plantteacher

I just posted about a hum that I hear. There is a science project to track the people who hear the hum, which I was looking to contribute to. Then I noticed the survey is inside the private walled gardens of Google. The researcher’s email address is gmail, the survey form is in Google Docs, and they exclusively use Twitter as well. There is apparently no free-world way to contribute data.

I wonder how much science is encumbered by technofeudal fiefdoms and if there are efforts to make scientific research more open. In principle, science is peer reviewed. So whoever would be the peer reviewers for the research would ideally spotlight this problem.

I was glad to hear from BBC crowd science (the linked show) that I’m not alone in hearing a hum. People around the world hear a low frequency (50 Hz) hum.

What I hear often when waking up in the morning is a high pitch buzz, comparable to the sound of your ears ringing the day after a concert. My theories:

• it’s microwave radiation, perhaps from wi-fi
• the eardrum itself is making noise due to a physiological condition, despite not being around loud noise (BBC mentions this as well)

I recall hearing about a woman who could hear wi-fi, to the surprise of scientists who would emit supersonic sounds and the woman would raise her hand to indicate when she hears a sound. IIRC, she moved to live in a small region where wi-fi is banned to prevent interference with an array of radio telescopes.

Here’s another link to past stories:

• https://www.tinnitusjournal.com/articles/manifestations-of-a-lowfrequency-sound-of-unknown-origin-perceived-worldwide-also-known-as-the-hum-or-the-taos-hum.html
• https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2019/mar/16/can-you-hear-the-mysterious-global-hum-apparently-many-of-you-do

I am not quite sure I would call the hum low pitched. What I hear is very similar to the ringing ears experience after a concert. Isn’t that a high pitch?

I have to say I’m bothered that the research for this requires participants to use Google. I will not submit records to the project because of that.

Tea drinkers:

Most people use water kettles, either stovetop or electric. Some of us use realtime hot water dispensors, which are sometimes a function of coffee machines but in some rare cases they are dedicated stand-alone units.

Pros and cons to each:

stovetop water kettle on ⌁electric stove:
— slow to boil and brew
— wasteful/lossy, esp. if not induction (fuel→heat energy→steam→turbine→AC power→grid transmission→conversion back to heat energy)
— no temp control (green tea drinkers must wait for water to drop to 80°C)
+ BifL: never breaks down and generally outlives you

stovetop water kettle on 🔥gas stove:
— slow to boil and brew
+ energy efficient (fuel→transmission→heat energy); more heat loss on the stove than with electric, but still much less loss than all the electric stages
— …but all city gas pipelines are inherently leaky and unburnt gas is 25× worse for climate than CO₂ (OTOH, this leakage happens wheter you consume gas or not)
— no temp control (green tea drinkers must wait for water to drop to 80°C)
+ BifL: never breaks down and generally outlives you

⌁electric water kettle:
+ fast to boil (1m 20s to boil 25cl in my kitchen)
— …but slow to brew (brewing cannot start until all water is boiled)
— wasteful/lossy (same chain of energy losses as stovetop electric but less waste between the wall and the water)
± /some/ kettles have temp ”control”, but you have to watch it. Some exceptional units can be set to shutoff at 80°C.
+ BifL: never breaks down?

hot water dispensor (⌁electric):
— slow to boil (1m 50s according to YT video X2VdGK2t5vo)
+ …but overall faster to brew because the infusion begins instantly, and this is what matters. So what if it takes 30s longer for hot water if brewing is 1m 20s ahead of the kettle method?
— wasteful/lossy (same chain of energy losses as stovetop electric but has the least energy waste between the wall and the water as the water passes through a small heated pipe; OTOH some energy is used on the pump)
+ all appliances have true temp control, so green tea can be instantly infused with 80°C water automatically and without excessive heat
— non-BifL; it breaks! The usual electro appliance shitshow: complex design; no service manuals; no wiring diagrams; undocumented commands; booby-trapped; spring-loaded… self-destructs when disassembled; spare parts cost more than a new unit [if you can find them] because they bundle several parts together instead of selling individual components… the market seems to have abandoned the dedicated (water only) hot water dispensors

My question: after boiling water in an electric water kettle, I poured it into a glass with a meat thermometer, which went up to ~88°C. Where did the other 12 degrees go? Is it normal for water to fall so rapidly in temp, or is my thermometer dodgy?

A chemist told me rust does not spread. The top of my refrigerator gives me some doubt. It’s covered in these spots. The center of every spot is a small break in the paint, but the rust all around those spots is on top of the paint.

I’m trying to practice heating my body, not the whole room. The main problem is cold fingers when using a keyboard. Fingerless gloves are insufficient. So I figured a heat lamp would be ideal for this. And it turns out it’s been done.

I’m nixing that particular device though because the light is not red (thus not good for late night usage). It’s also only sold online and I will only buy local. The linked Beurer heat lamp is a “medical device” intended for humans. It looked suitable for my purpose -- then I saw there is a timer with max 15 min. What is that about? Is that for safety or for convenience?

I can imagine 15 min being enough for pain relief but my use case requires keeping my hands warm for hours. Pet stores sell 150 watt IR heat lamps for reptiles just as a standard bulb, thus would go into a desk lamp without a short time limit.

The linked device is 300 watt. That’s good but it has no intensity control. A normal light dimmer on the A/C line would solve that. But I wonder:

• is long-term exposure to IR heat harmful?
• if not, should I be avoiding medical devices and looking in pet shops or restaurant supply shops for IR heat lamps, to avoid the timers?
• are there IR lamps for medical purposes that have longer timers?

Bit nutty.. or it could work if the mouse is not needed much→ http://i.stack.imgur.com/bbE42.jpg

There seems to be widespread consensus that cooked turkey is only safe 3—4 days in the fridge. I’m on day 7 and it has the wrong odor. Can it be salvaged?

I am certain that I can kill all the bacteria. But really the interesting question is whether the type¹ of bacteria that likes cooked turkey produces heat-resistant toxins.

These articles say you can kill all the bacteria by cooking:

• https://thetrashcanturkey.com/does-cooking-a-turkey-kill-all-bacteria/
• https://stellinamarfa.com/meat/does-cooking-a-turkey-kill-the-bacteria/
• https://www.chefsresource.com/can-you-cook-bacteria-out-of-turkey/

So they all imply it’s safe to re-cook, but they neglect the critical question about toxins. Any ideas?

① stellinamarfa: “One turkey can contain Salmonella, Clostridium perfringens, Campylobacter, and other germs”.

Are those the kinds of bacteria that produce poisons?

I bought some quite cheap avocados at a street market. Usually exceptionally cheap produce from my local street market is cheap for a reason, but I like to gamble. The minor flaw with these was they were small but had a huge pit, thus not much flesh. And the peels were really thick, stiff and brittle.

One of the avocados I used right after buying had proper color (lemon close to the pit and lime to green close to the peel). Normal, but slightly stiff flesh which implied a bit unripeness. I think the coldness slows or prevents the ripening process.

2—3 of them got increasingly brown, not green, close to the peel. Is that spoilage? I tasted a bit and it had a nice smokey flavor. I did not eat the really dark brown areas but I’m not sure what I’m dealing with. Is it oxidation? The peels are so thick I doubt it could be. Is it spoilage? I would certainly not eat any black areas or with the white mold.

But I have to say the brown smokey parts were quite tasty. So far I got away with it. After a search I see some folks cut avocados in half and smoke them in a smoker. The ones I got apparently achieved that naturally.

I put an aluminum wok lid in the dishwasher and it came out with black marks on it. I’ve also seen other aluminum cookware come out with some kind of white powder specs on it.

So apparently aluminum is dishwasher unsafe. But obviously it’s not the water that’s the problem. It must be the detergent. So the question is, what can a lazy motherfucker like myself do? Why don’t I see aluminum-safe dishwasher detergents on the shelf?

Possibly related: Bailey’s creme liquor turns black underneath an aluminum cap. Is that a chemical reaction or spoilage, or something else?

Here is a more recent article (since BBC is talking about it today):

https://www.sciencealert.com/promising-new-malaria-vaccine-can-be-injected-by-mosquito-bite

I always thought no good comes from mosquitos, as they are a parasite that is wholly detrimental to other organisms. If that whole specie were to go extinct, I would celebrate. Now I have to reconsider.

I also have to wonder how vegans take this news. It’s a case of humans exploiting non-humans, but AFAICT it’s turning a wholly harmful non-respectable organism into a beneficial one.

The ACM.org website published the work of a team at Carnegie Mellon (#CMU) which was said to include source code. Then the code was omitted from the attached ZIP file, which only contained another copy of the paper. I asked the lead researcher (a prof) for the code and was ignored. Also asked the other researchers (apparently students), who also ignored the request. The code would have made it possible to reproduce the research and verify it. ACM ~~also ignored my request and~~ also neglected to fix the misinfo (the claim on the page that source code is available). Correction: ACM replied and tried to find the missing code but then just gave up.

It seems like this should taint the research in some way. Why don’t they want people reproducing the research? If the idea is that scientific research is “peer reviewed” for integrity, it seems like a façade if reviewers don’t have a voice. Or is there some kind of 3rd party who would call this out?

I acquired a ~16 year old laptop. The mat black plastic top (back of the LCD) is sticky. At first I thought the previous owner had stickers on the back that were removed. But that seems like a bad theory now. I rubbed it with a cloth and denatured alcohol and it only got slightly less sticky, but black residue came off on my hands and the cloth. This is apparently not adhesive.. it’s the plastic itself.

What’s my best move? I don’t suppose I can do anything to re-polymerize it. I don’t care about cosmetics.. I just don’t want it to be sticky and marking anything that touches it. One temptation is to put plastic film on it, like cling wrap. But that could just make a bigger mess.

Since sauerkraut is fermented it contains probiotics to add to your beneficial gut bacteria (#microflora). I grew up eating the stuff, but never got that benefit because it was always cooked at high temps in an oven. That classic pork roast in sauerkraut is a typical New Year’s dish.

Cooked sauerkraut is prebiotic (with an E), which feeds the microflora.

So what I am tempted to conclude is that the pork roast should cook in some sauerkraut (for flavor and for the prebiotics. But before serving some cold or room temp uncooked sauerkraut should be mixed in to increase gut bacteria.

Do folks agree or disagree with this?

Unlike kimchi, sauerkraut is much better cooked because uncooked is strong and acidic. So I’m trying to get the best of both worlds. There must be a temp at which sauerkraut can brought to without compromising the microflora. What temp is it, though?