this post was submitted on 27 Jul 2025
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Mine is this little tidbit about Khaki's from https://www.heddels.com/2019/05/history-khaki-anything-drab/

"Tried and tested by all the major powers, khaki-dyed, lightweight cotton twills became the de facto uniform for any colonizing power. If you were going to ship your boys abroad to pillage and conquer someplace in the Southern Hemisphere, khaki was your go-to color."

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[–] Cocodapuf@lemmy.world 1 points 1 week ago (2 children)

But you're incorrect. Microwaves penetrate through many substances fairly well, mostly passing through them. The microwave ovens we use to cook are tuned to resonate with water molecules, and as a result the waves interact more frequently with those molecules. But in general, the waves just bounce around until they do interact with something, and it could be any particle within your hot pocket that it interacts with, not just the surface.

All that is to say, microwaves do heat all throughout whatever you put in. Now, these waves can also excite particles and moisture in the air within the oven, and there is convection between the air and your hot pocket... But air is less dense than food, so convection will be secondary heating at best, and cooling at worst.

[–] PhilipTheBucket@quokk.au 2 points 1 week ago

Yeah. They don't penetrate an unlimited distance into the food, the center of some stuff won't get heated. But they penetrate a lot further than the 0 distance that ambient heat from the outside does, conducting heat straight to the skin of the food and then letting it work its way in from there.

No idea what this person's issue is, I sort of suspect that it's just Lemmy in action, doing its thing.

[–] MotoAsh@lemmy.world -1 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

So are you meaning to imply food, and especially live animals as being discussed here, don't have significant water content? Because I have bad news for you: If it's absorbed readily near the surface, it's not getting much deeper.

Go ahead and try to "defrost" some meat on high. You will see that I am absolutely correct that the OUTSIDE will cook before the inside is defrosted.

Note that nowhere did I say it's as inefficient as an oven, either, so if you're imagining that's what I said then you need to reread my posts. I merely described how the common misconception of microwaves heating things from the inside is incorrect. The outside will basically always heat faster unless it's completely devoid of moisture, which is not the case what so ever in this context, nor in basically any context of "defrosting".

[–] Cocodapuf@lemmy.world 2 points 1 week ago (1 children)

You will find it is entirely dependent on the size, thickness, and density of the food you're heating.

[–] MotoAsh@lemmy.world 0 points 1 week ago (1 children)

yes and this is in the context of defrosting rodents, which will have a high water content basically everywhere.

[–] Cocodapuf@lemmy.world 0 points 1 week ago (1 children)

According to the USDA,

Microwaves penetrate the food to a depth of 1 to 1½ inches.

What's the diameter of a hamster?

I don't know what to tell you, you can believe whatever you like. It doesn't matter to me. But this is one of the dumbest discussions I've ever had, so I'm done. Declare yourself "winner" of the discussion if you like.

[–] MotoAsh@lemmy.world 1 points 1 week ago

Yes it's dumb because you're arguing against a point I never made. Things STILL heat up from the outside in. Or do you think that 1 to 1.5 inches is equally heated?