Today I Learned

From biological weapon to cosmetic product is crazy

Torvalds didn't seem to have a very high opinion of it 😂

The Thermoelectric effect (TE) comes in two variants:

• The Seebeck effect makes it possible to turn a heat flow (based on a temperature difference) into electric power.
• The peltier effect does the reverse: it turns an electric current into a temperature difference across the two sides of the device.

The fundamental mechanism is a p-n-transition. So you have two different semiconducting materials, which means that the electrons are on different energy levels on both sides. When the electrons move from one side to the other, they have to absorb energy from the environment to get on the higher energy level themselves (p->n transition), or they give off energy (n->p transition), thus cooling or heating the environment.

With this technology, it is possible to build solid-state heat pumps that generate a temperature difference from an electric current with no moving parts! (i don't know about efficiency or cost)

I got this information from an Instagram reel but ig refreshed and I lost the link before I could save it, so I googled the phenomenon and got an article that talks about it instead. The reel said that it happens in a lot of small things we don't think about like bumper cars, ice skating, most motorsports, mosh pits, etc.

The counterclockwise favoring has even been found in some animals too!

On 31 August 1986, five-year-old Levan Merritt fell into the gorilla enclosure and lost consciousness. Jambo stood guard over the boy when he was unconscious, placing himself between the boy and other gorillas in what ethologists analyze as a protective gesture. He later stroked the unconscious boy's back.

I was “today” years old when I discovered poutine. I’d had fries with gravy before but poutine is much better! Where has this been all of my life?

Actually a bit of a fusion: birria poutine at the local Biergarten, SO GOOD!

Just wanted to share my recent discovery. Dexter doesn't seem to mind either!

He's always been a quiet purrer. I call it his "silent running" purrs. Usually I press my ear right against his chest to listen (he loves this) but headphones amplify it massively.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Springfield#Places_and_locations

thanks to this comment for making me aware of this

Imagine going around selling some dragon on the streets of California to Kickstart your own label, then ending up authoring an entire music genre forever and in death.

Just goes to show you can make a silk purse out of a sow's ear.

If Weed played a part in N.W.A's success story than hand over the dutchie and consummate proposition 64 to make Eric The Easy Rider's legacy live on!

I was eating this cashew cheese at a farmers market (it was delicious btw) and it made me think, wtf even is cheese? From a couple articles I found

Fundamentally, cheese is a concentrated source of fat and protein derived from a liquid base, structured into a semi-solid or solid form through a process called coagulation.

While we traditionally think of cow's, goat's, or sheep's milk, the "cheese" label applies to any food that replicates this specific structural transformation, regardless of the starting ingredient. Here is the breakdown of what makes something cheese at its core:

1. The Core Mechanism: Coagulation

The defining characteristic of cheese is not the source (milk vs. nuts), but the method. To turn a liquid into a cheese-like solid, you must separate the solids (curds) from the liquid (whey).

In Dairy: You add an acid (like lemon juice or vinegar) or enzymes (rennet) to milk. This causes the casein proteins to denature and clump together, trapping milk fats within the matrix.

In Plant-Based (Cashew, Soy, Almond): Since there are no caseins or lactose, you usually rely on mechanical processing (blending soaked nuts into a paste) combined with fermentation or the addition of thickeners (like agar, tapioca starch, or nutritional yeast) to mimic that curdled texture.

2. The Biological Component: Fermentation

Traditional cheese relies heavily on microbiology. Bacteria and fungi are added to the curds to:

Convert lactose into lactic acid (preserving the cheese and adding tang).

Break down proteins and fats over time (ripening/aging), creating complex flavor compounds (umami, nuttiness, sharpness).

In vegan cheeses, this step is often simulated using cultured nuts (fermenting cashews with live bacteria cultures) or by adding flavorings like miso or yeast extracts to mimic that aged profile.

3. The Structural Matrix

At a chemical level, cheese is an emulsion and a colloid.

It is a network where fat globules are suspended in a continuous protein matrix.

When you eat dairy cheese, your saliva and body heat melt the fat and break the protein bonds.

When you eat a cashew "cheese," the structure is held together by the natural oils in the nut and the gelatinization of any added starches or gums, aiming to replicate that same melting or spreading behavior.

Summary: What defines it?

If you strip away the cultural association with cows, "cheese" is simply:

A base (milk, nuts, soy, coconuts).

A flocculation agent (acid, enzyme, or mechanical separation) to create solids.

A flavor development phase (fermentation, aging, or curing).

A texture modifier to achieve a specific mouthfeel.

So, a cashew block fermented with lactic acid bacteria and salted is technically functioning as cheese because it has undergone the same fundamental physical and biological transformations as a wheel of cheddar, just using different building blocks. It is a functional food category defined by texture and production method rather than strict ingredients.

The Domesday Book is a land survey book from 1086, trying to record every shire in England.

The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle states that in 1085 the king sent his agents to survey every shire in England, to list his holdings and dues owed to him.

The survey's main purpose was to record the annual value of every piece of landed property to its lord, and the resources in land, labour force, and livestock from which the value derived.

The name "Domesday Book" [the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book"] came into use in the 12th century. Richard FitzNeal wrote in the Dialogus de Scaccario (c. 1179) that the book was so called because its decisions were unalterable, like those of the Last Judgment, and its sentence could not be quashed.