Study this thread, then go on Jeopady and win $$$$. I was popping Altoids (lotsa garlic in pasta sauce) and grew curious as to exactly what WAS "Gum Arabic". I see it in everything.


From Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gum_arabic

Gum arabic

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http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/6a/Koeh-004.jpg/180px-Koeh-004.jpg (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Koeh-004.jpg) http://en.wikipedia.org/skins-1.5/common/images/magnify-clip.png (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Koeh-004.jpg)
Acacia senegal (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acacia_senegal) plant from Koehler's Medicinal-Plants 1887





Gum arabic, a natural gum (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_gum) also called gum acacia, is a substance that is taken from two sub-Saharan (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sub-Sahara) species of the acacia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acacia) tree, Acacia senegal (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acacia_senegal) and Acacia seyal (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Acacia_seyal&action=edit). It is used primarily in the food industry (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food_industry) as a stabilizer (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food_additive#Categories), but has had more varied uses in the past, including viscosity (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viscosity) control in inks (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ink). Its E number (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E_number) is E-414.


The gum (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_gum) produced by the trees in question reseals the plant's bark (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bark) in the event of damage - a process called gummosis (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gummosis).


Gum arabic is a complex mixture of saccharides (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saccharide) and glycoproteins (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glycoprotein), which gives it one of its most useful properties: it is perfectly edible. Other substances have replaced it in situations where toxicity is not an issue, as the proportions of the various chemicals in gum arabic vary widely and make its reliable performance troublesome. Still, it remains an important ingredient in soft drink (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soft_drink) syrups (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syrup), "hard" gummy candies like gumdrops (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gumdrops), and in marshmallows (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marshmallow). For artists it is the traditional binder (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Binder_%28material%29) used in watercolor (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watercolor) paint, and was used in photography for gum printing (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gum_printing). Pharmaceuticals and cosmetics (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosmetics) also use the gum, and it is used as a binder in pyrotechnic (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyrotechnic) compositions. It is an important ingredient in shoe polish (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shoe_polish). It is also used often as a lickable adhesive (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adhesive) on postage stamps (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postage_stamp_gum) and cigarette papers (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cigarette_papers). Printers employ it to stop oxidation of aluminum printing plates in the interval between processing of the plate and its use on a printing press.
The substance is grown commercially throughout the Sahel (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sahel) from Senegal (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Senegal) to Sudan (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sudan).

How can you have the time to start such an utterly ridiculous thread, and make me use up 2 minutes of my life reading such a travesty of a post?

I'd start here instead:

http://www.amazon.com/Brainiac-Adventures-Curious-Competitive-Compulsive/dp/1400064457/sr=1-1/qid=1166366556/ref=sr_1_1/104-2936542-3227116?ie=UTF8&s=books

I passed the Jeopardy! Teen Tournament test once. I can't imagine it's THAT bad.

One question about "Gum Arabic":
Is is Sunni gum or shiite gum?

One question about "Gum Arabic":
Is is Sunni gum or shiite gum?
That's a trick question, of course. Arabic isn't -necessarily- Muslim -- just ask a Maronite or Druze.

Dust Bowl

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Dust storm approaching Stratford, Texas (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stratford%2C_Texas), in 1935 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1935).


The Dust Bowl was the result of a series of dust storms (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dust_storm) in the central United States (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States) and Canada (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canada) from 1931 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1931) to 1939 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1939)[1] (http://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/news/topstory/2004/0319dustbowl.html), caused by decades of inappropriate farming techniques, with buffalo herds that fertilized the soil displaced by wheat farming, followed by a severe drought (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drought). The fertile soil of the Great Plains (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Plains) was exposed through removal of grass during plowing. During the drought, the soil (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soil) dried out, became dust (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dust), and blew away eastwards, mostly in large black clouds. At times, the clouds blackened the sky all the way to Chicago (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago), and much of the soil was completely lost into the Atlantic Ocean (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlantic_Ocean). This ecological disaster caused an exodus from Texas (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas), Arkansas (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arkansas), Oklahoma (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oklahoma_Panhandle), and the surrounding Great Plains (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Plains), with over 500,000 Americans left homeless.[2] (http://www.pbs.org/fmc/interviews/gregory.htm) Many migrated west looking for work.




http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/2/2a/Wea01422.jpg/180px-Wea01422.jpg (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Wea01422.jpg) http://en.wikipedia.org/skins-1.5/common/images/magnify-clip.png (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Wea01422.jpg)
Dust storm (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dust_storm) in Spearman, Texas (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spearman%2C_Texas), April 14 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/April_14), 1935 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1935).


It is well known that there was economic instability in agriculture during the 1930s (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1930s), due to overproduction following World War I (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_I). National and international market forces during the war had caused farmers to push the agricultural frontier beyond its natural limits. Increasingly, marginal land that would now be considered unsuitable for use was developed to capture profits from the war.
With their land barren and homes foreclosed for unpayable debts, many farm families gave up and left. The migration was drastic; 15% of the state of Oklahoma (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oklahoma) moved west, and the migrants were generally referred to as "Okies (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Okie)," whether or not they were from Oklahoma. High-end estimates for the number of displaced Americans are as high as 2.5 million, but the lower value of 300,000 to 400,000 is more probable, based upon the 2.3 million population of Oklahoma at the time.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/f/f6/Dallas_South_Dakota_1936.jpg/300px-Dallas_South_Dakota_1936.jpg (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Dallas_South_Dakota_1936.jpg) http://en.wikipedia.org/skins-1.5/common/images/magnify-clip.png (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Dallas_South_Dakota_1936.jpg)
Buried machinery in barn lot. Dallas, South Dakota (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dallas%2C_South_Dakota), May 1936 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1936)


On November 11 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/November_11), 1933 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1933), a very strong dust storm stripped topsoil (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Topsoil) from desiccated South Dakota (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Dakota) farmlands in just one of a series of disastrous dust storms that year. Then on May 11 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/May_11), 1934 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1934), a strong two-day dust storm removed massive amounts of Great Plains (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Plains) topsoil (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Topsoil) in one of the worst such storms of the Dust Bowl. The dust clouds blew all the way to Chicago (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago) where filth fell like snow, dumping the equivalent of four pounds of debris per person on the city. Several days later, the same storm reached cities in the east, such as Buffalo (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buffalo%2C_New_York), Boston (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston), New York City (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_City), and Washington, D.C. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington%2C_D.C.). That winter, red snow fell on New England (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_England).
On April 14 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/April_14), 1935 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1935) known as "Black Sunday", one of the worst "Black Blizzards" occurred throughout the Dust Bowl, causing extensive damage, turning the day to night. Witnesses reported that they could not see five feet in front of them at certain points.
During President (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/President_of_the_United_States) Franklin D. Roosevelt (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franklin_D._Roosevelt)'s first 100 days, governmental programs to restore the ecologic balance of the nation were implemented. The U.S. Government was to form the Soil Conservation Service, now the Natural Resources Conservation Service (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_Resources_Conservation_Service).
The human crisis was documented by photographers (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photographer) from the Farm Security Administration (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farm_Security_Administration); among which the most famous was Dorothea Lange (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dorothea_Lange).

[edit (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Dust_Bowl&action=edit&section=2)] See also

1936 North American heat wave (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1936_North_American_heat_wave)
Woody Guthrie (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woody_Guthrie)
The Grapes of Wrath (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Grapes_of_Wrath)
Great Depression (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Depression)
Rain follows the plow (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rain_follows_the_plow)
The Plow That Broke the Plains (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Plow_That_Broke_the_Plains)
Timeline of environmental events (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_environmental_events)

Here's something that's completely useless:
If two guys are on an elevator and one of them farts, everybody knows who did it.

Here's something that's completely useless:
If two guys are on an elevator and one of them farts, everybody knows who did it.

Mind blowing
http://www.runningscared.org/files/layne-Scanners.gif

That little tidbit is courtesy of George Carlin from his CLASSIC album "The Seven Dirty Words You Can't Say on Television".
I'll never forget the day when my Dad brought that home and played it, thinking I was asleep.