Ice Cubes for Snacking

Sam's Archive - Why Ice Cubes Rock

There is a lovely person named Sam. He seems to really enjoy ice cubes as a snack. On his website, he lists a couple of dozen reasons why, but they boil down to: they don't have anything bad for you in them, and they taste good and are cold. I myself prefer, well, almost anything, but that's me. Here's an interesting bit, from somebody's response to Sam.

"I have to say that you underestimate one of the reasons why ice cubes rock when you assert that they have zero calories. If one considers that the human body must provide the heat necessary to melt them..."

Hey! Let's just skip over this part! It's science, which is awesome, but it's math, which is boring!

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"(around 6 kJ/mol, or 0.079 kcal/g if one substitutes for the molar weight of water) and to bring this (now liquid) water to the average temperature of the body (around 310 K or 37 degrees Celsius), at the average energetic cost of about 0.0755 kJ/mol/K or 0.001 kcal/g/K (constant pressure specific heat of water, source: NIST Chemistry Webbook), and if one supposes the average weight of an ice cube to be 10 grams, the energy supplied by ice cubes amounts to the respectable value of -1.17 (MINUS 1.17) kilocalories per ice cube, and this supposing that they are ingested at their melting temperature (0 Celsius). "

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Stop skipping here! It's interesting again!

"This means, for example, that the calories contained in the standard Coca-Cola (not Diet Coke!) can (33 cl) are completely eliminated just by adding 148 ice cubes to it."

Is that brilliant or what? What are you waiting for? Go and eat some ice cubes now!

Warning!

Eating ice should be a conscious decision on your part. If you find yourself with an unexplained urge to consume ice, you may have Iron Deficiency Anaemia! Thanks to Aramis J. Troche for this tidbit."

I think ice cubes would rock more if they had, say, flavors and sweeteners in them. And they were chopped up in bits. Hey, anybody feeling like a cherry slushy right now?

Abe Vigoda is Still Not Dead

NNDB tracking Abe Vigoda

I'm so happy... Abe Vigoda is still doing just fine. He's swell, isn't he? Aren't you glad he's not dead?

You can find out interesting stuff about Abe Vigoda and why he's famous using NNDB. Now, NNDB is extra-good, because there are so many damn people in the land that you just don't know who the hell they all are or why they're famous. Their names come up! You wonder who they are!

For instance, Arianna Huffington (columnist and socialite) rolled out a ginormous blog site recently. She has featured posts, written by eminent or interesting people. Walter Cronkite, John Fund, Larry David, and so on. (Sadly, she neglected to invite me to contribute. Arianna!)

But the most notable blogger in this wide-ranging collection titled his post, "Thoughts from a guy who's got nothing but time." Who is it? Charles Manson. Yes, THAT Charles Manson. Criminal cult leader portrayed in "Helter Skelter."

I thought that guy had been, well, executed. So, naturally I had to consult my truest love Internet, and with a little looking around, it served up the bounteous NNDB. And NNDB told me that Charles Manson is NOT dead at all. (Just like Abe Vigoda!)

Manson is not dead. That doesn't really explain why Arianna Huffington is featuring him in her blogroll. In fact, it must be a joke. Hey, it is! The Charles Manson post is just a parody. Instead of the Huffington Post, it's the HuffingandPuffington Post. Ha ha, gee, that's so funny. (I might seem a little peeved here... I didn't THINK it was legit... But I hadn't seen the real site before. It took me a minute to figure it out.)

But I digress. (In fact, this whole blog is a digression, you know that, right?) But I digress again.

Sitting at your computer, faced with wondering about the current live-or-dead status of Charles Manson, or perhaps wondering who the heck he was, now you can visit NNDB. It will tell you neat Fun Facts. His level of fame? "Icon." His birth certificate reads "Noname Maddox." His occupation? "Criminal, Musician."

Please don't think I like Charles Manson, based on the interest I've shown. I'm just an info-pig! I need to know stuff! All the stuff!

Go to NNDB, and you will find out neat stuff too. Buzz Aldrin, the second man on the moon, is also still alive! Ali G. interviewed him, and asked him, "What is it like to be the second man to walk on the sun?" (You can also look up Ali G, who is alive as well.)

Buzz was in the movie "The Boy In The Plastic Bubble," with John Travolta, where he appeared as himself, visiting a sick kid. He was 72 in 2002, and a conspiracy theorist confronted him in public, calling him a liar and a coward. He punched the guy in the jaw. Yay! Buzz Aldrin is tough and cool! Of course, you knew that, because his name is "Buzz." You have to be both tough and cool. You know, if your name is "Buzz."

Don't bother looking... My name is not listed in NNDB yet.