There’s a new medical study of the effects of alcohol consumption that finds a surprising result: Controlling only for age and gender, compared to moderate drinkers, abstainers had a more than 2 times increased mortality risk, heavy drinkers had 70% increased risk, and light drinkers had 23% increased risk. A model controlling for former problem […]
Category: Food
Cake?
Well? Cake?customer surveys
Culinary Questions: Best and Worst Foods?
A couple of related items from the uncomfortable questions comments. First, from Elizabeth: What’s your favorite homemade supper? What is your favorite thing to cook? then a bit later from CCPhysicist: What is the WORST thing that Kate ever cooked? What was your own worst cooking disaster? This is a tough question, because I like […]
Austin, We Have a Problem
The problem is, “What is Chad going to do in Austin, Texas on Thursday night?” I have recently been appointed to the APS Committee on Informing the Public, which is having a meeting in Austin this Thursday, January 14th. Of course, as neither Austin nor Albany is a major airport, the travel to and from […]
Mmmmmm…. Turkey
Here’s yesterday’s turkey a la Good Eats, a little while after coming out of the oven: As in past years, we brined it overnight. Unlike past years, we didn’t have any of the plastic roasting bags, so instead we took advantage of the spiffy new roasting pan (a Christmas gift after the liquid turkey incident) […]
Fastener Technology Puzzle
If you buy a loaf of bread, it comes in a plastic bag closed with either a metal twist-tie or a little plastic tab. Either of these may be re-used to close the bag again after you have used some of the bread. If you buy a bunch of carrots, they generally come in a […]
Silly Poll: Beverages
I’m a little fried from yesterday’s frantic running around, so while there are a couple of physics things I’d like to write about, I have neither the time nor the brainpower. So here’s a silly little poll, prompted by the large amount of ice I go through at home (I’m trying to lose some weight, […]
Easy Is in the Eye of the Beholder
Physicists frequently get laughed at for referring to problems as “trivial” when calculus is required to solve them. “Maybe it’s trivial for you, Einstein,” people will say, “but it looks pretty hard from here.” It’s nice to see that other fields are prone to the same sort of thing. Take, for example, this list of […]
Seasonal Food Mystery
Why is it that you can buy apple cider all year round, but apple cider donuts are treated as a seasonal item, and only in stores for a week and a half in October? Happily, these people make them year round, and they’re available at the Schenectady Greenmarket. And they’re awesome. Mmmmm…. cider donuts. If […]
Culinary Puzzle
Why in hell is there soy in Italian soft rolls? Parents of sensitive-stomached babies everywhere would like to know.