Lies, and Other Mishaps

We have had a few unfortunate incidents stemming from scientific lies. And probably a little bit of ineptitude on our part.

First, Joel, with his keen mind, once observed at a restaurant with copper topped tables that hot sauce dripped onto the copper will clean off tarnish. Well, back when we got married (four years ago last week, by the way), my aunt gave us some nice copper bottom frying pans. Over the years, they have become a little tarnished. So Joel got the brilliant idea to clean off the tarnish with some Tapatio sauce we have. He very attentively applied an even coat to the entire bottom of the pan and let it soak for a while. Then he excitedly rinsed off the Tapatio, and voila! The tarnish was gone!

And so was the copper.

So if you’re looking for a cheap, easy way to get rid of copper, now you know.

Also, following this pan problem, Joel and I were laughing about it, and it reminded me of something that happened when I was probably ten or eleven years old. I had watched an episode of Mr. Wizard in which he explains the structural integrity of an egg and how it is impossible to crush and egg with your bare hands. The dorky looking kid even tried it on the show to no avail. I excitedly want to show this amazing trick to my mom while she is making dinner. She says, “Don’t do it; you’ll break it and waste an egg.” Full of faith for Mr. Wizard, I say, “No, I won’t, see?” and proceed to crush the egg in my bare hands. And my mom got mad at me.

After he finishes laughing, Joel insists that I must have done it wrong, that if you put your palms on the ends and squeeze together, an egg cannot be crushed by human hands. Cannot. Since I was making rice pudding, I grabbed an extra egg and thought about trying it again. It was definitely possible that I did it wrong the first time. But I chickened out. Joel eggs me on (no pun intended). So I carefully place my palms on the ends of the egg and squeeze.

It instantly crushed. And the spiky edges of the shell cut me. I’m pretty sure that happened last time, too. That hurt.

So Mr. Wizard is a liar. Or crushing eggs with my bare hands is my super power.