Episode #776
News Items
Who's That Noisy
- Answer to last week: fox
Science or Fiction
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Item #1
Science
The US Government banned presliced bread in 1943, but the ban lasted only several months due to widespread protest. https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/569606/time-us-government-banned-sliced-bread
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Item #2
Science
In the US some products sold as wheat bread are just white bread dyed brown with caramel coloring. https://healthyeating.sfgate.com/brown-bread-vs-whole-wheat-9104.html
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Item #3
Fiction
A “baker’s dozen” is 13 originally as a marketing ploy, as 13 is prime and cannot be easily divided, encouraging purchase of the full “dozen.” https://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/Bakers-dozen.html
Skeptical Quote of the Week.
“Mathematical science shows what is. It is the language of unseen relations between things. But to use and apply that language, we must be able fully to appreciate, to feel, to seize the unseen, the unconscious.” - Ada Lovelace (1815-1852) – English mathematician and writer, chiefly known for her work on Charles Babbage’s proposed mechanical general-purpose computer, the Analytical Engine. She was the first to recognize that the machine had applications beyond pure calculation, and published the first algorithm intended to be carried out by such a machine. As a result, she is widely regarded as the first to recognize the full potential of computers and one of the first computer programmers