Joe Perez

iTrader: (8)

Going Nuts over NIST’s Standard Reference Peanut Butter

January 25, 2016
By: Mark Esser


Credit: NISTNIST SRM 2387, Peanut Butter, with white bread.

Maintaining a social media account involves keeping track of the many random celebrations that can provide an excuse to post a story that otherwise might not have a timely hook. National Peanut Butter Day (Jan. 24 for the uninitiated) is just such a day.

While NIST chemist Carolyn Burdette spent a cold morning last February testing samples of peanut butter (yes, that’s part of her job), a visitor to our Gaithersburg, Md., campus was snapping a photo of a jar of the stuff, which is on display in our lobby.

The image he posted to and http://imgur.com/9Vwx33Q quickly shot around social media and stories soon appeared on sites including http://boingboing.net/2015/02/16/the-jar-of-peanut-butter-costs.html, the http://blog.foodnetwork.com/fn-dish/2015/02/is-this-the-worlds-most-expensive-peanut-butter/ and Smithsonian magazine.

“I felt a mix of pride and amusement as this story quickly played out over the Internet,” says Burdette. “We know what we do is valuable for industry and ultimately the consumer, but we don’t expect to see it talked about on Reddit!”



Credit: B. Place/NISTNIST chemist Carolyn Burdette with SRM 2387, Peanut Butter.

NIST seems an unlikely source for peanut butter, but we actually sell a variety of “foods,” including spinach, low-calorie cranberry juice cocktail and something called “meat homogenate.” Although you could theoretically consume them, that’s not what they are intended for—and the grocery store probably has much tastier, and certainly less expensive, options.

NIST sells these “foods” to help make you a more informed consumer … pun intended. As you are no doubt aware, packaged foods come with a list of nutritional values mandated by the Nutrition Labeling and Education Act of 1990, which is enforced by the Food and Drug Administration.

You may be less aware of where those numbers come from. Well, manufacturers don’t just make them up. They have to do tests. NIST develops food and beverage-related standard reference materials (SRMs) to help them know that those tests are giving them the right answers.

Food manufacturers use the SRMs to calibrate their test methods and equipment. If their tests of our SRMs do not give them the answers that we say they should, they know that something has gone wrong with their tests and they have some adjustments to make. Once their results agree with ours, they know that their tests are properly calibrated and they can then accurately label their products with nutritional information and consumers can know that they are getting a balanced diet (or not, no judgment). When a company buys an SRM from NIST, they are really buying all of the measurements and scientific expertise that went into determining its chemical or physical properties, as well as NIST’s level of certainty regarding those measurements. After all, knowing how good your measurement is is as important as knowing the measurement itself, which is why NIST works constantly to improve measurement science.

NIST sells some 1,300 SRMs that help a variety of industries make sure they are meeting regulations or industry standards that help ensure the safety and consistency of their products, among other characteristics.

But the food and beverage SRMs can present unique challenges, in particular to NIST staff. Said one anonymous researcher, “I remember the trouble I had with the baking chocolate SRM. Never before during my sample prep had I wanted to 'catch the drip' on the lip of the beaker with my finger and eat it.”

Our researchers may not get to taste test the SRMs, but they help ensure that you are getting what you expect from the foods you buy, which is pretty sweet.

https://www.nist.gov/blogs/taking-me...-peanut-butter

Joe Perez

iTrader: (8)

HOW TO MAKE COFFEE THE WAY BEETHOVEN LIKED IT

By Blake Stilwell | February 11, 2021

No one was more serious about how he took his morning coffee than the classical composer Ludwig van Beethoven. Despite living in Vienna, whose coffeehouses are now considered an asset of intangible cultural heritage by UNESCO, Beethoven was unlikely to be seen actually ordering coffee in one.

The notorious LVB was obsessively particular about making his own coffee. Unlike many composers of his day, he was a commoner and had the culinary skills for the task.

Beethoven was the youngest member of the Habsburg Empire’s court orchestra at age 19. When the group was sent to play for the imperial prince-elector in Schwetzingen, they traveled up the Rhine by yacht. As the youngest, and without a noble title, young Beethoven was given kitchen duties, serving in the galley as a scullion.

Biographer, contemporary, pupil, secretary, servant, and “factotum” Anton Schindler was as close to the composer as one could get. After Beethoven died, Schindler literally wrote the book on all things Beethoven, which included his food preferences.


Ludwig van Beethoven, the German composer and pianist, in the book Biographies of Famous Composers by A. Ilinskiy, Moscow, 1904.

According to Schindler, Beethoven wasn’t very particular about his eating habits, often preferring macaroni and cheese over anything else. His biographer also noted that, save for his coffee, he was a terrible cook.

But the skills he picked up in that yacht kitchen would go a long way toward his dedication to the perfect cup of coffee.

It’s not known how he came by this personal recipe, but its measurements are exact. It starts with grinding precisely 60 coffee beans — no more, no less. He would even count the beans out to be certain, and if he made a mistake in his count, he would start over. He did it even if he had visitors watching him.

This was important to creating the coffee he wanted, and I don’t blame him. No one willingly drinks terrible coffee.

After counting the beans (and presumably grinding them), the composer then brewed the coffee in a glass contraption of his own design. These days, there are many kinds of glass coffee makers, including the Chemex pour over and French press (or, if you’re cooking meth, maybe a laboratory-level Florence siphon).

No one knows what tools Beethoven used to make his 60-bean coffee, but the amount of grounds provided by 60 beans could be an indicator. That exact number of beans produces about 8 grams of ground coffee. This would be enough to make a shot of espresso, which hadn’t been invented yet. A French press brew, known as cafetiere back then, requires twice as much coffee. So those two are out.



But since Schindler notes that Beethoven was “oriental” in his tastes, his coffee could have been prepared in the Turkish style, which would be extra strong using that much coffee. Another possible and more likely option is a glass balloon-style brewer, which is similar to today’s siphon brewers and featured a metal spigot on the lower chamber.

What would cause a grown man like Ludwig van Beethoven to obsess so much about his coffee every morning? Likely the same driving force that led him to become a classical composer in the first place: his drunken father.

Beethoven grew up in a house of performers. It was his father, a singer in the Habsburg Court, who taught the young boy musical composition. His dad was also an abusive alcoholic. Children of alcoholics are prone to developing obsessive-compulsive disorders, like the one Beethoven had about his morning joe. These children are also known to develop alcoholic tendencies themselves.

And Beethoven did that, too. As an older man, he loved drinking wine, and consumed it in large quantities, no matter what kind of wine it was. Later in life, his doctors advised him to avoid both booze and coffee — advice he completely ignored. It was, in fact, the alcohol that killed him. He died of liver damage in 1827.

https://coffeeordie.com/beethoven-coffee

DNMakinson

iTrader: (3)

It is my opinion that the most important thing I have learned while on MT.net is from Y8S; when he introduced us to the Aeropress; at 18psi's request.

Each morning I have a cup of Bosnian coffee (a Turkish offspring) which I make using that device.

It also makes normal coffee quite well, as long as one is not brewing for an entire household.

DNM

Gee Emm

When I was contracting post-'retirement', I decided I needed an expresso machine. Best investment ever!. I had the three kids over Easter for a working bee at home, with the three grandies (who are not yet coffee fanciers), and it was pleasure to be able to offer everyone a decent coffee. As well as drinking lots of coffee, and other brews, we got a whole lot of work done too!

Which reminds me, I need to get another kilo of beans ...

Joe Perez

iTrader: (8)

What Ever Happened to Colored Toilet Paper?

by NANCY MITCHELL
published MAR 24, 2018



If you’re old enough, you might remember a time when toilet paper came in a glorious cornucopia of soft pastel colors, from lavender to pink to beige. But these days, when you walk the toilet paper aisle, everything is the same color: white. So, we need to know: Whatever happened to all the colored toilet paper?



According to Toilet Paper World (yes, that is a real publication, although it hasn’t been updated since 2014), colored toilet paper first appeared in the ’50s. This was the heyday of the colorful bathroom: spaces with toilets and tubs and sinks and tile and maybe even towels carefully color coordinated. To have only one option for toilet paper would’ve been a real travesty, because who could bear to bring mismatching TP into such a carefully crafted space?



Sometime around the ’80s, colored toilet paper began to disappear from the shelves. Toilet Paper World quotes someone called the Toilet Paper King on a few potential reasons for its decline. (The Toilet Paper King, apparently, is Kenn Fischburg, president of Toilet Paper World. It is unclear where the authority for this toilet paper monarchy derives from, or whether the title is self-assigned.) Apparently doctors began warning people that the dyes in colored toilet paper could be harmful to their skin. And there were environmental concerns about the dyes, too.



These two things might’ve been a blow to those brightly colored rolls, but I think the real reason for the demise of colored toilet paper was a change in bathroom design. You do occasionally see a colorful space, but if you look at modern bathrooms they are, for the most part, all white. And the matchy-matchy aesthetic that predominated in the ’60s and ’70s isn’t nearly so popular now. Scott still made colored toilet paper as recently as 2004, but today all their offerings come in a single color: white. (Interestingly enough, pink toilet paper is still a very big thing in France.)



The pastel toilet paper of the ’60s and ’70s may be lost to time, but if you really long to wipe your bottom with something colorful, Renova offers a line of colored toilet paper, in rather startlingingly bright hues (and also in brown and black). It’s not cheap, though: a six-pack of the blue .

While reading reviews for Renova’s (yes, I read toilet paper reviews, I’m a weirdo), I noticed a charming comment. Someone calling themselves BKB left a five-star review and said:

The color matches perfectly with my 1960 bathroom, will repurchase.

For some reason, knowing that somewhere out there one person is still carefully matching the shade of their toilet paper to their bathroom warmed my heart. Carry on, BKB. Never settle for less than the perfect match.


https://www.apartmenttherapy.com/col...history-255476

rleete

iTrader: (21)

My parent's house, the one I grew older in (but not grown up), is black tile with pink fixtures and pale pink tile floor. It was big in the 1950s (think 2 tone cars) when the house was built. People either love it or hate it.

sixshooter

iTrader: (12)

https://www.insectidentification.org...wing-Butterfly


...The Julia Longwing Butterfly is also known to land on a resting caimans' head (small alligator-like animals) where it will deliberately irritate the reptile's eyes using the proboscis. This mild agitation causes the caiman to produce tears. The butterflies then drink the tears, most likely for the salt, a mineral that many types of male butterflies consume before mating...

sixshooter

iTrader: (12)

https://www.val-co.com/10-interestin...chicken-vision


...Chickens can sense the presence or absence of light through the pineal gland in their head, so even an entirely blind bird can still sense daylight or seasonal change...

...Chickens have mono-vision. The left eye is far sighted, and right is near sighted. This is the result of turning themselves in the egg so that the right eye is exposed to light through the shell, while the left is not, because it's directed toward the body...

...Chickens are tetrachromatic. They have 4 types of cones that let them see red, blue, and green light, as well as ultraviolet light. Therefore, they see many more colors and shades than we do...

Joe Perez

iTrader: (8)

The following video does in fact fulfill the promise which it makes in the title:

HarryB

That was an interesting lunch time watch:

[/QUOTE]

Joe Perez

iTrader: (8)

It is, indeed.

I love that dude. If you'd have told me, prior to discovering Tech Connect, that I'd ever sit through a 30 minute long video on the color brown (or the operation of dishwashers, or half the other stuff he's covered) and be thoroughly entertained, I'd have say "nay."



On a peripherally related note, I recently became aware of the fact that the Massachusetts Institute of Technology does, in an official capacity, grant a Pirate Certificate to any student who completes general elective courses in Archery, Fencing, Rife or Pistol shooting, and Sailing.

Not making this up: https://physicaleducationandwellness...e-certificate/

The Institute does post the following disclaimer: "The MIT Pirate Certificate is for entertainment purposes only and does not give the recipient license to engage in piracy."

Because, you know... MIT students are MIT students. And several of them would doubtless go commerce-raiding as a gag, purely for the opportunity to present that certificate to the US Navy or Coast Guard, were it not for that notice. In fact, I suspect that it probably happened, leading to the notice.


Why the hell wasn't Piracy an officially-sanctioned field of study when I was in school? I feel somewhat deprived...

DeerHunter

"Our fellow lantern-aficionados and I - we call ourselves Dietz-nuts...". I had to pause the video I was laughing so hard. Yes, I'm a big fan of his channel and have watched the 'brown is just orange, with context' episode at least twice. If anyone hasn't seen his epic, multi-episode dissection of a classic jukebox, it's well worth the time for any gearhead.

Joe Perez

iTrader: (8)

I'm going to preface this next post by saying that my retirement goal, as it stands presently, is, no later than around 10 years from now, to have enough money saved up that I can comfortably afford to:

1: Retire,

2: Purchase a Ford F-350 DRW, and equip it with 100 gallons of freshwater storage capacity (by removing the rear bench seat from a crew-cab), 100 gallons of wastewater storage capacity (in the front of the 8 ft bed), and a rack for a couple of extra propane cylinders (lie-down, beside the 5th wheel hitch),

3: Purchase a 5th wheel RV in the 30-31 foot range,

4: Wander the North American continent, camping for free on public land, until such time as I am no longer physically able to do so, and finally,

5: Die.


These plans have varied somewhat over the past couple of years. For a while, I was enamored with the idea of a Class A motorhome, but I don't think that's the most practical vehicle given my predilection towards boondocking. And I've looked at various 4wd Class Bs, with the notion of pulling an accessory trailer behind, but I don't see any clear advantage to that over the Ford'n'Fifth combo. Other various combinations of ideas have come and gone, but at the end of the day, I keep coming back to the same basic concept.


At no point have I ever thought "You know, a MILITARY HELICOPTER would actually make a pretty nice RV."


But as it turns out, Winnebago has.


.

The Flying Winnebago

For some reason the heli-camper never really caught on.

By James R. Chiles
AIR & SPACE MAGAZINE

Halfway through World War II, Igor Sikorsky wrote an article in The Atlantic that laid out a vision for postwar weekend travel. The future was rotorcraft, as in middle-class families owning a helicopter for country getaways. Four years later, Ruth and Latrobe Carroll published a children’s book, The Flying House, picturing an amphibious helicopter that could touch down in a forest glade or on a mountain lake. The Carrolls imagined their family copter with a porch, a shingled roof, sash windows, and a crooked stovepipe.In the 1970s, the Itasca Division of Winnebago Industries actually built, certified, and sold the flying and floating Heli-Camper, advertised as “the most dramatic, comfortable, convenient and unique RV in the world.” (Floats were optional, though, and the porch was more of a screened awning that scrolled out for use with lawn chairs.) In the late 1970s, the lumbering offspring of a joint effort by Winnebago and Orlando Helicopter Airways, renamed Heli-Home, appeared on TV, starred in an RV trade show, and fluttered onto the pages of Time, Popular Mechanics, and Popular Science.

And there it parked. Fred Clark, now retired from Orlando, estimates that total flying-camper sales topped out at a half-dozen, possibly seven. But the Heli-Camper’s mission was more brand awareness than sales, and in that respect it succeeded. Parked among ground-bound RVs, it drew hordes to dealerships nationwide—no small achievement, given the pall that the 1970s oil crisis had cast over the customer base. As furnished by Winnebago, the larger model’s 115 carpeted square feet could sleep six passengers, and had an electric range, sink, fridge, couches, eight-track tape deck, television, generator, twin water heaters, parquet-topped dinette tables, mini-bar, air conditioner, furnace, shower, and bathroom with holding tanks.



The novelty also drew smaller crowds of the curious and prosperous to Orlando Helicopter’s office at the Sanford, Florida airport. Says Clark, now 79, tire kickers favored an executive-style arrangement, without the camping gear. Fewer furnishings meant more space for friends and relatives, and greater range.

Orlando specialized in buying surplus Sikorsky military transports at government auctions and refurbishing them. Most ex-military helicopters that retired from federal service during the Vietnam era were restricted to use by public service agencies or businesses that didn’t carry passengers, but Orlando helicopters came with a general-purpose certificate and thus were legal for passenger transport, medical evacuation, cropdusting, and hauling cargo.

One of Orlando’s most popular conversions was the Twin-Pack, an S-58 modified to run on two gas turbines instead of the more maintenance-intensive radial piston engine. The piston-powered Heli-Camper came in an 800-horsepower model, based on the S-55 transport, and a 1,525-hp model, based on the larger S-58. Because recreation was the goal, only clear-weather navigation equipment was standard. Frank Gilanelli, then a publicist for Winnebago, recalls that during one photography session, the pilot dropped down to read highway road signs for navigation.

Prices ranged from $185,000 to $300,000. Part-timers could rent one for $10,000 per week, plus the cost of pilot and fuel—at 75 gallons per hour.




Before his death in a 1985 airplane crash, Jerry Compton of Richvale, California, relished flying his S-55 Heli-Camper into the Sierra Nevada, says Clark. After passing through other hands, Compton’s machine came to rest at the Valiant Air Command Museum in Titusville, Florida. Today, Winnebago trimmings on N37788 have been replaced by U.S. Air Force livery.

Fred Clark’s son, Brad, runs Vertical Aviation Technologies, which sells a helicopter kit, the Hummingbird (see “Build-it-Yourself Helicopters,” Aug. 2010). At the VAT shop, in Sanford, Brad showed how the seats fold down and the cyclic and collective controls stow to yield a sleeping cabin for two. Clark may offer a foldout screened enclosure for that campground lifestyle.

https://www.airspacemag.com/history-...innebago-3672/

xturner

I hope that in 10 years such things as F350 Dualies are still being made, especially with 8-foot beds.

good2go

iTrader: (2)

That may sound kinda funny at face value, but sadly, it seems all too plausible. Anymore, I see full sized trucks with big luxurious double door cabs combined with a bed that is shorter than its width. Some of them make me wonder if they are even 4 feet long. People want the full appointed SUV sized interior, but not the extreme wheelbase that an 8' bed adds to it.

xturner

I was being serious. I spent a good year looking for a halfway decent used truck, wanted a regular extended cab for dog room and an 8-foot bed. I never saw a single one in any condition, settled for the 6.5 foot bed. Might have been able to custom-order a new one, but didn’t have a $40k budget.
Worked with a guy once who had a 4-door cab, 8-foot bed Ford. It was enormous.

z31maniac

No desire for a Class C? I think once prices calm down over the next 1-2 years, we are going to look at a Class C so we can take longer trips, more comfortably, and be able to work during the day. Just have to figure fast, reliable internet.

Joe Perez

iTrader: (8)

100% of my RV experience to date is in Class Cs. They make good vacation vehicles, and I do appreciate the convenience of being able to pull over, set the brakes, get up, and walk right back to the galley and the head.

Logistically, I consider a Class A and a Class C to be the same vehicle. Both good for when you're travelling a long distance to a destination, and then traveling a long distance back a week later. And yes, I have spent a lot of time poring over the floorplans and specs from Tiffen, Newmar, and other Class A manufacturers.


Reasons why I don't consider them to be suitable to my specific intended purpose:


Full-time boondocking means that, ideally, you're not moving very far or very frequently. Typical stay limits on BLM land in the US are two weeks. And social custom is that locations are fist-come, first-serve. With a Class C, you must break camp to travel anywhere, thus forfeiting one's campsite and potentially requiring the search for a new spot each day in which one travels. With a trailer, it's permissible to un-couple and leave it parked while taking the tow vehicle for day-trips into town, or to nearby attractions.

Anything in the 30+ foot range runs into problems with trying to park in certain areas. Trailheads come to mind immediately.

4WD, or the lack thereof. Important when traversing unimproved roads in the western wilds after a rain.

With a superduty pickup, you can carry a lot more consumables (water, in particular) than would be prudent on an average Class C chassis. (Water is heavy.) Not something which is a problem for the average vacationer, who is likely to be camping at hookup-equipped parks much of the time.

Quite frankly, RVs are not durably constructed. 5 years is a long time for one to be operating continuously. With a Class A / C, especially one in full-time use, you have a situation where the body is likely to fall apart long before the drivetrain is showing any signs of wear. When a TT or a 5th wheel starts to really die, you have the option of keeping the truck and just replacing the trailer.

z31maniac

All very good points. We would prefer a travel trailer, likely not something as large as a 5th wheel, since that guarantees the need for a large diesel truck.........which also means that a large diesel truck now becomes what one of us would have to drive when not towing the trailer. And the fact that large diesel trucks are damn expensive to buy and maintain.

We've found quite a few sub-20' trailers that would work for our needs, but that still requires something like an F150 gasser. I don't think I'd want to be towing up in the Rockies or Montana and such in a V6 Tacoma.

DNMakinson

iTrader: (3)

Class C pulling a lifted Miata?