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Pat Shingleton: "The Volstead Act and Guinness"

7 years 1 month 1 week ago Friday, February 17 2017 Feb 17, 2017 February 17, 2017 4:15 AM February 17, 2017 in Pat Shingleton Column
By: Pat Shingleton:

Yesterday's "post" noted a molasses explosion and a response and reason from one of our past employees. Jon Vail assisted us during our broadcasts years ago.on the floor detail during our broadcasts at WBRZ, is a graduate of LSU and an avid history buff. Here's the excerpt from the previous columns. "Each evening I mention the next-day Advocate column on our 10 PM newscasts and noted the Great Molasses Flood of 1919. An overnight low of 2 degrees in Boston could have exploded the 2.5 million gallon tank, sending a 30 foot high wall of molasses on the city.  John informed me that the reason for the vast amount of molasses at that time coincided with The Volstead Act, also known as Prohibition. He noted that the Federal Government provided distillers a final opportunity to “flood” the market with liquor and in this situation would have been the manufacture and distribution of lots of rum." Finally, "Bubbly Ice" is glacier ice containing trapped air bubbles. Scientists have confirmed what Paddy Quigley, former proprietor and well know owner of Ivar's had always known, Guinness bubbles sink.  At the University of Edinburgh's School of Chemistry it was proven that bubbles flow down instead of upwards.  Early observations thought that once the dark liquid hit the glass there was the illusion that the bubbles were going down. Closer examination revealed that as the pint settled, bubbles touching the walls of the glass experienced drag, preventing bubbles from flowing up. Bubbles in the middle of the glass rise freely causing bubbles at the edge to be pushed downwards on the inside surface. Ivar Quigley and his sister Belinda, langers from Cork, incorrectly believe Smithwicks Lager does the same.

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