# Beef jerkey packets correction **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [October 30, 2011, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beef-jerkey-packets-correction/601274 "2011-10-30T12:45:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![gamerunknown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/6bbea6/32.png) [@gamerunknown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gamerunknown)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2011, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beef-jerkey-packets-correction/601274/1 "2011-10-30T12:45:52Z")
[Article here.](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/1502/whats-that-white-stuff-packed-with-beef-jerky) “Inhabits” should be “inhibits” I believe (eee, pedantry :(). I wonder if anyone has eaten them and what the results would be? I was always advised by my parents to never even touch the little packets found in new shoes… Was that what made them smelly funny? ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2011, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beef-jerkey-packets-correction/601274/2 "2011-10-31T14:26:11Z")
According to the [MSDS](http://www.stopak.com/desiccants/MSDS-Silica%20Gel.pdf),[pdf file] it’s generally non toxic, but if consumed you should drink a lot of water, and if a lot is consumed, seek medical attention. It is a dessicant, which means it absorbs water, so it would likely give you constipation. Thus the need to drink lots of water. And if you eat too much, get medical help. ---
**Author:** ![gamerunknown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/6bbea6/32.png) [@gamerunknown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gamerunknown)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2011, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beef-jerkey-packets-correction/601274/3 "2011-11-07T00:07:30Z")
Hunky dory article [appears twice here](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/archive/all/57) as far as I can tell. ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2011, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beef-jerkey-packets-correction/601274/4 "2011-11-07T14:36:25Z")
Thanks for the catch, **gamerunknown** , we’ll fix that typo. (When we transitioned to a new system, a number of errors appeared for unknown reasons in older reports.) I’ll check on the double listing of the “hunky dory” report, some sort of glitch. Link: [What’s the origin of “hunky dory”? - The Straight Dope](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/1495/whats-the-origin-of-hunky-dory) ---
**Author:** ![gamerunknown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/6bbea6/32.png) [@gamerunknown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gamerunknown)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2011, 10:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beef-jerkey-packets-correction/601274/5 "2011-11-15T10:17:10Z")
Nevermind, mistaken. ---
**Author:** ![gamerunknown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/6bbea6/32.png) [@gamerunknown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gamerunknown)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2011, 7:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beef-jerkey-packets-correction/601274/6 "2011-12-02T07:55:38Z")
[An article by Cecil](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/32/why-do-we-celebrate-christmas-on-dec-25)claims that the date of Christmas is an adoption of the old Saturnalian pagan tradition, but [this article](http://jerome23.wordpress.com/2009/12/22/the-myth-of-the-pagan-christmas-or-why-stephen-fry-was-wrong-on-mythmas/) is fairly well sourced and argued claiming that it isn’t (I don’t have a conscious bias towards either position - in fact I assumed it was a pagan religion since many of the aspects of its celebration such as “Father Christmas” and “Christmas trees” have no relation to the Gospels). It would be interesting if Cecil addressed this. (By the way, I hope you don’t mind if I use this thread for small quips that don’t really warrant their own thread). ---
**Author:** ![gamerunknown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/6bbea6/32.png) [@gamerunknown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gamerunknown)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2011, 9:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beef-jerkey-packets-correction/601274/7 "2011-12-02T09:48:30Z")
[Another instance of an article appearing twice…](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/archive/all/53) Once as a[normal article](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2493/who-was-phoebe-snow) and then another time unchanged as a Straight Dope classic I think. ---
**Author:** ![John\_W.Kennedy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_w.kennedy/32/1031_2.png) [@John\_W.Kennedy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_W.Kennedy)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2011, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beef-jerkey-packets-correction/601274/8 "2011-12-02T20:42:51Z")
The questions “Is the choice of the date, December 25[sup]th[/sup], for Christmas influenced by practices of the Mithraic cult?”, “Is the choice of the date, December 25[sup]th[/sup], for Christmas influenced by Saturnalia?”, and “Is Christianity substantially based on Mithraism?” are three quite different questions. There seems to be some confusion. ---
**Author:** ![Powers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@Powers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Powers)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2011, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beef-jerkey-packets-correction/601274/9 "2011-12-03T02:21:33Z")
> [@gamerunknown](#): > > (By the way, I hope you don’t mind if I use this thread for small quips that don’t really warrant their own thread). Well it rather renders the thread title misleading, doesn’t it? Besides, you never know what kind of “small quip” is going to explode into a deep discussion – safer to start it out in its own thread so that interested parties can see it more readily and other conversations don’t get derailed. Powers &8^]