"nail" news and stories

When I first came across the idea of nailing Jello to a wall, I thought it was pretty funny. Strange, but funny. Now that an alert reader has pointed out to me that this was not an isolated incident and that many people out there devote time to the very same thing, I have to admit that I am a little disturbed.

My Science Project has taken their love for all things Jello and conducted a study into the "feasibility of securing Jell-O to a vertical surface by means of manually impacted cylindrical metal fasteners." In other words, they attempted to nail jello to a wall. They tried the standard recipe, jello with holes molded into it, jello with straw supports and jello with fruit. The best recipe was one they termed "ballistic jello," which involved about an ounce of gelatin in 2 cups of water.

I'm thinking that this challenge could be some sort of a party game. Possibly at the same types of parties that serve lots and lots of jello shots early in the evening.

[thanks, Eric]

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When people are bored, they come up with all sorts of unusual experiments that, if otherwise occupied, perhaps they wouldn't ordinarily try. There is little doubt that this has led to some great discoveries over the years, but this particular one is probably unlikely to have widespread cultural ramifications. It involves Jello and the question of whether or not it can be nailed to a wall.

I won't keep you in suspense. Jello - or jelly if you're not from the US - cannot be nailed to a wall in its standard form. When prepared according to package directions, the amount of gelatin that gives the food its signature "jiggle" is not enough to hold it together when nailed to a board. If you live somewhere where you can purchase concentrated jelly/Jello cubes, however, you will find that it can easily be nailed to a wall.

Mystery solved.

[via boingboing]

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When you bite into a loaf of bread, the thing that you would least expect to find is a rusty nail. A British man found exactly that, however, in a loaf he purchased from an Asda supermarket in Dorset.

Chris Lambie was sitting at the dinner table with his teenage daughter when he discovered the nail. Fortunately, though he actually bit into it, the rusty nail did not cut or injure him in any way.

Lambie contacted the local consumer protection agency and filed a complaint at the store, where he turned in the loaf. The loaf was subsequently lost by the store, which apologized profusely to the man and stated that they will be "calling Mr Lambie to discuss this with him in further detail" while they launch an investigation. The loaf came from a mix that is supplied to Asda and the manufacturer has been contacted, but no similar incidents have been reported.

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