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The hard part about getting this sort of advice online is localisation.

If it had a drop down to choose your country, and someone had done the legwork of localising the answers then it would be really good (for me).

Same thing happens with recipes, when I'm making a carrot cake I might search for good recipes only to find the highest rated mentions lots of brands (rather than detailing the product), then it's a bother to try and find equivalents.

I think we need to refer to the Unix philosophy, each program does one thing well. Make an English to English translation tool. I once had an English student use the word "aubergine". I had never heard the word aubergine before so I corrected him, "no, that's an eggplant." A North-American-English vs European-English war broke out. Lorries crashed into 18-wheelers, rubbish bins and trash cans caught on fire, friends and mates turned against each other. When the dust settled those who remained wanted to pay their respects to the fallen; some people lined up, other people queued.
> rubbish bins and trash cans caught on fire

Well, of course. One is flammable, and the other is inflammable.

Inflammable means flammable? What a country!
“England and America are two countries separated by the same language” George Bernard Shaw
I love that site. Use it all the time.

We shouldn't impose on every website the requirement to support the whole world. This website is probably just run by a guy/gal on their free time, for fun.

I'd love that more people in other countries also created more websites like this, localized and specific to their market, without feeling the pressure to escalate to the entire planet.

This is what I came here to post. This website is absolutely fantastic - but translating between American products and European ones is often extremely hard.
Not only would it be hard, it would also remain incomplete - there are more than two English-speaking countries out there...
Is it really? One could just get the product name and search Google for "XX European alternative"
And it doesn't even tell you the substance. If you say "super glue", I have no idea what to do. If you say "cyanoacrylate", I can get it for a euro.
To be fair, the page for "Super Glue" does mention it: https://thistothat.com/glue/super_glue.shtml ("This is cyanoacrylate.") which then links to: https://thistothat.com/glue/cyan.shtml which in turns links to the relevant brands' pages.

It could be expanded, since not all brands on the site have this, though.

I had a hard time finding CA glue here in the Netherlands until I discovered it is what we just call secondenlijm ('secondsglue').

Also whenever I find a tube or bottle of superglue I am always tempted to attach a red cape to it (using glue of course).

Yes, some chemical details about how each substance works would make this site fabulous.
I love cyanoacrylate adhesives. With paper/cardboard you get a composite that's almost fiberglass. With nylon (anything from stockings to ripstop) you get even closer. Or silk or kevlar. All of them react exothermically with cyanoacrylate, so they cure very quickly.
Agreed. As soon as I saw "Krazy Glue" (which just sounds American) I assumed all other product listings would be US-centric, and it appears they are.

Not too difficult to find alternatives available in the UK/EU (Amazon.co.uk sells some US glue brands, it seems) but it would be nice to have country-specific listings on this website to avoid the searching process.

Related and only half-serious, but I am irritated by the crazy names people give to food, which tend to appear out of nowhere as some foreign dish suddenly becomes popular, and then also acquire restaurant or region-specific variations not reflected in the name.

Many times in my life I wished people would adopt chemistry-style naming for food. So instead of "devolay" (which, it turns out, is a misspelling and shortening of "de volaille cutlet"), they'd say something like "fried, breaded, X-stuffed chicken fillet" where X is "butter" and/or "dill" and/or whatever the local chef invented. Or at least a "cabbage salad" instead of "coleslaw". Yes, it's longer. But I don't want to store countless of arbitrary words in my mental hash table; I have plenty of other stuff to put in there.

One of the main features of language is that it offers abstraction layers that simplify communication by having a single term. Let's just take your example of using "cabbage salad" instead of "coleslaw":

-Coleslaw denotes a specific preparation of cabbage, notably that it's shredded and prepared in either a vinegar mixture or mayonnaise.

-"Cabbage salad" does not capture this meaning. It could mean any salad where cabbage is a significant ingredient.

-Sauerkraut could plausibly be considered a "cabbage salad".

-Coleslaw frequently has other ingredients or seasonings, which vary by recipe, that wouldn't be encompassed by "cabbage salad", like carrots, honey, multiple types of cabbage.

-The above ingredients could be considered to circumscribe the possibilities, beyond which it is no longer properly considered coleslaw, and is it's own thing that may or may not have a unique name.

-Basically, "cabbage salad" is less accurate of a description for coleslaw because it can encompass many more variations. Coleslaw can be considered a very specific type of cabbage salad. If I see "coleslaw" on a menu, I have a much better idea of what I'm getting than if it said "cabbage salad"

-Most menus don't simply give the name of the dish like "de volaille cutlet". They will actually give the description, like "fried breaded chicken cutlet stuffed with a creamy brie cheese and prosciutto ham"

I’m sorry, are you frustrated that words have meaning and sometimes you have to learn what it is?
I think that sort of naming would end up REALLY long.

Basically you're talking about including the actual recipe/ingredients/method of cooking all together in the name of the dish.

We would need to invent whole bunch of words that would mean a very specific set of ingredients/cooking approach. Then using that we could end up with slightly shorter names.

Half related and only quarter-serious:

I bet your code is full of functions with names like:

    takeCustomerIDAndDateThenQueryDatabaseToReturnArrayOfPurchaseOrdersWhichConsistOfPONumberAndNetSalesPrice


    takeCustomerIDAndDateThenQueryDatabaseToReturnArrayOfPurchaseOrdersWhichConsistOfPONumberAndLineItemsOfProductAndQuantityAndUnitPrice
If you go to the "Impartial" page (https://www.thistothat.com/impartial.shtml) there's a little "Best viewed in any browser" gif. Sadly given the proliferation of Chrome-only web apps, those things really need to make a come back.
Agreed! I'm a JS developer and SPA is over rated!

All web page should have a mode (or graceful degradation) that work in text based browser like Lynx, Links2 without JS.

What bothers me is that if you build from the ground up, you already get all of that for free.

Use semantic HTML elements, write your content, then you snazz it up with CSS and JS if you want. It will work everywhere, in every accessibility tool, with no extra work whatsoever.

> Attach Ceramic to Leather [Let's Glue!]:

"We won't ask why you would want to glue ceramic and leather together - we just give gluing info.

If the leather is thick (eg. boot leather), we recommend:..."

That sounds like it would be useful for cosplay.
If you're into adhesives, the Applied Science (Ben Krasnow) youtube channel has a great video discussing his shortlist of adhesives to keep around and when/how to use them.

"Tools and Tips #1 from Applied Science": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YBQp04glQqc

Also check out Project Farm's channel. It's a little more automotive based, but the product comparison tests are extensive. If you ever wondered which type of drywall screw could resist the most sheer force or if you can use Zippo lighter fuel in an engine, this is a great channel.

My only criticism is sample size is usually small (3-5 samples), and no checking on variation between product lots. But, it's one guy doing all this for free, so I can't complain.

I was really expecting this to be a well built Amazon Affiliate marketing site. Pleasantly surprised that it's just purely informational.
"Whenever you are gluing metal it's a good idea to clean it first with steel wool or sandpaper. (Rust never sleeps.)"

Glad to see a Neil Young nod in an esoteric reference site. That feels very old-internet to me.

These kind of sites can be super helpful, they just need more input to them, would be great if they were a sort of wiki.

For example with plastics, like nylon which I don't believe has a reactive adhesive, hotglue can work well. Infact hotglue when cured can host hundreds of pounds in things like wood even.

Also the term 'plastic' is very generalized. Would be great to be able to know what to test for to see what kind of plastic is what. Different kinds can have different reacting adhesives that are very strong as the site points out about PVC

This site has been online for 20+ years, damn!
It's a recommendation engine for adhering [this] item to [that] item. The adhesives recommended and the advice given appear to be US-centric.
20 years and still going strong! This site was one of the first microsites I ever encountered. It does exactly one thing with minimal window dressing. That thing is useful and idiosyncratic. It probably makes them little to no money, but there it is every year. Sometimes they tweak it.

It's a little funny it's implemented via CGI; this design dates back to the days before you really could do anything dynamic client-side with presentation. These days it'd be a single page app with a JSON database driving it. Best thing about that is the hosting cost goes to near zero, it's all static files.

So glad this site still exists. I've used it 3 or 4 times over the last 20 years and it just does what i need it to with no fuss.
Site appears to be down. Can anyone give an overview?
The site helps you figure out what glue works best to attach two items to each other. It provides links to glues/compounds, and also has helpful tips to help you better.

-------------------------------------------------

From their Philosophy page:

"We are here to help you choose the right glue for your bonding requirements. We are committed to keeping current with the adhesive market, but we don't claim to know everything about every glue on the market. We recommend the glues that we have found work best for us. We do know one thing for sure: there is no such thing as the All Purpose glue. Every glue has its pros and cons. The secret to a successful bonding challenge is to consider the following glue philosophy:

The primary principle of glue is much like any relationship in that the adhesive must fit the adherend. (Kinda Zen, eh?) All glues work best when aided with a physical attachment. When ever possible the combination of glue and a screw, nail or staple, a glue and a joint, a glue and stitching or binding, will guarantee a successful bond.

Any glue is only as strong as the weakest material in the bonding union. There is no point in using a glue stronger than the materials you are bonding.

The success of a bond is dependent on the amount of surface area. The more surface area you are able to incorporate, the stronger the bond.

Always use the least toxic material that meets your bonding requirements.

Understanding how a glue works will help you choose the right glue for the job. The manufacturer knows their glue better than the cashier at the hardware store. Reading the label thoroughly will help you know if a glue is appropriate for your needs. Also, many glues have a help line or a website. We have found some sites for you."

About three weeks ago I struggled to glue a tiny acryl/plastics figurine to a stone. Sadly, stone is missing from the glueable surfaces.
Stone is weird, the surface prep varies so widely, as does the grain structure. Its hard to generalize, and is usually covered under porous/nonporous. If smooth, lightly abrade any polished surfaces if practical, and ca should work fine when gaps are <1mm, use baking soda to fill gaps qnd build up edges. For rough/porus, use a 2-part epoxy of your desired properties, all major brnds are great. It can be helpful to knock down tall spots to get better contact of the surfaces to be joined. Making a regular series of gouges can increase surface area for stronger mechanical bonds.
Is it fair to call this an algebra? The materials are elements in a set and the adhesive is kind of like a binary operation.

It’s commutative, at least in terms of picking a glue. (Sometimes they recommend to put the adhesive on one material first.)

cgi-bin/glue.cgi – blast from the past!
haha I was thinking the same thing. Can't remember the last time I saw that.
site's been around since 1999 apparently
It reminds me of this sketch on YouTube - Sticko! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=58zzs4hzEIg
I wonder if it makes sense to have something similar for software. E.g glue react to bootstrap. Answer: reactstrap!

But that's nothing a Google search/stackoverflow search can't do already :)

Useful, easy to operate for users, straight to the point. Nice :-)
Useful data, but it's a spreadsheet hidden behind a single-lookup database that make s 100x slower and harder to use.

All the data should be displayed in a single page, using browser in-page search to navigate.

Isn't that a bit of an exaggeration? I disagree either way. I like the presentation and didn't find it 100x slower or harder to use. It took me 4 clicks instead of a hand contortion for a keyboard shortcut and then 10-20 keypresses to do my searches, and then on top of that I didn't have to search with my eyes to make sure I was on the correct row of glass to metal vs glass to plastic.

The tidbits on the results page would be very difficult to read in a grid.

I don't see silicone anywhere on that list :)