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posted by Fnord666 on Tuesday November 07 2017, @01:27AM   Printer-friendly
from the a-pound-of-feathers-or.... dept.

The kilogram doesn't weigh a kilogram any more. This sad news was announced during a seminar at CERN on Thursday, 26 October by Professor Klaus von Klitzing, who was awarded the 1985 Nobel Prize in Physics for the discovery of the quantised Hall effect. "We are about to witness a revolutionary change in the way the kilogram is defined," he declared.

Together with six other units – metre, second, ampere, kelvin, mole, and candela – the kilogram, a unit of mass, is part of the International System of Units (SI) that is used as a basis to express every measurable object or phenomenon in nature in numbers. This unit's current definition is based on a small platinum and iridium cylinder, known as "le grand K", whose mass is exactly one kilogram. The cylinder was crafted in 1889 and, since then, has been kept safe under three glass bell jars in a high-security vault on the outskirts of Paris. There is one problem: the current standard kilogram is losing weight. About 50 micrograms, at the latest check. Enough to be different from its once-identical copies stored in laboratories around the world.

To solve this weight(y) problem, scientists have been looking for a new definition of the kilogram.

Dang. That throws the easily memorable conversion of 1kg=2.2lbs right out the window.


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  • (Score: 3, Funny) by takyon on Tuesday November 07 2017, @01:55AM (11 children)

    by takyon (881) <reversethis-{gro ... s} {ta} {noykat}> on Tuesday November 07 2017, @01:55AM (#593399) Journal

    What did you spend the $700 on? Booze?

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  • (Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Tuesday November 07 2017, @05:12AM (10 children)

    by MichaelDavidCrawford (2339) Subscriber Badge <mdcrawford@gmail.com> on Tuesday November 07 2017, @05:12AM (#593488) Homepage Journal

    Six brats in a 13.5 Oz package for only $1.99 at Grocery Outlet.

    I've been puzzling over what would be dead-simple to cook, but that would be filling and nutritious.

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    • (Score: 1) by Sulla on Tuesday November 07 2017, @05:25AM (1 child)

      by Sulla (5173) on Tuesday November 07 2017, @05:25AM (#593498) Journal

      Grocery outlet, bargain market

      If the tent cities further south are like the ones in Portland he probably drank water laced with something. Although I suppose based on the quality I occasionally see at grocery outlet the brats could have contained something as well. But I guess for 1.99 its worth the risk, guess ill hit them up tomorrow.

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    • (Score: 1, Offtopic) by takyon on Tuesday November 07 2017, @07:20AM (7 children)

      by takyon (881) <reversethis-{gro ... s} {ta} {noykat}> on Tuesday November 07 2017, @07:20AM (#593536) Journal

      Dried beans are cheap and offer a lot of protein, fiber, and minerals to keep you alive. Try cooked dried black beans with a smoked turkey leg and spices added. The turkey is very cheap meat but adds lots of flavor to the beans. The longer you simmer it, the better and creamier it should get. Plus you can serve it on cheap bulk rice to increase your calories per dollar. This should be even easier to make than chili.

      1 lb of pasta and a can of sauce should both be obtainable for $0.70-$0.80 each. That's about 2000 calories for $1.50. It is not considered nutritious but you could add vegetables like cooked eggplant, bell peppers, as well as mushrooms to it. You can also add ground beef, meatballs, or chicken. Olives and capers add almost no nutrition, just flavor, so I would skip those. You might like adding garbanzo beans to a pasta dish. Throwing some cheap frozen spinach in there also might be a good idea.

      You can make hummus from garbanzo beans, olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, and tahini. You could skip the expensive tahini or use only a small amount (1-2 tablespoons) each time you make it. Hummus is something you should add to rice. Other good toppings include chicken (saute it with cumin, pepper, garlic, etc.), grape/cherry tomatoes ($1/pint or forget about it), sliced cucumbers, ranch (fake/cheap substitute for tzatziki sauce), and pickled banana peppers. Combine everything into the cheapest pita or flat bread you can find, layer the ingredients however you want. If you use pita, break it in half, toast it briefly in the toaster or oven, and open it to put stuff in. If you don't want to use flatbread, just mix ingredients in a bowl. Add sriracha sauce for a kick. This doesn't take long to make except for soaking/boiling garbanzo beans if you use dried instead of canned.

      Garlic powder is a good replacement for fresh garlic, to be used in stuff like hummus or pasta. It is faster than dealing with fresh garlic, doesn't make your hands sticky, and goes well on a lot of dishes.

      Learn to make fried rice. At its most basic level, you should only need cooked rice, soy sauce, black pepper, onion, and an egg. You can omit everything but the rice and soy sauce if you want to get simple. Use fried rice as a platform for a meat dish you make. I like orange chicken but I have made orange sauce in advance with many pounds of oranges and a pressure cooker. Then all I need is ketchup, spices, corn starch + flour for coating the chicken, and some oil to cook the chicken in.

      Pulled pork is dead easy, cheap, and great tasting. All you need to do is get pork butt/shoulder, and cut it up into strips before you freeze what you are not using (making it easier to separate later if partially frozen). I always use a dutch oven to make pulled pork; I can't vouch for other methods. The cheapest [walmart.com] dutch ovens should be around $20 although I see some closer to $10. Enameled can scratch and chip if misused, while cast iron can rust if you soak it in water. I have a tiny dutch oven that can fit about 3 lbs of pork, larger ones should be able to fit it more comfortably without risk of bubbling over.

      You put the dutch oven on the stove and heat strips of the THAWED pork in a little oil to brown them. Pork browns very quickly so be careful not to burn it. Turn the heat off. I add some sauteed onions but you can omit that. Add half or less of the amount of sauce you want to use. You could use stuff like ketchup, a can of crushed tomatoes, BBQ sauce, some white vinegar, brown sugar, spices, whatever. Cook it in an oven, covered, for 3 to 3.5 hours at 300°F. After that, I like to cook it uncovered for 30m to an hour at about 350°F so that it has cooked for 4 hours total. To test that it is done, use a fork to gently shred a small amount of the pork. If it shreds with almost no effort, you're done.

      After that, take it out and let it cool for a few minutes. Use a large spoon or ladle and press down on the pork with the bottom of it. That will cause the liquid fat to rise to the top. Spoon it off into a bowl, and repeat until there is not much of it. Then throw it into the trash or outside (if you find this substance usable, let me know what you would do with it). Add any remaining sauces and spices, mixing it up and taste testing as you add more. Add less sauce if you like it drier. Serve on rice, hamburger buns, white bread, or by itself. Here is a recipe [seriouseats.com] (I skip some steps, like the bourbon). The prep time is not that bad for pulled pork, you just have to make sure your stove doesn't smoke up from fat dribbling out of the dutch oven, and that you are near the stove for 4 hours or are confident that you won't burn your place down. The pork should be about $1.50/lb for 5-7 lbs, which is very cheap, will feed you for a while (especially added to rice), and tastes better than most crap you can make on a budget.

      A box of 8 poptarts provides about 1600 calories and can go on sale for a dollar. That will keep you alive briefly with no effort and toasting is optional but recommended.

      Get your meats on sale if possible. They could be marked down by up to 50% as they get closer to expiration (but are still good if use or freeze quickly). Get meat in bulk if you can separate it into portions and freeze it.

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      • (Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Tuesday November 07 2017, @02:41PM (2 children)

        by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday November 07 2017, @02:41PM (#593650) Journal

        "Olives . . . almost no nutrition"

        You savage. How could you? Olives are a fine source of nutrients. https://www.nutrition-and-you.com/olives.html [nutrition-and-you.com]

        I like the ripe olives - buy a can, open it up, and pour them into a bowl or mug, stick it in the fridge. Take some out and eat them, come back later for some more. A can generally lasts me for four or five days. Green olives are alright, I just like them less than dark black olives. So, maybe they aren't the best source of some nutrients, but olives are a great part of any nutritious meal.

        All this time, I really thought you were a civilized person. Next, you'll be talking bad about chocolate!!

        • (Score: 2) by takyon on Tuesday November 07 2017, @03:35PM

          by takyon (881) <reversethis-{gro ... s} {ta} {noykat}> on Tuesday November 07 2017, @03:35PM (#593674) Journal

          calories/$ haven't impressed me and it mostly seems to have Iron and Vitamin A. If you were on a budget I would advise to throw that money towards meat, other vegetables, maybe cheese.

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        • (Score: 3, Interesting) by RamiK on Tuesday November 07 2017, @03:37PM

          by RamiK (1813) on Tuesday November 07 2017, @03:37PM (#593676)

          Olives with cherry tomatoes.

          Done.

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          compiling...
      • (Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Tuesday November 07 2017, @07:52PM (3 children)

        by MichaelDavidCrawford (2339) Subscriber Badge <mdcrawford@gmail.com> on Tuesday November 07 2017, @07:52PM (#593785) Homepage Journal

        Grocery Outlet often sells stuff at a steep discount. The key is to look for handwritten prices rather than computer-printed tags.

        Last night I discovered that bags of grated cheese are cheaper than blocks of cheese.

        I'm planning to make "Poor Man's Pizza". I invented this when I was at UCSC. Use a flour tortilla for the pizza crust. It is surprisingly good.

        I really enjoy cooking, but my commute to work takes so much time out of my day that I really only have time to cook on weekends. But Grocery Outlet is selling hammocks quite cheaply, so I'm going to make some beans with ham just like Mom used to make.

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        Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
        • (Score: 3, Interesting) by takyon on Tuesday November 07 2017, @09:37PM

          by takyon (881) <reversethis-{gro ... s} {ta} {noykat}> on Tuesday November 07 2017, @09:37PM (#593830) Journal

          Well if you make 6-8 pounds of pulled pork on a Sunday, for example, you should have enough food for the next 3-4 days without any prep on the weekdays. (My reasoning for 3-4 days is that each 2 pounds should be in the ballpark of 1500 calories, not counting rice, and hopefully won't be the only thing you eat that day.)

          I am thinking of swapping the pork for beef brisket to make something like barbacoa, and then throw that onto tacos.

          That's bizarre about the grated vs. block cheese but I have seen stuff like that before.

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        • (Score: 2) by takyon on Thursday November 09 2017, @12:14PM (1 child)

          by takyon (881) <reversethis-{gro ... s} {ta} {noykat}> on Thursday November 09 2017, @12:14PM (#594571) Journal

          I can get a dozen eggs for maybe $0.70 at cheapest.

          If one egg = about 75 calories, and there are 12 of them, that's over 1200 calories per dollar. Moreover, they are a great source of protein.

          If you use the right dishware, you should be able to prepare them in a microwave. Then slap them on a bagel or English muffin. You can also use eggs in fried rice.

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          • (Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Friday November 10 2017, @05:10AM

            by MichaelDavidCrawford (2339) Subscriber Badge <mdcrawford@gmail.com> on Friday November 10 2017, @05:10AM (#595039) Homepage Journal

            they worked out quite well.

            During my time of homelessness I was invited to live in a trailer by the landlord of a friend of mine. They only way to cook was a microwave.

            I kept tripping the circuit breaker for no reason I could figure out. Then the power failed completely; resetting the breaker didn't help. So I inspected what I at first though was just one extension cord. It turned out to be two, with their junction exposed to the elements. I cut the carbonized junction off and now keep it as a souvinier.

            --
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