Main comment board

For the first time in about four years, this site now has a means of feedback! Written one Sunday afternoon, this comments system allows visitors to the site to tell me what they think of it, ask questions, hurl abuse, and so on.

This is the "main" comment board. The comments system I've written does have the facility to manage multiple "boards", but for now I'm not making use of it. So, any comments go here.

Spam

To stop spam, you'll be asked to type in a four-letter string displayed in ASCII art by figlet. You do this to prove that you're either a human being or a moderately clever spambot.

From: Brian K.

Date: 29 Jun 2008, 20:22.49 BST

Subject: Awesome!

I just wanted to say I love your site. Especially your Blitherances section. Cheers!

From: jebidia springfeild

Date: 20 May 2008, 20:30.24 BST

Subject: jelly

YOU ARE LIKE EINSTEIN BUT WITH JELLY FOR BRAINS INSTEAD!!

From: George Best Ever

Date: 14 May 2008, 15:07.06 BST

Subject: Y?

Y the hell would u do that u twat

From: T. Sommers

Date: 10 Apr 2008, 04:40.39 BST

Subject: Well, now.

Well. You know you're a bit mad when your day is considerably brightened by a programmer complaining about housing.

From: M

Date: 15 Mar 2008, 23:31.22 GMT

Subject: Jelly/O on a wall

I love that you actually tried the "jelly nailed to a wall trick." I have a few questions, though... First, do we know if that phrase was coined by a Brit or an American? Were they talking jelly like Jell-O, or jelly like Smuckers' gloppy fruit spread in a jar? I imagine jelly (American) would be much, much harder to nail to a wall. Second, would Knox Blox count as "jelly/O"? (In case that needs definition, Knox Blox is a concoction of Knox unflavored gelatin mixed with Jell-O powder, and the resulting Jell-O sets up harder, so it can be easily cut into little squares and eaten with the hands.) (Incidentally, does all British "jelly" come in that odd, condensed gelatinous brick? Jell-O always comes as a powder in a little box, unless you buy the pre-made plastic cups of it.)

From: Rademisto

Date: 26 Feb 2008, 12:13.51 GMT

Subject: The pleasures of your site

I cannot find a word to express my gratitude and heaven felt joy reading your posts in your site. My brother showed me the url last year, and I have been sending the link to all whom I know ever since. The blithering driver post is my favourite, however. I rarely have enough hand signals to indicate my appreciation of their unique interpretation of the Highway Code! Great to see new stuff too. Keep writing. You make my life a little more bearable.(!)

From: T. Sommers

Date: 31 Jan 2008, 04:27.57 GMT

Subject: Regions

Dude, I feel your pain when it comes to Region 1, Region 2 stuff. Being an American who can't live without John Barrowman music can get seriously expensive. Going by amazon prices, it costs something like three and a half times more (54 dollars) to buy a UK CD for Region 1, and that's not counting shipping, vs. the £8.98 it is off of amazon.co.uk. And let's not even get into Doctor Who/Torchwood box set prices. (And thanks for fixing the comment thing. I've been sitting around wondering if I couldn't comment because I wasn't in the UK, and I really wanted to complain about the regions. xD)

From: Graeme

Date: 26 Jan 2008, 13:45.10 GMT

Subject: Oops.

The figlet-based captcha that proves you're human hasn't worked for weeks. Fixed.

From: Carl Williams

Date: 12 Nov 2007, 20:52.10 GMT

Subject: Jelly Colour Might Make A Difference

SInce Jelly of the sort on your page, Jell-o and the like all contain gelatin, I haven't eaten them for ages, 'cos of being a treehugger, HOWEVER, I have fond memories of experimenting upon the substance in the school canteen, where Jelly was provided relatively regularly for us kids to play with, possibly even to eat, I forget. Anyway, we found that turning an individual serving of jelly out onto a saucer and smacking it hard with a weighty spoon would have different effects, depending on the colour. My recollection is that, in keeping with its insipid appearance, Green (lime) Jelly was by far the feeblest variety - one god smack with a spoon would usually distribute it around at least five surrounding tables. Yellow jelly wasn't a great deal better. When it came to the red stuff, though (I have no idea what flavour it was meant to be, but it was a colour which has doubtless been banned long since, along with weighty metal spoons) the spoon would just bounce off. The difference was very striking, and the result consistant. I don't know if the cook responsible for green and yellow jelly was different to the one in charge of red jelly, or if the recommended dilution differs and the instructions were ignored, or if the red stuff was simply intrinsically more robust, but I feel further investigation is probably in order. The Red Jelly of my schooldays would definitely not have been difficult to nail to a wall, given a large enough hammer and nails approporiate to the material from which the wall were constructed, unless the wall were structuraly unsound to the extent that nailing anything to it would be problematic for that reason alone. I hope this helps.

From: Graeme

Date: 02 Nov 2007, 23:54.32 GMT

Subject: Dissocated Press

thebeanie: I had to have a look to see what licence, if any, I'd released my Dissociated Press implementation under, and it turns out I placed it in the public domain. So yes, you can do what you want with it, including distributing the binaries and/or code.

From: thebeanie

Date: 29 Oct 2007, 11:13.26 GMT

Subject: Dissociated Press source

Hey. I've compiled your dispress code, and I want to know whether or not I can distribute the binaries. Is the code GPLed or something else? I'd like to <a href="mailto:linus@REMOVETOREPLYfixedstars.com.au">know.</a>

From: Mum (but not yours)

Date: 04 Oct 2007, 20:05.51 BST

Subject: I'm you, apparently

Hey, apparently I'm 34.6% you, which must be why you make me laugh so much. You also give me hope because you are the only "young person" I know who cares about spelling and grammar and proper research and really silly stuff. I'm so glad you didn't stop doing this when you stopped being a student (you do have a proper job now don't you Graeme?). And please ignore those people who say you don't have a life ... how many of them have been to London to demonstrate against the daftnesses of our times?

From: Chuck Norris

Date: 20 Jul 2007, 01:03.07 BST

Subject: Impressed

I must admit i thought i was the only one of my kind. i am proud to announce that there is a similar group of people here in South Africa (yes the chuck does stay in SA now) and we do less important experiments while our lectures are going on. I am deeply moved by your precision and dedication to the lost art of irritating the old and boring. We salute you. BTW, the stuff is called plain ol JAM here too, i dont know why america always has to be different :-) Keep up the good work, and stay strong.. our planet will come fetch us one day.

From: Grace

Date: 13 Jul 2007, 00:02.01 BST

Subject: Lovely this site thing you have

"You are Andy" Great. What did I won?

From: LoCo

Date: 23 Jun 2007, 11:04.10 BST

Subject: no life

Linzi, You definitely cannot spell!

From: linzi

Date: 21 Jun 2007, 15:24.12 BST

Subject: no life

he definatly has no life!!!

From: Anna

Date: 21 Jun 2007, 15:22.37 BST

Subject: Jelly

I was reading this during a class in skool and i tought it was quite funny although i dont think this guy has a life

From: Vivien

Date: 11 May 2007, 16:49.50 BST

Subject: Jelly

Could the result be influenced by the colour? Might some colours be more adhesive? And what's in it for the jelly; there should have been a reward for the subject. You could have successfully nailed a jelly sweet to the wall, but we would then not have had the pictures. It brightened my afternoon!

From: CrazyDave

Date: 27 Apr 2007, 10:53.02 BST

Subject:

Sorry, clearly went mad there.

From: Graeme

Date: 24 Apr 2007, 20:10.51 BST

Subject: cdave

I haven't dropped off SNAFU. I'm very much there, just a few rungs down the list.

From: cdave

Date: 24 Apr 2007, 15:59.04 BST

Subject: Nice contraption

http://cdave.livejournal.com/3623.html Hi, any chance of an RSS feed, since you've dropped off SNAFU?

From: Axel

Date: 20 Apr 2007, 14:39.25 BST

Subject: Omni-Plac 7000

Just for a change, a comment that has nothing to do with Jelly (or Jam)! Having said that I would be, I can now confirm that I am indeed impressed by your changeable placard. Congratulations.

From: Graeme

Date: 23 Mar 2007, 19:27.00 GMT

Subject: Ooblick

Robert: this page from the Jargon File might help, but according to the page, ooblick cracks when hit with a hammer rather than transmitting a shock wave. http://catb.org/esr/jargon/html/O/ooblick.html

From: Kristina

Date: 23 Mar 2007, 18:06.18 GMT

Subject: For Robert

Robert, see "Ballistic Gelatin" from page http://www.myscienceproject.org/gelatin.html Now go away unless you have something nice to say about Graeme and/or his site!

From: Robert Jones

Date: 23 Mar 2007, 00:58.18 GMT

Subject: Something that shakes like jello but is perminent.

I'm looking for a product that can be mixed and poured into 10' X 10' molds, about an inch thick, which has the consistency of Jello and would carry a shock wave for at least 3 feet after being hit with a hammer in the middle of the mold. I want to register a foot-fall on this molded flooring to within 2 to 3 feet. If anyone has seen the "Myth Buster" TV show, they might remember the molded upper body part, made of a rubber "jello" orange colored material that was suppose to represent the human body's reaction or resulting damage of impact when shot with a lead bullet. I tried to get through to the show and find out what that material was, but was unsuccessful. Can anyone help me. Thanks, Robert

From: Kristina

Date: 22 Mar 2007, 22:16.12 GMT

Subject: Jelly etc...

Love your entire site!! I've nearly spew my tea every time I read about your "adventures" with your housemates (I am 48% Graeme, by the way, and 0% Mike!). The first time I read through, there was one point where I almost peed my pants while laughing so hard, but I managed to make it to the biffy in time... (I know, I didn't need to share this with you, right?) I was lead here by another student's penchant for jelly/jello experiments (http://www.myscienceproject.org). His site was previously most notable for the jello shots, until he attempted to duplicate your experiments. He has given full credit to you for the idea, but has expanded the parameters of the experiment by trying the jello-jigglers, as well as fortification of the jelly/jello with gelatin, strawberries, red stringy candy (that's NOT liquorice!), Ramen noodles and plastic mesh. All highly amusing and worthwhile projects... (as an aside, check out the "How many condoms can you wear at the same time" experiment as well) Please come to Canada... when are you going on tour? xo

From: SleepyHead

Date: 19 Mar 2007, 17:04.20 GMT

Subject: Wow!

So it really /is/ possible to nail jelly to the wall / ceiling / postman! You're living the dream, man, you're living the dream!

From: Graeme

Date: 15 Mar 2007, 22:49.26 GMT

Subject: Word, canoes

Pierre: I presume you're referring to the time I was looking for a job and found that many recruiters insisted that people send them CVs in Word format. If so, the cost of Adobe Writer doesn't come into it. As a Linux user, I find it easy to create PDF documents with free tools, specifically LaTeX and dvipdf. I accept this may not be the case with Windows users, but Adobe *Reader* is freely available for Windows, and anybody could have read my PDF CV with that. It would be a different matter if I had been insisting that people only send me documents in PDF format - that would have been unnecessarily restrictive. Mungo Hill: no, I've never heard the phrase "nailing jelly to the ceiling". I've only ever heard the "wall" version. However, "handbrakes on canoes" are interesting. I think you could come up with an arrangement whereby the handbrake can be pulled up (on a ratchet so it doesn't drop back down again) in exactly the same way as a car's handbrake. This lever can be connected to a plate of wood or metal underneath the canoe which is normally flat (i.e. parallel to the river bed, so cutting through the water), and when the lever is pulled up, the plate rotates about an axis parallel to the normal position of the oars so that its flat surface is facing the direction of travel. This will create more resistance in the water, slowing the canoe.

From: Pierre M. Laberge

Date: 14 Mar 2007, 08:27.11 GMT

Subject: Brilliant Jelly! Monty Python!

Found your nailing jelly to the wall site link via: http://www.canada.com/topics/technology/webjunkie/070205-0209.html nifty weird inet site Brilliant! BTW: I added the MS Word comment to your Spell it this way list. Adobe is generally only used by govt and corporations up here in canada. Most people use MS Word, as it comes with MS Works anyway. Then too there is a program called Open Office, which has a Word clone, if you need one. Yes, I do have Adobe Reader. It's just that most poor people like me can't afford an Adobe Writer. There are some programs that do convert Word Docs to PDF, I hear. Anyhow... Your Nailing Jelly to the Wall thing is practically as good as Monty Python! Thank you so much for the experiment and education. Wish you the best of luck in all. Sincerely, PM Laberge SUDBURY Ont.

From: Al

Date: 12 Mar 2007, 21:30.04 GMT

Subject:

Heh nice one - we did this many years ago when I was at uni in Leeds, except we nailed our jelly to the ceiling of the front room, where it stayed for about a fortnight before it finally fell off.

From: Willy wonka

Date: 12 Mar 2007, 18:53.06 GMT

Subject: Jelly nailing

You have too much free time on your hands!!! lol

From: Mungo Hill

Date: 12 Mar 2007, 10:00.31 GMT

Subject: Jelly nailing

I appreciate the quality of the work, but I'm afraid that this looks like a classic case of rushing into experimentation without first researching the literature properly. Surely I can't be alone in thinking that the relevant phrase is 'nailing jelly to the ceiling'? However, if you do get some more spare time, I think you could look into the popularly alleged inutility of chocolate fireguards and handbrakes on canoes. Come to that, just how difficult is it to kick a dead whale up a beach?

From: hedgewizard

Date: 11 Mar 2007, 00:56.09 GMT

Subject: jelly-nailing

"Enter the string shown below to prove you're human"? xenophobes! Might I suggest a structural lattice to give strength to the jelly - such as sponge fingers or hair/lint composite (the goop that comes out of the plughole in the bath)?

From: strabismus77

Date: 02 Mar 2007, 11:10.19 GMT

Subject: jelly-nailing

Research has to be conducted (anent jelly-nailing) into the construction of chocolate teapots/fireguards. Regards, strabismus77....

From: jelly bellie

Date: 28 Feb 2007, 11:43.31 GMT

Subject: nailing jelly to wall

this website is very appealing to jelly lovers. Its a bit daft to see jelly stuck to a plank of wood on a jelly website. In my oppinion i think that a five year old can make jelly so there i no need to instructions on how to make it. my suggetion is that you should try and create a website on nailing bananas to a plank of wood.

From: Wobble Wobble

Date: 27 Feb 2007, 00:08.51 GMT

Subject: Jelly

Sometimes me and my friends put jelly in our ears.

From: Bruce

Date: 23 Feb 2007, 01:08.27 GMT

Subject: nailing jelly to wall

Well done on finding something so noble and useful to do with your time. I once spent a whole weekend with pictures of myself on the computer, drawing lines on my head to make myself look like a Klingon. I guess that nailing jelly to a wall would have been an equally noble deed. So keep up the good work Bruce

From: Michelle

Date: 22 Feb 2007, 21:55.07 GMT

Subject: Nailing jelly to a wall

Re nailing jelly to a wall - my advice is go ahead and cheat. I do not walk, I ride. I do not boil meat bones, I use Oxo cubes. I do not nurture bulbs, I plant ready-blooming silk flowers in my garden. I do not depilate, I wear trousers. Why add water to what is already jelly to make liquid jelly which will not stay on a wall, when concentrated jelly is already there and perfectly happy to stick to anything - even your head. Incidentally, please do not try nailing up jelly babies and jellied eels - it is very cruel. Best regards Michellex

From: Sebastian Paterson

Date: 22 Feb 2007, 16:19.50 GMT

Subject: Awesomeness

Morning all, I was just given a link to your website, and its a damn good site. Your truely living the student life. You make me want to make a website like this to document my uni life. After thoughts like that I normally roll over and go back to sleep while promising never to drink again. In summary all I really wanted to say is that your site is awesome, keep up the doing nothing with your lives and documenting it all. Seb

From: Phil Alexander

Date: 22 Feb 2007, 13:42.58 GMT

Subject: A tribute in song

I liked the thought of nailing jelly to the wall so much, I wrote <a href="http://www.amiright.com/parody/misc/traditional1355.shtml">a song about it</a> (a parody to "Sipping Cider Through A Straw") :-) Enjoy Phil PS Maybe "blancmange" ought to go into "how to spell it"...

From: Farry

Date: 22 Feb 2007, 12:28.05 GMT

Subject: Seedless jam is jelly here too

If you look at the labels on jars of seedless jam here in the UK, you'll usually find that it IS called jelly here too. e.g. "Robertson's Bramble Jelly". It's been that way since the year dot. I guess that most people don't notice this, and it's never going to enter the vernacular, because it comes in a "jam jar" and nobody here would SAY that they're going to buy a jar of jelly because that would cause much confusion and strange looks.

From: Crowley

Date: 22 Feb 2007, 01:22.27 GMT

Subject: Nailing Jelly to a Wall

Now try nailing blanchmange to the wall...

From: philbo baggins

Date: 21 Feb 2007, 23:18.17 GMT

Subject: Nailing jelly

Now that you've proved the accuracy of something being as impossible as nailing jelly to the wall, may I suggest a new proof? I've always used the simile "like making love standing up in a hammock"...

From: Fish

Date: 21 Feb 2007, 22:30.30 GMT

Subject: Driving at home and abroad

On the subject of driving in France. While the French will pass you at any time, often with scant regard for safety. Drivers from other countries seem to adopt the "French Method" when there with two notable exceptions. Anyone found pottering along at 40 MPH, usually in the middle of the road, are going to be from Britian or Belgium!

From: Joe (the bloke) Nicholson

Date: 21 Feb 2007, 20:50.32 GMT

Subject: Jelly on Walls

My brand new teenager granddaughter looked over my shoulder and wondered why aanyone would want to nail her sister to a wall! Older sssister is called Jenny of course.

From: Graeme

Date: 21 Feb 2007, 20:39.06 GMT

Subject: Thanks for the many, many comments.

Dave Matthews: Custard sticks to walls quite easily, as anyone who's filled a party popper with custard and fired it at a wall knows. You can add nails if you like, but I doubt they'd provide any extra adhesion. There's a fine line between "some custard nailed to a wall" and "a wall covered in custard that happens also to have some nails in it". Lee: Anything. ANYTHING. Other than Arial or Comic Sans. MrScorpio: Hammering nails into bricks is tricky enough without holding a lump of jelly in the other hand. In any case, I did address this issue: even picking the jelly up to nail it to an already-vertical wall is difficult because it disintegrates in your hand. That said, I did eat one of the little jelly cubes before mixing the jelly, so perhaps the mix wasn't *quite* as strong as it could have been. Jonathan Davies: most certainly.

From: Gordy

Date: 21 Feb 2007, 19:56.10 GMT

Subject: sanity

Ihave to ask the question as to who is the dopiest. You for trying to nail jelly to a wall or me for bothering to read about it. Nice try though.

From: Jonathan Davies

Date: 21 Feb 2007, 19:46.37 GMT

Subject: Thank you!

Thank you for demonstrating that simple proverb is indeed true. As for your cat, can you post a picture of it so we can try photoshopping it for comedy effect. Thanks.

From: MrScorpio

Date: 21 Feb 2007, 18:21.10 GMT

Subject: Nailing Jelly to the Wall!

... Not really a wall was it... can we try nailing the jelly to the wall... that was the idea wasnt it... a wall...

From: Lee

Date: 21 Feb 2007, 18:06.23 GMT

Subject: Font

I'm curious to note, what would be an acceptable alternative, in your mind, to Helvetica, having just looked in my browser's list of available fonts and failing to find the Helvetica font you blithered about. Also.. 'HTML will be escaped'.. not sure that works in a 'making perfect sense' way. :P

From: Dan

Date: 21 Feb 2007, 12:25.52 GMT

Subject:

Keep it up you nutter!!

From: DAVE MATTHEWS

Date: 21 Feb 2007, 09:42.50 GMT

Subject: HOW ABOUT CUSTARD ???

Great website. Have you thought of trying to nail custard to the wall ? Dave M :-)

From: Jelly and Jackson

Date: 21 Feb 2007, 09:18.18 GMT

Subject: Jelly Nailing Experiment of course - dur!

You very funny boy. Me laughy muchee. Like your photos and very funny pedantic description. Thank you. Gudbye.

From: Heinz

Date: 20 Feb 2007, 23:28.41 GMT

Subject: Visitors

Many more visitors coming this way from 21/2/07 - Martin Lewis has linked to it in his weekly e-mail from one of the world's top 100 most-visited websites - http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/cgi-bin/viewnews.cgi?newsid1172008261,48298,

From: A Friend of Jelly

Date: 20 Feb 2007, 21:45.47 GMT

Subject: Sickening!

I was alerted to this site by the B3TA newsletter. I found the nailing of jelly to the wall section abhorent and a new low in Internet filth. Please stop here and do not continue your bizarre activities with herding cats, or finding rocking horse shit. Yours, (Platonically) Brigadier Sir Arthur Wothenthrop Rtd. (Mrs)

From: Matt

Date: 20 Feb 2007, 00:04.04 GMT

Subject: nailing jelly

I enjoyed reading about your experiment with jelly or jello. Your conclusions can not be generalized into a scientific law however because Cole's Law is about cabbage.

From: Look-out-below

Date: 19 Feb 2007, 03:28.13 GMT

Subject: kit-kat

Dude, 27 male from Toronto, Canada here....got myself a KIT-KAT (mini snack size one) this past weekend with NO WAFER inside!!! Yes, I couldn't believe it either...I have a photo and even HAVE it only half-eaten. Let me know if you wanna see a pic....take care. Hmmm, how to make $$$ of this one?! lol eurasian1@rogers.com

From: GMane

Date: 18 Feb 2007, 18:23.41 GMT

Subject: JAM

Why is Orange Jam Called Marmalade?

From: fan-o-jello

Date: 18 Feb 2007, 16:45.58 GMT

Subject: thanks

This will come in handy at my next review! Thanks for the idea.

From: insomniac

Date: 16 Feb 2007, 14:54.14 GMT

Subject: chilling

Great experiment, have you tried chilling the jelly, pre-nailage? Will there be more exciting chapters on this topic?

From: Heather

Date: 12 Feb 2007, 02:24.49 GMT

Subject: The "loophole" to nailing jello to the wall??

Hi, Upon reading your experience in nailing jello to the wall i began to wonder if a different recipe for jello would still count? Jello came up with a "jello jigglers" concept which they marketed sometime around the early 90's. Kids could get way more sugar in the same pysical size of jello, and there was novelty in having a cookie cutter shaped piece you could hold in your hand. A sample recipe can be found http://www.cooks.com/rec/doc/0,189,152173-224206,00.html Perhaps a stronger gelatin formula would work?

From: John E

Date: 09 Feb 2007, 17:24.37 GMT

Subject: Nailing Jelly

Where I come from (NE US), the usual form of the metaphor is even more extravagent: "As difficult as nailing Jello to a plate-glass window."

From: Kristen

Date: 06 Feb 2007, 18:53.05 GMT

Subject: Nailing Jelly to the wall...

Thank you for trying to do something that I've always wondered about. Now I can say that phrase with certainty knowing that it cannot be done (at least for a prolonged period of time). Why debate about local vernacular? Make some toast and eat it - jam, jelly, perserve, whatever! Just don't make it into a salad.

From: Doug

Date: 05 Feb 2007, 10:43.25 GMT

Subject: Jelly Nailing

Would it be possible to continue the experiment with a nail fixing substitute like "No More Nails" or "So Simple" - we would then know once and for all what our best jelly fixing options are with this comparative study. Doug - Inverness

From: Bob

Date: 04 Feb 2007, 23:41.30 GMT

Subject: Jelly nailing...

Thanks for the best laugh I've had all week!

From: Stumbler

Date: 04 Feb 2007, 20:00.27 GMT

Subject: Jelly nailing

First off, you have apparently been added to StumbleUpon(firefox add-on.) Anyways, on to your experiment. In the future you might want to experiment with tossing your "wall" plank as well as your nails in the fridge alongside the jelly.

From: Charlene

Date: 04 Feb 2007, 16:07.28 GMT

Subject: The earth-shattering preserve/jam/jelly debate

Okay. As someone who actually makes the stuff, here's the skinny: Jam: Crushed fruit mixed with sugar (and sometimes pectin) and boiled until it sets. Jelly: Fruit juice mixed with sugar (and sometimes pectin) and boiled until it sets. Jelly MUST be perfectly translucent and generally does NOT contain gelatin. Pectin is not gelatin - the former is vegetable-based, the latter animal-based. Preserves: WHOLE fruit mixed with sugar (and sometimes pectin) and boiled until it sets. Despite what Mr. Farrell said, preserves generally always contain sugar unless they are made of tomatoes. Butter: Pureed fruit, almost always heavily spiced, mixed with sugar (and sometimes pectin) and boiled until it sets. Apple and pear are the most common types. Marmalade: Chopped citrus fruit less the membranes mixed with chopped peel and sugar (and sometimes pectin) and boiled until it sets. Spreads: Anything that doesn't fit elsewhere, including sugar-free fruit concoctions.

From: Steve

Date: 04 Feb 2007, 15:59.35 GMT

Subject: Jam?

I was going to post about the whole, jell-o, jelly, jam, marmalade, preserves thing, but I don't think I could do better than Thomas a couple posts down. Now I'm going to go have some toast with orange marmalade. Yum.

From: Geoff

Date: 04 Feb 2007, 13:18.40 GMT

Subject: Nailing Jelly to a wall

Very funny. I've never seen jelly cubes before - only jelly powder. cheers.

From: Dominic

Date: 04 Feb 2007, 11:12.57 GMT

Subject: Nailing jelly to a wall, possible solution!

Well I thought of a possible solution to this predicament! Make the jelly as normal but when you get to the refridgerating part, put the nails in THEN! Also, use less jelly (so it weighs less). Somehow you need to make the nails stick out the other side of the jelly before nailing it. I haven't explained it very well but hopefully you get the jist of it :P jelly mixture -> insert nails -> get rid of all the jelly that isn't required -> put in fridge -> nail gently.

From: Thomas Farrell

Date: 04 Feb 2007, 05:35.37 GMT

Subject: Jam and Jelly

In the US, "jelly" is a spread which is made of fruit juice, sugar, and (usually) pectin. (Pectin is a naturally occurring substance found in many fruits which causes the mixture to gel instead of being fruit syrup.) "Jam" is extremely similar, but it may contain whole (crushed) fruit, or fruit pulp, instead of just the fruit's juice. Grape jelly is by far most popular, to the extent that it likely outsells all other flavors of jams and jellies combined in the US. A fruit preserve would be called "preserves", and is usually made of nothing but crushed fruit that has been canned and sterilized. Preserves are usually consumed instead of jam or jelly for health reasons. If the fruit is crushed, cooked to reduce it (to thicken it), and then canned and sterilized, it is referred to as a "butter" (such as "apple butter"), not to be confused with the dairy product. Fruit butters are uncommon and are considered old-fashioned. The word "marmalade" is used in the US, but only when referring to what we could call a "jam" which is made from a citrus fruit and contains tiny shreds of the fruit's peel (otherwise known as its "zest"). This is not a popular food here. "Jello" is a brand name but is commonly used to refer to any gelatin-based product (excluding those which are meat flavored), which is not surprising since the brand has pretty much captured the market here. It is sold in powdered form, which is mixed with water (or soda, or an alcoholic beverage) and then refrigerated. The brand also has a line of puddings and mousses, which I believe also contain gelatin. Meat flavored gelatin products are called "aspic" and are so unfashionable that most people have never heard of it.

From: topbit

Date: 03 Feb 2007, 21:47.28 GMT

Subject: I'm reminded of a TV program, with a 6 year old

In the late 70's early 80's there was a pop-science program (and it wasn't Tommorrows World) that was also very big into audience participation. One week the genuine mad-professor set a challenge - to keep as much syrup on a regularly shaped spoon as possible, for as long as possible. They had the typical selection of examples, rotating the spoon, using a syrup spoon (wooden, like a cylinder, but with cut-aways). They were all pretty much as expected. The winner was a 6 year old. He had *frozen* a bucketful of syrup onto a spoon. The physicist could only applaud him.

From: Tim

Date: 03 Feb 2007, 18:04.26 GMT

Subject: but you can juggle with it!

While I was in college, the amazing Flying Karamazov Brothers -- jugglers extraordinaire -- did a show on campus. As part of their act, they invite audience members to throw random objects onto the stage, then vote (or, rather, yell) to pick three objects which one of the Brothers K then must attempt to juggle for ten complete cycles. We picked a roll of toilet paper, a plastic light sabre, and a handful of Jell-O from the cafeteria. The Brother juggled them successfully on his first attempt. Genuinely impressive!

From: JRClimer

Date: 03 Jan 2007, 18:50.23 GMT

Subject: Jelly-Jam-Marmelade

Jelly- is in fact a gelatin-based food spread such as "Grape Jelly" Jam is preserved fruit, home-made usually the best sort; my mother-in-law used to make a great mulberry jam. Marmelade is basically sour fruit peelings preserved in sugar and DON'T mix orange marmelade & black coffee in the same mouth-full!! Kleenex is to facial tissues as Jell-O is to jello and Q-Tips are to cotton swaps. Although born in the American Mid-West, I had to learn 'Murcan English as a young adult; my spoken English had a rather pronounced Midlands accent. And on occasion still does.

From: Graeme

Date: 19 Nov 2006, 17:26.17 GMT

Subject: Thank you for the spam, "HalleXYZ".

You say "Wazzzup All. Don't delete please!" So, exercising pedantry to its maximum legal limit, I have now deleted everything in your post except for the word "please".

From: HalleXYZ

Date: 19 Nov 2006, 15:43.10 GMT

Subject:

please!

From: dodgey5007

Date: 15 Nov 2006, 15:54.31 GMT

Subject: Jelly nailing

The expression I used was "strike a match on jelly" when some smartarse said nothing was impossible. Have you tried that one yet? This was great by the way! Inspired. Later

From: Lo x

Date: 08 Nov 2006, 16:47.47 GMT

Subject: of have

Yes, I know I probably got it wrong!! Lo x

From: Lo x

Date: 08 Nov 2006, 16:46.45 GMT

Subject: Can't think where you get it from!

As there is a missing link in your family tree I can only assume that your blitherances, experiments, unique sense of quirkiness, etc, may come from these unknown ancestors. No one else from your family line would of considered spending time nailing jelly to a wall. They were too busy glueing old saints together, getting stung by scorpions (well things like that happens when you try tickling one with your toe), sewing body parts together in the back garden or stealing dustbin lids and so on. Tis a mystery. Lo, x

From: thec

Date: 05 Nov 2006, 09:28.27 GMT

Subject: Hosting

Thanks for the hosting. It saved my bacon just the other day at an important customer call when my laptop hard drive failed unexpectedly. Marvellous.

From: Axel

Date: 01 Nov 2006, 23:36.00 GMT

Subject: Jelly and Jam.

The substance known as 'jelly' in the US is not known as Marmalade back here. It's known as 'jam'. The thing is that we apply the label of jam to both filtered and unfiltered jams, whereas filtered jams are known as jellies in the US. In the colonials' defence, there is some sense in having a different word for an unfiltered jam, which is a gelatinised fruit purée, and a filtered jam that has little or no solid fruit left in it and is just a mixture of pectin, sugar and fruit juice. However the usefulness of this distinction is made up for by the fact that it leaves no term for what we would call 'jelly' besides the cumbersome 'sweet gelatin dessert' or brand names such as Jell-O (which, as noted, is gradually going the way of 'Hoover' and 'Biro').

From: miss eddie paige

Date: 01 Nov 2006, 23:01.30 GMT

Subject:

anyone who even considers nailing jell-o to a wall has me impressed. thanks for keeping me amused. cheers, miss eddie paige

From: Graeme

Date: 31 Oct 2006, 22:16.35 GMT

Subject: Yay! Comments!

I've not heard the expression about knitting fog. When I was on holiday in Scotland, however, I did take a photograph of that other proverbial weather feature, Scotch Mist. Michael: thanks for the information about jello, jam and jelly; I've updated the jelly page accordingly.

From: Michael

Date: 30 Oct 2006, 23:57.34 GMT

Subject: Correction about what americans call Jelly

Jell-O is a copyrighted word in America owned by Kraft foods. Anybody calling any brand of gelatin desert Jello is incorrect, but it's so common now nobody knows the difference. When it comes to the difference of Jelly and Jam, there is a vast difference, and it is pointed out on the packaging. For instance. If I was to buy Smuckers Strawberry Jelly, I would be getting a gelatin based food spread. If I was to go buy Smuckers Strawberry Jam I would be basicly buying a fruit perserve.

From: Matt

Date: 30 Oct 2006, 19:27.26 GMT

Subject: I have never heard the phrase"it's like nailing jelly to a wall"

But you can be damn sure I'll use it from now on.

From: Steve

Date: 30 Oct 2006, 16:25.55 GMT

Subject: Nailing Jelly

Hey, To start with let me just say good work on the Jelly research, very entertaining. I forwarded it on to someone who responded back thus: "This guy deserves some serious recognition from the scientific community. The importance of this work just cannot be overstated. Now all he needs to do is prove whether or not it is possible to knit fog..." Step-to then, is it possible to knit fog?! ;o)

From: Secret

Date: 26 Oct 2006, 00:25.45 BST

Subject: None Given

I love your site, it's so funny. I recently took your 'Which housemate are you?' quiz and I scored out to be a lot like you. Have you considered putting up a 'Whose type are you?' quiz? Of coarse, it wouldn't be serious or anything, but just for those, like me, who are curious...

From: bill cosby

Date: 25 Oct 2006, 04:32.07 BST

Subject: the jello!

if you molded holes into the jelly it would hold structal integraty. the nails are causeing the jelly to crack. cracks continue to grow with stress. prevent the cracks from forming by molding holes into the jelly the round holes are less likly to crack and there for the nail will support the jelly.

From: bob

Date: 25 Oct 2006, 00:51.48 BST

Subject: ..

isnt that jello not jelly?

From: Slørmann

Date: 24 Oct 2006, 17:54.23 BST

Subject: Jellyman

How bout nailing the jelly to the wall while it lays flat and then putting it in a deep-freezer to make it less likely to escape the hold of the nailes once raised to the wall? Regards The Slørmann Royal Norwegian Airforce Sørreisa

From: Pete

Date: 23 Oct 2006, 14:43.12 BST

Subject: Jelly...or Jello...

Just wanted to add something...I apologize for my own ignorance...I didn't realize you were writing this from the UK. Obviously, its a difference in dialect/verbiage. Jelly for you...jello for me. You say tomato, I say tomato. In any case, great experiment.

From: Pete

Date: 23 Oct 2006, 14:40.47 BST

Subject: Jello, not Jelly

Thought the "Nailing jelly to a wall" experiment was great. Although, the "old saying" has nothing to do with Jelly. Jello, yes...Jelly, no. Often used in the armed forces to describe someone who is top notch -- "Master problem solver -- can nail jello to a wall without a hammer" or something similar. What's the next experiment?

From: Carl Huber

Date: 21 Oct 2006, 02:24.23 BST

Subject: Love the Jelly

Hey man I found your "Nailing Jelly to a Wall" page through a link from Dump Trumpet (http://dumptrumpet.moonfruit.com/) - my wife and I shared a good laugh and your fantastic college try of the old adage. I got such a kick out of it that I had to share it with her. Brilliant! I hope you're planning more similar projects in the future! If you ever want to stop by my site, check it out here: http://warehouse.carlh.com - it's similar in thought process, I think, so you might get a kick out of it (feel free to delete this if you don't want the link spamming your contents)

From: Avril Crack!!!

Date: 05 Oct 2006, 14:38.52 BST

Subject: Nailing Jelly to a Wall

After reading your website - having searched google for a photo of some jelly (I'm a teacher so don't ask!) it's definitely death and not cake as I have been distracted from my work browsing the other areas on your site as I wondered who (in their right mind and I question if there is one) would try this experiment! Thanks for the entertainment!

From: Mikael Suominen

Date: 11 Jul 2006, 13:32.55 BST

Subject: Just Display It As Text

Possibly the most useful little tool I've found all day - when you're examining thirty-odd application/rdf+xml files that Firefox insists on saving. Cheers, mate.

From: Graeme

Date: 09 May 2006, 21:02.18 BST

Subject: Re: colour calendar

Yes, I started it at blue because that's more associated with January than red is. In non-leap years, there is indeed a double-step change from 28th February to 1st March - the 29th is simply omitted. The colour remains constant throughout the day. The change from day to day is, by my eyes at least, undetectable, so there's no point in making it more finely-grained than that.

From: hrf

Date: 07 May 2006, 22:59.04 BST

Subject: colour calander

http://graeme.woaf.net/otherbits/colours.html May 1st uses the hue 'red' which is normally perceived to be the origin of any rainbow coloured scale. But why not Jan 1st? Something to do with colours matching the mood/temperature of that particular time of year? Also on non leap years are the colours recalculated or is there a double step change from 28feb to 1mar? Do the colours remain constant throughout the day or gradually change according to time? I wonder?

From: Party Chairman Phil

Date: 01 May 2006, 09:47.50 BST

Subject: There can be only one..

..comment on this board. Is the kind of line you would hear if Highlander had been set in the IT world