Images 23 - some prime pics

[Norgarth]

heh, good one Rob.

[Norgarth]

[classicdrogn]

Can confirm this is accurate, but why is it funny? You do need to be wary of landmarks like "Candfield's place -- that's the house with the big maple in the yard" (as opposed to a big maple on one side of the yard, or several small maples, or a different kind of tree) and "that damned fast food chain where Putnam's dairy barn used to be," when there are two Dunkin Donuts, and one each McDonald's, Wendy's, Burger King, Ninety Nine, and Domino's Pizza in town, and the actual eatery in question is Milo's Bar & Buffet Too, whose local owners' sister married the speaker's aunt's prospective husband not a month after the wedding he suddenly broke off and proceeded to have a suspiciously trouble free 'premature' delivery of their first child, thereby cementing a feud for a minumum of the next two generations.

I liked the snow globe, though.

[Norgarth]

[Bob Schroeck]

"that damned fast food chain where Putnam's dairy barn used to be,"

This is close to what my brother- and sister-in-law call "Pittsburgh directions" -- "Drive down to where the A&P used to be, then turn left". Ah, great, Jim... I didn't grow up in this area. Where the hell was the A&P?

[Norgarth]

[Norgarth]

[Norgarth]

[robkelk]

With the wall in the way, those are obviously shelves.

Where are the books?

[Norgarth]

[Norgarth]

[Norgarth]

[Norgarth]

[Bob Schroeck]

... the blue dye is a chemical. It's just the product of a plant instead of a factory. (And ten to one that plant has to go through at least a simple industrial process to be used as a dye.) That kind of sloppy, stupid equivalence of "chemical"="unnatural" absolutely infuriates me.

EDIT: So I went looking for more information. It turns out it takes a year of processing with dangerous chemicals to turn indigo plants into dye:

The process begins with sun-drying the indigo leaves followed by an intensive fermentation to make sukumo. Next, the concentrated dye component is integrated with lime, lye [and] other substances in a dyeing vat and re-fermented before it is ready to use.

Lime and lye aren't exactly milk and honey. Further, indigo's "natural" antibiotic and insect-repellent properties function just like any other -- it's a poison that humans can ignore.

Plus, the meme makes it sound like this is a special dye only arborists use. It's not -- it's the standard traditional Japanese blue dye. Everything from soap to blue jeans uses it.

Dammit, people, stop fetishizing "natural" and trying to make it sound like magic that does its work without resorting to nasty "unnatural" chemicals!

[Norgarth]

yeah, that dye one is definitely misleading (and I am apparently gullible ). deleted.

[Norgarth]

[hazard]

... the blue dye is a chemical.  It's just the product of a plant instead of a factory.  (And ten to one that plant has to go through at least a simple industrial process to be used as a dye.)  That kind of sloppy, stupid equivalence of "chemical"="unnatural" absolutely infuriates me.

EDIT:  So I went looking for more information.  It turns out it takes a year of processing with dangerous chemicals to turn indigo plants into dye:

The process begins with sun-drying the indigo leaves followed by an intensive fermentation to make sukumo. Next, the concentrated dye component is integrated with lime, lye [and] other substances in a dyeing vat and re-fermented before it is ready to use.

Lime and lye aren't exactly milk and honey.  Further, indigo's "natural" antibiotic and insect-repellent properties function just like any other -- it's a poison that humans can ignore. 

Plus, the meme makes it sound like this is a special dye only arborists use.  It's not -- it's the standard traditional Japanese blue dye.  Everything from soap to blue jeans uses it. 

Dammit, people, stop fetishizing "natural" and trying to make it sound like magic that does its work without resorting to nasty "unnatural" chemicals!

And now I don't know what is being talked about because all evidence has been erased.

This is why I quote the pictures, Bob.

[Bob Schroeck]

You didn't miss much. Just three images stitched together of Japanese arborists in darkish blue-colored outfits, hard at work, with a caption that implied because the blue dye used for those outfits was made from a plant it had magical insect repellent properties that otherwise they would have had to use nasty unnatural "chemicals" to achieve.

[hazard]

People don't realize that all those 'natural' substances are just chemical substances with a living source.

As for lime and lye; these are materials for processing since ancient days. Lime, made from limestone, has been used as a binding agent since Ancient Rome, if not earlier. Lye made from wood ash has been a key component of soap production since soap started being made. The fact that our ancestors knew of them and used them does not make them natural, nor does it make them safe.

Chemistry doesn't care how you got a substance. Only that it's there.

[Norgarth]

[Norgarth]

[Norgarth]

[Norgarth]

[Norgarth]

[Norgarth]