Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

posted by martyb on Monday August 19 2019, @04:43AM   Printer-friendly
from the Common-sense-is-not-that-common dept.

A while back there was an article about a man whose hand was scalded after he nuked a cup of water in the microwave. A cautionary tale, with the punchline being that microwaving food can store energy in the material being heated which can then violently erupt when the material is disturbed.

A woman has been possibly blinded in one eye after her microwaved eggs exploded:

She said: "I googled to see if you could make boiled eggs in the microwave.

"There are endless websites and YouTube videos which say you can. The one I read, though, was the set of instructions on recipe website, Delish.

"It said that you could microwave the eggs as long as you add salt to the eggs in the water to prevent them from bursting.

"The instructions then said to leave the eggs in the microwave for between six and eight minutes. Being cautious, I did six and took them out.

"As I looked into the jug to see if the eggs were done, they went bang in my face.

"It only happened as I took them out. The eggs were fine in the microwave."

This is another example of the everyday acts that people undertake in their daily lives which can have devastating consequences if not handled correctly.

Have we failed society by not teaching basic science lessons at school? I love how microwave popcorn has a warning on the outside to remove the outer packing first, and the iron warning tag advising to not iron clothes on the body.


Original Submission

 
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
Display Options Threshold/Breakthrough Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
  • (Score: 5, Informative) by Arik on Monday August 19 2019, @05:09AM (4 children)

    by Arik (4543) on Monday August 19 2019, @05:09AM (#881991) Journal
    "Have we failed society by not teaching basic science lessons at school?"

    Yes.
    --
    If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?
    Starting Score:    1  point
    Moderation   +3  
       Informative=3, Disagree=1, Total=4
    Extra 'Informative' Modifier   0  
    Karma-Bonus Modifier   +1  

    Total Score:   5  
  • (Score: 5, Insightful) by driverless on Monday August 19 2019, @08:14AM (3 children)

    by driverless (4770) on Monday August 19 2019, @08:14AM (#882028)

    Yes, but not in the way you think. What we've failed to teach people is basic statistics. An event so exotic and unusual that it makes national news headlines isn't an ordinary risk, it's a black swan. The way to deal with this is to accept that occasionally shit happens that you can't do much about, and you need to be thankful that you weren't the one that got shat on. Focus on mitigating everyday risks that are likely to occur, not the black swans that make the headlines.

    • (Score: -1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 19 2019, @08:56AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 19 2019, @08:56AM (#882041)

      What we've failed to teach people is basic statistics. An event so exotic and unusual that it makes national news headlines isn't an ordinary risk, it's a black swan.

      But but !! that's how we have news! How else can we scare people and radicalize the Nazis? You can't say a woman was raped. You have to put a spin on it - like "black man savages poor innocent white girl". Now, if it was the other way around, it's a non-story. She was probably asking for it. We need outrage and our bubbles to be reinforced.

      White man shoots someone? meh, that's everyday life in America. Probably was in self-defense anyway. But white man shoots up kindergarten! Wait, let's spin that into "false flag". White man shoots up kids on retreat and tries to blow up parliament? Better not to talk about that too much.

      Want to know how are kids radicalized? Just look at Fox News. Mainstream fascist radicalization network. Then you have these brainwashed fucks walking about Walmart with AR-15 because "my amendment rights" bullshit. Can't even teach idiots in school not to walk around with guns. So what do you expect?

    • (Score: 5, Insightful) by AthanasiusKircher on Monday August 19 2019, @12:30PM

      by AthanasiusKircher (5291) on Monday August 19 2019, @12:30PM (#882076) Journal

      That was my reaction too to the question about science ed in the summary here: Yes, we should teach better science ed. On the other hand, "everyday acts that people undertake in their daily lives which can have devastating consequences if not handled correctly" includes a lot of things most people don't even think about. Like driving. You're much more likely to get a serious injury or die during a typical daily commute or trip to the store or whatever than you are to have an egg explode in your face even if you microwave it.

      So why don't we talk about that? Because we are so used to car accidents just happening all the time that they often don't even make the newspaper unless there's something unusual about them.

      Similarly, if you want to be concerned about kitchen safety, look up statistics on what actually causes hospital visits. Things like: slicing bagels (yes, this causes a crazy number of kitchen accidents), getting injured while doing something else stupid with knives (one common scenario is people who drop sharp knives in among dishwater and then get seriously cut by accident), or things like slipping on spilled water/liquid that's not cleaned up.

      I mean, yeah, microwaving whole eggs seems pretty stupid to me, but it's nowhere near the "everyday acts that people undertake in their daily lives" that I'd actually tell people to be concerned about.

    • (Score: 1) by khallow on Monday August 19 2019, @09:23PM

      by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Monday August 19 2019, @09:23PM (#882333) Journal

      An event so exotic and unusual that it makes national news headlines

      What was exotic and unusual about it? You could do the same with plastic wrapped food, or food in a sealed container. Pressurize the vessel with boiling hot fluid; bring eye near vessel; pop the vessel spewing said heated fluid all over the eye; hilarity ensues. It's pretty straightforward and probably generates a few cases of permanent maiming each year.