Comments on: The Whys of Flies

By: Mark B.

Mark B. — Fri, 08 Feb 2013 21:40:36 +0000

I’m waiting for someone to come explain that coal oil was used to detect flyspecks on frosting. Or a new way to have cake flambe.

By: Ardis E. Parshall

Ardis E. Parshall — Fri, 08 Feb 2013 20:34:41 +0000

The coal oil sounds more deadly than the flies. Maybe that’s why almost no one who read this article when it was published is still alive.

By: Mark B.

Mark B. — Fri, 08 Feb 2013 20:28:05 +0000

I remember coal-oiling two angel food cakes last summer

She what??

My only (second-hand) memories of coal oil are that nobody in Snowflake, Arizona, in the 1930s seemed able to say the words without getting confused and saying “coil oil.” But I can’t imagine doing anything called “coal-oiling” to a cake and then wanting to eat it, flyspecked or not.

By: Mark B.

Mark B. — Fri, 08 Feb 2013 19:18:12 +0000

Why didn’t they just invent DDT?

There aren’t many flies in New York City. Too tough for them here, I suppose.

And, it’s too bad that the writer didn’t learn some mathematics along the way. The number of babies who survived may indeed have risen 35 percentage points, but the increase from 50% to 85% is a 70% increase in the number of surviving infants. (Assume 100 infants, 50 of whom died in the olden days. But now only 15 of that group of 100 die. Thus, the number of survivors increases from 50 to 85. 35 is 70% of 50. QED.)

By: Ardis E. Parshall

Ardis E. Parshall — Fri, 08 Feb 2013 16:36:58 +0000

Oh, and mahana, tell your boys they’re welcome. I like to hear that Keepa is having an effect on the daily life of some Saints.

By: Ardis E. Parshall

Ardis E. Parshall — Fri, 08 Feb 2013 16:36:15 +0000

Marilyn, the Church seemed to emphasize physical health a lot more in the early 20th century than we hear now. I very often see references in the magazines, and even in Conference talks, about the health value of fresh air. Some people bragged, for instance, about sleeping with their bedroom windows open even in winter, or about putting a cot in their orchard and sleeping outdoors all summer. I think that is what this requirement is getting at: it’s equivalent to saying “eat whole wheat bread for two months” or “walk three miles a day for two months” or any other habit that was conducive to good health.

It’s fun to see those different emphases, isn’t it?

By: mahana

mahana — Fri, 08 Feb 2013 16:27:40 +0000

My sons like to gross out their older sister with talk of how flies eat. This will add more to their repertoire.

By: Marilyn O.

Marilyn O. — Fri, 08 Feb 2013 16:13:49 +0000

The same Google search for Primary song lyrics that led me to your wonderful blog (thank you, Google!) led me to an online pdf copy of the 1919 Hand Book for the Bee Hive Girls, where I was interested to see that killing 25 flies per day for two weeks was one of the project choices to earn the Housekeeping cell. Now I see why. But some of the other requirements, though charming, are puzzling to me. An example: for each achievement level, a mandatory requirement for advancement was “Sleep out of doors or with wide open windows for two months.” – (?)