Originally published at: IT worker stationed at South Pole takes photos of the last egg they'll have for five months. | Boing Boing
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What do penguin eggs taste like?
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It’s no easy feat to get fresh penguin eggs even if you’re already in Antarctica.
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I wonder how old that egg was. I know that sailors can get eggs to last several months on ocean voyages by coating them with vaseline and turning the eggs over every few days. But 6 months or so seems to be the upper limit before they’re totally inedible.
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Powdered eggs are technically edible.
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I had It and It is not bad.
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There’s an old technique of preserving eggs and lime water
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Nasty. Penguin is nasty too, according to reports. And these days, it would lead to legal issues.
The summer I was at that station we had one beaker who was very upset when we ran temporarily out of bananas when weather kept flights grounded. He accused the kitchen staff of hoarding them for ourselves. We were not. If a banana is an essential part of your diet, maybe months at the South Pole isn’t for you.
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TIL: laboratory glassware likes bananas.
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For a moment there I read that as “Cadbury Egg,” which is a viable option too, I guess.
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Beaker picture
TIL: The English name of a muppet!
My only exposure to his name is from the Italian version of Muppet Treasure Island, he is called “Alan Bicco” - alambicco means still in Italian.
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Interesting!
The other scientist is called “Dr. Bunsen Honeydew” in english - Bunsen after the Bunsen burner and Honeydew because his head is round and the same color green as a honeydew melon.
Since “Beaker” isn’t really a pun that I’m aware of (or maybe a niche one, as it was used in this thread), it’s interesting to learn that the muppet’s name wasn’t directly translated.
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Beaker is what the support staff call(ed) the scientists. There was one young woman, a crane operator, who complained that the beakers didn’t do any “real” work. When I pointed out that without them there would be no station needing rebuilding, and thus no job for her she was quite confused.
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When I was there one summer, we had a couple weeks in January with no fresh eggs, due to bad weather at McMurdo. I was able to enjoy the fake eggs just fine, but there was a lot of grumbling amongst the Beakers. You gotta lower your standards to the occasion.
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What year were you there?
ETA to not sound like a nidgit.
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I miss Futility Closet was such a good show.
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[paranoid mode on]
But then you would say exactly that, wouldn’t you?!? I’m watching you!!!
[paranoid mode off]
Fore some reason in Germany the Swedish Chef was the Danish Chef.
Every other muppet’s name I can think of either was an as close as possible translation or not translated at all. Like Professor Honigtau Bunsenbrenner & Beaker.
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I mean, that makes sense. Germans can understand Swedish relatively easily, but nobody understands Danish. Not even other Danes.
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