Summary
Overview
This episode of No Such Thing As A Fish features Dan Schreiber, Andy Murray, and James Harkin discussing fascinating listener-submitted facts covering topics from cheese science to mountain climbing, Canadian toenail research, and eccentric historical figures. The hosts explore the science behind cheese meltability, unusual electoral strategies, radon detection through toenails, and various quirky historical anecdotes.
The Science of Cheese Meltability and Competitive Cheese Eating
The discussion begins with the Schreiber scale, a scientific measure for cheese meltability developed by Schreiber Foods in 1945. This leads to a hilarious recollection of the hosts' failed attempt to set a Guinness World Record for eating cheese slices during their live tour, where they couldn't even meet the minimum threshold of 10 slices, with the winner managing only 3-4 slices before giving up.
- Schreiber Foods developed the Schreiber meltability test to monitor how cheese handles heat
- The company provides cheese slices for 17 of the top 20 hamburger chains in America with $7 billion in annual sales
- The hosts attempted to break a Guinness World Record for cheese slice eating but failed to reach the 10-slice minimum
- Dan kept the illegally obtained certificate at home without filling in his name
" I am a world record holder, I'm just not a Guinness World Record holder "
" When he printed that certificate off, there was no name written on it because he didn't know which of us was going to break the record. What I did do in pen was add where it said they broke the record, I added in did not. "
Ben Nevis: Not Even the Highest Ben Nevis
The conversation explores the peculiar fact that Scotland's Ben Nevis, the highest point in the British Isles at 1,345 meters, is only the third-highest mountain named Ben Nevis. Two mountains in New Zealand named after the Scottish peak are actually taller, with one reaching over 2,000 meters. The discussion also touches on a mysterious grand piano found near the summit in 2006.
- Ben Nevis in Scotland is 1,345 meters high, but two Ben Nevis mountains in New Zealand are taller at 1,619m and over 2,000m
- A grand piano was discovered 200 meters from the summit in 2006 with no explanation of how it got there
- James climbed Ben Nevis on his honeymoon with a guide, despite there being only one path
- People regularly get into difficulties climbing Ben Nevis, often wearing inappropriate footwear like flip-flops
" It's a lovely idea by the way of having an achievable mountain that has the name of a very hard mountain, like you know if there was a lesser Mount Everest that was really achievable that you could go yeah I've climbed that Everest "
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