January 10, 2007
Lunch minutes:
The founding of Stanford University
The glycemic index and ketosis
The 40 acres
The fanciful but apochryphal story of the founding of Standford University is no more touching than the actual story and the poor son still dies.
Calorimetry measures the heat of chemical reactions and a bomb calorimeter could be used to determine the number of calories in food. But, as Wiepooh suspected, this "overestimates the amount of energy that the human digestive system can extract, by also burning dietary fiber" [ref]. Instead, the calorie values on food labels are determined by chemical tests designed to measure the amount of carbs, protein, etc. in the food.
The glycemic index dates back to 1981. It applies only to carbohydrates and is a measure of the after-meal blood sugar level. On a related note, ketosis is a metabolic stage when the liver converts fat into fatty acids. It is caused by switching from a glycemic (sugary) diet to one that does not raise the blood sugar level.
An acre is a unit of area with a breadth of one chain (22 yards) and a length of one furlong (220 yards). It is approximately the area that one man with an ox can plow in one day (one "furrow long").
The 40 acres were originally designated as "College Hill" in 1839 when the Texas Congress set aside 50 leagues of land for public universities. Later the University was granted the power of eminent domain and bought up adjacent land to expand. Therefore, the campus we know must be bigger than 40 arces.
This reminds me of a recent finding on brown fat in baby pigs.
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Thanks Wikipedia! You're my favorite friend! If only you liked to go out on dinner dates with me...
posted by natedogg at 05:34PM CST on January 10