Cornstarch vs. Talc

On 1/29/2015 10:47 PM, Frank Krygowski wrote:
On 1/29/2015 10:19 PM, John B. Slocomb wrote:

Yup. No one seems to have died from the mercury and I read
one
discussion where the makers were said to have stated "we
changed to a
new substance because of the furor about mercury", or
words to that
effect.

We had a machinist who absolutely refused to repair one
piece of laboratory equipment because it contained some
mercury, sealed in a metal bellows. There was no reasonable
way it could leak, and he had probably been in far more
contact with mercury in his career. But he raised enough of
a stink, threatening union action, etc., that we were
instructed to throw the equipment out. We never had the
budget to replace it, so in the end, the students lost a
great educational opportunity because of his fear. Yet
there had to have been - and probably still are - a dozen
mercury barometers in the various science labs.

Funny thing was, about the same time as the machinist's
kerfuffle we found an open beaker of mercury, probably 300
mL, that had apparently been in one of our storage cabinets
for years. I called the Health & Safety officer when I
discovered it, expecting that he'd call for the building to
be razed. He walked over personally, took it from my hand,
said "No problem," and walked off with it.

Maybe he sold it to the Bag Balm people?


Your average USAian can't distinguish between metallic
mercury (negligible to low risk) and organic mercury
compounds (such as methyl and dimethyl mercury, yes can be
dangerous to fatal). For people of a certain age a small
container of metallic mercury salvaged form a broken
thermometer was once a popular plaything with as far as I
can tell no adverse effects.

--
Andrew Muzi
www.yellowjersey.org/
Open every day since 1 April, 1971

On Fri, 30 Jan 2015 08:06:39 -0600, AMuzi wrote:

On 1/29/2015 10:47 PM, Frank Krygowski wrote:
On 1/29/2015 10:19 PM, John B. Slocomb wrote:

Yup. No one seems to have died from the mercury and I read
one
discussion where the makers were said to have stated "we
changed to a
new substance because of the furor about mercury", or
words to that
effect.

We had a machinist who absolutely refused to repair one
piece of laboratory equipment because it contained some
mercury, sealed in a metal bellows. There was no reasonable
way it could leak, and he had probably been in far more
contact with mercury in his career. But he raised enough of
a stink, threatening union action, etc., that we were
instructed to throw the equipment out. We never had the
budget to replace it, so in the end, the students lost a
great educational opportunity because of his fear. Yet
there had to have been - and probably still are - a dozen
mercury barometers in the various science labs.

Funny thing was, about the same time as the machinist's
kerfuffle we found an open beaker of mercury, probably 300
mL, that had apparently been in one of our storage cabinets
for years. I called the Health & Safety officer when I
discovered it, expecting that he'd call for the building to
be razed. He walked over personally, took it from my hand,
said "No problem," and walked off with it.

Maybe he sold it to the Bag Balm people?


Your average USAian can't distinguish between metallic
mercury (negligible to low risk) and organic mercury
compounds (such as methyl and dimethyl mercury, yes can be
dangerous to fatal). For people of a certain age a small
container of metallic mercury salvaged form a broken
thermometer was once a popular plaything with as far as I
can tell no adverse effects.

Somewhere buried deep in my memory is a statement made by a military
doctor when I asked about the dangers of mercury. He stated that one
of the last things a doctor might try for a very severe case of
constipation (just before they cut someone open and manually cleaned
him/her out) was to swallow a cup full of mercury :-) I didn't ask
whether they than got the patient to jump off a stepladder.
--
Cheers,

John B.

John B. Slocomb writes:

On Fri, 30 Jan 2015 08:06:39 -0600, AMuzi wrote:

On 1/29/2015 10:47 PM, Frank Krygowski wrote:
On 1/29/2015 10:19 PM, John B. Slocomb wrote:

Yup. No one seems to have died from the mercury and I read
one
discussion where the makers were said to have stated "we
changed to a
new substance because of the furor about mercury", or
words to that
effect.

We had a machinist who absolutely refused to repair one
piece of laboratory equipment because it contained some
mercury, sealed in a metal bellows. There was no reasonable
way it could leak, and he had probably been in far more
contact with mercury in his career. But he raised enough of
a stink, threatening union action, etc., that we were
instructed to throw the equipment out. We never had the
budget to replace it, so in the end, the students lost a
great educational opportunity because of his fear. Yet
there had to have been - and probably still are - a dozen
mercury barometers in the various science labs.

Funny thing was, about the same time as the machinist's
kerfuffle we found an open beaker of mercury, probably 300
mL, that had apparently been in one of our storage cabinets
for years. I called the Health & Safety officer when I
discovered it, expecting that he'd call for the building to
be razed. He walked over personally, took it from my hand,
said "No problem," and walked off with it.

Maybe he sold it to the Bag Balm people?


Your average USAian can't distinguish between metallic
mercury (negligible to low risk) and organic mercury
compounds (such as methyl and dimethyl mercury, yes can be
dangerous to fatal). For people of a certain age a small
container of metallic mercury salvaged form a broken
thermometer was once a popular plaything with as far as I
can tell no adverse effects.

Although metallic mercury in liquid form is fairly safe, mercury vapor
is not. Mercury metal is volatile at ordinary room temperature.

Somewhere buried deep in my memory is a statement made by a military
doctor when I asked about the dangers of mercury. He stated that one
of the last things a doctor might try for a very severe case of
constipation (just before they cut someone open and manually cleaned
him/her out) was to swallow a cup full of mercury :-) I didn't ask
whether they than got the patient to jump off a stepladder.

Once, when I was a lad, I had a fever, so my mother stuck a thermometer
in my mouth. Being easily bored, I began chewing on it, and it broke.
It certainly seemed likely that I had swallowed all or most of the
mercury; knowing that mercury was toxic, I was sure that I was going to
die.

Mother called the doctor (at home, in the evening (this was quite a
while ago)). He told her that if I hadn't swallowed any glass there was
nothing to worry about.

I don't recall any unusual laxity of the bowels afterwards.


--

On 01/02/15 06:45, Radey Shouman wrote:


Once, when I was a lad, I had a fever, so my mother stuck a thermometer
in my mouth. Being easily bored, I began chewing on it, and it broke.
It certainly seemed likely that I had swallowed all or most of the
mercury; knowing that mercury was toxic, I was sure that I was going to
die.

Mother called the doctor (at home, in the evening (this was quite a
while ago)). He told her that if I hadn't swallowed any glass there was
nothing to worry about.

I don't recall any unusual laxity of the bowels afterwards.



Did your mood change with the weather for a while?

--
JS

NEWS TRAVELS SLOWLY DEPT.


http://www.medical-library.net/denta...poisoning.html
The official American Dental Association position on amalgam until recently has been been that not enough mercury is released to pose a hazard -- this despite hard evidence to the contrary. That position has changed in the last few years and the new official position is: no position. They are simply hiding from the issue.

Organic mercury has passed through a living system of some sort and has come out in the chelated form.

The breakage of a mercury thermometer is a potential, although usually unrecognized, medical emergency. Once exposed to air, pure mercury (quicksilver) vaporizes rapidly. If inhaled it makes its way into the tissues of the body in minutes. A large dose can be lethal.


THUS ALZHEIMERS...

Aluminum does a similar dance. Discussing cookware in kayak-canoecamp ect, I recommend MSR stainless then dissed aluminum as toxic with a theoretical basis for Alzheimers.

Egad ! violent objections, the Reynolds Family rose up in protest. I had advanced a commie left wing takeover plot.

On 1/31/2015 4:56 PM, wrote:
NEWS TRAVELS SLOWLY DEPT.


http://www.medical-library.net/denta...poisoning.html
The official American Dental Association position on amalgam until recently has been been that not enough mercury is released to pose a hazard -- this despite hard evidence to the contrary. That position has changed in the last few years and the new official position is: no position. They are simply hiding from the issue.

Organic mercury has passed through a living system of some sort and has come out in the chelated form.

The breakage of a mercury thermometer is a potential, although usually unrecognized, medical emergency. Once exposed to air, pure mercury (quicksilver) vaporizes rapidly. If inhaled it makes its way into the tissues of the body in minutes. A large dose can be lethal.


THUS ALZHEIMERS...

Aluminum does a similar dance. Discussing cookware in kayak-canoecamp ect, I recommend MSR stainless then dissed aluminum as toxic with a theoretical basis for Alzheimers.

Egad ! violent objections, the Reynolds Family rose up in protest. I had advanced a commie left wing takeover plot.


Aluminum? Let's find out. I propose an experiment wherein a
few hundred million people drink beer from aluminum cans for
30 years or so. That ought to sort it out, yes?

--
Andrew Muzi
www.yellowjersey.org/
Open every day since 1 April, 1971

NEWS TRAVELS SLOWLY DEPT

bad news Dude. Cans are coated with plastic

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...aLoveScene.jpg

manometers

uh whose sucking what here ?

as with Slocomb the master mechanic, you are humorously pleading mental deficiency from childhood mercury abuse..at both ends.

The skin potion traps bacteria in skin pores and thus is backwards 19thC medicine.

Today, we wash damaged skin with gram negative and positive medical soaps then apply a healing emollient of whatever's recommended.

On Mon, 02 Feb 2015 22:01:09 +0000, Phil W Lee
wrote:

John B. Slocomb considered Thu, 29 Jan 2015
20:09:42 +0700 the perfect time to write:

On Wed, 28 Jan 2015 11:37:27 -0500, Frank Krygowski
wrote:

On 1/28/2015 11:18 AM, wrote:
.........dave

http://goo.gl/Nz9LQy

On "The People's Pharmacy" (a syndicated newspaper column, radio show,
website etc) some bicycle tourist recommended original Noxzema cleansing
cream. They claimed thousands of comfortable touring miles.

I've dealt with minor saddle sores on tours. Next time I might try this.
http://www.noxzema.com/products/orig...leansing-cream


My experience has been that if it is water soluble it won't last very
long. "Bag Balm" which is highly rated as a saddle cream has Vaseline
and lanolin as its main ingredients (with 0.005% mercury "from
ethylated sterols").

In the UK, the most commonly recommended product is the same stuff
that is prescribed for nappy rash in infants, bedsores, acne and
eczema - Sudocrem.
It has a base of water, liquid paraffin, paraffin wax and beeswax, and
contains zinc oxide, various petroleum derivatives and alcohols, and
lanolin.
I'm sure an online search would bring up the full ingredients list if
it's not available wherever you are and you want to try to reproduce
the formula, but it works rather well, both as a preventative and
treatment of saddle sores. It's also pretty inexpensive (around 2 GBP
per 100g, although the smaller containers obviously carry a premium),
and available in either large tubs for regular use or small tubes for
carrying on tour.

I used to use a diaper rash cream that apparently had some of the same
ingredients. but it doesn't seem to be sold any more or maybe more
accurately, not sold here.

As for cost, it is noticeable that "things for bicycles" often cost
more than other "things" of the same nature. I recently saw a chain
described as "10 speed bicycle chain (1/2" x 3/32")" for sale at
pennies over US$ 4.00
--
Cheers,

John B.

On Mon, 02 Feb 2015 22:11:27 +0000, Phil W Lee
wrote:

John B. Slocomb considered Fri, 30 Jan 2015
20:04:12 +0700 the perfect time to write:

On Thu, 29 Jan 2015 23:47:59 -0500, Frank Krygowski
wrote:

On 1/29/2015 10:19 PM, John B. Slocomb wrote:

Yup. No one seems to have died from the mercury and I read one
discussion where the makers were said to have stated "we changed to a
new substance because of the furor about mercury", or words to that
effect.

We had a machinist who absolutely refused to repair one piece of
laboratory equipment because it contained some mercury, sealed in a
metal bellows. There was no reasonable way it could leak, and he had
probably been in far more contact with mercury in his career. But he
raised enough of a stink, threatening union action, etc., that we were
instructed to throw the equipment out. We never had the budget to
replace it, so in the end, the students lost a great educational
opportunity because of his fear. Yet there had to have been - and
probably still are - a dozen mercury barometers in the various science labs.

Funny thing was, about the same time as the machinist's kerfuffle we
found an open beaker of mercury, probably 300 mL, that had apparently
been in one of our storage cabinets for years. I called the Health &
Safety officer when I discovered it, expecting that he'd call for the
building to be razed. He walked over personally, took it from my hand,
said "No problem," and walked off with it.

Maybe he sold it to the Bag Balm people?


I have to laugh when I read something like that. when I was in High
School the physics "lab" had a mercury barometer - a tall tube sitting
in a little saucer of mercury. Some of us used to drop pennies in the
saucer and reach in and dig them out the next day. we carried them
around to show people our silver penny. As far as I can tell nobody
died from it :-)

I've got a mercury thermometer just outside the window here. Been
there almost as long as we've owned the house. Luckily I don't live in
the U.S. or I'd have to watch out for the Black Helicopters circling
over head :-)

We've had similar paranoia here in the UK.
I was completely unable to replace the mercury in my set of carburetor
balancing manometers, after a severe maladjustment sucked it all out
through an engine.

My God! You should have advised the proper environmental agency about
this and they would have handled things properly to avoid the
contamination of the highways.

But I used to play with it as a child, and we had it all over the
place in the labs at school, and used by both students and staff for a
variety of experiments and demonstrations.
I never heard of it doing anyone any harm in liquid metallic form.
I don't think I'd have wanted to breathe anything from the exhaust of
that motorcycle that sucked my manometers dry though.

As an aside, the sphygmomanometer that the doctor tests your blood
pressure with has mercury in it :-)
--
Cheers,

John B.