Andrew Spits Knowledge

In a raisin bran box, why don't the raisins fall to the bottom?

2010-03-21T22:16:00.001-07:00

The answer to this is very simple. There are flakes beneath them, and the flakes are too large to let the raisins by.

Sometimes the obvious is not so obvious.

Bubble Tea - For Petra

2009-07-16T23:54:00.001-07:00

Bubble Tea. That shit is probably vegan. Actually, I bet it has chicken in it. HAHA TAKE THAT!

The question posed to me by a one, Petra LeBaron was this:

"How do they keep the clear plastic lids on the tea, without them falling off?

Want my real opinion? GLUE, mutha fucka! GLUE! DUHHHHH!

This has been another installment of Andrew Spits Knowledge.

WAZAMMMM!

Why do newspapers tear smoothly vertically, and raggedly horizontally?

2009-04-17T10:24:00.000-07:00

Newsprint is made up of many wood fibers. The fibers are placed on printers in pulp form, consisting of 80 to 90 percent water and dries while in the machine. The printing machines are designed to line up the fibers in a horizontal position to add tear strength to the sheet vertically.

The basic purpose of lining up the fibers in one direction is simply to add stability to the sheet when the press is running. According to Ralph E. Eary, the national director of production and engineering for the newspaper division of Scripps Howard, "All standard size newspapers are printed vertically on an unwound sheet of newsprint." A rip in one sheet endangers the whole printing process, and at best costs money and time.

In other words, the finished newspaper has a grain, just as a piece of meat or linen has a grain. When you rip the newspaper vertically, you are tearing with the grain. Or more accurately, between grains. The same principle is in effect when one consumes twizzlers licorice. Individual pieces rip off easily if you tear between the slices where as horizontally they do not.

Why do fridges have lights, but freezers don't?

2009-02-18T10:19:00.001-08:00

Originally, a few different reasons kept lights from being installed in freezers:

1. Bulb temperature - The freezing bulb's dramatic shift in temperature (freezing to burning hot) would wreak havoc on the bulb and require frequent replacement. If the bulb were to last, the residual heat created during it's illumination would counteract the point of a freezer - to freeze. This has been solved in new appliances by the use of LED lights. LED's use less power to produce light and as a result they don't get hot as easily or quickly.

2. Frost on the bulb - Self-explanatory.

3. Confined space - Freezers are designed to hold multiple items in a confined space via (typically) solid shelves. Because of this, real estate is limited by tightly packed food items. The use of a light in a freezer with solid shelves might illuminate the compartment the light is installed in, but not much else. Refrigerators utilize wire, or clear plastic shelves allowing light to travel freely.

4. Frequency of use - Most freezers are primarily used for long term food storage, making the amount of visits to it far less than the refrigerator unit below.

With developing kitchen technology - and an excuse to charge some more dolla' billz for your appliance - most refrigerator manufacturers have begun installing LED lights in the freezer compartment as well, especially in freezer-on-the-bottom setups where solid shelves are used less frequently.

A small list of some of the little "bonus" ingredients the FDA allows in your food:

2009-02-05T11:29:00.000-08:00

Canned pineapple = 20% moldy fruit

Canned tomatoes = 5 fly eggs or 2 maggots per 500 grams

Frozen broccoli = 60 mites per 100 grams

Ground cinnamon = 400 insect fragments and 11 rodent hair per 100 grams

Peanut butter = 30 insect fragments or 1 rodent hair per 100 grams

Popcorn = 1 rodent pellet in one sample or 2 rodent hairs per pound

Potato chips = 6% rotten potatoes

Eat This Not That. New York: Rodale Inc., 2009.

What is the difference between a sunroof and a moonroof?

2009-02-03T11:22:00.001-08:00

Some car manufacturers claim to sell cars with sunroofs, others with moonroofs. What in the hell is the difference?

"Sunroof" is a generic term that was used to describe an operable panel (typically all metal) in a vehicle roof that could let in light and/or air. On the other hand, a "Moonroof" is a term created by Ford in the 1970's that is now used to generically describe glass panel inbuilt electric sunroofs. A moonroof allows light into the vehicle even when closed, a sunroof does not.

By that logic, all moonroofs are sunroofs but not all sunroofs are moonroofs.

True sunroofs, those made just of metal, have long by by the wayside. The name however has stuck around.

Introduction

2009-02-03T11:14:00.001-08:00

I love odd trivia and I love pushing odd trivia I come across to other people. This blog is dedicated to researched explanations of odd trivia as best as I can tell them. If you didn't know, now you'll know.