[Noisebridge-discuss] global hackerspace cupcake competition

Sean Cusack sean.p.cusack at gmail.com
Fri Jan 7 00:33:12 UTC 2011


Yeah - I was looking at these thingies. Here's a link:

http://www.mreinfo.com/us/mre/frh.html

However, I feel this is another one of those times that the intarweb is not
a reliable source. These two lines are within a bulleted list of each other
on the same page:

-"An FRH heats food without the need for fire - safely and quickly" ...
sounds like a great solution, no?!
-"Vapors released by activated heater contain hydrogen, a flammable gas."
... which is sort of the opposite of "safely"...particularly in an enclosed
space like we'll have

Something tells me that when the DHS sees a package that can generate
hydrogen with a bunch of wires attached to it in an enclosed space, the big
red $100mil$ TERRERIST warning light will start flashing somewhere and a
door will get kicked in. Suck. Though it could be really funny since they'll
spend hours analyzing the cupcake batter trying to figure out what kind of
explosive it is.

Sean

P.S.> I particularly like the illustration in the instructions that
designates you should be using a "rock or something". Wow. Way to go private
IQ 35.

On Thu, Jan 6, 2011 at 4:14 PM, Jonathan Foote <jtfoote at ieee.org> wrote:

> Aren't there all kinds of crazy exothermic reactions -- like NaOH +
> H2O -- that the military uses to heat prepackaged food and such?
> Likely too reactive to ship without hazmat status, but...?
>
> On Thu, Jan 6, 2011 at 2:00 PM, Sean Cusack <sean.p.cusack at gmail.com>
> wrote:
> > I was actually just talking over this idea with the other chemists at
> lunch,
> > and I think it would be unlikely that we'll be able to generate enough
> heat
> > out of these without using a retarded amount - like about 100 or so (damn
> > you thermodynamics!). We could maybe build a super-insulated box with a
> > thermocouple in it to see how hot one of them gets, and then try to scale
> > it...
> >
> > Sean
> >
> > On Thu, Jan 6, 2011 at 1:19 PM, Lilia Markham <liliakai at gmail.com>
> wrote:
> >>
> >> I have a surplus of hand warming packets that i can bring if anyone
> wants
> >> to experiment with them...
> >>
> >> On Thu, Jan 6, 2011 at 1:13 PM, Sean Cusack <sean.p.cusack at gmail.com>
> >> wrote:
> >>>
> >>> I'm down with doing the freezing stuff on the 15th. I can arrange to
> get
> >>> the cold shit over to noisebridge.
> >>>
> >>> Sean
> >>>
> >>> On Thu, Jan 6, 2011 at 12:16 PM, meredith scheff <satiredun at gmail.com>
> >>> wrote:
> >>>>
> >>>> Now we're getting into Shipyard style packing :)
> >>>> Seems we have a battle of Hot Ideas and Cold Ideas.
> >>>> I like the handwarmer idea on principle, but two things:
> >>>> They never get anywhere near 350
> >>>> icing is important!
> >>>> I really like the freeze the fuck out of it solution.
> >>>> When is the day? the 15th? I vote we make as many ideas as possible.
> >>>> mer
> >>>>
> >>>> On Thu, Jan 6, 2011 at 12:08 PM, Michael Shiloh
> >>>> <michaelshiloh1010 at gmail.com> wrote:
> >>>>>
> >>>>> Is it possible to cook rapidly by using some sort of explosion? Can
> >>>>> this
> >>>>> be controlled sufficiently for cooking?
> >>>>>
> >>>>> On 01/06/2011 12:03 PM, Lilia Markham wrote:
> >>>>> > If we can just prevent the receiving hackerspace from ever opening
> >>>>> > the
> >>>>> > package, our cupcake would occupy a superposition of all possible
> >>>>> > cupcake states. We can decorate it with a little icing cat face.
> >>>>> >
> >>>>> > On Thu, Jan 6, 2011 at 12:05 AM, Sean Cusack <
> sean.p.cusack at gmail.com
> >>>>> > <mailto:sean.p.cusack at gmail.com>> wrote:
> >>>>> >
> >>>>> >     The handwarmers thing could totally work, right? We don't need
> it
> >>>>> > to
> >>>>> >     stay hot for hours, just 350 - 400 for like 30 minutes! If we
> do
> >>>>> > a
> >>>>> >     good enough job with the insulation, the UPS guy shouldn't even
> >>>>> > know
> >>>>> >     anything happened. Worst case, if DHS confiscates out
> >>>>> > cupcake...I'd
> >>>>> >     laugh my ass off. The terrorcake strikes again!!!!!
> >>>>> >
> >>>>> >     I think the kicker would be activating the handwarmers at the
> >>>>> > right
> >>>>> >     time, and only the right time. I think the handwarmers activate
> >>>>> > upon
> >>>>> >     touching air, right? I wonder if we could open a bunch of them
> in
> >>>>> > a
> >>>>> >     glovebox and put them into an inert box with the ready to bake
> >>>>> >     cupcake. The inert box would have a little door on it that
> could
> >>>>> >     open when an Arduino uses some craaazy GPS wizardry thingy to
> >>>>> >     determine when the UPS guy is almost at the destination.
> >>>>> >
> >>>>> >     What do people think? Is this reasonable? We don't do anything
> >>>>> > air
> >>>>> >     sensitive enough in my lab to warrant a glovebox though. Anyone
> >>>>> > have
> >>>>> >     access to something like that?
> >>>>> >
> >>>>> >     Sean
> >>>>> >
> >>>>> >
> >>>>> >     On Wed, Jan 5, 2011 at 7:02 PM, Lilia Markham <
> liliakai at gmail.com
> >>>>> >     <mailto:liliakai at gmail.com>> wrote:
> >>>>> >
> >>>>> >         If we deliberately make the package look like a bomb, will
> it
> >>>>> >         receive more delicate handling??
> >>>>> >
> >>>>> >         public archive disclaimer: the above question is intended
> to
> >>>>> > be
> >>>>> >         farcical and humorous. I do not in any way condone sending
> >>>>> >         suspicious looking things through the us postal service.
> also
> >>>>> > i
> >>>>> >         love my country and all the federal agents reading my email
> >>>>> > and
> >>>>> >         their families.
> >>>>> >
> >>>>> >
> >>>>> >
> >>>>> >
> >>>>> >         On Wed, Jan 5, 2011 at 6:29 PM, Patrick Keys
> >>>>> >         <citizenkeys at gmail.com <mailto:citizenkeys at gmail.com>>
> wrote:
> >>>>> >
> >>>>> >             Is this a cupcake or a bomb? Our cupcake "package" is
> >>>>> > going
> >>>>> >             to get
> >>>>> >             confiscated by Homeland Security and never arrive at
> its
> >>>>> >             destination.
> >>>>> >             The unabomber of cupcakes.
> >>>>> >             :-)
> >>>>> >
> >>>>> >
> >>>>> >             Patrick
> >>>>> >
> >>>>> >
> >>>>> >             On 1/5/2011 6:18 PM, Liz Henry wrote:
> >>>>> >              > On 1/5/11 5:42 PM, Lilia Markham wrote:
> >>>>> >              >
> >>>>> >              >> I liked the idea of a self-baking cupcake. In fact
> I
> >>>>> >             have had multiple
> >>>>> >              >> conversations theorizing portable, self-baking
> cakes
> >>>>> > and
> >>>>> >             cookies in the
> >>>>> >              >> past. They would be great for camping,
> picnics...car
> >>>>> >             eaters? (We're gonna be
> >>>>> >              >> so rich!) Sadly, I fear that the only way to
> generate
> >>>>> >             the necessary heat  is
> >>>>> >              >> to include some form of auto-igniting flammable
> >>>>> >             materials or questionable
> >>>>> >              >> chemicals. The post office just loves when you send
> >>>>> > that
> >>>>> >             kind of stuff
> >>>>> >              >> through the mail. :-\
> >>>>> >              >
> >>>>> >              >
> >>>>> >              > I wonder if a cupcake could bake very very slowly
> >>>>> > using those
> >>>>> >              > handwarmers you can buy in a drugstore? Or for
> skiing?
> >>>>> >               They don't get
> >>>>> >              > very hot. But maybe they could be rigged up to break
> >>>>> > when
> >>>>> >             a box is
> >>>>> >              > opened, and then the cooking device would open up
> >>>>> > based
> >>>>> >             on a timer.
> >>>>> >              >
> >>>>> >              > Or, ship a cupcake positioned inside an EZ-bake
> oven,
> >>>>> >             maybe just by
> >>>>> >              > being completely encased in foil, with a power
> source
> >>>>> >             connected to the
> >>>>> >              > EZ Bake Oven, with a switch that is turned on by
> >>>>> > opening
> >>>>> >             the box.  The
> >>>>> >              > sugary topping could be ... uh that is where I lose
> >>>>> > it.
> >>>>> >               Sugary topping.
> >>>>> >              > Hmmm.
> >>>>> >              >
> >>>>> >              >
> >>>>> >              >
> >>>>> >              > - Liz
> >>>>> >              >
> >>>>> >              >
> >>>>> >              >
> >>>>> >             _______________________________________________
> >>>>> >             Noisebridge-discuss mailing list
> >>>>> >             Noisebridge-discuss at lists.noisebridge.net
> >>>>> >             <mailto:Noisebridge-discuss at lists.noisebridge.net>
> >>>>> >
> >>>>> > https://www.noisebridge.net/mailman/listinfo/noisebridge-discuss
> >>>>> >
> >>>>> >
> >>>>> >
> >>>>> >         _______________________________________________
> >>>>> >         Noisebridge-discuss mailing list
> >>>>> >         Noisebridge-discuss at lists.noisebridge.net
> >>>>> >         <mailto:Noisebridge-discuss at lists.noisebridge.net>
> >>>>> >
> >>>>> > https://www.noisebridge.net/mailman/listinfo/noisebridge-discuss
> >>>>> >
> >>>>> >
> >>>>> >
> >>>>> >
> >>>>> >
> >>>>> > _______________________________________________
> >>>>> > Noisebridge-discuss mailing list
> >>>>> > Noisebridge-discuss at lists.noisebridge.net
> >>>>> > https://www.noisebridge.net/mailman/listinfo/noisebridge-discuss
> >>>>>
> >>>>> --
> >>>>> Michael Shiloh
> >>>>> KA6RCQ
> >>>>> www.teachmetomake.com
> >>>>> teachmetomake.wordpress.com
> >>>>> _______________________________________________
> >>>>> Noisebridge-discuss mailing list
> >>>>> Noisebridge-discuss at lists.noisebridge.net
> >>>>> https://www.noisebridge.net/mailman/listinfo/noisebridge-discuss
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>> --
> >>>>
> >>>> Ladycartoonist.com
> >>>>
> >>>> ___________
> >>>>
> >>>> A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion,
> >>>> butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance
> >>>> accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders,
> give
> >>>> orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem,
> pitch
> >>>> manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die
> >>>> gallantly. Specialization is for insects.
> >>>>
> >>>> -Robert A. Heinlein
> >>>>
> >>>> _______________________________________________
> >>>> Noisebridge-discuss mailing list
> >>>> Noisebridge-discuss at lists.noisebridge.net
> >>>> https://www.noisebridge.net/mailman/listinfo/noisebridge-discuss
> >>>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> _______________________________________________
> >>> Noisebridge-discuss mailing list
> >>> Noisebridge-discuss at lists.noisebridge.net
> >>> https://www.noisebridge.net/mailman/listinfo/noisebridge-discuss
> >>>
> >>
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > Noisebridge-discuss mailing list
> > Noisebridge-discuss at lists.noisebridge.net
> > https://www.noisebridge.net/mailman/listinfo/noisebridge-discuss
> >
> >
>
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