h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

One day, while in deep meditation on the crapper, for want of a magazine, I started to read the label of some Comet(tm), and was surprised to see an ominous inscription on the bag: "It is a violation of federal law to use this product in a manner inconsistent with its labelling." Could it be that Comet (which, incidentally(?) is made by Proctor and Gamble, the target of a widely held satanic rumor) is also a potentially deadly bomb ingredient, or perhaps a powerful hallucinagen? I thought I saw some chick try it on a Cheech and Chong movie, but the more I think about it, the more I think it was laundry detergent. Either way, the idea that you can violate federal law by using Comet is strangely intriguing. Can you smoke it? Can you boil it down and make C-4? Does it make you into a superhuman monstrosity if you rub it on your underarms? By God, I'm going to find out, as soon as I sober up.

Oops, did the subject wrong.

Lets take this idea into the political realm. Does it not begin to scare us when we realize how common place it is becoming that the govenment can tell us what we can and can not use and how we are not to use it? Ok, cars should be used safety as are guns but lets not start licensing clorox! For that matter what are we doing allowing guns to be registered!? As thought a registered gun is going to be used somehow more wisely then an unregistered one. Give us a break.

Now that you've taken the question into the political realm, some other semi-interesting question arise: Which, if any, of the current presidential contenders advocates free use of Comet? Has Gee Dubbya ever used Comet in "a manner inconsistent with it's labelling"? Are there more suffocating restrictions on the use of bathroom maintenance products in the works? I can only hope, for the sake of democracy, that there aren't.

I don't know what Comet/Clorox is but, here in Scotland it is almost impossible to buy citric acid or tartaric acid. I use both of these in the making of concentrated 'home-made' lemonade. Last time I tried to buy them, I was told that Boots the chemist no longer sold these items. When I asked where I might get them, I was told that I would be lucky to get hold of them at all as heroin dealers use them to cut their drugs with, to cheat the addicts they sell to. I felt I looked very suspicious as I walked away from the counter and again when I tried in a couple of other chemists. The only way I could get some was to scrouge it from a chemistry teacher. Fortunately, she gave me the recipe for the lemonade so was not suspicious when asked.

Just out of interest - what is your recipe?

I'll bring the lemonade recipe to work so I can type it in for you. It's SO easy and deliciously refreshing despite the terrifying amount of sugar it contains. It makes a concentrate so goes a very long way.

That'll be great-we dont seem to have any entries on lemonade

Hello everyone,

Well the recipe didn't come so here's mine

It's very simple and doesn't require any tartaric acid so you could make it even in Scotland, and in all legality!!

So here it is: take a kilogram of juicy lemons (here in Morocco, the best type is "Daq lemon" I don't know the name in English ), peel them thinly, crush the lemon roughly, and put from half a kilo to 3/4 kilos of sugar on the lemon (juice and flesh altogether) and its peel in a big container.

Leave it the whole night: normally the lemon gives a lot of syrup. Then sieve it well, and leave the concentrate in the fridge!

When you want to have some lemonade, just add fresh water to the concentrate and it's all done!


Abdelaziz, Casablanca

simple yet effective-cheers

I'm so sorry I've taken so long to get back with the recipe.

3lbs sugar
6 Lemons
3 pints boiling water
2ounces citric acid
1 ounce epsom salts
1 ounce tartatric acid

(As you can see, I still think in imperial measurements - refdesk.com will provide you with a conversion table if you want a metric version)

In a LARGE bowl, add juice of 6 lemons to the sugar and the finely grated rind of three lemons then add the boiling water and stir to dissolve sugar. Allow to cool then add the rest of the ingredients, stir and bottle.

I sometimes make only half the quantity. The amount of sugar seems frightening but it is a concentrate to be diluted to taste.

I look forward to trying out the other lemonade recipe written by Abdelaziz, Casablanca.

O.R.C.

Your recipe sounds good I hope I'll try it soon, i.e. when I can convert the measurements . Thanx...

Abdelaziz