Difference between revisions of "Talk:2178: Expiration Date High Score"

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(FOOD SCIENCE)
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:To be fair, many items are labelled "Best Before" or "Sell By" - implying that the food item will be edible for at least some time beyond that date.  Actual expiration dates on preserved food items do seem to be rarer.  There are cases of canned food items from the early 1900's still being in good shape after 100+ years - and those would not have had any expiration date.  But one issue is that back then, cans were made by soldering sheets of tin together - and the lead in the solder slowly leaches into the food making it unsafe to eat even though the food itself seems well-preserved.  So for potential high scores, we should look to: [http://mentalfloss.com/article/555075/11-oldest-foods-and-beverages-ever-discovered The 11 oldest foods and beverages ever discovered] - except that they'd not have any kind of formal expiration date. [[User:SteveBaker|SteveBaker]] ([[User talk:SteveBaker|talk]]) 14:10, 19 July 2019 (UTC)
 
:To be fair, many items are labelled "Best Before" or "Sell By" - implying that the food item will be edible for at least some time beyond that date.  Actual expiration dates on preserved food items do seem to be rarer.  There are cases of canned food items from the early 1900's still being in good shape after 100+ years - and those would not have had any expiration date.  But one issue is that back then, cans were made by soldering sheets of tin together - and the lead in the solder slowly leaches into the food making it unsafe to eat even though the food itself seems well-preserved.  So for potential high scores, we should look to: [http://mentalfloss.com/article/555075/11-oldest-foods-and-beverages-ever-discovered The 11 oldest foods and beverages ever discovered] - except that they'd not have any kind of formal expiration date. [[User:SteveBaker|SteveBaker]] ([[User talk:SteveBaker|talk]]) 14:10, 19 July 2019 (UTC)
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The legal requirements of "expiration dates" for food are less stringent than many believe.  In the USA, under FDA regulations, only baby formula cannot legally be sold after its expiration date.  Wording like "use by" and "sell by" is not legally binding... more like "guidelines", as Capt. Barbossa would say. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.34.64|172.68.34.64]] 15:57, 19 July 2019 (UTC)

Revision as of 15:57, 19 July 2019

If we assume this comic is contemporary, i.e. the year she found the beans is 2019, it makes Randall's girlfriend/wife 37 years old.141.101.84.64 05:25, 19 July 2019 (UTC)

Well... it makes Megan 37 years old. There is nothing here to strongly suggest that cueball and her are Randall and his gf/wife. --Lupo (talk) 05:54, 19 July 2019 (UTC)

When I was working at a gas station, someone brought in a propane tank which had expired in 1963 (or so). If 1963 and using this scheme, my score would be 96.6. 172.69.33.251 06:02, 19 July 2019 (UTC)

Propane tanks do not "expire", that is they do not go bad with time, and you do not need to throw them out after the date. The date on these tanks is when they need to be inspected for damage, as mandated by Federal and state laws. If the tank passes inspection a new date in put on and you can keep using the tank (propane suppliers can legally keep refilling it.) Godzilla (talk) 13:40, 19 July 2019 (UTC)

Except that it must be something you purchased so you can't use that one in the contest. Unless you then purchased it from whoever brought it in…
I don't see any rule requiring that the item be new (or otherwise not-yet-expired) when you purchase it, so can we buy old things from other people in order to inflate our score (potentially over 100)? 172.69.42.76 06:18, 19 July 2019 (UTC)
That also circumvents the argument "we moved since 2010". If you buy the apartment with kitchen and all equipment, you also purchased the expired item... --Lupo (talk) 06:20, 19 July 2019 (UTC)
I think that part in the title text is referring to "how did we manage to not come across all of our expired items when we moved" rather than "this item was here before me moved in". Some very disorganised people might actually pack up and move all of the items (e.g. food) in their house without first checking or even noticing if it is expired. 141.101.98.64 10:52, 19 July 2019 (UTC)
That was my initial thought too, that she either did it without of noticing, or did not notice it on purpose, to at some point reach this score. But the loophole, good 'ol 42.76 brought up, put this idea up, as an alternative.--Lupo (talk) 10:56, 19 July 2019 (UTC)
The rules say that the item must be something you, personally purchased...so did they BUY the pickles from Megan's mom? I'd want to see a receipt or something! (And if the pickles were dated to 1978, Megan (whom we've established is 37 years old was not born when the pickles were dated...so for sure, this is cheating! SteveBaker (talk) 13:36, 19 July 2019 (UTC)
They clearly attribute the pickle score to Megan's mum, not to Megan.Bischoff (talk) 13:42, 19 July 2019 (UTC)
Yeah - that makes more sense. I had initially read it as these were pickles MADE by her mum and given to Megan - not pickles that her mum purchased. Sadly, we can't work backwards from the 2030 date that Megan needs to wait until in order to beat that score to figure out her mom's age because we don't know on what year her mum discovered the ancient pickles. SteveBaker (talk) 13:48, 19 July 2019 (UTC)

There is one caveat to Megan's strategy: since the fraction (year you found item - year item expired)/(your age when you found it) converges to one as time goes on regardless whether the numerator is bigger than the denominator, as long as the item expired before the year of your birth, postponing the discovery reduces your score (considerably).

FOOD SCIENCE

"Since then many countries introduced laws and regulations requiring companies to put expiration dates on perishable goods. In some instances this can have the negative effect of people throwing out good food by blindly following the suggested expiration date. This behaviour can incentivise companies to adjust the expiration date so that people will re-buy the products sooner."

Since science and the truth are a big part of both xkcd.com and explainxkcd.com, I think it is important this explanation includes how/why food goes bad, and why expiration dates on jars/cans of food do not serve to protect people from eating bad food. If no one else gets to it first I'll try to type this explanation when I get a chance.

Until then I don't think the explanation should say "...many countries introduced laws and regulations requiring companies to put expiration dates on perishable goods." Although this is true, it is also true many companies put expiration on non-perishable products even through there is no law requiring them to do so. Like cosmetics and jars of pickles. Godzilla (talk) 13:54, 19 July 2019 (UTC)

To be fair, many items are labelled "Best Before" or "Sell By" - implying that the food item will be edible for at least some time beyond that date. Actual expiration dates on preserved food items do seem to be rarer. There are cases of canned food items from the early 1900's still being in good shape after 100+ years - and those would not have had any expiration date. But one issue is that back then, cans were made by soldering sheets of tin together - and the lead in the solder slowly leaches into the food making it unsafe to eat even though the food itself seems well-preserved. So for potential high scores, we should look to: The 11 oldest foods and beverages ever discovered - except that they'd not have any kind of formal expiration date. SteveBaker (talk) 14:10, 19 July 2019 (UTC)

The legal requirements of "expiration dates" for food are less stringent than many believe. In the USA, under FDA regulations, only baby formula cannot legally be sold after its expiration date. Wording like "use by" and "sell by" is not legally binding... more like "guidelines", as Capt. Barbossa would say. 172.68.34.64 15:57, 19 July 2019 (UTC)