There’s been a lot of consternation in the news about toilet paper shortages caused by people stocking up in case the coronavirus virus starts spreading wildly.
I haven’t seen panic buying in the stores I frequent in the Cape Girardeau area, but that might be because we MidWesterners are better prepared than our more urban friends.
8,000 BTU per pound
After the squirrels get finished with the corn I hang on a backyard maple tree, I bring the cob inside to burn in the basement fireplace.
A study by the University of Connecticut showed that corn cobs will produce about 8,000 BTUs of energy per pound. Hard coal, in comparison, generates about 13,000 BTU per pound.
While it’s true that coal heats better than corn cobs, it is much less effective when used as toilet paper substitute.
(The old rule of thumb was to use two brown cobs followed by a white cob, the latter of which was a quality control measure.)