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

A local (gulf coast Texas) manufacturer mad a type of "can cooler" and soft foam sandals that were called "tiddies" (no, really, they were). A competitor made some called "koozies". Although an inferior product, the Koozie brand dominated the market (think Betamax vs. VHS).

In the hot humid regions these 'can coolers' are a necessity.

http://www.piratesandals.com/cancoolers.html

(they had to change the name because of some stupid legal reasons).

"made" not "mad".

Didn't know that about the 'tiddies'. 'Koozies' really are handy when it's muggy out and your cold beverage has a lot of condensation on it.

That would be "Always" here on the gulf.

"think Betamax vs. VHS)". Funny, I was thinking exactly that B4 I got to that part of your post.

I really believed that I was the only fool how had perfect copies of all of the Marks Brothers films on Betamax! I now believe that others out there have footage that will never see the light of day again..... It makes me (tenuous link)want to eat something pickled.

Thought this would be an appropriate place to report the new variety of thin-skinned cucumbers which are going on sale in supermarkets Sainsbury.
Because of their thin skins they don't have to be peeled and are dubbed the 'c-thu cucumber'

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1022304/The-c-cucumbers-skin-encumber-them.html

and congradulations on a magnificent thread revial! anyone seen any glowing pickles of late?

I wonder if I could make my jar of Branstone pickle glow

I'm leaving an open jar of vinegar here to see if we can entice any pickles out of the undergrowth......

The evocative aroma of malt vinegar flowed down the side of the jar, crept across the kitchen floor and out through the door intent on the vegetable patch. Gherkin slumbered alongside Piccalilli and the rest of the picklets. The weather was still cool as Spring hadn’t yet elbowed Winter aside but on the compost all was snug. Small shimmers of heat erupted from the decaying vegetation.

Gherkin twitched as something stirred within his dream memory. That smell, that buzz, a distant glow of times past. Unthinking his senses located the direction of the source of the vinegar aroma and his green nodules inched him kitchen wards. Had he been conscious he would have remembered the horrors associated with the kitchen. But in his comatose hibernation the pull of another shocking was too strong.

>> Because of their thin skins they don't have to be peeled <<

I don't peel my cucumber anyway, so these hold very little appeal to me.

RF

I was readding somewhere the comment that, as vegetables have most of their vitamins and other nutrients just below the skin, what are the nutritionsal ramifications of having skinless vegetables?

It depends on which vegetables you're talking about.

For tubers and other root vegetables I think this is the case. But for leaf vegetables, clearly not. (Who peels cabbage anyway?) Many of the remaining "vegetables" are in fact fruits (under a strict biological definition - hey! let's restart the threads! ).

RF

I always peel my sprouts, its only polite to do so really.

The 'History in Your Garden' section of the Daily Mail Weekend magazine last week said that cucumbers were introduced to the UK in the reign of Hentry VIII and that, until Victorian times, they were commonly called 'cow-cumbers' and were regarded as dangerous .

Please sign up here http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/brunel/F16034?thread=5852540 for a cucumber