Breaking Down the Physics of Wok Tossing

A wok is a versatile round-bottomed cooking vessel, originating in China. It is one of the most common cooking utensils in China and similar pans are also found in parts of East, South and Southeast Asia, as well as becoming a popular niche cookware in all the world.

The main advantage of wok is its curved concave shape. The shape produces a small, hot area at the bottom which allows some of the food to be seared by intense heat while using relatively little fuel. The large sloped sides also make it easier for chefs to employ the tossing cooking technique on solid and thick liquid food with less spillage and a greater margin of safety. Curved sides also allows a person to cook without having to "chase the food around the pan" since bite-sized or finely chopped stir-fry ingredients usually tumble back to the center of the wok when agitated.

This week, a look at breaking down the physics of wok tossing.

TTFN, Fred.

Quote of the week: "It is well to remember that the entire universe, with one trifling exception, is composed of others." - John Albert Holmes Jr. (poet and critic, 1904 – 1962) 

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The Tangled History of Weaving with Spider Silk

Spider silk is a protein fiber spun by spiders. Spiders use their silk to make webs or other structures, which function as sticky nets to catch other animals, or as nests or cocoons to protect their offspring, or to wrap up prey. Spider silk is incredibly tough and is stronger by weight than steel. Quantitatively, spider silk is five times stronger than steel of the same diameter. Scientists have found that each strand, which is 1000 times thinner than a human hair, is actually made up of thousands of nanostrands, only 20 millionths of a millimeter in diameter.

Useful, yes...but how do you get the spider to give it to you?

This week, a look at the tangled history of weaving with spider silk.

TTFN, Fred.

Quote of the week: "The world belongs to the energetic." - Ralph Waldo Emerson (US essayist and poet, 1803 - 1882)

   The Tangled History of Weaving With Spider Silk by fredwine on Scribd

The Secret World Inside Tiny Fog Droplets

Fog forms when the air near the ground cools enough to turn its water vapor into liquid water or ice. There are many different types of fog, too. Ice fog forms when the air near the ground is cold enough to turn the water in fog into ice crystals. Ice fog forms only at extremely cold temperatures. Another kind of fog is freezing fog. Ice crystals form in the air when it’s cold enough and particles like dust or smoke in the air provide a “seed” for the ice crystal to form around.

This week, a look at the secret world inside tiny fog droplets.

TTFN, Fred.

Quote of the week: "Since you are like no other being ever created since the beginning of time, you are incomparable." - Brenda Ueland (journalist, editor, freelance writer, and teacher of writing, 1891 – 1985) 

The Secret World Inside Tiny Fog Droplets by fredwine on Scribd

The Puffing Gun

The oldest puffed grain was found in west central New Mexico in 1948 and 1950. Ears of popcorn were found that were up to 4,000 years old. These pieces of puffed grain were smaller than a penny to two inches in size and can be made in a similar way to popping popcorn. The modern process of making puffed grains was invented by Dr. Alexander P. Anderson in 1901 and first introduced at the World's Fair in St. Louis in 1904. The puffed grain was shot from a battery of eight guns and on a poster it was called “The Eighth Wonder of the World.”

This week, a look at Dr. Anderson's device, the puffing gun.

TTFN, Fred.

Quote of the week: "Part of what makes us human is what we mean to other people, and what people mean to us." - John Michael Scalzi II (American science fiction author, 1969 - ) 

The Puffing Gun by fredwine on Scribd

Found: Evidence of the Oldest Beer Ever Brewed

We've talked about beer and its mineral content, how beer was one of the six drinks that shaped the world, about studying really old beer, how beer is better for post-workout replenishment, the color of beer, churches that attract new members with beer, five things you might not have known about God and beer, and the close ties between exercise and beer. Yes, it is a good topic. And tastes great. 

This week, a look at what might be the oldest beer ever brewed.

TTFN, Fred.

Quote of the week: "The game of life is the game of boomerangs. Our thoughts, deeds and words return to us sooner or later, with astounding accuracy." - Florence Scovel Shinn (American artist and book illustrator, 1871 – 1940)

   Found: Evidence of the Oldest Beer Ever Brewed by fredwine on Scribd

Why One Island Grows 80% of the World’s Vanilla

By and large, Americans seem to like vanilla ice cream better than chocolate. The International Ice Cream Association, which should know, puts vanilla at the top of the charts as first choice of 29 percent of ice-cream eaters, feebly followed by chocolate (8.9 percent), butter pecan (5.3 percent), and strawberry (5.3 percent).

Given our passion for vanilla, it seems peculiar that “plain vanilla” is the going synonym for anything basic, bland, or blah. A plain-vanilla wardrobe lacks pizzazz; plain-vanilla technologies lack bells and whistles; plain-vanilla automobiles miss out on chrome, fins, and flashy hood ornaments; and plain-vanilla music is the sort of soulless drone that afflicts us in elevators. The truth is, though, that plain vanilla is anything but dull.

Nor is it easy to make. In fact, if not for one 12 year old child,vanilla may still be the elite item that was added a dash at a time to it the Aztecs' Drink of the Gods, chocolate.

This week, a look at why one island grows 80% of the world’s vanilla.

TTFN, Fred.

Quote of the week: "We are born charming, fresh and spontaneous and must be civilized before we are fit to participate in society." - Judith Martin (better known by the pen name Miss Manners, an American journalist, author, and etiquette authority, 1938 - ) 
   Why One Island Grows 80% of the World’s Vanilla by fredwine on Scribd

The Warlike Origins of 'Going Dutch'

"Going Dutch" (sometimes written with lower-case dutch) is a term that indicates that each person participating in a paid activity covers their own expenses, rather than any one person in the group defraying the cost for the entire group. The term stems from restaurant dining etiquette in the Western world where each person pays for their meal. It is also called Dutch date, Dutch treat (the oldest form, a pejorative) and doing Dutch.

But where did the phrase come from? One suggestion is that the phrase "going Dutch" originates from the concept of a Dutch door, with an upper and lower half that can be opened independently. The Oxford English Dictionary connects "go Dutch" and "Dutch treat" to other phrases which have "an opprobrious or derisive application, largely due to the rivalry and enmity between the English and Dutch in the 17th century", the period of the Anglo-Dutch Wars.

This week, a look at what makes "Going Dutch" fighting words.

TTFN, Fred.

Quote of the week: "The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes." - Marcel Proust (French novelist, 1871 - 1922)  

   The Warlike Origins of 'Going Dutch' by fredwine on Scribd