OT - What are you doing right now?

pgprescott

YukonRon said:

Used a thermometer on my indoor gas range today to find out the therm characteristics regarding the temperature maintaining performance.

Using the old daisy wheel on my BGEggs is more consistent than my indoor oven.

I have seen 75⁰F temp swings (below to above), set at 225⁰F, where measurements and recorded data reveals the XL and the mMx only waiver about 30⁰F (below to above).

Kind of cool data to share.

Yeah, even the best ovens vary +/- 50 degrees. They just don’t give you the feedback. People think that the temp is what it says on the display, it ain’t. I’ve told customers this for years. 

Nice experiment. 

ColtsFan

Laughing at this

Canugghead

Simple Traeger chicken. Cooked in about an hour at 350 with couple of flips before and after saucing.  Potato with ghee was sinfully good 

Botch

Boneless leg of lamb

It just occurred to me: when they butcher up a lamb with boneless legs, what do they do with the tiny crutches?  

Botch

pgprescott said:

YukonRon said:

Used a thermometer on my indoor gas range today to find out the therm characteristics regarding the temperature maintaining performance.

Yeah, even the best ovens vary +/- 50 degrees. 

I almost posted my comment on the "Anova" thread but it wasn't quite appropriate there, nor is it here, but I'm gonna post it anyway before I forget  (and it's about the Brevilles):
I had to keep readjusting the "Dark" control on my toast, in the Breville oven, until I noticed that I had been using three different brands of Sourdough bread (depending on what grocery store I was in when I bought the next loaf)!  
They were all sliced about 3/4" thick, but each brand would brown a different amount (Perfect on 4, 5, or 6!)  It must depend on the residual sugar, or possibly the moisture, in the respective brands.  
I now re-adjust the Darkness depending on the brand of bread, and I get perfect toast, EVERY time.  [/bread nerd]  
FWIW.  

pgprescott

Botch said:

pgprescott said:

YukonRon said:

Used a thermometer on my indoor gas range today to find out the therm characteristics regarding the temperature maintaining performance.

Yeah, even the best ovens vary +/- 50 degrees. 

I almost posted my comment on the "Anova" thread but it wasn't quite appropriate there, nor is it here, but I'm gonna post it anyway before I forget  (and it's about the Brevilles):
I had to keep readjusting the "Dark" control on my toast, in the Breville oven, until I noticed that I had been using three different brands of Sourdough bread (depending on what grocery store I was in when I bought the next loaf)!  
They were all sliced about 3/4" thick, but each brand would brown a different amount (Perfect on 4, 5, or 6!)  It must depend on the residual sugar, or possibly the moisture, in the respective brands.  
I now re-adjust the Darkness depending on the brand of bread, and I get perfect toast, EVERY time.  [/bread nerd]  
FWIW.  

Good to know. 😂

Gulfcoastguy

Botch said:

Boneless leg of lamb

It just occurred to me: when they butcher up a lamb with boneless legs, what do they do with the tiny crutches?  

Lame lamb jokes.

nolaegghead

ColtsFan said:

Laughing at this

Where's Mad Max?

Gulfcoastguy

Put together my new electric pressure washer. Then spent an hour or two blasting 40 years of crude off of the sidewalk and drives. Probably a good couple of days work to get it all done ahead of me. Got to have it all good looking before the hurricane comes in next week and trashes it all.

gonepostal

Off day tomorrow and a guy on my route gave me a truck load of already cut oak today.  So I have a fire going and cooked a few dogs on the MM. 

Ozzie_Isaac

gonepostal said:

Off day tomorrow and a guy on my route gave me a truck load of already cut oak today.  So I have a fire going and cooked a few dogs on the MM. 

8PM, dark outside and 100 deg on my patio.  No fire for me.

gonepostal

@Ozzie_Isaac we actually had a cold front pass by yesterday. Whatever that means in the middle of August. Still made it to 95 today but did feel better today/tonight. 

JohnInCarolina

We’re off to a great start.

nolaegghead

Who woulda thunk that would happen?!

Eoin

Botch said:

pgprescott said:

YukonRon said:

Used a thermometer on my indoor gas range today to find out the therm characteristics regarding the temperature maintaining performance.

Yeah, even the best ovens vary +/- 50 degrees. 

I almost posted my comment on the "Anova" thread but it wasn't quite appropriate there, nor is it here, but I'm gonna post it anyway before I forget  (and it's about the Brevilles):
I had to keep readjusting the "Dark" control on my toast, in the Breville oven, until I noticed that I had been using three different brands of Sourdough bread (depending on what grocery store I was in when I bought the next loaf)!  
They were all sliced about 3/4" thick, but each brand would brown a different amount (Perfect on 4, 5, or 6!)  It must depend on the residual sugar, or possibly the moisture, in the respective brands.  
I now re-adjust the Darkness depending on the brand of bread, and I get perfect toast, EVERY time.  [/bread nerd]  
FWIW.  

Anne makes sourdough, various flour types / combinations plus some moisture variation. There is no fixed toaster setting that works every time.

Boileregger

JohnInCarolina said:

We’re off to a great start.

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Purdue University announced today (Aug. 12) that more than 99% of students who have been tested thus far before their arrival for Purdue University’s Fall 2020 semester have tested negative for COVID-19. Of the 15,444 results received, 133 have tested positive for COVID-19, for a 0.86% positive rate. Close to 40,000 students are expected to be tested before the semester begins Aug. 24.
https://www.purdue.edu/newsroom/releases/2020/Q3/purdue-reports-over-99-of-students-are-covid-free-thus-far.html

Gotta love the difference in spin - Notre Dame shuts it down with 146 positives, Purdue has 133 and says look how great we are doing.  Love my alma mater but they are getting this wrong.

lkapigian

Hot outside , no problem, roast peppers inside 

frazzdaddy

Watching art auctions closely.

JohnInCarolina

Boileregger said:

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Purdue University announced today (Aug. 12) that more than 99% of students who have been tested thus far before their arrival for Purdue University’s Fall 2020 semester have tested negative for COVID-19. Of the 15,444 results received, 133 have tested positive for COVID-19, for a 0.86% positive rate. Close to 40,000 students are expected to be tested before the semester begins Aug. 24.
https://www.purdue.edu/newsroom/releases/2020/Q3/purdue-reports-over-99-of-students-are-covid-free-thus-far.html

Gotta love the difference in spin - Notre Dame shuts it down with 146 positives, Purdue has 133 and says look how great we are doing.  Love my alma mater but they are getting this wrong.

The real question of course concerns how that positivity rate changes as the semester progresses, if they plan to do random testing, etc.

There have been a lot of discussions about this, but my own view is that holding in-person classes really isn't necessarily the issue.  I suspect in class people are being reasonably disciplined about wearing masks, etc.  While there may be some spread from that, my guess is that the real problem is the students congregating in groups outside of class.  Whether it be just hanging out together in the dorms or attending parties, whatever, that those kind of interactions are what tends to drive things.  

Duke is still holding some classes on campus but it's very few, and this fall we're only allowing freshmen and sophomores in the dorms.  Juniors and seniors have to stay home or live off-campus.  Like Purdue, we insisted that everyone be tested before arriving on campus, and we have a dedicated quarantine dorm.  Duke is also taking the step that I think is a little unusual, of implementing random testing for students and faculty/staff who are on campus.  

Even with all of those extra precautions, I won't be surprised if at some point we have an outbreak that spins out of control and forces us to go back to only holding classes online.  

Ozzie_Isaac

What is the endgame for this?  Is it a vaccine?  In the beginning it was "flatten the curve".  Now it seems like "avoid at all costs".  I am not advocating for in-person classes, I am also not a proponent of keep everything shut-down.  All of the spin from people makes it hard to track our endgame, or to even know if there is one.

JohnInCarolina

Ozzie_Isaac said:

What is the endgame for this?  Is it a vaccine?  In the beginning it was "flatten the curve".  Now it seems like "avoid at all costs".  I am not advocating for in-person classes, I am also not a proponent of keep everything shut-down.  All of the spin from people makes it hard to track our endgame, or to even know if there is one.

The Osterholm podcasts really are a good resource for these questions if you’re genuinely interested.

If you can get your local case load to look relatively small (I forget what the precise number is here, but most US counties are nowhere close) you can do testing and contact tracing effectively.  Of course that assumes you can get the test results back relatively quickly.  Right now there’s a real backlog and so that’s just not an option.

The reality is that we have no real good options in the US for managing this right now, in no small part because we have managed it so poorly up to this point.  I know people view that as some kind of political statement but it’s not. It’s the obvious truth.  

johnnyp

Ozzie_Isaac said:

What is the endgame for this?  Is it a vaccine?  In the beginning it was "flatten the curve".  Now it seems like "avoid at all costs".  I am not advocating for in-person classes, I am also not a proponent of keep everything shut-down.  All of the spin from people makes it hard to track our endgame, or to even know if there is one.

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but the goal is still flatten the curve.  Overwhelming our healthcare system would results in a significantly higher death rate due to limited resources (both supply and human).  

It's only the discussion around how to flatten the curve that's changed.  The early talk about economic impact led to social changes regarding physical distancing and mask wearing in an effort to continue to conduct business without spreading the virus.  The avoid at all costs mentality is mostly to mitigate the transmission.  You don't really want to get it for the personal risk either, but your risk of spreading is greater than your risk of severe symptoms.

In regards to an endgame, I'd imagine that it's either the emergence of an vaccine or effective therapeutics.  A tested vaccine would be best, but in it's absence,  the public would likely be satisfied with effective treatment that severely reduces death or the heart/lung/brain damage.

Ozzie_Isaac

JohnInCarolina said:

Ozzie_Isaac said:

What is the endgame for this?  Is it a vaccine?  In the beginning it was "flatten the curve".  Now it seems like "avoid at all costs".  I am not advocating for in-person classes, I am also not a proponent of keep everything shut-down.  All of the spin from people makes it hard to track our endgame, or to even know if there is one.

The Osterholm podcasts really are a good resource for these questions if you’re genuinely interested.

If you can get your local case load to look relatively small (I forget what the precise number is here, but most US counties are nowhere close) you can do testing and contact tracing effectively.  Of course that assumes you can get the test results back relatively quickly.  Right now there’s a real backlog and so that’s just not an option.

The reality is that we have no real good options in the US for managing this right now, in no small part because we have managed it so poorly up to this point.  I know people view that as some kind of political statement but it’s not. It’s the obvious truth.  

I will check out the podcasts, because I am genuinely interested.  I want to know the non-political risk factors to make informed decisions on things that impact myself and my family.

On your last sentence "obvious truth", what is obvious to some is not obvious to others.  There are a multitude of reasons people do not see that as the truth.  Many see the reaction as over blown and would rather see it take its natural course, like what Sweden did.  People draw conclusions to data* based in their world view and experiences.  Medicine and health is not as precise as engineering, physics, chemistry, etc.

This is risk based decision making, which does not have clean answers.

*I do not mean data in the pure sense. In this case, it is all of the information around COVID.  Also, this is why it is good to let experts, like Fauci, interpret the health data and provide conclusions and protocols.  I am not qualified to interpret the data in regards to health policy.

JohnInCarolina

@Ozzie_Isaac - I think what is obvious is that, among Western countries that have tried to contain this virus, if you look at deaths per capita - the US is not looking all that great.  Would you agree with that?  

If you have a counter argument that suggests we actually have managed this pandemic well compared to say most of the rest of the Western world, I’m certainly open to hearing it.

Ozzie_Isaac

JohnInCarolina said:

@Ozzie_Isaac - I think what is obvious is that, among Western countries that have tried to contain this virus, if you look at deaths per capita - the US is not looking all that great.  Would you agree with that?  

If you have a counter argument that suggests we actually have managed this pandemic well compared to say most of the rest of the Western world, I’m certainly open to hearing it.

 I absolutely do not think we have managed it well.  I agree with you on that.  We did the worst thing.  We incurred the economic pain of locking down, during that time we did not get testing in place, we did not create a plan for opening, we just hid and hoped it would go away.  Then we opened up too soon.  So we wasted 4 months and are in a bad spot with no plan.

Eoin

Ozzie_Isaac said:

JohnInCarolina said:

@Ozzie_Isaac - I think what is obvious is that, among Western countries that have tried to contain this virus, if you look at deaths per capita - the US is not looking all that great.  Would you agree with that?  

If you have a counter argument that suggests we actually have managed this pandemic well compared to say most of the rest of the Western world, I’m certainly open to hearing it.

 I absolutely do not think we have managed it well.  I agree with you on that.  We did the worst thing.  We incurred the economic pain of locking down, during that time we did not get testing in place, we did not create a plan for opening, we just hid and hoped it would go away.  Then we opened up too soon.  So we wasted 4 months and are in a bad spot with no plan.

We did the same. Panic lockdown because of no plan, then carry on with no plan.

ColtsFan

lunch

Legume

Endgame is survive and minimize until effective treatments are sorted out (not necessarily new drugs, just how to treat effectively) and vaccines start to emerge, all the while, we also learn more about what type of immunity people get from having been infected.  So, still flattening the curve because we’re still in that zone.  The countries that were successful flattening more aren’t closer to any of these things, they’re just not going to incur the healthcare system stresses and deaths at the same rate that we are.  They’re waiting for vaccines and better treatments as well.

The Cen-Tex Smoker

lkapigian said:

Hot outside , no problem, roast peppers inside 

I am a little disappointed in you (they look a lot more like yours do now) 

JohnInCarolina

Just gave a seminar (remotely) at Sandia National Labs.  First time I've given a seminar wearing a dress shirt and... shorts.