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I'm getting old and occasionally have brain fog and do stupid things. So I accidentally put a stainless steel bowl in the microwave with some hard butter in it. Without thinking I put it on for 45 seconds to melt the butter and walked way. I ran back about 20 seconds later when I realized what I did. And you'll never guess what happened, the butter simply melted. That's it. There was no electical arcing at all. The bowl was not hot, just slightly warm on the bottom. The butter melted just as if it was in a glass bowl. So I feel like I've been lied to all these years about microwaves. So did microwave technology change at some point in the last 20 years and no one told me? (This microwave is from 2007) Because when I was a kid, I thought we couldn't put metal in microwaves. I would be tempted to do more experiments, but it is one of those permanently mounted units above the range, so I don't want to burn it out or anything like that. But I am curious if I got lucky due to the geometry or metal content of the bowl or if I can now use all sorts of metal in the thing.
I have Anyday Cookware which has some metal parts. I love this cookware. I make the best and fastest Teriyaki chicken with it. They had this article on their site explaining some things.
https://cookanyday.com/blogs/news/is-metal-safe-in-microwave?srsltid=AfmBOooBvJsTsMtWB8a4VHZy3lA3WiUTOSa9FlgzP2Yrp5745MVlyfhf
Some types of stainless steel are microwave safe, but always look up that particular product to see if it says microwavable. If it has handles on it, they are attached by rivets or screws that aren't safe, generally no. Search around cause there are several explanations online about it that get more in depth about it. I rather play it safe and not use any type of metal in the microwave. It's too hard to tell the difference at times.
Microwaves are electromagnetic (EM) fields. EM fields apply forces to electrons of atoms. Electrons are also very anti-social and do not like other electrons invading their space. They would rather run than let their neighbor touch them. If the electrons are free to move easily, as in metals, they always pick the easiest path to move. They love to flow smoothly along paths that are suited for them, but when confronted with obstacles will bunch up, forced ever closer by the EM field herding them into a tight spot. Native resistance of the metal itself, rivets, scratches, holes, and especially kinks, corners & edges are obstacles and the electrons build up at the discontinuities because they're forced into a corner. Creatures forced into a corner will fight, but electrons just panic.
Sharp krinkles in aluminum foil especially accommodate charge build up to the point where the electrons find it easier to jump across an air gap to a nearby less occupied point or when desperate into the air itself rather than fight the electrons bunching up behind them. I would imagine that solid, thick metal bowls make a nice smooth wide path for the electrons to find a way to flow and jiggle around as the fluctuating microwave field keeps kicking them back and forth without creating much of a traffic jam, not meeting much resistance and not getting hot. Whereas thin, krinkly aluminum foil or the pointy ends of forks provide a lot of resistance, does get hot, has lots of points to jump off of, and the paniced electrons are jumping to freedom wherever they can, like lemmings off a cliff.
Still, it's not a good idea to put metal pans in the microwave. The device that generates the EM microwave field is designed to jiggle water molecules by gently grabbing onto the slightly uneven distribution of charge of the water molecule and rapidly rocking it back & forth in tune with the EM frequency to make food hot. It isn't supposed to rip loosely tethered electrons free and panic a gazillion electrons into a chaotic stampede causing their own disorganized EM fields feeding back and stressing out the EM generator.
And if you stress out the EM generator too much, you let the blue smoke out of it, and that's that.
and as the references above say, metal dos reflect microwaves so a metal container will block some or all, depending on its and the microwave's shape, of the microwaves - so at the very least you are using more power than really needed with content in metal dishes. I sometimes need to thicken sauces for take-away food, or reheat stuff that has bene frozen, and the process is much quicker if the foiod is in a pot or plastic container than if it is in a metal container (in this microwave, the previous one had a much slighter difference).
Non-Complaint/ Eulogy:
I have had a dear cat called Squeaky. He was 19years 7 months old. We'd had the priveledge of his company from when he was an 8 week old kitten. At 12 weeks, still small enough to to sit on the palm of my hand, he decided that he was brave enough to tackle a Cock Pheasant as supper. Given that he weighed one fifth of the bird, the outcome was predictable, but it showed his courage and determination. He was boss cat in our household, even with much bigger Norwegian Forest Cats and Maine Coon cats in the household. Squeaky was a black & white Heinz57 domestic mog, with a short tail after half had to be amputated.
Anyway, he died in his sleep last night between 11pm and 2am this morning. We're going to miss him so much.
Regards,
Richard
So sorry about the loss of your furry friend ("pet" doesn't seem to express what our four-legged family members are, really, does it?).
Here's hoping that any sadness that you feel will become the comfort of fond memories in the days ahead.
(hugs)
@KyotoKid
Aye, it does sound a bit evil that does! It's one (of many) reasons I love the sound of organs. My two favourite instruments are in fact the Organ and Harpsichord. I love Organ because it has that ability to go from delicate and sweet, to majestic, to damn right dominant and pure evil. I love Haprichord for similar reasons, in so far as it can sound delicate and sweet, but also has a naturally dark, eerie vibe to it that works simply by composition. Ridiculous as it sounds, I'd build my own harpsichord if I lived somewhere suitable.
There's a song Chris de Burgh wrote called Satin Green Shutters. It's one of the most haunting tunes I've heard and every time I hear it I think, danm, he really needs to do a very specific Organ/Harpsicord version of that song to go along with the choir. You'd need to listen right through, but trust me it starts out soft and sweet, but gets haunting, and then more haunting, and then even more haunting:
@Frank
Wise words. I'm just glad I never seem to accumulate much data to need backing-up in the first place!
My condolences !
@RichardAndTracy
I'm very sorry to hear about your cat. I'm a bloke and cried like a baby when my dog died. He was a best friend, not just a pet, so I know how you feel.
Thank you, much appreciated. It's ridiculous how much an impact on your lives pets make.
Regards,
Richard.
I'm so sorry. Losing a pet hurts so much.
Sorry for your loss!
Very sorry to hear about Squeaky - you have shared several of his stories, he was certainly a character even by cat standards.
Thank you all. He hasn't been well for over a year, but has been hanging on as well as a very old cat can. We will miss him.
Regards,
Richard
Ich bin krank! Ich bin krank, aber Ich möchte malen.
So, probably the easiest way for a cat to live 19 years is to be with someone who really loves their cat.
So sorry for your loss of your fur baby ......
@RIchardandTracy,
...sad to hear about the loss of your fieline compamnion. 19+ years is a pretty long and full life (in "cat years" that comes to 92)
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@COMIXIANT.
Indeed, the the organ has many moods. and can be quire expressive in skilled hands. As to Bach's G Minor fantasy, there parts where it has minor 2nds and diminished intervals something usually not associated with the era Bach lived in. He was an accomplished improviser (which shows full well in this work) given that he had to come up with something new almost every week.. Would have loved to been the proverbial "fly on the wall" back then to hear some of the "incidental" pieces that were never written down.
While th Harpsichord is not a "loud" (and you can't make it so by striking the keys harder) it can produce incredibly rich sound with the combinations of different stops. There was even a pedal board version like an organ that another harpsichord could be set on (often used for practise as back then one needed pampers to supply the wind rather than an electric blower like today). I've played harpsichords and even helped a friend build one of the Zuckermann kits back in the 1970s (a Flemish double). Playing one requires a totally different technique compared to the piano. (which is somewhat similar to playing the organ as there is no "sustain" pedal like a piano has).
Oh I'm so sorry. No matter how much time we have with them, it's never enough, is it? I hope you still see him out of the corner of your eye around the house, and that he visits you in happy dreams.
Complaint: Under a tornado watch, so no walk today.
Non-complaint: Kiddo is so wrapped up in his tablet game that he hasn't noticed. It's sort of like frogger, only just the river part. Every time his little dude goes in the drink (which is often), he laughs so hard he almost can't breathe.
Non-complaint: Finally got the chance to do up/render a couple scenes with the ROG Red Crow Inn and the ROG large room of the hobbit hole set. Wow what a dream to work with! The lighting/render settings it comes with are perfect, and it processes so fast! Often I get to 2 hours and the render times out with other scenes, but these finish in less than half an hour. Chef's kiss.
Thinking of the annual premiere membership. Is it worth getting? I like the monthly plan though.
Gut wrenching . . . I had pets that were struggling to live, dying in front of me. Some I tried to save and succeeded but mostly I failed, while waiting for the vet to open. Losing a beloved pet always leaves a huge hole in our heart. One of my favorites, was a stray feral cat I later adopted, that climbed ladders to be petted. How he died haunts me to this day. It's those cats that are different, that we miss the most. But you gave Squeaky a loving environment for 19 years, and that is amazing. Squeaky lived a full life, filled with love, and died while peacefully sleeping. This is a better life . . . and death than any cat-owner, or cat, could ever imagine. I hope it warms and soothes your heart to know, you gave Squeaky the most perfect life possible.
Thank you for your thoughts SilverGirl & ArtAngel. Much appreciated.
Our remaining cat, a Maine Coon, is somewhat lost and clingy at the moment. We're trying to give him as much reassurance as we can. He's now seen four graves for cats dug in our garden in his 12 years, and I'm pretty sure he knows the meaning by now. We also got him to give Squeaky a sniff curled up in his towel before being laid to rest yesterday evening.
Regards,
Richard.
@KyotoKid
Before I get to my reply, I had to edit my previous post since my semi-schizo brain was playing-up again. By the time I replied we were on the next page, and for some reason I thought the other stuff was part of a post from SilverGirl, so I've edited the post. It was really meant for you, all you!
I know the kits you mean, but I meant building it from scratch as a caftsman would. I'm no craftsman, but I'd definitely want to get some practice in and would make one from scratch if I had the luxury of a workshop to play around in. And yes, exactly, no dynamics on a Harpsichord so it's completely down to the composition and playing style. And funny enough, although I've never played on a real Harpsichord, I do have some experience of playing the keyboard without sustain, since there was a time I went for months without a sustain pedal for my synth and managed to get by quite nice even without it, and even evolved my playing a little because of it.
But that song I posted by Chris de Burgh, it's a perfect example of what I meant regards the Bach thing Richard mentioned. If you imagine Satin Green Shutters played on an organ then you'll often get the same sort of thing going on as happens in the Bach piece due to it being played on an organ. I reckon a lot of the debated Bach piece was intended for Harpsichord. Guitar, strings and a choir is perfect for Satin Green Shutters, it works like a dream, but back in Bach's day, there was never the possibility of putting a harpsichord up against an organ (sensibly anyway), whereas these days of course it's all perfectly possible due to multitrack recording etc.
I am so sorry for your family's loss Richard. I just popped into the thread and read about your other cat (the avatar) and then switched to the last page and read the news about Squeaky. He had a loving and fun life from what I can read from what you related about both cats.
When I was a teen, we were adopted by a skinny, mud-spattered black & white cat who survived the Baldwin Hills Dam disaster. One Sunday, our roast was sitting on the counter breathing prior to going into the oven, while my dad was sitting in the kitchen nook. When he walked around the island, he found his roast on the floor and Rhubarb happily eating the raw roast. I think we had pizza that Sunday instead. Rhubarb lived to torment our little dog Calico.
Furry friends can fill you with joy and laughter, and break your heart as they pass through your long life.
Mary
...even with my our strong background in music and my "serviceable" aptitude " for crafting items, the kit harpsichord was still a major challenge . Building from scratch is a thousand times more challenging than what we undertook as you need the proper materials (particularly for the soundboard and the jacks which pluck the strings). The wood needs to be high grade "straight", and clear of imperfections, and thus, tends to be rather expensive.
I would suggest reading up on the process of building one before embarking on such an ambitious project Even with all the parts pre measured and cut, it took a fair number of "person hours" to properly assemble it. Hooking up a cabinet maker or woodworker to apprentice with or work under would be advisable in order to get a good foundation for crating such an instrument. It is not something to approach "casually".
For many years I studied organ design and construction from the early Baroque through the late Romantic era (prior to when electricity was introduced into the key and stop action early last century.. In addition to ny studies I also assisted in regulation and tuning of organs for a bit with the hopes of gettimg a foot in the door to enter the trade with an existing organ building firm. Unfortunately turnover i nteh field is extremely low as being such a time honoured craft, it tends to be a lifelong occupation and commitment.
As to playing the harpsichord, besides the lack of sustain, the "feel" is quite different compared to a piano or electronic keyboard as there is a point of slight resistance before the key reaches the key bed. This is due to the fact it plucks rather than strikes the strings..
True a harpsichord is no match for an organ or even a modern day symphony orchestra However, ensembles in the baroque into the early classical period (Haydn/Mozart) were much smaller and performances were usually held in more "intimate" venues (hence the term "chamber music") than a present day concert hall or opera house.
@KyotoKid
Wow, well at least I know who's ears I need to bend if I ever get that far, and get stuck!
No worries on the work involved, I'm aware of all that but I would very likely throw together a huge CNC for doing a lot of it, and work from designs that I would pre-build on the computer. I often even keep my eyes out for software that models sound based on enclosures and weird stuff like that. I don't realistically see me ever getting around to doing it though. I have quite a wandering mind so even if I had a workshop right now, my mind would probably drift to building or restoring something else. Nevertheless it's something I've wanted to do for quite some time, and I'm sure I would do sooner or later given the means.
Mary, thank you. We have been very lucky in our cats.
I'd only heard of the Baldwin Hills Dam disaster as part of a TV program called 'Massive Engineering Mistakes', never dreaming I'd come across anyone actually involved - peripherally only, I hope. It's great that your family took in a kitten displaced by it. So sweet the little events you relate - I'll remember the moral of the story, you've got to watch hungry kittens all the time..
Pets do make ones life complete, bringing so much comfort & joy, but it is so hard when they die.
Regards,
Richard