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Mathematically correct breakfast: How to slice a bagel into two linked halves (2009)

georgehart.com

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Re: Mathematically correct breakfast: How to slice a bagel into two linked halves (2009)

#61

Post by jiggunjer »

mauvehaus wrote: post #30
Jarwain wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How do you feel about air friers? Aka convection toaster ovens

I have no idea what this is or how a person would use one in practice, but it sounds like the sort of thing invented by and marketed to people who need to get more exercise and worry less about their use of cooking fat. Edited to add: before everybody gets the impression that I'm a total curmudgeon about kitchen appliances, I think electric kettles are up there with sliced bread and my immersion blender is the best $…

Air fryer is just marketing talk for a small convection oven. Useful for small studios or if portability is needed. I bake vegetables and chicken thighs in it because I can't fit a full sized oven into my kitchen. It was a toss up between this and a toaster oven. As I already have a toaster I went with the smaller airfryer.

Re: Mathematically correct breakfast: How to slice a bagel into two linked halves (2009)

#62

Post by na85 »

atdrummond wrote: post #59
na85 wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I used to love cream cheese until I looked at the ingredients list. Buncha weird ass bean gums and stuff. No thanks. Now I use ricotta, or just butter.

For what it's worth, it's very easy to make at home or buy at a farmer's market without any industrial stabilisers. In larger cities, you can also get the same product (cream cheese without the various gums and other additives) at Mexican/Hispanic grocers where it will be called queso filadelfia.

I'm in a pretty big city with lots of granola-type people but I haven't seen any artisanal cream cheese or whatever at the local farmer's market.

Honestly cheesecake is better with ricotta anyways, and my waist can do without bagels, so I'm kinda post-cream cheese at this point.

Re: Mathematically correct breakfast: How to slice a bagel into two linked halves (2009)

#63

Post by Cpoll »

blindmute wrote: post #55
na85 wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I used to love cream cheese until I looked at the ingredients list. Buncha weird ass bean gums and stuff. No thanks. Now I use ricotta, or just butter.

Yep, it's a chemical product for sure, full of xantham gum and other such "ingredients". Some cheap brands you can actually taste the gum, or so it seems... I stopped eating it

Isn't xantham gum just a product of sugar fermentation? I'm all for fewer ingredients, but cheese is still as much a "chemical" product if the stabilizers and mold extractors are removed.

Re: Mathematically correct breakfast: How to slice a bagel into two linked halves (2009)

#64

Post by divbzero »

> What is the ratio of the surface area of this linked cut to the surface area of the usual planar bagel slice?

The surface area of the usual planar bagel slice is straightforward, but what’s the most intuitive way to integrate the surface area of a twisting strip?

Re: Mathematically correct breakfast: How to slice a bagel into two linked halves (2009)

#65

Post by metafunctor »

na85 wrote: post #48
bryans wrote: post #13

> In additional to the intellectual stimulation, you get more cream cheese, because there is slightly more surface area. As someone who uses half of a brick per bagel regardless of size, I'd say surface area is a non-limiting factor for cream cheese application. If you want more cream cheese, just have more cream cheese -- it's delicious, on top of being more filling (and arguably healthier) than the bagel itself.

I used to love cream cheese until I looked at the ingredients list. Buncha weird ass bean gums and stuff. No thanks. Now I use ricotta, or just butter.

Perhaps try a different brand. The one I usually get lists milk, cream, whey, salt, carob powder, citric acid, and culture. So fermented milk products plus a bit of things to make it more stable.

Re: Mathematically correct breakfast: How to slice a bagel into two linked halves (2009)

#68

Post by dotancohen »

nfkx120 wrote: post #28
sp332 wrote: post #3

His daughter, Vi Hart, has a video about how to solve the three utilities problem on a bagel. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CruQylWSfoU

I could have legit named my daughter Vi? Fuck.

You'd just be frustrated by unexpected behaviour. Vim's a far better choice:

https://www.popular-babynames.com/name/vim

Re: Mathematically correct breakfast: How to slice a bagel into two linked halves (2009)

#69

Post by kingcharles »

squarefoot wrote: post #29
nfkx120 wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I could have legit named my daughter Vi? Fuck.

Well, at least her name isn't Emacs. (ducks and runs)

Just to be safe I'll call my daughter PINE, aka PINE Is Not Emacs.

Re: Mathematically correct breakfast: How to slice a bagel into two linked halves (2009)

#70

Post by scbrg »

Having grown up in a non bagel rich country, I've been puzzled ever since I first encountered them. What's the point of the weird shape? What's wrong with a square or even circular piece of bread without an inconvenient hole in the middle?

For an outside viewer, it looks like someone went out of their way to create a shape that makes it as difficult to deal with as possible, and then mass psychosis took over and everyone went all Hail bagel shape! for no good reason.

What am missing?

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