this post was submitted on 04 Nov 2024
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[–] [email protected] 139 points 2 weeks ago (4 children)

At my job there this almond flavored coffee pods that when brewed smelled overwhelmingly almond-y. My cousin works in metal reclamation an they work with a LOT of cyanide, I tell him if he ever wants the day off, I'll get him a pod, all he needs to do is spill that coffee and they'd shut down the entire floor to double check things.

(context if you're lost is that cyanide smells a lot like almonds)

[–] [email protected] 80 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

Fun fact, wild almonds have lethal amounts of cyanide, it's only through selective breeding that we can eat them

[–] [email protected] 80 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

Who the hell thought, “OK, so it killed Bill, but I think there’s something here. We just need to keep trying.”

[–] [email protected] 50 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

There are lots of wild foods that are poisonous, but that didn't stop our ancestors from figuring out ways to make them edible. In the case of bitter almonds I can find a reference to baking and boiling being effective methods of reducing cyanide content. Cold leaching might also work but it would take a lot more time.

I have to imagine that dire necessity was a catalyst for these discoveries. I'm guessing the thought process was more like "These are bitter as shit and they killed Bill, but we're gonna starve to death if we don't find some food, so let me try boiling these to see if the bitter goes away."

[–] [email protected] 7 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Boiling also works to make acorns ~~edible~~ ~~consumable~~ less lethal. They still taste kinda bad though.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

where'd you get them being lethal? far as i'm aware they're just a real bother for your stomach with all the tannins, but not outright lethal. People have made quite a lot of acorn bread in tough times after all

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 weeks ago

It's hyperbole. I don't think you can die from consuming them (don't quote me on that, guess it depends on dosage).

I would think you get a bad tummy ache when eating them raw and maybe liver damage and/or a nutritional deficiency long-term.

Bread might get hot enough to break down the tannins. I just always thought beechnuts taste better ;)

[–] [email protected] 7 points 2 weeks ago

Additionally, cyanide toxicity is mostly something that happens over time. Unproccesed Cassava will kill you, but not after the first meal.

[–] [email protected] 19 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (3 children)

Because almonds are tasty as fuck. As long as someone else is testing the new strains that is a sacrifice I am willing to make.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 2 weeks ago

Also, everything gets taste tested during a for real famine.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 weeks ago

I imagine wild almonds probably taste like burning

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 weeks ago (3 children)

I don't really think almonds taste good imo. They're pretty bland to me.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

You are entitled to your own opinion irrespectivly of how wrong it is.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 weeks ago

fair enough haha

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 weeks ago

I'm not a big fan of almonds by themselves, but I love almond butter, almond milk, and roasted almonds.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 weeks ago

The nuts are bunk, but the extract is where it's at!

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 weeks ago

Okay, but why not just breed the almonds? /j

[–] [email protected] 34 points 2 weeks ago

I was a refrigeration tech in a place that made high end refrigeration equipment. Fun fact, when some refrigerants get too hot, they break down into hydrogen flouride which forms hydroflouric acid when it comes in contact with water, such as the water in your respriatory tract. Acids taste and smell sour. Being that I normally worked with brand new equipment, I had never dealt with burned refrigerant before. This resulted in me wondering why the hell the refrigerant in an RMA machine had a sour smell when purged the lines on my manifold. Like the dumbass I am I wound up smelling a fair bit of that refrigerant trying to identify why it smelled sour before it finally occured to me that I had been practically snorting hydrogen flouride. One hospital trip, a few chest xrays, and an ECG later I wound up being fine. The next day I came back to work to find that my smartass boss had put a bag of sour candy on my desk.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

NileRed did a video on how it smells 'chemically' and nothing like almonds. In the US you can buy cyanide without restrictions due to how easy it comes up on toxicology tests so if you have the money, buy it and smell it yourself. He also tasted it too.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 weeks ago

He also tasted it too.

My MSDS says oral LD50 for cyanide is 4mg/kg in rats. So, for an 80kg thats roughly 6 drops of pure cyanide. You can't really buy pure cyanide, but you can get calcium or potassium cyanide. But I'm not very sure if i'm willing to risk about 1/10th of a lethal dose our of curiosity...

[–] [email protected] 12 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)
[–] Dhs92 11 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Nile has basically killed his sense of smell from years of smelling chemicals he's made. Don't trust his nose for anything lol

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 weeks ago

There's a reason the life expectancy of chemists is roughly 10 years less than the rest of humanity. It does get skewed by all the people who did moronic stuff like cleaning tables with benzene, but that's not the only reason.

[–] [email protected] 43 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

'If you're the kind of guy who's always 'giving people a hard time,' please know you're the most draining sort person to be around, and people are actively avoiding you.'

[–] [email protected] 14 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Depends, there are some people who give others a hard time and are absolute blasts to be around.
There are also others where you wish they'd get trapped in an elevator with an energetic puppy for an hour to waste their energy.

Also what's with the apostrophes? I don't really understand what they mean here.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 2 weeks ago

They're semiquotes.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 2 weeks ago

That's the goal.

[–] [email protected] 23 points 2 weeks ago (3 children)

Bro looks like a fluffy Randall, from Clerks.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 weeks ago

Wtf you right?! Weird

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Randall looks fluffy in Clerks 2

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 weeks ago

I loved Randall messing with the transformers kid, but not much else. Oh and the ass to mouth discussion. I haven't watched 3 and I doubt I ever will.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 weeks ago

I thought it was Mitchell from Mitchell and Webb

[–] [email protected] 21 points 2 weeks ago

How to quickly lose your job.

This guy is why all the safety books say things like "No open fire, or the appearance of open fire".

[–] [email protected] 10 points 2 weeks ago
[–] [email protected] -3 points 2 weeks ago

probably the only quantifiable attention he gets