On 2022-05-15, Sam Plusnet <not@home.com> wrote:

>> I have no idea what the situation is in Ireland but in the UK, the
>> Gambling Act 2005 has a few words to say about enforceability. TLDR:
>> if the gambling is legal the debts are enforceable.
>
> If the bookie has sommat in their terms and conditions which would limit
> the maximum payout, that would also be legal (I imagine).

Maybe. Terms and conditions in small print aren't always enforceable.
Arguably accepting an accumulator bet that has a higher payout waives those
terms.

--
Bernard Peek
bap@shrdlu.com

On 2022-05-14, Ahem A Rivet's Shot <steveo@eircom.net> wrote:
> On Sat, 14 May 2022 12:56:04 +0100
> "Kerr-Mudd, John" <admin@127.0.0.1> wrote:
>
>> Schoolboy experiment: IIRC copper strip & nail dangling in a CuSO4
>> solution with battery connected to them to try to copperplate the nail -
>> never really jbexed.
>
> It jbexed IME but nothing like as well as plating the bottom of a
> test tube with silver precipitated out of Tollens' solution.

As I understand it to get a coherent coating you want the concentration of
the metal ion to be low. That would normally require a dilute solution. But
with sleight of chemistry you can have most of the metal bound up in a
complex that constantly renews the metal ions. In Tollen's reagent it's a
diammine complex, lots of other metals use cyanide complexes.

--
Bernard Peek
bap@shrdlu.com

On 2022-05-14, RustyHinge <rusty.hinge@foobar.girolle.co.uk> wrote:
> On 14/05/2022 15:06, maus wrote:
>> On 2022-05-14, Nicholas D. Richards <nicholas@salmiron.com> wrote:
>>> In article <je98moFnt6sU1@mid.individual.net>, John Williamson
>>> <johnwilliamson@btinternet.com> on Sat, 14 May 2022 at 09:48:22 awoke
>>> Nicholas from his slumbers and wrote
>>>> On 14/05/2022 09:31, Brian Gaff (Sofa) wrote:
>>>>> So can you make a battery using hydrochloric acid, I wonder?
>>>>> Brian
>>>>>
>>>> It has been tried, but " Many attempts have been made to use this acid
>>>> in batteries, but the volatile nature of the acid causes the production
>>>> of so much odour with corrosive fumes that it has never come into use."
>>>>
>>>> The corrosive fumes include chlorine, which is not nice and has been
>>>> used as a war gas in the past. When using sulphuric acid, the acid stays
>>>> stable, and the only emissions are hydrogen and oxygen.
>>>>
>>> Bang, conveniently produced in the ideal ratio, in a confined place.
>>> Just check charging progress with a burning candle.
>>
>> You cannot be serious!. Children may read that and try it. When I was
>> young, there was an english published magazine with a title including
>> the words `Hobbies'. It was full of life-endangering advice.
>
> I had a book called 'How It Works And How It's Done'. I *think* it was
> in this slim volume that I learned how to make nitroglycerine and maybe
> gun cotton.

ABE Books has^W had a copy of that available.

--
Bernard Peek
bap@shrdlu.com

On 2022-05-14, Nicholas D. Richards <nicholas@salmiron.com> wrote:
> In article <20220514064514.aa53feb10d090599987c2346@eircom.net>, Ahem A
> Rivet's Shot <steveo@eircom.net> on Sat, 14 May 2022 at 06:45:14 awoke
> Nicholas from his slumbers and wrote
>>On Fri, 13 May 2022 23:37:55 +0100
>>RustyHinge <rusty.hinge@foobar.girolle.co.uk> wrote:
>>
>>> On 13/05/2022 17:30, Ahem A Rivet's Shot wrote:
>>> > On Fri, 13 May 2022 15:19:12 -0000 (UTC)
>>> > Peter <myshed@prune.org.uk> wrote:
>>> >
>>> >> The drain cleaner I use is concenetrated sulphuric acid. Effective but
>>> >> dangerous - makes a nice whoomph when you put it into water.
>>> >
>>> > Makes an even more spectacular (and dangerous) one if you put
>>> > water into it.
>>> >
>>> > No. 27 on the "Things not to do with strong acids" list.
>>>
>>>
>>> Or conc. nitric and glycerine...
>>
>> Nah that's fine and dandy if you've a steady hand, just walk softly
>>and don't step on the loose floorboard on your way out and we'll get a
>>student in to test it.
>>
> You forgot to add ; add very, very slowly, actively keep it cool, check
> the temperature very regularly and stay awake. Alfred Nobel had his
> operatives work in pairs, to keep an eye on each other and they were sat
> on one legged stools (not very stable, the stools I mean).
>
> Despite precautions large explosions were too common for comfort.

Resulting in yet more stools, no doubt.

--
Bernard Peek
bap@shrdlu.com

On 2022-05-14, maus <maus@dmaus.org> wrote:
> On 2022-05-14, Nicholas D. Richards <nicholas@salmiron.com> wrote:
>> In article <20220514105036.4701b48a1bb8bf43586ba7e8@eircom.net>, Ahem A
>> Rivet's Shot <steveo@eircom.net> on Sat, 14 May 2022 at 10:50:36 awoke
>> Nicholas from his slumbers and wrote
>>>On Sat, 14 May 2022 09:37:07 +0100
>>>"Brian Gaff \(Sofa\)" <briang1@blueyonder.co.uk> wrote:
>>>
>>>> Wow, what is number 1 then?
>>>
>>>Drink it.
>>>
>> That is the trouble with Brian's top posting, context is lost. If he
>> lost his signature, then the context would not be lost. Many news
>> readers when processing a reply lose everything from the signature block
>> downwards.
>>
>> I presume the context is something to do with what chemists should not
>> do, which was number 27.
>>
>> Rant over.
>>
>> Back to number 1.
>>
>> A number of artificial sweeteners were discovered when a chemist tasted
>> the product of a reaction.
>
> I remember licking my hand after working with sulphuric acid. Kinda
> sweet.

One of the results of working for a flavouring company is the urge to taste
stuff. We did a flavour test of various (very) dilute acids. I quite liked
the nitric.

--
Bernard Peek
bap@shrdlu.com

On 25 May 2022 12:17:29 GMT
Bernard Peek <bap@shrdlu.com> wrote:

> One of the results of working for a flavouring company is the urge to
> taste stuff. We did a flavour test of various (very) dilute acids. I
> quite liked the nitric.

Fuming red nitric was one of the chemicals that made me reach for
the rubber bulb for the pipette - after all it's hard to use an open
pipette in a fume cupboard.

--
Steve O'Hara-Smith
Odds and Ends at http://www.sohara.org/

On 25-May-22 13:12, Bernard Peek wrote:
> On 2022-05-14, Nicholas D. Richards <nicholas@salmiron.com> wrote:
>> In article <20220514064514.aa53feb10d090599987c2346@eircom.net>, Ahem A
>> Rivet's Shot <steveo@eircom.net> on Sat, 14 May 2022 at 06:45:14 awoke
>> Nicholas from his slumbers and wrote
>>> On Fri, 13 May 2022 23:37:55 +0100
>>> RustyHinge <rusty.hinge@foobar.girolle.co.uk> wrote:
>>>
>>>> On 13/05/2022 17:30, Ahem A Rivet's Shot wrote:
>>>>> On Fri, 13 May 2022 15:19:12 -0000 (UTC)
>>>>> Peter <myshed@prune.org.uk> wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>> The drain cleaner I use is concenetrated sulphuric acid. Effective but
>>>>>> dangerous - makes a nice whoomph when you put it into water.
>>>>>
>>>>> Makes an even more spectacular (and dangerous) one if you put
>>>>> water into it.
>>>>>
>>>>> No. 27 on the "Things not to do with strong acids" list.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Or conc. nitric and glycerine...
>>>
>>> Nah that's fine and dandy if you've a steady hand, just walk softly
>>> and don't step on the loose floorboard on your way out and we'll get a
>>> student in to test it.
>>>
>> You forgot to add ; add very, very slowly, actively keep it cool, check
>> the temperature very regularly and stay awake. Alfred Nobel had his
>> operatives work in pairs, to keep an eye on each other and they were sat
>> on one legged stools (not very stable, the stools I mean).
>>
>> Despite precautions large explosions were too common for comfort.
>
> Resulting in yet more stools, no doubt.
>
>
Very thick walls and flimsy roofs can help as well.

--
Sam Plusnet

On 2022-05-25, Bernard Peek <bap@shrdlu.com> wrote:
> On 2022-05-15, Sam Plusnet <not@home.com> wrote:
>
>>> I have no idea what the situation is in Ireland but in the UK, the
>>> Gambling Act 2005 has a few words to say about enforceability. TLDR:
>>> if the gambling is legal the debts are enforceable.
>>
>> If the bookie has sommat in their terms and conditions which would limit
>> the maximum payout, that would also be legal (I imagine).
>
> Maybe. Terms and conditions in small print aren't always enforceable.
> Arguably accepting an accumulator bet that has a higher payout waives those
> terms.
>
>

On a car drive recently, I passed a great house which was bought some
years ago by a man who had made a fortune shorting companies on the
London Exchange. He spent lots of money after that doing it up. It seems
that shorting is no longer a good gamble, gatepost down, car stuck in
gully half was up avenue. I couldn't stop from laughing,

--
greymausg@mail.com
Cad a deanamid fasta gan aimwead?
Replace it with Sitka weed!

I fond that my news feed was busted so I've created a new one, and this is
it, so I can now see all the messages I missed.
I'm hoping on Monday to get the bits of mortar power washed from my new
patio. Reminds me of that Flanders and Swan song about the gas man.

Brian

--

--:
This newsgroup posting comes to you directly from...
The Sofa of Brian Gaff...
briang1@blueyonder.co.uk
Blind user, so no pictures please
Note this Signature is meaningless.!
"Ahem A Rivet's Shot" <steveo@eircom.net> wrote in message
news:20220525135554.6be434fc0ebccafafac83483@eircom.net...
> On 25 May 2022 12:17:29 GMT
> Bernard Peek <bap@shrdlu.com> wrote:
>
>> One of the results of working for a flavouring company is the urge to
>> taste stuff. We did a flavour test of various (very) dilute acids. I
>> quite liked the nitric.
>
> Fuming red nitric was one of the chemicals that made me reach for
> the rubber bulb for the pipette - after all it's hard to use an open
> pipette in a fume cupboard.
>
> --
> Steve O'Hara-Smith
> Odds and Ends at http://www.sohara.org/