The Famous Five 3014 A.D.

[Julie2owlsdene]

Like on Planet of the Apes?

Never seen it, but I like the idea of a planet of the dogs! And the dogs can be cruel to the people who have been cruel to them.

[Moonraker]

Sounds like something Popeye might say.

[burlingtonbertram]

The Hittite reference was interesting.I can't remember the exact verse,(Nigel will probably know) but isn't there a verse in the book of Revelation (written aprox 2000 years ago) that says something like 'don't harm the bread and olive oil' which I think refers to the inordinate cost of basic everyday foodstuffs in an unspecified future time period??

I like it. John Of Patmos has been described as anything from a disciple, to a mystic, to a drug-addict. Whereas, he was really an early Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall or a middle-class shopper. I think the verse in question might go on to espouse the virtue of 'Duchy Originals'.

[John Pickup]

I was a flour miller for 27 years and you wouldn't believe the additives we had to add to flour during the milling process. Most of it was to improve the colour, we had to measure the colour of flour every hour, and of course preservatives. Chlorine gas was also added to some flour, usually cake flours, and we often got a leak, whereupon we would have to don gas masks and repair it.
Wholemeal flour was no different, the additives were still required, some by law and most by the bakers who were our customers.

[pete9012S]

“The Whiter The Bread, The Sooner You’re Dead.”

Gosh,this thread is morphing into the something a bit like 'The herbal Thread'!
Nothing wrong with that, I may add.

All the talk of some people having violent reactions to bread and even using breathing equipment etc in its manufacture made me ask:

is Bread Bad For You?

I was shocked to read:

http://authoritynutrition.com/why-is-bread-bad-for-you/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Katharine]

That's interesting, John. A friend of mine lost his father who was a baker because of a lung disease connected with the flour he worked with. That was back in the early 1960s I believe.

There was a TV programme a little while ago which showed a high street through the ages, and I seem to remember the Victorians added all kinds of substances to their bread. I wonder if that's why so many people have problems nowadays with wheat, because of all the unnatural products that have been added over the years - our bodies can't cope any more? Either that, or is it because we aren't eating the wheat we should do, as it's a different variety to what was used in the past?

[pete9012S]

The future??

[John Pickup]

When I was a flour miller, bread flour was made predominantly using Canadian Winter Red Springs wheat, the hardest wheat in the world. The grain was smaller, ideal for roller-milling, it was dryer which meant it had a higher water absorption and the colour was excellent. It was also expensive and the bakers wanted more profit so the millers were forced to use more English wheats in their grists. English wheat is poor for bread making, it has a high moisture content and a low protein. The actual grain is bolder and fatter causing more problems in the milling process and a lower extraction rate. Bread baked using English wheat tends to have more holes in it, due to poor elasticity. This all stems from the consumer wanting cheaper bread!
The screensman, who was responsible for preparing the wheat for milling, often worked in dry, dusty conditions and wheat dust can be very sharp. In my time we rarely wore masks and several of the people I worked with suffered chest complaints.
The worst problem though was the noise. Our flour mill, which had 72 stands of roller mills was regularly measured at over 100 decibels continually. We all wore ear protectors, without them the noise was intolerable. I blame working in a flour mill for my poor eyesight, I was continually rubbing my eyes as they were very dry from all the dust.

[pete9012S]

Are we getting any nearer to this??

[Jomo]

The human race will become almost extinct and the planet will eventually recover. There will be wild population enclaves of people in widely separated ecological niches, but with the collapse of civilisation there will be little communication between them and with the breakdown of infrastructure all the knowledge held virtually in electronic media will be lost.

Crumbling cities will very quickly be taken over by weeds, and after a few hundred years everything will be covered in new plant growth. These hanging gardens will look magnificent but there won’t be many people around to appreciate the aesthetic.

Meanwhile in Australia: Marsupials may take over the prime evolutionary position on our continent as they have extremely adaptable means of reproduction. The great salt lakes will fill and become permanent inland seas as they were 15,000 years ago. Rising sea levels will wash away most vestiges of the human habitation on the coasts, and the cities will become breeding grounds for fishes.