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

Genius theory, ER.

Goodnight AW.

All this discussion of sap rising and falling makes me wonder just who you were calling a sap.

::waits for the maple syrup::

*cooks up a batch of pancakes in anticipation*

Yum!

Better hurry with that maple syrup, they're getting cold!

Slow as molasses goin' up the hill in the wintertime ...

But the weather's gotten very warm, so that molasses should be running uphill!

Running molasses is a sore subject in Boston. Many years ago, a huge container of molasses broke, and tons of molasses came surging out. Seevral people were killed. It was not a joke.

What a way to meet your maker I'm sure it's not really funny, Paul......but I find myself giggling!

Sounds terrible.

I have to say that I thought it was a little bit funny.....

This is like making Twin-Towers jokes to a New Yorker, or "Titanic" jokes to a Titanic survivor. But, go ahead anyway, I prefer maple syrup....

I had some nutmeg syrup on my vacation, and although I've always been a maple syrup fan, I really, really liked the nutmeg! Much lighter!

Hey AW! Make sure everything blooms and it gets nice and warm there in the next month. We're coming to visit Ohio Memorial Day week!

It's not at all like making a Twin Towers joke, Paul (BTW, I would never do that). The Twin Towers was a terrorist thingy which I think every reasonable person abhors...... the Titanic, on the other hand, was an accident with human error involved.........

AW

What was this, Paul? The Boston Molasses Massacre? The La Boston Molasses Tar Pits? Is there a giant fountain of molasses in the center of town designed to trap slow moving tourists?

I think it's pretty funny too. *sniggers*

They were making those baked beans your town is famous for when the accident happened, weren't they, Paul? No one wants to die in a baked bean factory ... it's too gruesome.



We got your full bloom and warm weather already, Shea.


s Everybody!

I wasn't too sure how to reply to Paul, either ... how long ago did this happen anyway?

Thanks, AW! I'll bring my allergy pills!

The Great Molasses Flood happened in 1919:

"The United States Alcohol Company owned the largest molasses storage tank in Boston. The steel structure was ninety feet in diameter, fifty-two feet in height and was filled to the top with 2.3 million gallons of molasses. Then, shortly before noon on January 15, the vat exploded with a tremendous roar.

Chunks of metal flew everywhere, piercing into people and buildings for hundreds of feet around. One huge chunk of steel smashed through a massive stone pillar supporting an elevated railroad. A piece of the railway sagged and fell. An alert train driver had his locomotive come to a screeching halt just moments before it would have plunged over.

But most of the damage was caused by the molasses itself. It splashed onto city streets in all directions, speeding as fast as a man could run. The molasses smashed freight cars, plowed over homes and warehouses and drowned both people and animals. A three story house was seen soaring through the air as well as a huge chunk of the shattered vat that landed in a park 200 feet away.

Rescuers were bogged down in the stuff and were scarcely able to move as the molasses sucked the boots right off their feet. Trapped horses coudn't be removed so they had to be shot to death. The black sticky stuff filled cellars for blocks around and it took months for the hydraulic syphons to pump it out."

21 people died, and there were court proceedings to establish liability.

See now, that's very factual and I can find very little to laugh at in it. Sorry if I offended you, Paul. Have a loo-brush