De-Gaussing

I accidentally used the term “de-gauss” (or perhaps “degauss”) in conversation the other day, referring to something I had to do for my well-being. I was asked for an explanation. Thought I’d explain what I meant to you too:

One of many effective ways to de-gauss: Get the best gin ever (Hendricks’), a decent tonic water, the very tastiest of lemons (it’s from the tree in the garden), a glass, some ice*

gin and tonic

…and a really comfy chair. Hey, it’s been a long and busy day.

-cvj

P.S. Oh. There’s some other use of the word involving getting rid of trapped built up magnetic fields, etc., etc. You can google that.

(*Yeah, I know it’s not a great snapshot, but you get the idea.)

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16 Responses to De-Gaussing

  1. Clifford says:

    Hi Graham,

    Thanks. I find it works well both ways. Sometimes I have it with cucumber, sometimes I have it with lemon.

    I like both.

    Best,

    -cvj

  2. graham says:

    Hi, the correct way to drink Hendricks is with Cucumber, not lemon. In effect, the citrus will kill the gin. Hope this helps.

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  5. Clifford says:

    That’s getting on for being a Gimlet… another often-features de-gaussing agent…. 🙂

    -cvj

  6. spyder says:

    Just before i stopped drinking (more than a decade ago), i had the chance to taste some of the test batches of Junipero gin; a product eventually put into production by the Anchor (Steam) Distilling Company, SanFran, CA. It was real good, and mixed with my favorite recipe it became the best of degaussing tools in my preference kit. One ounce Junipero, one ounce 100 proof Stolichnaya, and half an ounce of Roses Lime juice (and a healthy squeeze of fresh lime); shaken with small amount of ice and poured neat and straight (no garnish!). The contrasting flavors stood out remarkably, and the degaussing efficacy was pronounced; probably why i quit drinking.

  7. Clifford says:

    Normally, I use limes…. but I’ll choose a delicious homegrown lemon over a store/market-bought lime any time. My lime tree decided not to give me any limes this year. Working on finding out why.

    Somehow the lemon flavour works marvelously, actually. I think the mixed-drink orthodoxy missed a trick here.

    Cheers,

    -cvj

  8. damtp_dweller says:

    No lime with that G&T? For shame.

    😉

  9. Plato says:

    You can never escape the “non-euclidean views” Clifford. Even if you were to drown yourself. So your hooped. Accept it 🙂

  10. candace says:

    A ha — if you’re in the Smoke in the summer at the right place at the right time, you might run across the Chap Olympics as sponsored by Hendrick’s (generous providers of free G&Ts at the refreshments stand):
    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/spl/hi/pop_ups/06/magazine_the_chap_olympics/html/1.stm
    I went; a good time was had by all.

    Hendrick’s is indeed the only gin for those with discerning taste.

  11. Carl Brannen says:

    Anything that can be wired, differentiate, have hysteresis, impede, transform, induct, be eccentric, get a charge, have friction, be a speaker, commute, rectify, amplify, group, accelerate, resist, plot, scale, be singular, machine, integrate, etc., can certainly be degaussed.

    Speaking of being shocked, I just learned that mansquito can fly. Dimensional analysis would have suggested that he needed much larger wings.

  12. Steffen says:

    Hmm.. my old monitor had a button labeled ‘Degauss’, but it only made the image wobble and went ‘KLONK’. Going ‘KLONK’ and then dropping out a Gin Tonic I would have preferred (or even better: a Mojito!). But there you go, computers are just not ready to take over the world yet if they can’t even fix a decent drink.

  13. anon says:

    Ha! YouTube is, indeed, wonderful. I suppose hilarity can have a degaussing effect of its own.

  14. Yvette says:

    I rather like your definition, Clifford. I turned 21 a few days ago, so perhaps I shall have to use it. 😉

  15. Clifford says:

    You know, before clicking the link, I was thinking you were referring to the 1981 album by Jean-Michelle Jarre. I’m relieved. Uh… to see why (and I’ll admit that I spent way too much time listening to that sort of thing when I was very young), here he is (link below), with his once-cool (ok, to me and about 50 others) Fairlight CMI synthesizer in the oddest of places. Be sitting down, and be sure not to fall off your chair laughing as I did just now, what with all the running around with giant electronic components and the like. What on earth happened in the 80s to produce so many of this sort of video? And what does it mean?!

    Link. Sigh, YouTube is wonderful.

    -cvj

  16. anon says:

    There’s some other use of the word involving getting rid of trapped built up magnetic fields, etc., etc.

    Some of us, on occasion, involve Magnetic Fields in your sort of degaussing.