The Science Behind Why We Love Ice Cream

We've talked about ice cream before, and before, and before. Why is it to popular? Why ask why?

This week, a look at the science behind why we love ice cream.

TTFN, Fred.

Quote of the week: "A time will come when men will sit with history before them or with some old newspaper before them and ask incredulously,"Was there ever such a world?" - Herbert George Wells, aka H. G. Wells (prolific English author best known for his work in the science fiction genre, 1866 - 1946)

The Science Behind Why We Love Ice Cream

The Dicey Calculus of Cooking

Not all people are chefs, but we are all eaters. Most of us need to learn how to follow a recipe at some point. To create dishes with good flavor, consistency, and texture, the various ingredients must have a kind of relationship to one another. For instance, to make cookies that both look and taste like cookies, you need to make sure you use the right amount of each ingredient. Add too much flour and your cookies will be solid as rocks. Add too much salt and they'll taste terrible.

And then there are all those differing pan sizes...give me a break. This one is too big, this one is too small, where the heck is the one that is just right? One pan to rule them all, and in the oven bind them.

This week, a look at the calculus of cooking.

TTFN, Fred.

Quote of the week: "I wanted a perfect ending. Now I've learned, the hard way, that some poems don't rhyme, and some stories don't have a clear beginning, middle, and end. Life is about not knowing, having to change, taking the moment and making the best of it, without knowing what's going to happen next. Delicious ambiguity." - Gilda Radner (actress and comedian, 1946-1989)

The Dicey Calculus of Cooking

Discovering the Virtues of a Wandering Mind

Daydreamers rejoice, for now, research shows how doing nothing but daydreaming improves our focus and generally, makes us smarter. At long last, I am, I mean the doodling daydreamer, is getting some respect.

This week, a look at discovering the virtues of a wandering mind.

TTFN, Fred.

Quote of the week: "Medicine, law, business, engineering. These are noble pursuits. And necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love. These are what we stay alive for." - Tom Schulman (American screenwriter most famous for his screenplay Dead Poets Society, 1950 - )

Discovering the Virtues of a Wandering Mind

Future Fridge

What can your refrigerator do for you? For most people these days the answer is simple, “it keeps things cold” and for some “it even dispenses ice and water.”

What does the future hold for your refrigerator? Interactive message boards, digital picture frames, satellite radio, CD/DVD players, recharging cell phones and other devices as well.

All that it and it still keeps things cold...will wonders never cease. This week, a look at future fridge.

TTFN, Fred.

Quote of the week: "The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man." - George Bernard Shaw (Irish playwright, 1856 - 1950)

Future Fridge

Repeatability and Reproducibility

Repeatability measures the success rate in successive experiments. Reproducibility, on the other hand, is the ability of an experiment to be accurately replicated. Together, repeatability and reproducibility make up precision, which is altogether different from accuracy.

Confused? It's okay. This week, a look at repeatability and reproducibility.

TTFN, Fred.

Quote of the week: "Whether it's the best of times or the worst of times, it's the only time we've got." - Art Buchwald (US author, columnist, dramatist, & journalist, 1925 - 2007)

Repeatability and Reproducibility

Tomato History, Part 2

For some it is nirvana to bite into a garden-ripe tomato, fresh off a vine in the backyard sun. For me, it is the last thing I want to eat; I can't get past the texture.

Tomato sauce, tomato paste, ketchup...all good things I enjoy to consume. I even learned to like tomato soup, as long as it is devoid of identifiable pieces. Chunks of tomato...ugh. The soft, squishy center is the worst.

This week, part 2 of the history of tomatoes.

TTFN, Fred.

Quote of the week: "The only reason for time is so that everything doesn't happen at once." - Albert Einstein (US (German-born) theoretical physicist, 1879 - 1955)

Tomato History Part 2

Tomato History, Part 1

Tuh-MAY-toh or Tuh-MAH-to? Pronunciation doesn't matter when it comes to this fabulous nutritious fruit known as a vegetable. It's hard to believe that such a widely-used food source was once considered deadly poisonous.

Available year-round in fresh and preserved forms, there is no shortage of uses for this versatile "vegetable." This week, a part 1 of a history of the tomato.

TTFN, Fred.

Quote of the week: "Every one is a moon, and has a dark side which he never shows to anybody." - Mark Twain (American author and humorist, 1835-1910)

Tomato History Part 1