chromedome

...and I make at least a small part of my living by vetting AI outputs on a number of different criteria, and I don't doubt it for a minute. I expect image-generating AI will largely supplant conventional memes and animated GIFs over the next few years. And I'm willing to wager that bringing dad jokes to realistic life will certainly be a major use-case.

Not a "funny," as such, but... croissantasaurus.

I expect that it's a color issue, as much as anything. A leek and cauliflower soup would be pretty white in the normal run of things, and caramelizing the leeks would affect that. I'm personally a flavor guy, so I'd do it, but I see a lot of recipes that emphasize not allowing the aromatics to brown at all on esthetic grounds.

I had to look that up. In Canada, at least, their prices seem in line with the other chains; you're going to pay somewhere around $14-$16 dollars for a burger combo at Wendy's, McDonald's, Burger King or A&W. That's not the "value" combo, mind you, that's a Big Mac or Quarter Pounder, a Whopper, a Baconator, etc. The mainstream burger.

I would like to think that this is the "bridge too far," the place where people will draw the line and say "[expletive] this [expletive]" and spend their money elsewhere. To my eye, an ideal outcome would be a backlash that impacts their revenues not only in the test market, but across the entire chain. They won't miss my "once every few years" custom (I don't darken the door of a burger chain very often), but they've lost it for what that's worth.

"Uber Eats" indeed... https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2024/02/wendys-plans-ai-powered-menu-to-change-food-prices-based-on-demand-weather/

It's more a parenting thing, but kinda food related anyway.

One of my "favorites" in that particular school of design is when the force required to open a bag's zipper seal exceeds the tensile strength of the bag itself. Gets me going, every time.

Per the company's website, linked in the original post, it's only partly about boiling water quickly. More immediately it's about eliminating the need for a dedicated high-current 240v circuit for people who - like Blue_Dolphin upthread - aren't wired for it, and wouldn't be able to use a conventional range. In that context it's in interesting "out of the box" solution, and the money not spent on having an electrician re-wire your kitchen would probably defray a chunk of the price premium for the range itself. I'm not saying it's a universal solution, by any means, but I'm sure it would work for some. If the technological and (more importantly) political hurdles involved prove surmountable, feeding energy back into the grid would just be a nice bonus.

I wrote a long rant about storage, renewables and their inevitable rise, but it would take us well OT so I've refrained.

Taylor Farms' "Mexican Street Corn" salad kits are being recalled for salmonella. Currently known to impact provinces from Ontario east, though that could change pending further updates. https://recalls-rappels.canada.ca/en/alert-recall/taylor-farms-brand-mexican-style-street-corn-chopped-salad-kit-recalled-due-salmonella?utm_source=gc-notify&utm_medium=email&utm_content=en&utm_campaign=hc-sc-rsa-22-23

Vehicle-to-load/vehicle-to-grid already exists, though it's still in its infancy and not all BEVs support it. And yes, it is potentially a way to stabilize the grid once EV adoption reaches the necessary level; it's been researched for years in terms of both the technology and the policy incentives necessary to make it happen at scale. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0301421518300995 https://www.virta.global/blog/vehicle-to-grid-boom-is-around-the-corner Currently in North America it's being framed in terms of your EV being an emergency power source during outages (Ford's ads for the electric F-150 really pushed that), but for anyone who lives in a jurisdiction where a) power rates fluctuate with demand, and b) net metering is available, it can be done at a personal level right now as a bill-management thing. I'm sure there is some degree of loss involved as the electrons move in one direction or the other, but the variance between daytime and nighttime rates is what will make it or break it for a given individual. The batteries in home appliances will be significantly smaller than those in vehicles, of course, but once the principle becomes established with vehicles I expect it could be implemented with any other product containing a battery of a given minimum size. In fact, the more I think about it, as battery chemistries improve and the cost per kw/h comes down, I can absolutely see the value in adding a battery to appliances. For those of us who live in areas prone to power outages, wouldn't it be wonderful to own a fridge and freezer with their own battery backup?

One of those silly anecdotes I remember from a childhood Reader's Digest was from a family newly arrived here, knowing no English, who went out looking for something familiar as a quick and easy meal for that first night. They spotted something immediately recognizable - a container with a big, easily identifiable photo of fried chicken - and bought it, only to discover that it was Crisco.

Also, the evidence for the efficacy of turmeric/cucurmin as an anti-inflammatory all more or less flowed back to one single researcher, and 30-odd of his papers have been retracted over various forms of fakery and data manipulation. https://retractionwatch.com/2022/10/03/frankincense-extract-paper-is-30th-retracted-by-former-md-anderson-researcher-who-once-threatened-to-sue-retraction-watch/

I expect this article attempted to capture clicks in the wake of a recent recall of children's fruit puree, which did indeed cause serious harms and which eventually proved to be due to tainted cinnamon used in their manufacture. We've commented on it on other threads. https://arstechnica.com/science/2024/01/chromium-found-in-lead-tainted-fruit-pouches-may-explain-contamination/ While the FDA doesn't (as you say) allow lead to be sprinkled onto your dinner, there's little it can do about what a middleman in South America buys from a spice vendor in South Asia, or how it's handled as it passes through the supply chain. That being said, it's reportedly more of an issue in places like India, where spices are used with a heavy hand and are often adulterated (turmeric in particular).

Cool stuff. I'll be interested to see how/whether the batches ferment differently, and what you think of the outcome. I've always just used 2%, and like it fine, but learning from others has 0% food cost and 0% labor cost (for me) so I'm all for it.

Terrines are fun. That's an attractive dish, and an appealing first post (welcome aboard, btw!). What are the grainy bits in the mushroom sauce?

Mix it with creme de cacao for a Reese's lover? That's about all I've got.

That's the fun of having members on opposite sides of the planet, we get to envy (and/or revel in) our opposite numbers' fresh produce during out own winters. It makes a break from seed catalogues... (says the guy who was poring over his own catalogues 90 minutes past bedtime, until that "hot cinders in my eyes" feeling began to register)

I'm not sure if we have anybody currently in Saskatchewan, but there's been a recall of eggs (including Sobeys "Compliments" brand) for salmonella. https://recalls-rappels.canada.ca/en/alert-recall/certain-brands-eggs-recalled-due-salmonella?utm_source=gc-notify&utm_medium=email&utm_content=en&utm_campaign=hc-sc-rsa-22-23