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The Last Egg

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Re: The Last Egg

#111

Post by scrlk »

WJW wrote: post #108
Symbiote wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Plastic litres jug milk sold in Ireland and the UK is what both commenters were comparing to the bland UHT milk. Generally everything is available in the USA, but there are some surprising cases where the default product is of noticeable lower quality than the default in Europe.

Not gonna comment on something as subjective as "quality", but just the taste of Coca Cola is noticeably different in the US vs at home in the EU.

High-fructose corn syrup is used as the sweetener in US Coca-Cola, rather than sugar.

Re: The Last Egg

#112

Post by iainmerrick »

lambic wrote: post #37
bitdivision wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm surprised you can't tell the difference between UHT and regular milk. I've tried a few brands in the UK, and there's a clear difference in tea / coffee, and it's particularly marked if you're drinking milk on its own. Maybe the UK is lagging behind on UHT? Or I'm just buying the wrong brand.

I don't think the UK pasteurizes their milk to the same degree as North America. When I lived in the UK a pint of milk would last a week or so at most, but here in Canada it can last a month.

A month??? That’s definitely different.

Re: The Last Egg

#113

Post by wpietri »

PMunch wrote: post #45
idlewords wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's instructive that none of the solutions proposed for growing fresh food on Mars have been tried at either McMurdo (which is a huge and lavishly outfitted research base) or the South Pole. This is part of what I think of as the Martian fallacy, the idea that stuff that's hard to do on Earth somehow becomes easier on Mars.

Well some of the solutions have been tried elsewhere. It's not hard to simulate "no stuff from the outside", that's not something you need to go to the south pole to do. There is an argument to be made for the disease vector thing, but even that would probably be cheaper to do in a completely closed loop system somewhere more hospitable.

Sure, but the point is not whether or not the thing has been tried. It's that at McMurdo they haven't tried them.

Re: The Last Egg

#114

Post by ricardobeat »

0xbadcafebee wrote: post #7

Weird they don't stock UHT milk. I buy milk for 6 months and keep it in my pantry. I honestly can't tell the difference between modern UHT milk and mass-produced "fresh" milk (at 2% anyway). They could in theory ship in UHT milk instead of fresh, and stock enough extra to last a few more months in winter. It would be fun to make your own cheese down there as a hobby! Eating by the seasons is also pretty interesting,…

It does taste significantly worse than fresh milk if you're not used to it, but definitely better than powdered milk.

And bad news is you can't really make decent cheese out of UHT milk, since the proteins have been denatured by the heat.

Re: The Last Egg

#115

Post by wpietri »

lmm wrote: post #106
idlewords wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's really hard! Reasons include: - Ambient temperatures too low for most fuels and lubricants, and out of spec for most other parts of the aircraft - No hope of rescue if the plane goes down or gets lost - No reliable way to light the runway. In the past they've used gasoline filled drums, but it can get so cold that the gasoline vapor pressure is too low and it won't light. - Extreme isolation—there's really nowhe…

It's not hard, just expensive. Airdropping supplies through winter was routine until it was cut for budgetary reasons.

I find that a weird comment when he just explained why it was hard.

Re: The Last Egg

#116

Post by idlewords »

lmm wrote: post #106
idlewords wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's really hard! Reasons include: - Ambient temperatures too low for most fuels and lubricants, and out of spec for most other parts of the aircraft - No hope of rescue if the plane goes down or gets lost - No reliable way to light the runway. In the past they've used gasoline filled drums, but it can get so cold that the gasoline vapor pressure is too low and it won't light. - Extreme isolation—there's really nowhe…

It's not hard, just expensive. Airdropping supplies through winter was routine until it was cut for budgetary reasons.

At the South Pole? A 2011 midwinter airdrop of emergency medical supplies was treated as a big deal; when did it become routine?

Re: The Last Egg

#117

Post by wpietri »

teh_klev wrote: post #92
droopyEyelids wrote: post #57

How do people deal with zero humidity? Does everyone use a CPAP to sleep?

I'm fairly certain the air will be conditioned and inside humidity kept to an acceptable standard.

From the article: "The greenhouse is a volunteer affair, and it yields enough for herbs and the occasional salad! It’s also the only place on station with humidity! Since the rest of the station has near-zero humidity, it’s a treat to spend time in here."

Re: The Last Egg

#118

Post by ricardobeat »

aembleton wrote: post #104
0xbadcafebee wrote: post #7

Weird they don't stock UHT milk. I buy milk for 6 months and keep it in my pantry. I honestly can't tell the difference between modern UHT milk and mass-produced "fresh" milk (at 2% anyway). They could in theory ship in UHT milk instead of fresh, and stock enough extra to last a few more months in winter. It would be fun to make your own cheese down there as a hobby! Eating by the seasons is also pretty interesting,…

Milk freezes well. If they can afford to carry UHT milk all the way there, then you might as well take the fresh stuff and freeze it. Then it'll keep.

It freezes well but will spoil between 2-3 months. Maybe the much lower temperature would delay spoilage a bit more?

Re: The Last Egg

#119

Post by [deleted] »

marssaxman wrote: post #63
bpodgursky wrote: post #53

Imagine how many fresh vegetables they could have with a miniaturized nuclear reactor on-site! The limit right now is how much diesel they want to waste. Imagine the alternatives!

No need to imagine; it's been tried - McMurdo installed a nuclear power plant back in 1962. The reactor proved to be expensive and unreliable, so the Navy removed it a decade later. Cleaning up the mess took another seven years.

[deleted]

Re: The Last Egg

#120

Post by reillyse »

crazygringo wrote: post #87
DoughnutHole wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Coming from drinking Irish milk, American milk already tastes like water. I can understand UHT being interchangeable if the baseline product is already bland.

Are you just talking about normal milk in Ireland like this? https://www.tesco.ie/groceries/en-IE/products/250005606 It's essentially identical to whole milk in the US. Nutritionally, compositionally, and flavor-wise. I really can't imagine what you're talking about "tasting like water" unless you switched to skim milk or 2% in the US without realizing it?

Nope. American milk is pasteurized to a much higher temp. It lasts way longer. Irish goes off in days, US milk will last a month in the fridge. The extra pasteurization effects the taste and flavor.
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