Random randomness

[Smoove_B]

Maybe? That 3/4 day max recommendation from the FDA takes into account the logarithmic reduction in pathogens (and spoilage bacteria) that occurred during smoking. The risk here is from post-cooking handling and any time/temperature abuse associated with it. The cut of meat is definitely working in his favor, but for all I know this came out of a smoker and sat on a kitchen counter top for 6 hours to "steam off" before it was put into residential refrigerator.

I'm not overly familiar with studies done on (broad) pathogen resistance associated with the smoking process - outside of water activity levels dropping but now I am curious. God, I love food science.

[Isgrimnur]

I prefer my intoxication to be liquid-based.

[hepcat]

I just cut off a whole bunch of slices, slathered them with sweet baby ray and put 'em in the oven. Wish me luck.

[Hrdina]

I don't think Eduardo X ever made the change to OO did he?

He was around for a while.

8 years and 3700 posts is just "a while"?

I guess around here that checks out.

[Hrdina]

How the hell did someone get control of your Amazon account? Now I'm all freaked out!

Wish I knew. I’m a bit baffled, tbh.

Were you using the same password across multiple accounts? I suspect it's either that, or you may have had a weak password for your email account. In other words, if a hacker can get into your email account it becomes easy to also get into your Amazon account.

Also, if and when access to your Amazon account is restored, turning on two-step verification will make your Amazon account much harder to hack into.

That's what I did after a similar thing happened to me.

The funny thing was, I still had access to my account (must have checked "keep me logged in" or something like that). One day I got a notice that the email address for my account had been changed to something very weird (RosalindBettycWp@yahoo.com). I had already been using a password manager (LastPass), and whoever changed the email address didn't manage to change the password (yet). No purchases had been made. I got the address changed back within a couple of hours (because I still had access), changed the password again, enabled 2FA, and contacted Amazon about it.

I don't know why they weren't help for Skiny. This was the response I got from them:

Thank you for telling us about the unauthorized activity in your account. To protect your information, the credit card details in your account cannot be accessed via our website. We also do not display full credit card numbers in your account.

We have taken these steps to restore your account:
-- Disabled the password to your account.
-- Reversed any changes made by this party.
-- Canceled any pending orders.

Please allow 5 hours for these actions to take effect.

After 5 hours, you will be able to reset your password and regain access to your account. On the Sign In page, select "Forgot password?" and follow the instructions. After you enter your email or mobile phone number, you will receive an email or SMS message containing a personalized link. Click the link and enter your new password.

If you have any trouble resetting your password, call Customer Service at:

Edit: Just saw the follow-up post where a second Amazon rep was more helpful/competent; good news.

So, I didn't have any long-term effects beyond some confusion and an increased distrust of web sites with my personal information.

[Skinypupy]

I don't know why they weren't help for Skiny. This was the response I got from them:

Thank you for telling us about the unauthorized activity in your account. To protect your information, the credit card details in your account cannot be accessed via our website. We also do not display full credit card numbers in your account.

We have taken these steps to restore your account:
-- Disabled the password to your account.
-- Reversed any changes made by this party.
-- Canceled any pending orders.

Please allow 5 hours for these actions to take effect.

After 5 hours, you will be able to reset your password and regain access to your account. On the Sign In page, select "Forgot password?" and follow the instructions. After you enter your email or mobile phone number, you will receive an email or SMS message containing a personalized link. Click the link and enter your new password.

If you have any trouble resetting your password, call Customer Service at:

Edit: Just saw the follow-up post where a second Amazon rep was more helpful/competent; good news.

So, I didn't have any long-term effects beyond some confusion and an increased distrust of web sites with my personal information.

Out of curiosity, how long after you reported the issues did you get that email?

I have not yet received any sort of e-mail communication from Amazon, either from my original call on Wednesday, or the resubmission of the ticket yesterday. I'm a little concerned that they're sending the account restoration e-mail to the dude who stole my account.

EDIT: Scratch that...I got their e-mail literally as I was typing that last response.

[Z-Corn]

God, I love food science.

I do too and I wish I had paid more attention to it when I was in school. I had an excellent teacher, she had spent like 40 years working in the Betty Crocker test kitchens and had at least 15 years in as an instructor when I attended. She knew everything there was to know circa late 1980's.

[Kraken]

God, I love food science.

I do too and I wish I had paid more attention to it when I was in school. I had an excellent teacher, she had spent like 40 years working in the Betty Crocker test kitchens and had at least 15 years in as an instructor when I attended. She knew everything there was to know circa late 1980's.

When I was in school, they only taught girls about food. Boys got shop classes. For the first half of my adult life, I was a synthetarian -- I would only eat food that came in plastic or styrofoam.

[Kasey Chang]

Do we have a topic about mattresses?

I had to replace my mattress. My old one is too saggy, and the one I "borrowed" from someone else is too firm.

I can get foam mattresses on Amazon delivery in a box for $200 plus or minus 10%, usually 10-inch versions, $240 or so for 12-inch versions.

Did anyone try those? How did you like them?

I don't want those premium foam like Casper or Purple or whatever. I don't want to spend more than $300, lower the better.

[disarm]

I can't speak for the cheap ones, but my wife and I have been sleeping on a Casper for 4.5 years...still the best mattress I've owned, and I would recommend it to anyone. We just bought Leesa mattresses for two of our kids, and those seem nice too...little more firm than our Casper, but our girls (11yo twins) like it a lot.

[Zarathud]

Do we have a topic about mattresses?

We do.

[Z-Corn]

God, I love food science.

I do too and I wish I had paid more attention to it when I was in school. I had an excellent teacher, she had spent like 40 years working in the Betty Crocker test kitchens and had at least 15 years in as an instructor when I attended. She knew everything there was to know circa late 1980's.

When I was in school, they only taught girls about food.

But back then only men were chefs...weird.

I was referring above to culinary school so we had all kinds of students. Men and women ages 18 to 55 or so.

In High School I was one of the very few boys who took Home Ec. It was senior year and I'd been cooking professionally for a year already so it was an easy A. I took wood shop that year too and barely made a C.

[Smoove_B]

When I was in school, they only taught girls about food. Boys got shop classes. For the first half of my adult life, I was a synthetarian -- I would only eat food that came in plastic or styrofoam.

Home Economics (which I did have in middle school) was just learning how to cook or sew. I was getting some of that from being in Boy Scouts, but truly it was a valuable course in learning how to follow a recipe or make a meal.

What we didn't learn (and what I didn't get exposed to until college) was actual food science - the stuff Alton Brown typically gets into as part of his deep-dive while making things. For me learning about why you can't put fresh pineapple in Jello or what specific function an egg performs in making a cake changed the way I looked at food completely. The intro to food science class was one I took as a "blow off" course (mainly because it was offered right after lunch and I figured I could be awake and available to attend). As it turned out, it accidentally became one of the most valuable courses to me (professionally) and helped me make the transition into working as an inspector. Stay in school, kids! Definitely go and check out On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen if you haven't already seen it -it's a classic.

[Kraken]

God, I love food science.

I do too and I wish I had paid more attention to it when I was in school. I had an excellent teacher, she had spent like 40 years working in the Betty Crocker test kitchens and had at least 15 years in as an instructor when I attended. She knew everything there was to know circa late 1980's.

When I was in school, they only taught girls about food.

But back then only men were chefs...weird.

I was referring above to culinary school so we had all kinds of students. Men and women ages 18 to 55 or so.

In High School I was one of the very few boys who took Home Ec. It was senior year and I'd been cooking professionally for a year already so it was an easy A. I took wood shop that year too and barely made a C.

Primary schools really need a gender-neutral version of home ec. Call it "adulting" and teach all the core skills needed to take care of one's self. I'm forever grateful to my mother for teaching me housekeeping and financial skills "because you'll be a bachelor someday." By the time I was on my own, I knew the basics of laundry and cooking and bill-paying and such.

[The Meal]

Do we have a topic about mattresses?

We do.

Missed opportunity to start a "No MATTRESSES thread???" thread.

[Z-Corn]

Definitely go and check out On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen if you haven't already seen it -it's a classic.

I bet you would like the Cooking Issues podcast.

Dave Arnold has become a new hero to me. Harold McGee was on a recent episode. It's hard to get a word in past Dave though!

[Smoove_B]

Random Smoove_B fact: He's never listened to a podcast. True story. What's extra weird is that he's actually been on a podcast. Amazing, right?

[Z-Corn]

Is it because they took too long to download?

[Smoove_B]

Maybe.

Though I've moved and now have access to a 150 Mbps pipe if I want it, which is nice. The bigger issue is my 2003 Subaru wagon. It doesn't have an easy way for me to connect my iPhone (there's no USB/Aux input) as the car predates such novelties. I've tried the Bluetooth FM broadcasters, but I've had mixed results (I think because the wagon's antenna is on the rear passenger window. If I'm driving on a highway, it tends to lose signal to whatever is driving next to or near me.

I'm old and drive an old car, basically.

[gbasden]

Maybe.

Though I've moved and now have access to a 150 Mbps pipe if I want it, which is nice. The bigger issue is my 2003 Subaru wagon. It doesn't have an easy way for me to connect my iPhone (there's no USB/Aux input) as the car predates such novelties. I've tried the Bluetooth FM broadcasters, but I've had mixed results (I think because the wagon's antenna is on the rear passenger window. If I'm driving on a highway, it tends to lose signal to whatever is driving next to or near me.

I'm old and drive an old car, basically.

Grab one of the many portable bluetooth speakers. I've used them successfully before I had a modern car. I could not go back to no podcasts and no audible at this point.

[Daehawk]

Mine is an 01 and has nothing. At all. I make my own CDs to play in it with mp3s.

[Kasey Chang]

2003 Subaru wagon. It doesn't have an easy way for me to connect my iPhone (there's no USB/Aux input) as the car predates such novelties. I've tried the Bluetooth FM broadcasters, but I've had mixed results (I think because the wagon's antenna is on the rear passenger window. If I'm driving on a highway, it tends to lose signal to whatever is driving next to or near me.

Depends on how much you want to spend, there there's a way to hook an "FM transmitter" directly to the antenna of your vehicle so there is zero interference.

https://www.amazon.com/iSimple-IS31-Ant ... 002U5XPBE

Or you can just replace the head unit.

[hepcat]

I just cut off a whole bunch of slices, slathered them with sweet baby ray and put 'em in the oven. Wish me luck.

Aaaaannnnndddddd I chickened out. I took the slices out of the oven, tore off a small bit and tasted it...but then my weird obsession with food spoilage acted up. In my mind, I saw the meat being taken out of the smoker....and then left in a pile of dirt for 13 hours. I envisioned it on its journey to the Chicago area office from lower Indiana and couldn't shake the thought that periodically, the driver would take the brisket out of the bag and place it down his pants for some reason. Then I started to wonder if he'd stopped at every rest stop on the way and asked every passerbyer to "take a lick".

In the end, I tossed the whole thing and ordered a pizza.

I probably should have asked them to send me video of the entire baking process for that too.

God, I'm neurotic...

[Daehawk]

With those its the driver you worry about. And dont worry about the worrying. Ive been food poisoned enough times and bad enough I worry and check too. I dont take chances on stuff I cant confirm and toss it. At least I try to.

[hepcat]

I get up at 11:59pm for milk that expires the next day so I can toss it out.

[Smoove_B]

God, I'm neurotic...

Oh geez, I didn't realize I was feeding into that for your question. Truly, I was just trying to answer honestly. Glad to hear you didn't die from bad meat, regardless. That would be an unfortunate obituary.

[Isgrimnur]

Or bad spaghetti.

[hepcat]

I wasn't always this bad. In college I'd eat things that were left out on counters for hours without any issue. I'd eat at dive joints that would make your hair stand on end simply because they had cheap food.

But then two bouts of bad food poisoning/food related issues over the course of a few years changed all that (one of them resulted in some kind of parasite that brought on two straight weeks of diarrhea and cramps...I shit you not). Now I suspect everything of being my last meal. I mean, the most used skill for my Alexa at home is the food storage app, for cryin' out loud.

I'm a neurotic mess...

It does make me wonder though, how did our ancestors survive without refrigeration so well?

[Daehawk]

Fresh meat and instant veggies. And salt...lots of salt. They could live to the ripe old age of 30..sometimes 45 but the mind was gone by then.

[Isgrimnur]

My mom is documenting stories for an older man right now who just told her about building a spring house.

[Jaymon]

Random Smoove_B fact: He's never listened to a podcast. True story. What's extra weird is that he's actually been on a podcast. Amazing, right?

I also have never listed to a podcast. Mostly because I do't like listening to other people talk. I don't mind conversation, but I can't imagine enjoying myself while somebody just blathers on about something.

if I have the time to listen to something, I would like to listen to music.

[Kraken]

Last week I ate a frozen Swedish meatballs dinner that expired four years ago. I survived.

[hepcat]

Last week I ate a frozen Swedish meatballs dinner that expired four years ago. I survived.

For now...

[Kasey Chang]

Just got off the phone with AT&T, and surprisingly, the problem was resolved quickly. Basically, my login went into redirection hell. It says my login was linked to a different login prompt, except I was redirected back into the same prompt. So I can't update my autopay or anything else.

Call them, have them swap my autopay card number first, then they had me re-register for a new login using the old account number and PIN. It worked.

[Daehawk]

well it took a while and Im pooped out and sore but I got the part of the back area cleaned I planned to this morning. Unfortunately instead of being 1/3 done totally Im 1/4. As I got the part cleaned I noticed the kudzu growing up the backside of my giant cedar tree. Ughh. Its finger size to wrist size about 2" apart and covering about 5 ' x 5' square. Thats another days work plus what I already had planned. So weee
not to mention ticks I bet

[Daehawk]

Last week I ate a frozen Swedish meatballs dinner that expired four years ago. I survived.

For now...

Patient zero.

[gilraen]

I did give myself a nasty case of food poisoning last year, but it was my own fault. I was defrosting some ground beef on the counter, forgot about it for several hours, and then made burgers in a pan that didn't cook through well enough. Ended up with nausea, stomach ache and a low-grade fever for several days.

[Blackhawk]

I'm pretty careful with food, especially meat, and spoilage/contamination. Not Smoove levels of careful (the meat is done cooking; get the liquid nitrogen!), but careful.

Then again, I grew up in squalor, as a teenager used to eat raw meat straight from the suprmarket on the way home, and in my younger teens ate things I'd found dead in the desert that had probably been there longer than I'd been alive.

How I survived into adulthood is still beyond me.

[hepcat]

as a teenager used to eat raw meat straight from the suprmarket on the way home, and in my younger teens ate things I'd found dead in the desert that had probably been there longer than I'd been alive.

Good God, I think I saw the documentary on your early years. The Hills Have Eyes.

[Anonymous Bosch]

I, for one, would delight in providing Smoove with an exquisitely good sous vide-prepared meal. I suspect the cognitive dissonance would be akin to HAL 9000's meltdown: