In the wake of the recent Japan earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear reactor trouble, there has been a lot of discussion about the future of nuclear energy and its safety. I found a couple interesting graphics. The first shows the relative radiation of different events: http://xkcd.com/radiation/ (opens in a new window) Fascinating really. I had no [...]
While in Hawaii, I noticed my fingernails were growing abnormally fast. Usually cutting them is a once a week occurance, or maybe even more infrequently, but I literally had to cut them every day or every couple days. It was crazy. I devised several hypotheses as to what could have caused the sudden fingernail growth [...]
I read a really interesting article in Inc. magazine this week on business in Norway. The gist of it is that Norway — land of Vikings, fjords, and ridiculously high taxes — is beating America at it’s own game. Norway has more entrepreneurs per capita than the US, and their economy grew nearly 3% during [...]
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Is Jell-O really made from ground-up horse hooves? These are the kinds of questions the Internet is good for, since Jell-O definitely doesn’t list them as an ingredient. I discovered that gelatin, the main ingredient in Jell-O, is created through a lengthy process that first involves boiling the bones, skins, and hides of pigs and [...]
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Some food-related businesses are switching out their traditional plastic utensils for fancy biodegradable utensils. I was curious how long a biodegradable spoon would take to begin to decompose. So I placed it in a glass of water, the universal solvent. Like a good scientist, I carefully noted the progress of my spoon each day. After [...]
Bryn and I saw a recipe last week that called for pine nuts. She warned me they were really expensive. Sure, nuts are pretty expensive in general. Then later, at Costco, we saw the pine nuts — for about $20 a pound! They must be delicious. But at that price, I’ll probably never know. Are [...]
