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IPad: The Microwave Oven of Computing

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Re: IPad: The Microwave Oven of Computing

#11

Post by recoiledsnake »

lloeki wrote: post #10
steverb wrote: post #4

Oddly enough, the microwave is the least used appliance in our kitchen. If it weren't for the fact that they are so cheap now as to be virtually free we probably wouldn't have one. When the iPad gets to that same price point we'll probably get one as well.

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.

Re: IPad: The Microwave Oven of Computing

#12

Post by ghshephard »

steverb wrote: post #4

Oddly enough, the microwave is the least used appliance in our kitchen. If it weren't for the fact that they are so cheap now as to be virtually free we probably wouldn't have one. When the iPad gets to that same price point we'll probably get one as well.

I was in my previous apartment for 18 months and never turned on either the oven, or stove. I can't even tell you if it was plugged in.

The Microwave, on the other hand, was my magical baked potato maker and chinese-food/pasta reheater.

Of course, I've been in my current house for a little over a year, and don't believe I've ever heated up anything in the kitchen, so perhaps I'm an outlier.

Re: IPad: The Microwave Oven of Computing

#14

Post by Groxx »

akashs wrote: post #13

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

My favorite: sparks with grapes / CDs (though those smell), or making plasma: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A7RFyh5ABcQ

Re: IPad: The Microwave Oven of Computing

#15

Post by yannickmahe »

Great article. It really explains to me the success of the iPad, which from my geeky, feature-centered, cheapskate perspective made little sense. I bought a netbook one year after the iPad came out, which seemed to correspond more to my use of a lightweight computer.

Incidentally, I stopped using microwaves a few years ago. I wonder what that means my future relationship with tablets will be.

Re: IPad: The Microwave Oven of Computing

#16

Post by katovatzschyn »

Jun8 wrote: post #2

People 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.

I realize the frustration in receiving any parenting advice at all, but please bear in mind that being too strict in what germs the baby comes in contact with early on can have negative long term effects.

I'm sure you know this already, just a thing to keep in mind.

Re: IPad: The Microwave Oven of Computing

#17

Post by cooldeal »

yannickmahe wrote: post #15

Great article. It really explains to me the success of the iPad, which from my geeky, feature-centered, cheapskate perspective made little sense. I bought a netbook one year after the iPad came out, which seemed to correspond more to my use of a lightweight computer. Incidentally, I stopped using microwaves a few years ago. I wonder what that means my future relationship with tablets will be.

I don't know how far the analogy holds up. After all, microwave is not very programmable(in the computing sense) nor so restrictive.

Did the microwave only cook food that was specially labeled microwaveable(and food grocers had to pay 30% of the price of food to the microwave manufacturer to get that special label) ? Isn't that what happens with the iPad?

Eg. The free Sony e-reader app was rejected, Readability was rejected. Kindle and Netflix are on the chopping block if they don't pay up by June 30th, same with any apps for magazine or content subscriptions. Microwaves never had these restrictions.

Re: IPad: The Microwave Oven of Computing

#18

Post by jerf »

kenjackson wrote: post #8
jerf wrote: post #7

Earlier 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…

"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 to work and you can fall to your death!"), but it has no correspondence to reality. In my judgment, I am not even remotely endangering my kids in the real world. You are welcome to your opinions, but in my opinion turning my judgment over to others is itself not a good judgment.

"There have also been studies that show that cough medicine may simple have the placebo effect."

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.

Honey's an interesting thought which I may consider, except that there's no evidence that cough syrup is a problem, except vague nervousness because there haven't been any "scientific studies" on the topic. However I consider the abundant real-world experience that preceded the hand-wringing about it not being "properly" studied to trump it; on the scale of evidence scientific studies are not the highest good, the real world trumps it (which is actually a core tenant of any decent theory of science, any theory of science missing that isn't worth anything), and it was extremely widely deployed for a long time before some people got nannyish about it. If it were noticably bad, we wouldn't have to theorize, we'd know. (At best it can have a small below-the-noise-floor effect; widespread experience can't prove 0 bad effect but it can and does put a rather low upper bound on it.)

(In fact I'm rather strongly of the opinion that there are numerous real-world examples in the field of medicine and nutrition in which science has "studied" itself into wildly wrong beliefs that nobody would have taken seriously but for the failures in the scientific process and the misapplication of its authority, and as much as I love science and wish I didn't have to do this, I've really deprioritized science in this area.)

Re: IPad: The Microwave Oven of Computing

#19

Post by kragen »

lloeki wrote: post #10
steverb wrote: post #4

Oddly enough, the microwave is the least used appliance in our kitchen. If it weren't for the fact that they are so cheap now as to be virtually free we probably wouldn't have one. When the iPad gets to that same price point we'll probably get one as well.

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.

If you want to be energy-efficient, keep food hot by insulating it, not by continuing to heat it. Like in a hooikist. I can "soft-boil" a couple of eggs with a liter of nearly-boiling water from my hot-water heater, left in a thermos for half an hour.

Re: IPad: The Microwave Oven of Computing

#20

Post by lloeki »

recoiledsnake wrote: post #11
lloeki wrote: post #10

Earlier 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.

Which is precisely my use case. Me and my wife often eat small meals, sometimes even different for each of us. Many a time only one of us is at home for lunch and sometimes even for dinner.

Even when we cook larger quantities the 'traditional way' we end up heating them again the next day. Besides it's just outrageous to boil half a teapot for a singe tea cup when just filling the cup and popping it into the microwave.

When cooking vegetables with steam in the microwave we use a (provided) accessory with which you lay vegetables on a grid, fill the bottom with one glass of water, cover with a metallic lid and throw in a few minutes of power. A pressure cooker requires more water, a longer heat up time and a longer cooking time. It is also extremely bulky. We have one but never use it.

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