In article ,
"Mary Fisher" writes:
|
| | Mice certainly do eat beeswax, but I don't know under what
| circumstances.
| |
| | They will eat comb, either in or outside a hive. It's easy to bite and
| | usually contains somethiing nice - honey, pollen or larvae.
| |
| | Great chunks of solid wax - from 1 to 60 lbs are not as easy :-)
|
| They eat beeswax candles.
|
| Evidence?

Personal, historic and second-hand. The books you don't read are
very good sources of information on such mundane issues :-) I have
also had beeswax candles eaten by mice, and have known other people
who have, too.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

"Nick Maclaren" wrote in message
...

In article ,
"Mary Fisher" writes:
|
| | Mice certainly do eat beeswax, but I don't know under what
| circumstances.
| |
| | They will eat comb, either in or outside a hive. It's easy to bite
and
| | usually contains somethiing nice - honey, pollen or larvae.
| |
| | Great chunks of solid wax - from 1 to 60 lbs are not as easy :-)
|
| They eat beeswax candles.
|
| Evidence?

Personal, historic and second-hand. The books you don't read are
very good sources of information on such mundane issues :-) I have
also had beeswax candles eaten by mice, and have known other people
who have, too.

I make hundreds of beeswax candles a yar, possibly thousands this year.
They've never been eaten.

What books would you suggest? I have quite a large collection :-)

Tallow candles were eaten by mice and rats, which is one reason why they
were not stored for long and then out of reach of rodents.

Nobody I know has had beeswax candles eaten by rodents.

Incidentally Prices Candles used to make tallow candles for HM Forces and
arctic/Antarctic explorers. They were VAT zero rated because they were made
from food.

Mary


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

In article ,
"Mary Fisher" writes:
|
| I make hundreds of beeswax candles a yar, possibly thousands this year.
| They've never been eaten.
|
| What books would you suggest? I have quite a large collection :-)

I am getting too old. My memory of "where" is not what it was.
If I recall, it was in some 19th century childrens' books and others
that had references to empty houses. Beeswax was the standard hard
wax in the UK before the industrial revolution.

| Tallow candles were eaten by mice and rats, which is one reason why they
| were not stored for long and then out of reach of rodents.

Oh, indeed. They were actually nutritous. They also rot in warm,
humid conditions.

| Nobody I know has had beeswax candles eaten by rodents.

I have seen that - but am not prepared to swear that the mice regarded
them as MUCH more edible than PVC. The damage was the amount that is
typical for potatoes or PVC.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

On Tue, 09 Oct 2007 03:57:27 -0700, Des Higgins
wrote:

On Oct 9, 10:35 am, "Mary Fisher" wrote:
"Des Higgins" wrote in message

ups.com...



On Oct 8, 6:28 pm, (Nick Maclaren) wrote:
In article ,
David in Normandy writes:
| In article .com,
Des
| Higgins says...
| ahhhhhhhhh when computers were easy to use and were proper big
things
| and made noises and had flashing lights.
|
| And carrying a backup disk to the fire safe made your arms ache!

Ah, you youngsters! Mountable disks are a recent development, and
traditional backups were on tape.

Tape?? Tape?? Luxury; in my day we had to take the hot valves from
the glass blowing department and design our own circuits and invent
computers and keep the operating system in our heads (backwards
because that was how you loaded it). We had to wait 40 years before
tape was invented. We had wax tablets and small boys as back up.

I MAKE wax tablets - and the styli.

A couple of years ago we made some for a top computer 'expert' who later
attended a US computer convention and caused astonishment and more interest
than the speaker when everyone else in the audience opened their lap tops
and he pulled out his codex of tabulae :-)

Mary
gasp :-)
do you have to keep them in the fridge on a hot day or keep them away
from mice?

On Tue, 09 Oct 2007 03:57:27 -0700, Des Higgins
wrote:

On Oct 9, 10:35 am, "Mary Fisher" wrote:
"Des Higgins" wrote in message

ups.com...



On Oct 8, 6:28 pm, (Nick Maclaren) wrote:
In article ,
David in Normandy writes:
| In article .com,
Des
| Higgins says...
| ahhhhhhhhh when computers were easy to use and were proper big
things
| and made noises and had flashing lights.
|
| And carrying a backup disk to the fire safe made your arms ache!

Ah, you youngsters! Mountable disks are a recent development, and
traditional backups were on tape.

Tape?? Tape?? Luxury; in my day we had to take the hot valves from
the glass blowing department and design our own circuits and invent
computers and keep the operating system in our heads (backwards
because that was how you loaded it). We had to wait 40 years before
tape was invented. We had wax tablets and small boys as back up.

I MAKE wax tablets - and the styli.

A couple of years ago we made some for a top computer 'expert' who later
attended a US computer convention and caused astonishment and more interest
than the speaker when everyone else in the audience opened their lap tops
and he pulled out his codex of tabulae :-)

Mary
gasp :-)
do you have to keep them in the fridge on a hot day or keep them away
from mice?


If they melt, you can make them into very good earplugs, and when
you're finished with them a few drops of mint oil and they make
spiffing chewing gum - which can be composted in the end.
But the wastrel that you are would now know anything about that...
Cat(h) (I think Desmond is taking the Michael. He only does it very
very rarely and you have to be really careful to notice.)

"Sacha" wrote in message
. uk...
On 7/10/07 10:47, in article
,
"Mary Fisher" wrote:


"Cat(h)" wrote in message

I find tweezering the pins a wee bit tedious, and the armpits
downright torture.

Never shaved armpits even when I had a bush but since my breast cancer
surgery - probably combined with menopause - there's nothing under there.

The last two posts are probably way too much information for most
urgers.

Not the grown up ones :-)

Mary



!! I didn't realise being interested in other women's hairy bits was a
sign
of maturity!

Oh dear, that means I must now be mature!

On 9/10/07 22:55, in article , "Alan
Holmes" wrote:


"Sacha" wrote in message
. uk...
On 7/10/07 10:47, in article
,
"Mary Fisher" wrote:


"Cat(h)" wrote in message

I find tweezering the pins a wee bit tedious, and the armpits
downright torture.

Never shaved armpits even when I had a bush but since my breast cancer
surgery - probably combined with menopause - there's nothing under there.

The last two posts are probably way too much information for most
urgers.

Not the grown up ones :-)

Mary



!! I didn't realise being interested in other women's hairy bits was a
sign
of maturity!

Oh dear, that means I must now be mature!



"other women's", Alan, therefore not your problem. ;-)
--
Sacha
http://www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
(remove weeds from address)
'We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our
children.'

"Des Higgins" wrote
Were you appalled by the bad structure or the bad grammar? Both were
pretty dire. I struggled to remember the syntax. I used to write huge
wadges of the stuff (it looked nicer than above) but the last program
I wrote was in Python and that was 8 years ago.
These days I just sit at a PC looking perplexed.
Des

I know the feeling. Business Basic was my poison and now I open the
Microsoft magazine that sometimes arrives in the mail and have no idea what
they are on about :~(
Jenny

"Cat(h)" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 09 Oct 2007 03:57:27 -0700, Des Higgins
wrote:

On Oct 9, 10:35 am, "Mary Fisher" wrote:
"Des Higgins" wrote in message

ups.com...



On Oct 8, 6:28 pm, (Nick Maclaren) wrote:
In article ,
David in Normandy writes:
| In article
.com,
Des
| Higgins says...
| ahhhhhhhhh when computers were easy to use and were proper big
things
| and made noises and had flashing lights.
|
| And carrying a backup disk to the fire safe made your arms ache!

Ah, you youngsters! Mountable disks are a recent development, and
traditional backups were on tape.

Tape?? Tape?? Luxury; in my day we had to take the hot valves from
the glass blowing department and design our own circuits and invent
computers and keep the operating system in our heads (backwards
because that was how you loaded it). We had to wait 40 years before
tape was invented. We had wax tablets and small boys as back up.

I MAKE wax tablets - and the styli.

A couple of years ago we made some for a top computer 'expert' who later
attended a US computer convention and caused astonishment and more
interest
than the speaker when everyone else in the audience opened their lap
tops
and he pulled out his codex of tabulae :-)

Mary
gasp :-)
do you have to keep them in the fridge on a hot day or keep them away
from mice?


If they melt, you can make them into very good earplugs,

How can you make tabulae into earplugs? And at body temperature beeswax is
too hard for earplugs - I've tried it.

and when
you're finished with them a few drops of mint oil and they make
spiffing chewing gum -

Why bother adding flavour? Beeswax tastes delicious as it is/

which can be composted in the end.

Why compost? Why not swallow it?

But the wastrel that you are would now know anything about that...
Cat(h) (I think Desmond is taking the Michael. He only does it very
very rarely and you have to be really careful to notice.)

He doesn't do it very well.

Mary

"Nick Maclaren" wrote in message
...

In article ,
"Mary Fisher" writes:
|
| I make hundreds of beeswax candles a year, possibly thousands this
year.
| They've never been eaten.
|
| What books would you suggest? I have quite a large collection :-)

I am getting too old. My memory of "where" is not what it was.
If I recall, it was in some 19th century childrens' books and others
that had references to empty houses.

I doubt that wax would have been left in empty houses.

Beeswax was the standard hard
wax in the UK before the industrial revolution.

You think I don't know that? :-)

| Tallow candles were eaten by mice and rats, which is one reason why
they
| were not stored for long and then out of reach of rodents.

Oh, indeed. They were actually nutritous. They also rot in warm,
humid conditions.

| Nobody I know has had beeswax candles eaten by rodents.

I have seen that - but am not prepared to swear that the mice regarded
them as MUCH more edible than PVC. The damage was the amount that is
typical for potatoes or PVC.

So that - and your C19th children's books, are your evidence?

I asked for evidence. I doubt that you'd accept that :-)

Mary

In article ,
"Mary Fisher" writes:
|
| I am getting too old. My memory of "where" is not what it was.
| If I recall, it was in some 19th century childrens' books and others
| that had references to empty houses.
|
| I doubt that wax would have been left in empty houses.

Yes, it was. The aristocracy often lived in different houses during
different times of year, and such durable consumables were not moved
with the inhabitants. The same would have happened with the people
(e.g. some shepherds) who had fixed accomodation but lived away from
it for extended periods.

| Beeswax was the standard hard
| wax in the UK before the industrial revolution.
|
| You think I don't know that? :-)

Of course you do - others may not.

| I have seen that - but am not prepared to swear that the mice regarded
| them as MUCH more edible than PVC. The damage was the amount that is
| typical for potatoes or PVC.
|
| So that - and your C19th children's books, are your evidence?

Sigh. It is not all. As I said, I have had several people tell me
the same, and I have seen references in other books, too.

| I asked for evidence. I doubt that you'd accept that :-)

I would accept it as evidence. If you can provide evidence that you
know the difference between mouse damage and other damage, I would
regard it as proof that mice sometimes eat such candles. I did NOT
claim that beeswax was a significant item of a mouses diet, or that
they favoured it as food.

Please do distinguish (a) evidence from proof and (b) evidence of
occurrence from evidence of prevalence.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

On Oct 10, 10:37 am, "Mary Fisher" wrote:
"Cat(h)" wrote in message

...





On Tue, 09 Oct 2007 03:57:27 -0700, Des Higgins
wrote:

On Oct 9, 10:35 am, "Mary Fisher" wrote:
"Des Higgins" wrote in message

groups.com...

On Oct 8, 6:28 pm, (Nick Maclaren) wrote:
In article ,
David in Normandy writes:
| In article
.com,
Des
| Higgins says...
| ahhhhhhhhh when computers were easy to use and were proper big
things
| and made noises and had flashing lights.
|
| And carrying a backup disk to the fire safe made your arms ache!

Ah, you youngsters! Mountable disks are a recent development, and
traditional backups were on tape.

Tape?? Tape?? Luxury; in my day we had to take the hot valves from
the glass blowing department and design our own circuits and invent
computers and keep the operating system in our heads (backwards
because that was how you loaded it). We had to wait 40 years before
tape was invented. We had wax tablets and small boys as back up.

I MAKE wax tablets - and the styli.

A couple of years ago we made some for a top computer 'expert' who later
attended a US computer convention and caused astonishment and more
interest
than the speaker when everyone else in the audience opened their lap
tops
and he pulled out his codex of tabulae :-)

Mary
gasp :-)
do you have to keep them in the fridge on a hot day or keep them away
from mice?

If they melt, you can make them into very good earplugs,

How can you make tabulae into earplugs? And at body temperature beeswax is
too hard for earplugs - I've tried it.

and when
you're finished with them a few drops of mint oil and they make
spiffing chewing gum -

Why bother adding flavour? Beeswax tastes delicious as it is/

which can be composted in the end.

Why compost? Why not swallow it?

But the wastrel that you are would now know anything about that...
Cat(h) (I think Desmond is taking the Michael. He only does it very
very rarely and you have to be really careful to notice.)

He doesn't do it very well.


Hmmm.

Cat(h)

"Nick Maclaren" wrote in message
...

|
| I doubt that wax would have been left in empty houses.

Yes, it was. The aristocracy often lived in different houses during
different times of year, and such durable consumables were not moved
with the inhabitants. The same would have happened with the people
(e.g. some shepherds) who had fixed accomodation but lived away from
it for extended periods.

Shepherds would not have used beeswax candles.

I think I know more about this subject than you do.

I'm sure there are many things you know more about than I do :-)

Mary

In article ,
"Mary Fisher" writes:
|
| | I doubt that wax would have been left in empty houses.
|
| Yes, it was. The aristocracy often lived in different houses during
| different times of year, and such durable consumables were not moved
| with the inhabitants. The same would have happened with the people
| (e.g. some shepherds) who had fixed accomodation but lived away from
| it for extended periods.
|
| Shepherds would not have used beeswax candles.

Sigh. Votive candles were beeswax. I was given one as part of my
confirmation, as a symbol, to keep. Roman catholics also burnt candles
in front of images of the BVM, if they could afford them. A shepherd
would clearly not have used beeswax candles for light, but might well
have had one or two, small, votive candles.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

On Oct 8, 6:50 pm, David in Normandy wrote:
In article . com, Des
Higgins says...

Tape?? Tape?? Luxury; in my day we had to take the hot valves from
the glass blowing department and design our own circuits and invent
computers and keep the operating system in our heads (backwards
because that was how you loaded it). We had to wait 40 years before
tape was invented. We had wax tablets and small boys as back up.

:-)

I've still got backups of some Fortran software I wrote on punched paper
rolls. There is probably no equipment left on the planet to load the
software now (unless it is in a museum).

More recently I've got stacks of backups on 5.25" disks but no hardware
to read them any more. My archive on 3.5" disks are also heading the
same way with only one computer left in my possession capable of reading
them.

Makes you wonder just how recoverable various important National
archives are? We take it for granted that various paper based records
can go back several hundred years, but what of digitally stored records?

Rough rule of thumb for determining storage media:

Data to be kept for one year: magnetic/electronic
Data to be kept for ten years: Optical
Data to be kept for one century: ordinary ink on paper
Data to be kept for one millenium: Papyrus, Vellum, or similar

If you want longer than that, you are probably going to need baked
clay tablets (or arrange for regular transcription).