Text 16715, 114 rader
Skriven 2008-11-21 19:01:00 av MICHAEL LOO (1:123/140)
     Kommentar till en text av GLEN JAMIESON
Ärende: CELSIUS 237
===================
 ML> wavelength of some energy emission, or some arbitrary
 ML> percentage of the circumference of the earth? Anyhow,
 GJ> The wavelength of a monochromatic light is an exact standard which can
 GJ> be replicated anywhere in the world, so aeroplane bits made in
 GJ> Australia will fit perfectly onto other bits made in France.
 ML> Oh, most bogus of arguments, the metric unit is just as arbitrary
 ML> a multiple of the wavelength as the English unit. It's merely
 ML> 6 point something times ten to the thirteenth versus 2 point
 ML> something else. There's no benefit to the former except a modest
 ML> ease of calculation, which is counteracted by a modest ease in
 ML> the introduction of order of magnitude errors.
 GJ> The benefit is the ease of replication all over the world without
 GJ> having to carry a temperature-stabilised lump of platinum around.

You are building a straw man based on the silly notion that
the English unit might be based on a "lump of platinum" and
the metric one on the wavelength of some kind of light.
In reality, both the common and metric systems base their
units on the same (arbitrary) light-based system.

 ML> By the way, until fairly recently, until both metric and English
 ML> systems were standardized to conform with some wavelength or other,
 ML> the former was ruled by a metal stick resident at one of the
 ML> academies in France.
 GJ> Was the US standard at that time anything different, or better?

Since 1888, according to the Bureau of Standards, the yard has
been pegged to the meter. Are you surprised?

 GJ> The way around that, which works, is to round totals to the nearest 5
 GJ> cents.  The cash register does it automagically.
 ML> I can see NCR or the Diebold Company getting a rake on
 ML> average of about a nickel on every transaction.
 GJ> Perhaps you could buy the same cash registers as have been used in
 GJ> Australia for many years - probably made in China or Malaysia.
 ML> Perhaps it's not in the best interest of retailer or government
 ML> to do so.
 GJ> Having had to live with a variety of monetary systems since farthings,
 GJ> I can assure you that dispensing with 1 cent pieces and using
 GJ> automatic total "rounding" to nearest 5 cents, as practiced here, is
 GJ> very much to the advantage of both customers and shop-keepers.

How can you speak for the shopkeepers here? Given the rein they
have on the economy, you can rest assured that there would never
be any incentive to round down, ever.

==
 ML> 1. It's absorbable, as it's organic acid bound rather than
 ML> in the oxide.
 GJ> Perhaps a chemist can advise on that reaction?

Well, you find a chemist. I believe that you have so
done in the past.

 ML> 2. No. If it were just a question of iron oxide suspended in the
 ML> food (which is some but not a major part of the story), the iron
 ML> would be only scantily bioavailable.
 GJ> Certainly whatever it is, is smellable.

Indeed.

 JW> Tomato sauces will eat right through the seasoning (glaze) and
 JW> attack the pan to the extent that there's so much iron in the sauce
 JW> that it tastes "off".
 ML> For me, that's two minutes in the pan. But as I've noted elsewhere,
 ML> I've actually come to like that taste.
 GJ> Strictly in moderation?

Two minutes in the pan, I figure that's moderate.

 GJ> Cooling also allows oxygen to dissolve in the liquid, which is
 GJ> necessary for corrosion to occur.
 
Why are we so focused on oxygen?

Ricotta pie
cat: dessert, Thanksgiving, Italian
yield: 1

h - pastry
2 c sifted flour
3/4 ts salt
2/3 c solid vegetable shortening
1 egg
6 Tb water (to 8 Tb)
h - filling
2 lb whole-milk ricotta
1 1/2 c sugar
2 ts vanilla
1 c milk
4 eggs, separated
confectioners' sugar for dusting

Oven at 400F.

Sift flour and salt into large mixing bowl. Cut in
shortening. Add egg and enough water to make dough
hold together. Refrigerate 10 min. Roll dough out
into a rectangle to fit a 12x8x2" glass baking dish.
Fit dough into dish and set aside.

Combine cheese, sugar, vanilla, milk, and egg yolks.
Blend until smooth. Beat egg whites until just foamy.
Fold into cheese mixture. Gently pour into pastry-
lined dish. Bake at 400F for 20 min. Reduce heat to
375F and bake 45 more min or until filling tests
done. Remove from oven and let cool.

Pam Granese, In Good Taste, Marblehead, MA
Salem News 11/19/08

___ Blue Wave/386 v2.30
--- Platinum Xpress/Win/WINServer v3.0pr5
 * Origin: Doc's Place BBS Fido Since 1991 docsplace.tzo.com (1:123/140)