Comments on: Drive-by Posting

By: Hydrolyze

Hydrolyze — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 22:02:44 +0000

Just wanted to say hello all. This is my first post.

I expect to learn a lot here.

By: Cynthia

Cynthia — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 12:35:12 +0000

The party sounds great! I just wandered here through who knows what series of links but thought you might like to know about the “Special Effects Cookbook : easy to create recipes for food that smokes, erupts, moves, sings, glows, talks, cracks, pops, and swims!” It includes a volcano that erupts. Most of it relies on dry ice, effervescence, and other simple tricks but it’s still pretty thought provoking for kids.

Now I’m off to follow some of your links.

By: LSST Finds External Funding « Life as a Physicist

LSST Finds External Funding « Life as a Physicist — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 21:57:40 +0000

[...] is old news, especially if you read other science blogs (I first saw mention of it on the 4th). But I wanted to post it for several reasons. First – this [...]

By: The Latest AAS Meeting, So What?

The Latest AAS Meeting, So What? — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 04:05:46 +0000

[...] now, all the cool kids are playing astronomical kickball in Austin this week without me. Sure, they get lots of [...]

By: B

Tue, 08 Jan 2008 17:26:52 +0000

Hi Count: Thanks, I feel much slimmer now. – B.

By: Count Iblis

Count Iblis — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 22:07:03 +0000

The problem is: How to eat that cake without looking like this afterwards.

By: Dave S.

Dave S. — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 21:53:28 +0000

The AAS has arranged a private screening of Real Genius. I am stoked!

I am jealous…is Val Kilmer showing up?

By: Julianne

Julianne — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 18:46:56 +0000

The cake was two 6" rounds stacked on two 8" rounds, stacked on two 9" rounds, with frosting in between. A 9" and 6" round have nearly the same area as two 8" rounds, so you can just triple a normal recipe. (For the cake layers, I used the sour cream chocolate recipe from Rosie's Bakery All-Butter, Fresh Cream, Sugar-Packed, No-Holds-Barred Baking Book -- Rosie's was (is?) a killer bakery in Cambridge from back when I was an undergrad). Frosting was a sour cream ganache (mix nearly equal parts of room temperature sour cream and melted bittersweet chocolate), which is fairly sturdy. I used a long serated knife and a lazy susan to slice down the sides to make the cone, before frosting the whole thing. The vertical Devil's Tower stripes were made with a standard Wilton cake decorating tool after the frosting firmed up a tad. Chocolate sprinkles and crushed mint oreos made the rocks and ash. The lava was made from a standard hard-candy base (water+sugar+corn syrup, boiled until it reached 295 degrees F, then poured into a Pyrex measuring cup with some food coloring -- you could also melt Jolly Ranchers). I then poured streaks of the molten candy onto a big sheet of foil to harden. After the candy cools, it can be peeled off and jammed into the frosting. If I had to do it again, I'd flavor the candy, because kids were way more interested in it than I'd anticipated. And B -- My mind was definitely on Close Encounters when I was squatting down scraping the sides, my nose about 2 inches away from the cake. We'll see what happens next time I have mashed potatoes...

By: astropixie

astropixie — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 16:20:12 +0000

i want someone to throw me a science-themed birthday party!

see you in austin!

By: B

Mon, 07 Jan 2008 15:37:44 +0000

photo You sure you haven't heard any alien's voices lately? (sorry for the drive-by commenting)