dead. New one on order
Friday the kitchen hotplates (ceran but not induction) stopped working. Again, trawled the internet for fixes - nothing.

Sunday flummox: Hot plates started working again after ignoring it for 48 hrs.

WTF ???

Fuses (local and/or main)?
Faulty wiring? Maybe even from the street into the house before the main fuses? We had that once - hazardous!
Have you checked with the neighbors?

[hh-sailor]

Fuses (local and/or main)?
Faulty wiring? Maybe even from the street into the house before the main fuses? We had that once - hazardous!
Have you checked with the neighbors?

No such problems.
Power on everywhere. Oven happy to consume many KW.
Just the hot plates....and they're still working now

[hh-sailor]

Here's a new flummox

Swiss Army Knife now available without a blade.

Where is the world going ??

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/art ... ut-a-blade

[Franklan]

Swiss Army Knife now available without a blade.

kids knife.jpg (53.08 KiB) Viewed 1516 times

As they already produce a children's version of a knife with a rounded tip: Why don't they make a special version of the army knife with a rounded tip?

After all, the biggest problem concerning crimes with knives is stabbing wounds; First of all it is a foldable blade and that is rather unhandy for stabbing, and if it even has a rounded tip, where is the problem?

Talking about knives for kids with a rounded tip: This is Lily, aged 6, from Louisiana, with her pink .22 calibre "My first Rifle" made by Crickett:

lily.jpg (169.6 KiB) Viewed 1514 times

[Fraufruit]

Because a 6 year old needs a beer opener.

[Franklan]

Because a 6 year old needs a beer opener.

Limo-Flasche.jpg (39.6 KiB) Viewed 1509 times

[Fraufruit]

I forgot about 6 year old pop-swillers. Oops!

[Emkay]

Is middle age ‘man eyes’ really a thing? Do women have this too?

For a long time, worse recently, everything my husband looks for with my clear (ish….could be right or left hand drawer) instructions as to where to find whatever he’s looking for, lots of huffing, rummaging and occasional swearing ensues! The item is always where I knew it would be when I then have to find it. Not forgetting the search for a pen, gets tested, doesn’t work, thrown back in the drawer