Growing Crystals = Fail

Lets say for a moment you and your kids decide to do a science experiment. You want to grow crystals. Great! There are lots of resources out there that tell you how to do all sorts of crystals. One of which is salt. Ordinary Table Salt.



So you and your family set out to grow beautiful cubic crystals. You heat up some water, and dump tons of salt in the water until nothing will dissolve anymore. You pour your supersaturated solution of good old sodium chloride into a cup, and dangle a string in the cup. You wait..... and wait... and wait. A week passes, and you have nothing to show for it at all. The sugar crystals came out great, but sugar is so pedestrian. The cubic salt crystals would have been so much better, but it's a total no-go. What happened?

I've wondered about this since I was a kid and tried to grow sugar crystals and salt crystals. Sugar did fine, but I really wanted to see the cool cubes of salt. It didn't work. Recently, I tried to grow salt again, prompted by seeing a huge crystal of salt on the show "How It's Made." So, I set about growing salt, being careful to make sure the pan was clean, the glass was clean, and everything was ideal, even filtering the undissolved crystals through a coffee filter. After about a week, I checked on my project. The results were disappointing to say the least. A few microscopic crystals formed near the surface of the water, and a cauliflower-like mass formed around the pencil suspending the string. Something was seriously wrong. A quick look at the ingredients gives a clue: There are two impurities in the salt; an iodine compound (a necessary nutritional supplement. Most table salt is iodized) and an anti-caking agent. I suspect this is more the culprit than the iodine itself, since the iodine needed is relatively small in relation to the salt. Not only that, but the purpose of the anti-caking compound is to interfere with the salt's ability to build a crystal lattice.

In fact, most salts in the store (even those without the iodine) have some sort of anti-caking agent. Most, but not all. Salt used in the canning process is completely pure. This can be found near the canning jars and lids. After preparing a new solution using this salt, the difference was very apparent. The solution as it cooled formed a film of crystals at the surface, and seemed to be brimming with glinting, brilliant "diamond dust" I filtered the solution and hung my string in this new solution, and set it in a place where it will be relatively undisturbed. Within minutes tiny needles began to form in the water, and sink to the bottom, in a couple hours crystals were already starting to form on the string. Success at last!



The next stage will be to take an ideal specimen from the crystals formed by the solution and attach it to some nylon fishing line to use as a seed for the final large crystal. Stay tuned!

It just keeps getting better: More about the "Lunk Alarm" gym

So, in this detailed review of Planet Fitness, the reviewer goes through all of the amenities, including— get this— Free Pizza and bagels:

Perks: Free Pizza, Bagels and Candy?

In addition to the free tanning and Shiatsu massage chairs that come with a the Black Card upgrade, Planet Fitness offers three other perks to all of their members: free pizza once a month, free bagels once a month and the ever-present jar of purple Tootsie Rolls at the front desk.
Yes. I’m not joking.
When you join Planet Fitness to get in shape, once a month they reward you for those 300 calories you just burned on the treadmill with a nice 500 calorie slice of greasy, cheap pizza from a local pizzeria.  Or how about a giant, high-glycemic carb bagel to set you on your way to great summer abs? And when you’re done working out each day, grab a couple of purple Toostie Rolls loaded with high fructose corn syrup.
This whole thing would be laughable if it wasn’t so absurd.  I can understand providing some kind of “treat” to your customers every once in a while, but outside of serving fried chicken or corn dogs, I can’t think of two more unhealthy foods to offer.  A better approach would be to provide some type of healthy snack for their members, that helped them get an idea that eating better can taste good as well. Why not wraps, high-fiber protein bars, or even a healthy version of pizza?

Come to think of it, what a great business plan, keep 'em fat so they keep coming back. Augh, I think I'm gonna be sick.

"Judgement Free" Zone

 C'mon! get real... A Lunk Alarm?

Ok, Given I'm not in the greatest shape, and I just recently joined a gym (which does not have such an alarm, btw) I've never felt intimidated by the heavy lifters at my gym, but to actually call out and humiliate people with a big blue flashing light and an alarm because they grunt or drop a weight. Give me a break!

Tainted Candy

Halloween has come and gone. I'm sure many parents out there have closely inspected their kids' loot and given their seal of approval. So how did it happen that we became so careful about our kids' candy? This article gives the incident that set up x-rayed candies, and carefully checking packages for any sign of tampering. Not that you shouldn't be careful about your kids' treats-- you should, but it was someone's own avarice-driven poisoning of their own child that started the whole panic about tainted treats.

Now, that just begs the question: What kind of sick freak poisons their own child to satisfy their own greed!!?

H is for Hypocrite

If you're going to pass judgment on somebody, first make sure you're not being a hypocrite. 

Buyer Beware

This falls under the subject of predatory advertising.

I follow Mouse Print pretty closely, reading their weekly articles. They've covered such things as airline's hidden fees and ways food manufacturers disguise their downsizing. The article linked above is, in my opinion, the worst that it gets. A web page that purports to be an actual news article from a real news organization touting the benefits of some dietary supplement.

Many people could be fooled into thinking it's real, but the entire thing is a work of fiction created by a bottom-feeding supplement manufacturer. I have seen similar websites for similar products. All seem to espouse the benefits of the product and appear on the surface to be legitimate. That is, of course, until you look at the fine print buried at the bottom of the page.

Shame on them.

Oh, and by the way: There is no magic berry that can make you lose weight. Losing weight is simple math, You have to take in less calories than you use.

Half-baked

So, imagine this:

A happy couple sits down with a cake decorator, and describes what they want. A wedding cake with a traditional lace pattern, but with a twist, hidden in the lace would be a subtle ninja star. Oh, by the way, it would be fun to hide small ninja figures in the fondant apricots. Sure! No problem! replies the baker. Imagine the shock and dismay when presented with the final result on your wedding day.

Are people really this dumb?

I mean ... how on earth do you mistake a skunk for a cat? Kind of reminds me of that found cat poster.

Seriously Gross

Eeewww.

Most Controversial Magazine Covers

Controversial Covers

I actually remember the picture of the dog with the gun to its head being used in an advertisement in a computer magazine, with similar wording "Buy this game or the dog gets it"

Interesting set of covers, though.

Especially telling of people's attitudes, especially the one of the baby breastfeeding:

One mother actually shredded the magazine so that her 13-year old son couldn’t see it.

 What? There is nothing wrong with that photo, and anybody that thinks anything different has serious issues.