Whereas square snack evolves into square stack snack (SLYT)

March 13, 2024 8:10 PM

Vihart is back with a meditation on the discovery of folded circle snack (and more)
posted by Gorgik (8 comments total)

This was a hoot! Thanks for sharing.
posted by funkiwan at 10:59 PM on March 13 [1 favorite]

Responding only to the very beginning of the video: mathematicians incline towards "discovery" over "invention" because, philosophically, mathematicians are broadly of the Neoplatonic/idealist stripe. Most of us imprinted on the notion of the logos (if we studied Philo or other Neoplatonists) or made up an analogue to it ourselves (if we didn't), because it's a comfortable way to comprehend the idea of "number" as something with a meaning independent of counting or measuring objects in the real world, which modern mathematics doesn't much do. Extend that to all other mathematical abstractions and you end up with the idea that things like relative primality and compact topological spaces and Kuratowski's Theorem, even though all were developed by people to address mathematical needs, exist and always existed and therefore Kazimierz Kuratowski was not an inventor creating an argument so much as a discoverer extracting a pearl of logic from the raw math-stuff.

I'm surprised the mention of sphereish food blob did not lead to a side discussion of dumplings, which are probably the second most globally popular way of shoving nongrains inside of grains (and which, in terms of construction, often come from folded circles too).
posted by jackbishop at 5:26 AM on March 14 [3 favorites]

I would not want to be the alien who cracked open Voyager only to find a taco inside.
posted by mittens at 6:05 AM on March 14 [1 favorite]

A few hundred years later, Earth is menaced by a massive folded circle space probe called T'co...
posted by moonmilk at 8:20 AM on March 14 [7 favorites]

Vi Hart post?
Oh, that's right, today is Pi Day (3.14)
Pi/pie/circle snack
posted by bartleby at 8:42 AM on March 14 [2 favorites]

Any day with a new Vi Hart video is a good day. (Also, a good reminder to get your moon spoon going!)
posted by Zonker at 10:08 AM on March 14 [1 favorite]

to continue jackbishop's point:

I suppose the real question is are dumplings sealed tacos or are tacos opened dumplings? As in, did someone try to make dumplings and just not seal it ok and do the taco thing, or did someone lose a bit of food out of their taco one too many times (maybe to the ground or maybe to a dog) and resolve to come up with a way to make sure it didn't happen again?
posted by Hactar at 3:41 PM on March 14

I admit to being a bit puzzled by the popularity of folded circle VS folded square, since lots of foodstuffs are circular to start with, because:

1. If you dole out a batter onto a griddle, that takes on a circular shape.
2. If you are baking a lump of dough, that also takes on a circular shape.

Making square or rectangular foodstuffs usually requires either using a specifically shaped mold, or preparing things in a big slab and then cutting to shape after the fact (which yields some waste). Circular stuff just happens more naturally.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 9:25 AM on March 15