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Strawberry Pop-Tart Blow-Torches (1994)

pmichaud.com

41–50 of 81 posts

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

#41
Pages like this used to _be_ the world-wide web. Or most of it, anyway. I don't mean the (lack of) page style, I mean the writing. The irreverency of the subject matter. People shared whatever they thought was interesting, without regard to upvotes, likes, number of subscribers, and so on. I miss that a bit.

(Also, it doesn't really get any more mid-90's than a tip of the hat toward Dave Barry...)

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

#42

I think that demonstrations like this are great ways to teach kids healthy eating habits. My middle school health class included a joint day with a science teacher that left a lasting impression. Seeing the amount of energy contained in a single gummy bear put things into perspective! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=txkRCIPSsjM

One that left an impression with me was leaving a tooth in a cup of Coke and watching the tooth decay over multiple days.

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

#43
post #41

Pages like this used to _be_ the world-wide web. Or most of it, anyway. I don't mean the (lack of) page style, I mean the writing. The irreverency of the subject matter. People shared whatever they thought was interesting, without regard to upvotes, likes, number of subscribers, and so on. I miss that a bit. (Also, it doesn't really get any more mid-90's than a tip of the hat toward Dave Barry...)

One could argue that social media has taken its place. Although, the format makes it bite size and within a sea of algorithmic trash.

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

#44
Every time this pops up on HN, I’m reminded of the XKCD comic “Ten thousand”[0]

Strawberry Pop-Tart Blow Torches was one of the first websites I looked at when I got connected to the Internet back in late ‘94. It makes me very happy to know that the site is still there and people are still finding it for the first time.

Edit: forgot the footnote!!

[0] https://xkcd.com/1053/

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

#46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In Andy Weir's The Martian one of the characters uses a mixture of sugar and liquid oxygen as an IED. Loads of energy in sugar. Glycerin is also quite energy dense. I used to do chemistry demos for high school chem classes and the potassium permanganate and glycerin demo was always a spectacle.

A similar lab demo I recall also is the gummy bear dropped into a test tube of molten potassium chlorate. Rather spicy reaction ensues.

Also a good reaction. Nice orange/pink flame.

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

#47
post #41

Pages like this used to _be_ the world-wide web. Or most of it, anyway. I don't mean the (lack of) page style, I mean the writing. The irreverency of the subject matter. People shared whatever they thought was interesting, without regard to upvotes, likes, number of subscribers, and so on. I miss that a bit. (Also, it doesn't really get any more mid-90's than a tip of the hat toward Dave Barry...)

One could argue that social media has taken its place. Although, the format makes it bite size and within a sea of algorithmic trash.

In 1994 we were seeing this all for the first time. Everyone had intrusive thoughts like "how big can I make a pop tart fire", but very few had the ability to make digital photographs and upload it to the Internet for all to see. Today, everyone has the ability to upload it to the Internet for all to see, so someone probably already had your intrusive thought and already made $10,000 off of it.

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

#48

It's too bad we can't run on LNG or H2 because of the improved energy / mass densities. 4 kcal/g: Carbs and protein 7: Ethanol 9: Fats and lipids 11: Gasoline 13: LNG 34: H2 * * Hydrogen storage and distribution infrastructure is an exercise for the reader.

We do, sort of, just not very efficiently --- we burn up to 10 calories of petro-chemical energy in our industrial farming practices to get 1 calorie of food energy.

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

#50
post #41

Pages like this used to _be_ the world-wide web. Or most of it, anyway. I don't mean the (lack of) page style, I mean the writing. The irreverency of the subject matter. People shared whatever they thought was interesting, without regard to upvotes, likes, number of subscribers, and so on. I miss that a bit. (Also, it doesn't really get any more mid-90's than a tip of the hat toward Dave Barry...)

Seriously, what a blast from the past. Huge nostalgia.
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