"Save waste fats for explosives"!

Nick Gillespie | May 2, 2008

Over at the excellent food blog Crispy on the Outside, proprietor Baylen Linnekin walks down memory lane to Victory Gardens and points readers to this insane WW2-era poster that seems strangely relevant in a world of rising food prices and forever war:

Comments

Episiarch|5.2.08 @ 9:21AM|#

"Save waste fats for explosives"!

This is a fart joke, right?

|5.2.08 @ 9:22AM|#

If you eat vegan, then the terrorists have already won.

|5.2.08 @ 9:23AM|#

Yep!

|5.2.08 @ 9:24AM|#

Scrolling down I see a link to Reason TV (Drew talking about bacon)

Seems like a good place to stick a link to the Gallery of Regrettable Food

Chromepulse|5.2.08 @ 9:27AM|#

As an avid shooter and reloader I applaud this "fat for explosives" movement.
In a perfect world I could take a bucket of bacon grease to the recycling center and receive, in turn, two big handfuls of Lake City 5.56.

|5.2.08 @ 9:28AM|#

Biofuels?

|5.2.08 @ 9:32AM|#

It's easier just to go down to the liposuction clinic and pilfer the dumpster.

NeonCat|5.2.08 @ 9:37AM|#

Uh, did you all not watch Fight Club? You can make waste fats into glycerin, IIRC, which with a soupçon of nitric acid gives you nitroglycerin. I believe there are also other useful goodies in there as well.

So, no, this poster isn't a joke. It's a reminder of the total war effort that our nation engaged in in the Second World War.

Episiarch|5.2.08 @ 9:46AM|#

Uhh...NeonCat...did you not notice the Tyler Durden post and sage's post? Both Fight Club references?

Boot up your humor module, dude.

The Democratic Republican|5.2.08 @ 9:50AM|#

I get a real kick out of all the self-appointed content monitors on these threads. We've got a humor monitor on duty now. Any other people want to engage in some good ol' "here's how to act around here" behavior?

|5.2.08 @ 9:51AM|#

My Parents have that poster in their kitchen - a reporduction, I think. You should see the looks they get from their meat dealer.

Episiarch|5.2.08 @ 9:54AM|#

I get a real kick out of all the self-appointed content monitors on these threads. We've got a humor monitor on duty now. Any other people want to engage in some good ol' "here's how to act around here" behavior?

It seems you do, as our self-appointed content monitor monitor.

|5.2.08 @ 9:54AM|#

Interesting. So if you hoarde waste fats and write a manifesto, will you be charged with "attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction"?

Abdul|5.2.08 @ 9:55AM|#

Coincidentally, the meat dealer page has a lot of hits on conservapedia too.

|5.2.08 @ 9:55AM|#

I wonder how much real contribution programs like this had to the war effort. I suspect their main benefit was giving everyone a sense of participating, not in increasing industrial output.

|5.2.08 @ 9:55AM|#

I always wondered why old people pour their grease into a jar they keep by the sink.

Episiarch|5.2.08 @ 9:58AM|#

Actually, joe, from what I know that was because bacon grease and the like was re-used for things like fried eggs, liver and onions, etc. rather than butter (which wasn't cheap).

Old Geezer|5.2.08 @ 9:59AM|#

I always wondered why old people pour their grease into a jar they keep by the sink.

Next time that whippersanpper steps on my lawn, he's getting a big surprise.

|5.2.08 @ 10:01AM|#

Episiarch,

Butter not being cheap - do you mean during the war/rationing, or just in general?

Episiarch|5.2.08 @ 10:03AM|#

Both, I think. My dad told me about how his grandmother kept the bacon grease next to the stove and slapped it in the frying pan for just about everything, as a way of not wasting it and saving money. Not just during the war, but in general.

Plus it tastes great.

|5.2.08 @ 10:04AM|#

I always wondered why old people pour their grease into a jar they keep by the sink.

My parents do this, but then they just throw it away. I also have friends my age who do this. I think they don't want to pour it down the drain because it might congeal?

|5.2.08 @ 10:07AM|#

joe,

Grease can often be reused, you wasteful, Gaia-hating profligate! I hereby ban you from all GW and environmental threads! All people who oppose joe, feel free to use his wasteful ways against him in debates!

Besides being able to save some grease, there's also the issue of not clogging your pipes with the stuff. And hot grease may not be good for PVC, either.

I'm listening to Laurence Bergreen's Marco Polo: From Venice to Xanadu, and he just mentioned something about the Mongols using human fat as a kind of naphtha. Ick.

Bronwyn|5.2.08 @ 10:08AM|#

joe, we keep our bacon grease and use it to flavor grean beans, lima beans, sometimes mashed potatoes, it's great in soups, too.

I keep ours in the fridge, though. Seems kinda gross to leave that sort of thing out on the counter.

Also, what's with all the sniping this morning, fellas? Epi's right - some humor modules appear not to have been booted yet.

|5.2.08 @ 10:09AM|#

And here I always thought mom poured off the grease so it wouldn't clog up the drains.

|5.2.08 @ 10:13AM|#

Bronwyn,

It's national malaise.

The Democratic Republican|5.2.08 @ 10:14AM|#

I don't care what anyone does, Epi, but I get a little tired of coming to these threads and seeing people tell others what to do. If you want to be an unfunny prick that tells other people to be more funny, that's your business.

|5.2.08 @ 10:14AM|#

Pro Libertate,

I guess my extremely low amount of meat consumption makes this a bit of a mystery to me.

So, not so much with the wasteful. :-P

Charlton Heston|5.2.08 @ 10:14AM|#

something about the Mongols using human fat as a kind of naphtha.

Greek fire is PEOPLE!!!!!

|5.2.08 @ 10:15AM|#

Not to mention grease really messes up lots of sewage treatment plants - so its better to just trash it than pouring it down the drain

The Democratic Republican|5.2.08 @ 10:16AM|#

No, it's national i'm sick of seeing arrogant posters tell others what they should and shouldn't say Day. It's been the follow up to May Day for quite some time.

Episiarch|5.2.08 @ 10:22AM|#

I guess my extremely low amount of meat consumption makes this a bit of a mystery to me.

So this explains it... (just kidding)

If you want to be an unfunny prick

No, you have that locked down already.

|5.2.08 @ 10:23AM|#

Warren,

That link is priceless. I had to exit the "Bran" section because I could no longer stifle my laughter (which would have been very embarrassing here@work -- which I suppose I should be doing instead of reading H&R.)

|5.2.08 @ 10:26AM|#

When I do generate waste fat, I pour it into something to harden, too.

I just never thought to store up a whole jar the stuff.

Elemenope|5.2.08 @ 10:35AM|#

...which with a soupçon of nitric acid...

--
some humor modules appear not to have been booted yet.

I submit that anyone who uses "soupçon" un-ironically while typing in English has a permanently defective humor module.

Episiarch|5.2.08 @ 10:36AM|#

But, NOMAD, if...I...am your creator, then you must be imperfect...and must destroy yourself!

|5.2.08 @ 10:40AM|#

Backpedaling, joe? Confess! You use more than a soupçon of oil, grease, fat, and lard! Though why you receive sexual excitement from pouring waste fat into something is beyond me.

Oil and grease can come from non-meat sources, so your evasions are pointless distractions. Case in point: Crisco.

|5.2.08 @ 10:40AM|#

Perhaps I've been working for the Urkobold for too long.

|5.2.08 @ 10:44AM|#

Go 'way.

Bacon.

BakedPenguin|5.2.08 @ 10:44AM|#

You can make waste fats into glycerin, IIRC, which with a soupçon of nitric acid gives you nitroglycerin.

The primer (NPI) I read on biodiesel stated quite specifically, in rather large font, to NOT EVER use nitric acid when making biodiesel (there is a process that uses sulfuric acid) - for this exact reason.

They didn't mention a soupçon of it, though. That might totally change things.

Taktix®|5.2.08 @ 10:46AM|#

Grease for hot missiles? Meat dealer?

I think this post should be entered in the "Unintentional Pr0n" department...

NM4|5.2.08 @ 10:48AM|#

I get a real kick out of all the self-appointed content monitors on these threads. We've got a humor monitor on duty now. Any other people want to engage in some good ol' "here's how to act around here" behavior?

It seems you do, as our self-appointed content monitor monitor.

And now we have a self-appointed content monitor monitor monitor...

Oh, shit, did I become a content monitor monitor monitor monitor?

Neu Mejican|5.2.08 @ 10:49AM|#

Bacon grease is saved because it is a valuable resource for any cook who knows how to cook.

And it's cheaper than Duck Fat.

Yumm...

|5.2.08 @ 10:52AM|#

As is inevitable with a group of libertarians and people who like to hang out with them, the discourse must include a soupçon of porn.

Bacon. Amusing.

You know that saying out who watches the watchers (Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?)? Well, that's me. And, just to clarify, no one watches me. The watching ends here.

Neu Mejican,

Pork fat is the basis of all good things. That is the reason the jihadists hate us. Because they know this to be true, yet their religion prevents them from partaking.

ed|5.2.08 @ 11:01AM|#

FYI, used fats are better for cooking than new fats. That's one reason people still keep and reuse them. Restaurants obviously don't dump their fryolators at the end of each day. They reuse the seasoned fat for days on end. Not that this fact has anything to do with bombs.

Skoal|5.2.08 @ 11:10AM|#

Not that this fact has anything to do with bombs.

That you know of.

Elemenope|5.2.08 @ 11:10AM|#

I love the word "soupçon"; it's such a funny word. "Vichyssoise" is even better, though.

Oh, shit, did I become a content monitor monitor monitor monitor?

"But who watches the monitors of the monitors?"

"I think you should, sweetheart."

"Damn it, Robert! I wish you would take this more seriously!"

"You're taking it seriously enough for both of us. And stop yelling at the TV, you're scaring the kids."

Episiarch|5.2.08 @ 11:10AM|#

And it's cheaper than Duck Fat.

Word. Though all poultry fat is excellent (especially for "pommes de terre"). But the pork fats are the shiznit as well.

Whenever I cook a duck I harvest all the fat and store it for wonderful future use.

Episiarch|5.2.08 @ 11:11AM|#

Oh, shit, did I become a content monitor monitor monitor monitor?

See, this is how you blow up computers the Kirk way--get them stuck in an endless loop.

Taktix®|5.2.08 @ 11:15AM|#

See, this is how you blow up computers the Kirk way--get them stuck in an endless loop.

Fuck that, just put up an Auto-reply in your email and email yourself.

I've seen it crash whole networks.

jtuf|5.2.08 @ 11:16AM|#

Frying foods with reused animal fats can help the environment, but their are possible health risks if it becomes a major source of calories. One of the first vitamin difficiencies researchers discovered came from living off animal fat.

|5.2.08 @ 11:16AM|#

For a time the Confederacy had wagons that came around and collected the contents of chamber pots...urine was useful in the production of gunpowder.

Elemenope|5.2.08 @ 11:17AM|#

See, this is how you blow up computers the Kirk way--get them stuck in an endless loop.

"Can a robot compose a symphony, or turn a canvas into a beautiful work of art?"

"Can you?"

[Awkward silence]

Episiarch|5.2.08 @ 11:18AM|#

Fuck that, just put up an Auto-reply in your email and email yourself.

Good fun, but to do it the Kirk way you have to do it verbally--you actually have to talk the computer into the loop.

I think you need some mandatory ST:TOS refreshers.

Taktix®|5.2.08 @ 11:22AM|#

For a time the Confederacy had wagons that came around and collected the contents of chamber pots...urine was useful in the production of gunpowder.

The Romans used urine to bleach cotton for cloth. Excellent and abundant source of ammonia, and sterile to boot...

|5.2.08 @ 11:22AM|#

It seems to me that a jar full of bacon grease could be a good start for a legendary practical joke.

Chuck|5.2.08 @ 11:24AM|#

I always wondered why old people pour their grease into a jar they keep by the sink.


Round here it's for making gravy. Biscuit and gravy, mmmm.... Good stuff.

Episiarch|5.2.08 @ 11:30AM|#

Urine is also used in tanning. Hides, not sun.

MattXIV|5.2.08 @ 11:32AM|#

One more reasons not to pour down the drain: If you pour it down a drain with a garbage disposal, it will mess it up by stripping away the lubricants between the moving parts.

NeonCat|5.2.08 @ 11:34AM|#

In my defense, I had not had any caffeine when I initially posted.

I was forced to learn about Celine Dion. In French. And I still got a D. I will use soupçon as I bloody well please.

As to whether my humor module is defective, my humor is odd, not defective, and there are people who find other things I write to be very funny.

Or they are humoring me, and I can't tell because my humor module is defective and- and- and-

WARNING WARNING WARNING STRANGE LOOP DETECTED STRANGE LOOP DETECTED ABORT RETRY FAIL IGNORE

Elemenope|5.2.08 @ 11:36AM|#

We broke NeonCat.

We have now officially killed more people than Marijuana. I feel accomplished.

:)

NeonCat|5.2.08 @ 11:36AM|#

Re: Pouring fats down the drain

I saw a thing on TV once where there were a row of fast food places (in London? I forget) that had been dumping waste fat down the drain for a long time. While it had been warm and liquid when it went in, when it got down into the pipes it cooled. And congealed.

Imagine a sewer pipe. Now imagine it filled with really thick Crisco. And, I presume, sewage. Bleh.

LT Nixon|5.2.08 @ 11:43AM|#

This WWII-era poster would imply that the American people actually had to sacrifice something...that's not gonna happen anytime soon.

|5.2.08 @ 12:14PM|#

It's hardly "insane" -- the tons of waste fats which were collected daily in the US went directly into the war effort, as a binder for high explosives.

Remember that this was a time when meat (and just about everything else) was rationed, while the US fought a war on several fronts (Pacific, Europe, Africa, Asia), not knowing if we would win on any. American soil was occupied by the Japanese, and our only hope was to outproduce our enemies.

It worked, largely because of the waste fats, metal and paper which people turned in.

The only thing that I see as being insane about the poster is the condemnation from those who claim to use "reason" . . .

|5.2.08 @ 12:19PM|#

NeonCat | May 2, 2008, 11:36am | #

Re: Pouring fats down the drain

I saw a thing on TV once where there were a row of fast food places (in London? I forget) that had been dumping waste fat down the drain for a long time. While it had been warm and liquid when it went in, when it got down into the pipes it cooled. And congealed.

Imagine a sewer pipe. Now imagine it filled with really thick Crisco. And, I presume, sewage. Bleh

Which is why commercial/industrial kitchens have grease traps, typically located behind the kitchen in the same general area as the dumpster. Which is why you get that cool smell. Unless, you are Scottsdale, AZ, where we put the greastraps at the entrance to restaurant, next to the open are dining area, so that you get this cool rotten sewage smell as you dine al fresca while looking out over the waterfront (aka an irrigation canal).

thoreau|5.2.08 @ 12:20PM|#

If the TSA finds out about this they'll start confiscating greasy food and barring fat people from airplanes.

Bingo|5.2.08 @ 12:52PM|#

The "Take them to your meat dealer" part of that poster was photoshopped. "Impact" font and all-caps are the telltale signs.

|5.2.08 @ 12:58PM|#

If the TSA finds out about this they'll start confiscating greasy food and barring fat people from airplanes.

Wait- that would mean the TSA is not completely bad...

|5.2.08 @ 1:40PM|#

I say, if we engage in another total war, does this mean mandatory liposuction may occur? If so, could the government be intentionally fattening us up?

ed|5.2.08 @ 2:01PM|#

Municipalities are starting to ban garbage disposals in new homes in order to combat expensive pipe repairs. The more commonsense approach would be to educate the knuckle-walkers who stupidly pour grease down their drains, but why educate when brute force is so much more fun?

lunchstealer|5.2.08 @ 2:54PM|#

"If the TSA finds out about this they'll start confiscating greasy food and barring fat people from airplanes."

Wait- that would mean the TSA is not completely bad...

Now, this is just ridiculous. You don't have to bar fat people from aeroplanes. They'd be perfectly safe as long as they're frozen in carbonite* and shipped with your checked luggage (properly screened, of course).

* It is recomended that you avoid driving or operating heavy machinery, and keep well away from anyone using a rocket backpack for at least three hours after the carbonite unfreezing process.

|5.2.08 @ 3:24PM|#

Maybe some people's kernel is incompatible with the typical humor module...

modprobe humor
kernel: Kernel panic: not continuing

Doc|5.2.08 @ 6:10PM|#

Sorry, this was all just a scam to allow those stateside to feel like they were helping with the war, to feel a little sacrifice and doing 'their part' for the effort. Just a 40's version of gov't FUD.

There was no actual point in collecting the fat except to have our grandparents decades later still doing it.

|5.2.08 @ 6:30PM|#

Episiarch | May 2, 2008, 11:30am | #

Urine is also used in tanning. Hides, not sun.
MattXIV | May 2, 2008, 11:32am | #

One more reasons not to pour down the drain: If you pour it down a drain with a garbage disposal, it will mess it up by stripping away the lubricants between the moving parts.

Jesus Christ, you shouldn't be peeing down the kitchen sink in the first place, people!

Do that in the shower!

JD|5.2.08 @ 7:07PM|#

American soil was occupied by the Japanese, and our only hope was to outproduce our enemies.

*scratches head*
American soil was occupied by the Japanese? Remind me again exactly how critical Attu and Kiska were to the US economy, I seem to have forgotten.

Kolohe|5.2.08 @ 11:44PM|#

"American soil was occupied by the Japanese?"

Guam.

and the PI was technically still a US territory on the Dec 8 invasion.