Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Strawberry Pop-Tart Blow-Torches (1994)

pmichaud.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

41–50 of 53 posts

Re: Strawberry Pop-Tart Blow-Torches (1994)

#41

Post by KennyBlanken »

asdff wrote: post #33
jkubicek wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the late 90s, someone in my house decided to put an orange in a microwave for 30+ minutes just for the hell of it. Nothing happened for the first 20 minutes or so, but then the orange cracked open and belched out thick black smoke that smelled _disgusting_. At some point I'm going to sacrifice an old microwave and recreate this experiment outside; I'm desperate to know what the heck is going on with that microwave…

Another fun experiment is to slice a grape in half and stick it under a glass cup, then start the microwave and step the hell back. Also, never ever put an egg in a microwave. I accidentally made that mistake and it blew the door open and shattered the glass dish. Might as well have microwaved dynamite.

Holy shit, you were not kidding.

https://youtu.be/h0fcTQQk1rE?t=24 (and...keep watching!)

https://youtu.be/PfyVRhL2Dgw?t=129

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/qcAuVsX3dTg

Re: Strawberry Pop-Tart Blow-Torches (1994)

#42

Post by dylan604 »

galangalalgol wrote: post #38
asdff wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This probably happened a half dozen times a year when I was in college in the dorms. Total evac with everyone in their pjs on the sidewalk. Usually it would be people getting high and making ramen and forgetting the water. Othertimes, popcorn would be purposely burned to mask the smell of getting high.

Who has the time to add water to instant ramen when in college? Or heat for that matter. You dump the powder on the brick and eat it like the big block of crunchy msg it is.

the visual in my mind of someone doing this is just not good. hillarious, but not good. thanks for that. I will have to include this in an as yet unwritten comedy script about the Odd Couple like roommates

Re: Strawberry Pop-Tart Blow-Torches (1994)

#43

Post by Calamitous »

lostlogin wrote: post #24
Calamitous wrote: post #22

This puts me in mind of the Twinkies experiments… in the 90s a couple of Rice students documented a series of experiments on the early web (I remember the “resistivity” test being especially entertaining). Unfortunately it looks like it’s vanished sometime in the last 30 years.

Is it this? https://web.archive.org/web/20050620011554/http://www.twinki...

Yep! Now I have something to (re)read over my long weekend. Thanks!

Re: Strawberry Pop-Tart Blow-Torches (1994)

#44

Post by tragomaskhalos »

kloch wrote: post #4

In the mid 1990's someone in my office put pop tarts in the microwave and mis-typed the time by an extra digit or something and walked back to his desk. The entire 7 story building was evacuated and the fire department called because of the smoke. There was so much smoke everyone thought the building itself was on fire.

When I was a kid we got one of these new-fangled microwave things; my mum put a potato in it, scoffed at the idea that it could possibly be done in the 8 mins or whatever stated in the instructions, so dialled in a more 'realistic' time and went out to see the neighbours. I was upstairs doing homework oblivious to this drama, but was soon drawn down to the kitchen by the burning smell.

Well, the thing was still gamely running, albeit with smoke pouring out of the back, and the potato itself was a glowing meteorite slowly rotating on its dish, honestly a fascinating sight. The scorch mark on the wall behind is still visible these many decades later.

In a happy corollary, my mum, who has more than a touch of the Beverley Goldbergs about her in this regard, was somehow able to return the ruined 'wave back to the shop and get her money back !

Re: Strawberry Pop-Tart Blow-Torches (1994)

#45

Post by exmadscientist »

asdff wrote: post #33
jkubicek wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the late 90s, someone in my house decided to put an orange in a microwave for 30+ minutes just for the hell of it. Nothing happened for the first 20 minutes or so, but then the orange cracked open and belched out thick black smoke that smelled _disgusting_. At some point I'm going to sacrifice an old microwave and recreate this experiment outside; I'm desperate to know what the heck is going on with that microwave…

Another fun experiment is to slice a grape in half and stick it under a glass cup, then start the microwave and step the hell back. Also, never ever put an egg in a microwave. I accidentally made that mistake and it blew the door open and shattered the glass dish. Might as well have microwaved dynamite.

> Might as well have microwaved dynamite.

On that note, do not ever microwave carbon fiber. It's more like an ammo crate going up than a single explosion, but still... don't do it.

Re: Strawberry Pop-Tart Blow-Torches (1994)

#47

Post by asdff »

dylan604 wrote: post #42
galangalalgol wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Who has the time to add water to instant ramen when in college? Or heat for that matter. You dump the powder on the brick and eat it like the big block of crunchy msg it is.

the visual in my mind of someone doing this is just not good. hillarious, but not good. thanks for that. I will have to include this in an as yet unwritten comedy script about the Odd Couple like roommates

It's actually not that bad, its like doritos but chicken flavor.

Re: Strawberry Pop-Tart Blow-Torches (1994)

#48

Post by danielheath »

dylan604 wrote: post #42
galangalalgol wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Who has the time to add water to instant ramen when in college? Or heat for that matter. You dump the powder on the brick and eat it like the big block of crunchy msg it is.

the visual in my mind of someone doing this is just not good. hillarious, but not good. thanks for that. I will have to include this in an as yet unwritten comedy script about the Odd Couple like roommates

This was a favourite lunch of mine as a kid - something about the texture was very appealing.

We weren’t poor or anything, I just liked it.

Re: Strawberry Pop-Tart Blow-Torches (1994)

#49

Post by galangalalgol »

asdff wrote: post #47
dylan604 wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

the visual in my mind of someone doing this is just not good. hillarious, but not good. thanks for that. I will have to include this in an as yet unwritten comedy script about the Odd Couple like roommates

It's actually not that bad, its like doritos but chicken flavor.

And a bit oilier. I think I only boiled it 2 or 3 times before switching over fully. If I was in a real rush I'd dump rhe powder in my mouth and eat the brick before the flavor faded. If i had time to boil water I had time to make a $1 totinos pizza.

Re: Strawberry Pop-Tart Blow-Torches (1994)

#50

Post by thomasjudge »

I like to toast corn tortillas to crumble up and put in soup. You can do this in a toaster however it has to be CLOSELY MONITORED as there is a very small window (microseconds, probably) between nicely toasted marshmallow brown and entire toaster engulfed in flames like in the article. This was determined empirically..
Post reply on HN