Weekend Links

From a book I happen to be reading at the moment:

[....] McNuggets also contain several completely synthetic ingredients, quasi-edible substances that ultimately come not from a corn or soybean field but from a petroleum refinery or chemical plant. [.... Including] “anti-foaming agents” like dimethylpolysiloxene, added to the cooking oil to keep the starches from binding to air molecules, so as to produce foam during the fry. The problem is evidently grave enough to warrant adding a toxic chemical to the food. According to the Handbook of Food Additives, dimethylpolysiloxene is a suspected carcinogen and an established mutagen, tumorigen, and reproductive effector; it's also flammable. But perhaps the most alarming ingredient in a Chicken McNugget is tertiary butylhydroquinone, or TBHQ, an antioxidant derived from petroleum that is either sprayed directly on the nugget or the inside of the box it comes in to “help preserve freshness.” According to A Consumer's Dictionary of Food Additives, TBHQ is a form of butane (i.e. lighter fluid) the FDA allows processors to use sparingly in our food: It can comprise no more than 0.02 percent of the oil in a nugget. Which is probably just as well, considering that ingesting a single gram of TBHQ can cause “nausea, vomitting, ringing in the ears, delirium, a sense of suffocation, and collapse.” Ingesting five grams of TBHQ can kill.

—The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan, pp. 113-114.

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And Now, The Links

• Nathan Bedford Forrest Has Beautiful Eyes – “[...] pre-War Jefferson Davis is arguing that the fight is over slavery and white Supremacy. Post-war he's claiming it was about the sovereignty of states. To this day, 150 years later, you find people parroting this lie.”
• Secret Ops, Domestic Spying OK – “This isn't business; this is spying. But that doesn't mean letting those agencies do whatever they want.”
• Memes strike back: Gerbils, gay blood elves, and Glenn Beck
• Dark Matter Hunters Construct a New Weapon
• Galaxy study hints at cracks in dark matter theories
• Superheavy Element 114 Finally Re-created
• NASA probe set for close encounter with Mercury
• Apollo 11: Second look – So that’s where I left my EASEP!
• New impact site for LCROSS water-hunting mission
• Ares I-X processing for rollout: HLV alternative continuing to make progress
• Stabilizing the electric grid with megawatt-scale storage
• Carbon nanotubes may power ultracapacitor car
• Could a microchip help to diagnose cancer in minutes?
• Treemometers: A new scientific scandal
• Oldest Living Things in The World
• Weird, Rare Clouds and the Physics Behind Them
• Flavor and Aroma Rise in Champagne Bubbles – Thanks to William.
• Champagne’s flavor is right under your nose – Thanks to William.
• Virtual composer makes beautiful music—and stirs controversy – Reminds me of WolframTones, some of which were surprisingly good.