4,997, 4,998, 4,999...

A University Challenge question mentioned honey

Q: What is the word for a fluid that becomes less viscous when it is stirred or agitated, for example honey?

A: Thixotropic

A poor question, I think. I couldn't really see how this applies to honey. Maybe if you stir it hard and long enough to warm it through friction... But then I realised what they meant: not any honey but, specifically, heather honey (and, I read, Manuka) 

Heather honey is gel-like and, indeed, so viscous that it cannot be extracted from a comb by the normal, centrifugal extractor that most beekeepers use. The alternatives are (i) crush and destroy the comb to squeeze out the honey, or (ii) invest in complex and expensive machines that insert agitating needles into each cell to reduce the viscocity. Or, of course, use/sell the honey as cut-comb, without extracting it at all

I think tomato ketchup would be a better example. The ground beneath the spoil-heap at Aberfan is a sadder one

The opposite of thixotropic, I discover, is rheopectic: fluids that get more viscous when subject to external force. My favourite example is 'silly putty' ('potty putty', when I was a child, and was fascinated by it) which is fluid enough to flow if you leave it alone, but hard enough to bounce if you knead it

5,284 lids. Two different jar profiles (round or hexagonal). Three different jar sizes (1lb/454g; 12oz/340g; 8oz/227g). Four different lid sizes (58mm, 63mm, 70mm and 'big'). Four different quantities of jars per pack (72, 128, 84, 108). 22 members, ordering different quantities and combinations. All the lids are in bulk, in plastic bags, randomly assigned to six recycled cardboard boxes. What could possibly go wrong? Well, how about the supplier could under deliver: 5 lids short of one size, 9 lids short of another {rolleyes}?!

"
Best wishes
Melisseus (stirred and agitated)"