"Unhappy Meals"

I am highly amused by Burger King's new Unhappy Meals (which are actually called "Real Meals").

I am surprised, given it's appearance as part of George Carlin's seven dirty words, that a "Pissed Meal" is included. (This would have a far different meaning in the United Kingdom, by the way.) I think that a "DGAF Meal", however, would appeal to me. ;P

(Tip of the cap to John Baker.)

The Physics of Croissants

The January 2018 issue of Physics Today has a short article about the physics of croissants. Yummy!

Also, check out the lovely contact network in the two-dimensional contact network that one can see in the picture.

Update: Great minds think alike!

You know you've been thinking too much about 2D networks when your immediate thought, and also @masonporter 's, is to analyze the centrality of a croissant. https://t.co/uvVGfaD5Kk

— Karen Daniels (@karenedaniels) January 4, 2018

"Survival Bread" and Other Heavily-Pinned Food Items

The most pinned food item (using Pinterest) in Alaska is called "survival bread".

There are several other amusing ones, as you can see in this map.

(Tip of the cap to George Takei.)

"Best-Tasting Colors"

I don't completely agree with the new XKCD, but there is some truth here.

I would move "cherry" way over to the right.

I did recently have an experience with eating a pink Starburst and expecting strawberry but getting watermelon instead. It was unpleasant.

Even more unpleasant are past experiences of eating red with the hope that it's cherry but then getting cinnamon instead.

Yuck.

Grilling a Lawmaker About his Degrees

Once again, truth is stranger than fiction. Check out this story.

After proposing party affiliation quotas for faculty, lawmaker grilled about business degree from Sizzler Steakhouse https://t.co/9ycYTISAm1

— Carl T. Bergstrom (@CT_Bergstrom) March 3, 2017

In his tweet, Carl Bergstrom links to a Boing Boing article, but the article to which it links gives a clearer explanation.

It's not quite as surreal as a National Park Service Twitter account going rogue (initially by simply tweeting basic facts about climate science), but it's still odd.

A Mandelbrot Pancake

This article about a very special instance of "Fatou's Day" includes a picture of a Mandelbrot Pancake.

A Mandelbrot Pancake is not quite as cool as a Sierpinski Hamentaschen, but it's still rather awesome.

The Most Lucrative Food Crop in Each State

The most lucrative food crop in each US state
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Source: The Huffington Post pic.twitter.com/AuO92nr5bU

— Amazing Maps (@Amazing_Maps) February 13, 2017

Note to self: I need to have pecans the next time I go to Santa Fe Institute.
Also: It pleases me that "maple syrup" is the item in Vermont, it's fitting that California is still "grapes", and I had no idea about shrooms in Pennsylvania.

Don't Let People Name Their Own Burgers

Seriously, don't.

Look at the other side of the link, though! It's epic (and really damn funny).

(Tip of the cap to George Takei.)

Curative Properties of Chicken Soup?

This article --- and, especially, its opening picture --- makes me want to have some chicken soup.

(Tip of the cap to I Fucking Love Science.)

Tetris and the Reduction of Cravings

Video games compelling me to skip meals... NEVER! :P

Mmm... Soup Dumplings

I am a big fan of Shanghai Soup Dumplings, and I had a chance to have a bunch of good ones when I spent three weeks in Shanghai five years ago. But, wow, some people have OCD about it.

X-Ray Images of a Python Digesting an Alligator

These images are pretty cool.

Sierpinski Hamentaschen!

Well, this recipe for Sierpinski hamentaschen is clearly a big win.

This solves the ages-old "hamentaschen problem" of a hamentasch consisting of too much dough and not enough cherries --- here I am assuming sensibility and that one has chosen to make the cherry variety. (Apricot and, to a lesser extent, chocolate are acceptable, as well. If there is a cherry hamentasch available, that is the one I am going for. I think they are best with somewhat sour fruits, although I don't tend to like them with raspberries.)

While you are here, you should clearly also look up the Sierpinski triangle.

Tip of the cap to Karen Daniels.

Update: You may also recall that our very own Mathematical Institute held a mathematical bake-off last fall. You can follow the links therein to pictures from the bake-off and to other mathematical baking awesomeness.

Update (3/05/15): My first post for the Improbable Research blog is about this story. Very timely, too.

The Physics of Popcorn

Here is a new paper on the physics of popcorn. In particular, the authors propose that "the familiar 'pop' sound of the popcorn is caused by the release of water vapour."

(Tip of the cap to Mariano Beguerisse Díaz.)

"Husband Arrested for Attacking his Wife with a McChicken Sandwich"

Life imitates The Onion, apparently: A man was arrested for attacking his wife with a McChicken sandwich. (Read the story. Its bizarreness doesn't stop with the headline.)

This follows on from my hearing about one person stabbing somebody with a squirrel a couple of days ago.

Also, this guy seems like a complete bastard, which you can also see from the headline but which you'll see even more from the story. (His wife is also pregnant, for example.)

Invertible Yogurt

The yogurt that I had on Saturday successfully passed the Invertibility Test* (that is, it was invertible), so I knew that it was safe to eat.

* The Invertibility Test (tm) is especially important for milkshakes, as passing this test is the only way to ensure that they are safe to consume. (For other food items, the only way to pass this test is to not be invertible.)

For more about invertible milkshakes, see Legends of Caltech III and also one of its web-only stories.

(Tip of the cap to Frances Schaeffer for taking the picture.)

Expense Claims and Fortune-Cookie Fortunes

Hmmm.... I should start including fortunate-cookie fortunes (as easter eggs) with the mounds of receipts that go with my expense-claim forms.

Maybe something like "Confucius says switching to per diem will bring good luck."

The Party Meets Up at the Storm Crow Tavern

I met up with the rest of my party at the Storm Crow Tavern. We started out as classless, but we eventually got some class and one person got up to 10th level.

Nobody decided to roll a d20 for a random shot from the bar, because a critical failure could be deadly.

And, despite the temptation, nobody ordered the Mac and Cheese of Cthulhu with the non-Euclidean chicken chunks (which online appear to be called Eldritch chicken chunks, but they were non-Euclidean in the hard copy). And that was even with the giant Cthulhu starting down at us from above our table.

The Continuum-Mechanical Properties of Styrofoam and Peking Duck

Well, I evidently have not yet been domesticated.

I think the most "impressive" part of my masterpiece is that some of the styrofoam actually managed to fuse to the metal grating and harden rather significantly. (And I left all of my peeps who are continuum-mechanics experts back in Oxford... I have a problem for you to study!) I was warming up some Peking duck and brown rice in this toaster oven (or whatever it is called), and the oil and fat from the duck seems to be what helped fuse the bits of styrofoam to the metal grating.

The only word for this is "awesome".

Pancake Art

Here is some very cool pancake art. This includes some very scientific pancakes (e.g. a Lorenz attractor), which isn't a surprise given that the creator is a math teacher. (I have an odd feeling of deja vu that I might have posted a link to this pancake art a while ago, but I am doing it now anyway.)

(Tip of the cap to I Fucking Love Science.)