Food experiments from 1994 & 1998
November 27, 2022 9:40 PM Subscribe
Some gems of the Old Web (note, posts do not link to video):
June 1994: And, if you take a grape, cut it in half but leave the sides attached by a piece of skin, and then microwave it. Sparks!
August 1994: If you leave a pop-tart in a toaster too long, the results are... incendiary.
And from 1998: Marshmallow Peep research
Strawberry Pop-Tart Blow Torches and Fun With Grapes were previously posted to Metafilter back in 2003, by gruchall. Links from Marshmallow Peep Research were posted in 2006 by edgeways. It's been at least sixteen years, I think it's okay to post again, especially since the fact that these pages have survived so long is itself very notable.
June 1994: And, if you take a grape, cut it in half but leave the sides attached by a piece of skin, and then microwave it. Sparks!
August 1994: If you leave a pop-tart in a toaster too long, the results are... incendiary.
And from 1998: Marshmallow Peep research
Strawberry Pop-Tart Blow Torches and Fun With Grapes were previously posted to Metafilter back in 2003, by gruchall. Links from Marshmallow Peep Research were posted in 2006 by edgeways. It's been at least sixteen years, I think it's okay to post again, especially since the fact that these pages have survived so long is itself very notable.
Finding the Speed of Light with Marshmallows
(Originally posted by me in 2004)
posted by thatwhichfalls at 10:26 PM on November 27, 2022 [10 favorites]
(Originally posted by me in 2004)
posted by thatwhichfalls at 10:26 PM on November 27, 2022 [10 favorites]
That's really cool!
posted by JHarris at 10:55 PM on November 27, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by JHarris at 10:55 PM on November 27, 2022 [1 favorite]
hey i am old
To me these go with a c. 1994 page on 'squirrel fishing' that really showcased how NCSA Mosaic rendered images inline with text. I can't find that page, can anyone?
posted by away for regrooving at 11:04 PM on November 27, 2022 [2 favorites]
To me these go with a c. 1994 page on 'squirrel fishing' that really showcased how NCSA Mosaic rendered images inline with text. I can't find that page, can anyone?
posted by away for regrooving at 11:04 PM on November 27, 2022 [2 favorites]
Not spark exactly. Plasma! Like the sun.
posted by Zalzidrax at 11:07 PM on November 27, 2022 [4 favorites]
posted by Zalzidrax at 11:07 PM on November 27, 2022 [4 favorites]
away for regrooving, lots (indeed most, by far) old web pages are defunct now. Your best chance of finding it is the Wayback Machine.
posted by JHarris at 11:33 PM on November 27, 2022
posted by JHarris at 11:33 PM on November 27, 2022
To me these go with a c. 1994 page on 'squirrel fishing' that really showcased how NCSA Mosaic rendered images inline with text. I can't find that page, can anyone?
It is probably not this website (which says 1997 at the top), but it is pretty cool nonetheless.
posted by Literaryhero at 12:33 AM on November 28, 2022 [1 favorite]
It is probably not this website (which says 1997 at the top), but it is pretty cool nonetheless.
posted by Literaryhero at 12:33 AM on November 28, 2022 [1 favorite]
For me, the earliest food adjacent experiment I saw on the Internet was in 1995: George Goble offering video (!)proof that 3 gallons of liquid oxygen, twenty pounds of coal, and a lit cigarette was the fastest way to light a barbecue. I’m also old! His Wikipedia page.
posted by rongorongo at 2:40 AM on November 28, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by rongorongo at 2:40 AM on November 28, 2022 [2 favorites]
George Goble appears to be responsible for this page (Wayback) documenting one of the instances in rongorongo's video.
posted by JHarris at 3:10 AM on November 28, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by JHarris at 3:10 AM on November 28, 2022 [2 favorites]
These zap me straight back to being in sixth form in 1997, when my school got an internet connection and I used to spend break time in the computer room browsing sites like these.
Links from Marshmallow Peep Research were posted in 2006 by edgeways
I’ve still got MP3s on my computer from a MeFi music swap CD that edgeways sent me. He passed away in 2015, sadly, but a small memory of him lives on in my hard drive (and the CD, which is somewhere in a pile in my office). As time goes on, increasingly these surviving sites from the early web feel a bit like that, too.
posted by greycap at 3:17 AM on November 28, 2022 [6 favorites]
Links from Marshmallow Peep Research were posted in 2006 by edgeways
I’ve still got MP3s on my computer from a MeFi music swap CD that edgeways sent me. He passed away in 2015, sadly, but a small memory of him lives on in my hard drive (and the CD, which is somewhere in a pile in my office). As time goes on, increasingly these surviving sites from the early web feel a bit like that, too.
posted by greycap at 3:17 AM on November 28, 2022 [6 favorites]
I’m failing to find the site these reminded me of, where someone’s technical info about the DEC Alpha processors re-enacted their 1989 glowing pickle experiment rumored to be the true explanation for the EV architecture name: Electro-Vlasic.
posted by adamsc at 4:15 AM on November 28, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by adamsc at 4:15 AM on November 28, 2022 [1 favorite]
August 1994: If you leave a pop-tart in a toaster too long, the results are... incendiary.
For a while, I was putting corn tortillas into the (vertical) toaster to crisp them up. It worked just fine.
Then, one day, I must have left it in too long, because: flames, flames from the top of my toaster. I panicked and threw it out the back door. I had to buy a new toaster.
Not recommended.
posted by uncleozzy at 4:21 AM on November 28, 2022 [3 favorites]
For a while, I was putting corn tortillas into the (vertical) toaster to crisp them up. It worked just fine.
Then, one day, I must have left it in too long, because: flames, flames from the top of my toaster. I panicked and threw it out the back door. I had to buy a new toaster.
Not recommended.
posted by uncleozzy at 4:21 AM on November 28, 2022 [3 favorites]
It’s pi, not pie, but another gem of the early internet that is still around is Eve Andersson’s Pi Pages!
posted by eviemath at 4:49 AM on November 28, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by eviemath at 4:49 AM on November 28, 2022 [2 favorites]
The flaming Pop Tart thing was one of the things that made Dave Barry popular in the early 1990s.
posted by briank at 4:52 AM on November 28, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by briank at 4:52 AM on November 28, 2022 [2 favorites]
adamsc, I don't know if it's connected, but I did find this page on Wayback that has a DEC copyright.
posted by JHarris at 5:19 AM on November 28, 2022
posted by JHarris at 5:19 AM on November 28, 2022
Awww I first learned about the grape trick from the site that turned my dad (RIP) onto how very much this internet thing could be relevant to his interests...
After reading this post, I was delighted to find it's still live after 23 years : UNWISE MICROWAVE OVEN EXPERIMENTS
posted by protorp at 5:24 AM on November 28, 2022 [3 favorites]
After reading this post, I was delighted to find it's still live after 23 years : UNWISE MICROWAVE OVEN EXPERIMENTS
posted by protorp at 5:24 AM on November 28, 2022 [3 favorites]
How can it be 24 years since I last saw that Peep take a drag on a cigarette, his head cast back at a jaunty angle? Almost half a lifetime ago! God, I had some opinions about Peeps back then. It was a different age, where we sat around our CRTs and made jokes about candy, with none of your modern fancy 280-character limits. Back then, there were no limits at all to our humor! You could joke about the taste and texture of Peeps! Hah! I'd like to see anyone get away with that these days! You couldn't do it!
posted by mittens at 5:47 AM on November 28, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by mittens at 5:47 AM on November 28, 2022 [2 favorites]
George Goble, the liquid O2/BBQ guy, also once maintained an archive of TV test pattern images. These appear to be gone from the live web.
posted by Insert Clever Name Here at 6:07 AM on November 28, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by Insert Clever Name Here at 6:07 AM on November 28, 2022 [1 favorite]
I love this post!
I know it's common knowledge now, but I still remember how amazing it was when we all learned about the magic of combining Mentos with Diet Coke.
posted by Mchelly at 6:45 AM on November 28, 2022 [3 favorites]
I know it's common knowledge now, but I still remember how amazing it was when we all learned about the magic of combining Mentos with Diet Coke.
posted by Mchelly at 6:45 AM on November 28, 2022 [3 favorites]
I’m glad to see the 2003 Pop Tarts post at least links to the venerable Twinkies Project in comments.
posted by zamboni at 7:02 AM on November 28, 2022 [4 favorites]
posted by zamboni at 7:02 AM on November 28, 2022 [4 favorites]
Oh! How about Stinkymeat! Somehow still around!
posted by uncleozzy at 7:08 AM on November 28, 2022 [5 favorites]
posted by uncleozzy at 7:08 AM on November 28, 2022 [5 favorites]
Man ya beat me to it uncleozzy, I remember following Stinkymeat in real time and being HOOKED like it was a dripfeed prestige TV show. The plates, the mystery juices, the maggots... now I need something on the scale of a social media site crumbling in flames to elicit such rabid F5ing.
posted by Ten Cold Hot Dogs at 7:36 AM on November 28, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by Ten Cold Hot Dogs at 7:36 AM on November 28, 2022 [1 favorite]
UNWISE MICROWAVE OVEN EXPERIMENTS
When we got a new microwave oven a couple of years ago I put the old one in the garage just for this purpose.
I am on vacation this week.
If I don't check in to the free thread in one week you'll know why.
posted by neuron at 9:54 AM on November 28, 2022 [3 favorites]
When we got a new microwave oven a couple of years ago I put the old one in the garage just for this purpose.
I am on vacation this week.
If I don't check in to the free thread in one week you'll know why.
posted by neuron at 9:54 AM on November 28, 2022 [3 favorites]
I recall a proposed experiment involving Leonard Nimoy's rate of salsa consumption, but I don't think it was ever carried out.
posted by Chef Flamboyardee at 1:04 PM on November 28, 2022
posted by Chef Flamboyardee at 1:04 PM on November 28, 2022
I believe the guy who started Stinkymeat became the guy who started OkCupid.
posted by The otter lady at 5:31 PM on November 28, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by The otter lady at 5:31 PM on November 28, 2022 [2 favorites]
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posted by JHarris at 9:42 PM on November 27, 2022