Poptarts instructions: "Microwave on high for 3 seconds". Probably my favorite use...what else can you make in 3 seconds? http://www2.kelloggs.com/ProductDetail.aspx?id=439
Brian Regan comedy sketch about that:
IPad: The Microwave Oven of Computing
31–40 of 101 posts
Re: IPad: The Microwave Oven of Computing
#32Earlier quoted context omitted.
"And honestly, having a high IQ isn't sufficient for attention to detail, like stirring food." Part of the problem here is that if you type it all out it sounds horrible. In reality, the world is not as dangerous as an Internet debate can make it sound. Type out the full description of what's involved in walking down the stairs and you'll make an emotionally-appealing for banning them ("my god, any one muscle fails t…
Part of the problem here is that if you type it all out it sounds horrible. In reality, the world is not as dangerous as an Internet debate can make it sound. Type out the full description of what's involved in walking down the stairs and you'll make an emotionally-appealing for banning them ("my god, any one muscle fails to work and you can fall to your death!"), but it has no correspondence to reality. In my judgme…
I'm all for free range kids, but your neighbors seriously have a toddler and no gate at the top of their stairs? On the third fall he went to the hospital? My god... what's wrong with those people.
I lived a rough and tumble childhood, and I'm better for it... but that's just lunacy.
Re: IPad: The Microwave Oven of Computing
#33Earlier quoted context omitted.
Part of the problem here is that if you type it all out it sounds horrible. In reality, the world is not as dangerous as an Internet debate can make it sound. Type out the full description of what's involved in walking down the stairs and you'll make an emotionally-appealing for banning them ("my god, any one muscle fails to work and you can fall to your death!"), but it has no correspondence to reality. In my judgme…
I'm all for free range kids, but your neighbors seriously have a toddler and no gate at the top of their stairs? On the third fall he went to the hospital? My god... what's wrong with those people. I lived a rough and tumble childhood, and I'm better for it... but that's just lunacy.
They had two girls before him who never fell down the stairs. So of course, at that point falling down stairs can't happen.
Re: IPad: The Microwave Oven of Computing
#34Earlier quoted context omitted.
Solution: Stir it. (And check it, and also microwave less; small amounts of food may require single-digit seconds, so don't just smash the minute button.) There's actually a number of ways to make your parenting life a bit easier if you dig past why you're getting certain bits of advice, then take action based on the underlying facts rather than the resulting "official advice" suitable for parents with an IQ of 90 (a…
The problem with parenting is sleep deprivation. And honestly, having a high IQ isn't sufficient for attention to detail, like stirring food. I know it sounds dumb, but I know prominent physics professor personally who had made a cake without eggs... and even when it came out looking funny served it and wasn't until people started eating it did they realize, "Wait... I didn't use the eggs on the counter!" Regarding c…
Honey is also the best cough medicine for adults, especially mixed with lemon juice and decongestant essential oils. Cough medicine is generally to be avoided unless you're trying to get high.
Re: IPad: The Microwave Oven of Computing
#35i m not a apple fan, but this analogy really do justice with the iPad. though there is one major flaw with it - last time i checked, the iPad cant be activated without other computer. you need to connect it to some computer and activate it via itunes. so not really microwave. microwave with DRM maybe?
Re: IPad: The Microwave Oven of Computing
#36Earlier quoted context omitted.
Right. Kid goes from a hacking cough that kept him awake for three nights straight to fast asleep (and resumed coughing the next day & night, so "he just got better at the same time" isn't on the table either) and it was all placebo, for a kid who can't even talk yet. Sure. That is the exact logic people use to say that vaccines cause autism.
There's several problems with the statement made by Jerf. First, there's no control group. Second, there's breakdown of what actually helped the child feel better. Was it the active ingredient or something else? Lastly, w/o looking at a larger group its unclear how widely applicable it is. Again, let me reiterate, if it works for you, that's great. There are people who appear to be largely immune to HIV. For them unp…
"There's several problems with the statement made by Jerf. First, there's no control group."
Ah, you're making a critical error, which is frequently made by people. There can't be a control group. This is real life, not a science experiment. It is not possible to life your life in the realm strictly covered by science.
By far the dominant theory from a Bayesian perspective is that the kid had a cough (abundantly demonstrated from evidence), that the thing called "cough syrup" worked as designed, and that once it wore off the cough returned. There is no science here. We can no go back and "rerun" the experiment. The use of science terminology to attack my experience is actually a deep, deep perversion of the principles of science. The tools are completely inapplicable.
Unfortunately, it has become abundantly clear that again from a Bayesian perspective, reading a medical paper about something like cough syrup in toddlers and expecting it to contain Unvarnished Truth is not justified.
Re: IPad: The Microwave Oven of Computing
#37People who argue that microwaves has/had no clear use have clearly not worshiped their microwave for sterilizing baby bottles in no time at 2am with a screaming baby at hand. Therein lies the interesting fact: The new, "in the middle" device may trigger new approaches and ways of life that may indispensable. The baby bottle sterilizer is an unexpected but vital byproduct of the microwave.
Stretching the metaphor even farther off-topic, Mummy's boob has proven itself an even more impressive invention for this particular problem in our house. :)
No (extra) sterilization, no manual refilling, no going to the store to get formula, etc.
I don't expect we'll evolve an embedded display that can run Flipboard anytime soon, however.
Re: IPad: The Microwave Oven of Computing
#38Earlier quoted context omitted.
There's several problems with the statement made by Jerf. First, there's no control group. Second, there's breakdown of what actually helped the child feel better. Was it the active ingredient or something else? Lastly, w/o looking at a larger group its unclear how widely applicable it is. Again, let me reiterate, if it works for you, that's great. There are people who appear to be largely immune to HIV. For them unp…
"There's several problems with the statement made by Jerf. First, there's no control group." Ah, you're making a critical error, which is frequently made by people. There can't be a control group. This is real life, not a science experiment. It is not possible to life your life in the realm strictly covered by science. By far the dominant theory from a Bayesian perspective is that the kid had a cough (abundantly demo…
The use of science terminology to attack my experience is actually a deep, deep perversion of the principles of science. The tools are completely inapplicable.
I'm not using science to attack your experience. I've tried to say several times, and in many different ways, if it works for you great.
BUT I am using science to say that you haven't made a scientific statement. You've made a statement about your son in a specific instance. That's it. And that's fine. As you say, that's your experience. But that's about all you can say.
Re: IPad: The Microwave Oven of Computing
#39Earlier quoted context omitted.
"And honestly, having a high IQ isn't sufficient for attention to detail, like stirring food." Part of the problem here is that if you type it all out it sounds horrible. In reality, the world is not as dangerous as an Internet debate can make it sound. Type out the full description of what's involved in walking down the stairs and you'll make an emotionally-appealing for banning them ("my god, any one muscle fails t…
Part of the problem here is that if you type it all out it sounds horrible. In reality, the world is not as dangerous as an Internet debate can make it sound. Type out the full description of what's involved in walking down the stairs and you'll make an emotionally-appealing for banning them ("my god, any one muscle fails to work and you can fall to your death!"), but it has no correspondence to reality. In my judgme…
"I don't think IQ is the best metric to apply to determine if you're in that population."
Me neither, but I've found that taking fifteen minutes to clearly specify the exact thing I mean has a pretty bad payoff. As shorthand goes, it's fine. This is HN, not a medical journal.
And there's a world of relevant difference between SIDS doesn't exist vs. cough syrup does what it says on the tin. This is another thing that's damned easy to do on the Internet, blur lines between various fuzzy things, but also has no relationship to reality. No, I am in fact not denying the Holocaust by thinking that the evidence suggests that cough syrup actually does work.
Re: IPad: The Microwave Oven of Computing
#40Earlier quoted context omitted.
In yours maybe. In mine there's at microwave/regular oven combo which I use as an oven only when cooking cakes and pies or the odd dish requiring it. Electric stove for rumsteaks and pastas. The rest is microwave, microwave, microwave, cooking all sorts of liquids and vegetables. It is so much more energy and water efficient.
>It is so much more energy and water efficient. Is it? Maybe for small meals. http://www.terrapass.com/images/blogposts/450-POWER-GRAPH.ht... I think a pressure cooker on a stove is much more energy and water efficient.
not to mention more deadly