Posted by Erin Zimmer, June 19, 2008 at 2:30 PM
You can finally get some sleep tonight. Someone figured out how those popcorn kernels were mysteriously popping without a nearby microwave. Oh wait, there was a microwave involved! The magnetron, or the power-generator inside the machine, was hiding underneath the table.
According to the video's step-by-step instructions, the process seems fairly simple: just dismember the microwave, connect a few extension cords and hook up that magnetron. BUT WE DO NOT ENDORSE TRYING THIS AT HOME. Watch the video after the jump.
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Posted by Raphael, June 12, 2008 at 12:30 PM
Those videos of cellphones popping popcorn? Turns out it was a viral marketing scheme for bluetooth headsets made by the company Cardo Systems. Their website (pictured below) runs the slogan "Making popcorn with a cellphone only happens in the movies," and a disclaimer that reads "The contents of these videos are fictitious and humorous optical illusions..." Indeed.
The Cardo website.
Previously:
Videos of cellphones popping popcorn
Popcorn videos debunked
Good Morning America tries to pop popcorn with cellphones, and failed.
Posted by Raphael, June 8, 2008 at 2:30 PM
No microwaves or ovens nearby? Videos coming out of France, Japan, and the USA show a feature most cell phone manufacturers are not likely to promote: when they ring, cell phones pop popcorn kernels. And we put these things next to our heads? Is this a hoax?
Update: The videos have been debunked!
Update #2: Good Morning America tried to pop popcorn with cellphones, and failed.
Videos after the jump.
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Posted by Ed Levine, April 2, 2008 at 8:45 AM
The Minimalist, Mark Bittman, and the Curious Cook, Harold McGee, pose all kinds of interesting questions and provide answers about the microwave oven, the kitchen appliance we all love to hate, in today's New York Times.
Bittman's fundamental question: We all use a microwave, but can we make it cook?
His conclusion, one he came to through trial and error and by interviewing Microwave Gourmet author Barbara Kafka, is that microwaves are great for steaming everything from vegetables to puddings both sweet and savory.
What do Kafka and McGee have to say about microwaving?
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The portable Iwavecube Personal Microwave is almost like a normal microwave, but more expensive and only fractionally useful! For just $130 you too can have the power to heat up a mug of coffee, a cup of noodles, or anything else you can manage to squeeze into the microwave's miniature cavity without having to find a real full-sized microwave. [via gizmodo]
Posted by Ed Levine, October 15, 2007 at 8:30 AM
I'm not usually all that skittish when it comes to food safety (I do stay away from frozen boxed hamburger on principle), but when I read in the New York Times about people very likely contracting salmonella from eating frozen food that hadn't been microwaved long enough, I got very scared.
According to the story, a 19-month-old baby girl became "so violently ill after eating a Banquet chicken pot pie she passed out and had a seizure, a 104-degree fever, and nearly constant diarrhea" (she had diarrhea for six weeks before she fully recovered). She was not alone. "According to the Centers for Disease Control," the story continues, "165 people in 31 states have become ill with the same strain of salmonella, with the Banquet pies being the likely source."
Why did they get sick? Some of the victims didn't zap their food long enough. Amazingly, Banquet's owner, ConAgra foods, initially tried to put the blame squarely on the victims.
The rest of the story after the jump.
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