In the UK it's fairly common to use the term "Swiss cheese". Most people would know you are talking about Emmental or Gruyere and it would have the bubbles/holes in it.
Although they are not the same cheese, they are quite close in texture and flavour and are fairly interchangeable to the point where I don't think a significant number of people could tell you which was which.
There is also the Swiss Cheese Model which is when several unfortunate events all line up to cause a major incident.
Emmentaler and Gruyère close in texture and flavour and interchangeable? Oh boy, if you ever travel to Switzerland, I recommend you to keep your opinions on cheese to yourself. ;)
Emmentaler has holes, is low in salt and has a taste which is on the bland side (I personally don't like it), whereas Gruyère has no holes, is saltier and has a much richer and "rounder" flavour. It comes in different stages of ripening, from young, which is soft in texture and mild, to old, which is hard and has a much stronger flavour. I personally like Gruyère mi-salé a lot, the semi-ripened one. It's close to a perfect cheese if you ask me.
TIL that Gruyere from France is different to Swiss and it must have holes.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gruy%C3%A8re_cheese
> The PGI documentation also requires that French Gruyère has holes "ranging in size from that of a pea to a cherry", a significant departure from the Swiss original. Peter Ungphakorn, a Swiss local and an international trade expert, comments that the French Comté cheese could be a closer match to the Swiss version.
I am from Spain and it is the same in my country. If you ask the average Spanish person about "queso suizo", they will picture Emmental or Gruyere with the stereotypical holes in it.
That was a TV presentor from a children's programme called Blue Peter.
If you think that looks dicey, search for the video of when another Blue Peter presenter,John Noakes, cleaned Nelsons Column in Trafalgar Square. Note the overhanging wooden ladder and the entire safety equipment was a pair of flared jeans and platform boots!
He also climbed the mast of HMS Ganges which is possibly even more heart stopping.
It's the camera crew that gets me. Peter Duncan has a bucket hanging down to lower his CoG, whereas the cameraman has a hefty shoulder mount making his balance more precarious.
We had an office worker who became obsessed about dehydrating, undoubtedly after watching too much social media. She carried the bottle everywhere.
She arrived at work one day in a state of panic because her water bottle spilt in the car and she was terrified of becoming dehydrated during her 15 minute commute.
And no, there wasn't anything medically wrong with her.
When my wife was ill a few years ago the doctor suggested Angel Delight[1] to help maintain fluids. Until then it hadn't occurred to me you're still effectively drinking half a pint of milk when you eat a bowl.
I don't have a lot to add other than I'm still using a T61p several times a week. It's got by far the best screen[1] I've ever had on a laptop and the keyboard is also lovely.
It's running Win7 and I only use it for RDP onto work. The battery is screwed, perhaps lasts 10 seconds so just enough to cover quickly moving it.
[1] 1920 x 1200 and very matt. It's just stunningly clear and easy on the eyes with great colour rendition.
> Finding it also odd that biodegradable plastics and safer alternatives are going quiet.
They tend not to be a good solution to anything.
There are a couple of ways of making degradable plastic. One is to add something to their manufacture so they break down into shorter chains which their supporters tell you will then further break down. These are generally referred to as OXO degradable.
Another is to use bio based plastics such as PLA or cellulose. These both have poor performance compares to oil based plastics.
All of these also require industrial composting where they add no nutrition to the compost, effectively just bulking it out. They [generally] do not break down when littered or even placed in a domestic compost heap.
There is also a problem because these plastics are virtually impossible to sort from recyclable plastics so if they get in each other waste stream the whole batch can be rendered contaminated and useless.
I believe the issue with straws is they were hard to recycle because they were lightweight and often mingled with other materials, such as cups, napkins, and food waste.
They were generally made from PP which is widely recycled as a material.
They are also commonly littered and as they don't break down in the environment led the not only being unsightly but also clogging up waterways and direct damage to wildlife. Paper straws can still be littered, but break down so don't cause the same physical problems in the longer term.
> Why we allow making packages (especially for take-away food from pseudo-paper (which is a paper with plastic coating), which is not recyclable at all and, in fact,
I agree that plastic is in most cases a better solution, however you are wrong to say the paper+PE board can't be recycled. Currently here in the UK they are not collected in household waste, but many businesses are recycling them and there is a lot of capacity available.
Some of the issues are the collecting and sorting streams, then there are the commercial aspect of how to sell on the recycled material because it needs to be commercially viable.
> "Privatizing Profits and Socializing Losses"
The UK has recently introduced Extended Producer Responsibility for packaging legislation where the theory is the brand owner pays for the entire recycling and collection process of any packaging they put onto the market. Note this isn't just takeaway & food packaging, it's everything. The system though is an unworkable mess, it's so complicated trying to track every item of packaging and who is responsible for paying the tax down the entire supply chain.
> I've also heard that unscrewed bottle-caps, or other small plastics also fall in the common waste dump at the facility.
The EU, and UK, recently brought in legislation where the bottle caps are tethered to the bottle. The main reason is to reduce littering, but it does also make recycling easier.
> I would actually like to know the average percentage of the content of domestic recycling bins that the entities on the other side bother to see recycled.
"An estimated 73% of the plastic bottles produced in 2020/21 were collected from households for recycling. The rate was 47% for pots, tubs and trays and much lower for plastic film at just 4%."
> that recycling facilities throw out black plastic utensils just because the infrared light in sorting machines can't sort it
That is very true. The sorting used near-infrared which struggle to detect these black plastics because the carbon black pigments absorb the light. I've quoted information from one our our suppliers which explains it and what they are doing about it.
What is carbon black and why should it be eliminated?
Carbon black is a pigment widely used in
many materials to achieve dark and opaque
colours. However, it poses a problem in sorting
centers. Indeed, for packaging to be sorted
correctly, it must be detected by a sensor
known as "near-infrared," abbreviated as NIR.
This sensor detects the type of polymer by
identifying bright spots on the surface of the
packaging and identifies the range of light
reflected from the majority of the polymer.
However, the presence of carbon black
prevents the packaging from being detected
because it absorbs the infrared rays emitted
by the device. Undetected packaging is
therefore not sorted and subsequently not
recycled. It will be rejected and sent for
incineration or landfill.
What are the alternative solutions for dark packaging?
As part of the AGEC (The Anti-Waste Law
for a Circular Economy) law, voluntary
commitments have been made by various
stakeholders, including the GUILLIN Group.
We have developed solutions for PP and PET
with detectable packaging without carbon
black. This solution involves eliminating black
dyes in favour of dark dyes validated by
COTREP (Center of Resources and Expertise
on Household Plastic Packaging Recyclability
in France). With this material, our packaging
is detectable by optical sorting and can
therefore be recycled. Some of our ranges are
also available in transparent or translucent
versions, giving you additional options.
Although they are not the same cheese, they are quite close in texture and flavour and are fairly interchangeable to the point where I don't think a significant number of people could tell you which was which.
There is also the Swiss Cheese Model which is when several unfortunate events all line up to cause a major incident.