• @owenfromcanada@lemmy.world
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    313 days ago

    Do we all understand this is meant as a commentary on climate change, and not an actual recommendation to use your mailbox as a cooking implement?

    …uh, folks?

  • Using cooked meat or not, almost certainly not going to get hot enough to pasteurize and not airtight to prevent contamination.

    So…sounds like a perfect incubator for bacteria.

    • @makeshiftreaper@lemmy.world
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      263 days ago

      I don’t know where this is but it doesn’t sound impossible to me. A quick Google shows that the FDA recommends 160 F for casseroles and that in direct sunlight a car can hit 160 if the ambient temp is >105 F. I know mailboxes aren’t cars, but over a longer period in a smaller metal box, it seems like the math could check out

      • Badabinski
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        403 days ago

        I live in Utah where it’s been sinfully hot and dry for the last week. I fully intend to test this theory. I just bought a high temp probe that should get here tomorrow. I will provide an update once the testing has been completed.

        • Badabinski
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          92 days ago

          Alright, I have the sensor installed. It’s a bit cooler and more overcast today, but I’ll hopefully be able to get some good data.

          A graph from Home Assistant showing the current temperature of the mailbox.

          • @makeshiftreaper@lemmy.world
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            22 days ago

            I don’t know if this could inadvertently dox you but I’d be curious to see an hourly outside temperature too to see how much hotter a mailbox gets than outside. Based off your first graph here I’m wondering if cars having glass windows makes a greenhouse effect that would make a car hotter than a mailbox, everything else equal?

            • Badabinski
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              52 days ago

              Seems like a worthwhile thing to do! I’m not worried about doxxing, since someone would have to go to pretty extreme measures to correlate with the exact climate where I’m at. I installed the sensor after the hottest time of day had already passed, but here’s what it looked like:

              A graph showing the outside temperature versus the temperature in the mailbox.

              I’m pretty sure the spikes in the mailbox temperature were due to cloud cover.

              • @makeshiftreaper@lemmy.world
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                22 days ago

                In my opinion this pretty conclusively proves that you can’t make a mailbox lasagna. This is the graph I looked but for my previous statement:

                A graph showing the temperature the inside of a car can reach in the sun

                And it shows that a car can hit 130-140 at temps around what you posted. Which is so much wildly higher than what you posted I do have to assume cars have some sort of greenhouse effect going that mailboxes don’t

                Finally when you consider how much of the total volume of a mailbox a lasagna covers, I have to imagine that’ll slow heating down even more! Great work!

          • @rhandyrhoads@lemmy.world
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            12 days ago

            By the way, just a quick tip, if you haven’t already maybe try airgapping the sensor from the metal with some foam so you’re measuring the air itself.

            • Badabinski
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              2 days ago

              I have it positioned right now so that the probe tip isn’t touching any metal, but I’ll probably add a bit of foam. I have some incredibly irritating foam packing peanuts that would probably work well. I’ll go do that now.

              EDIT: here it is, in all its gloriously crappy, uh, glory:

              a picture of a temperature probe poking into the inside of a mailbox. A Styrofoam packing peanut with a hole in it has been put over the probe to stop it from touching the walls of the mailbox.

  • @BigDaddySlim@lemmy.world
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    263 days ago

    I would just assume you left me a lasagna when I delivered your mail

    Imagine my anger realizing my free lunch isn’t cooked

  • @Tylerdurdon@lemmy.world
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    93 days ago

    Oh look, I got a subpoena but it’s drenched in grease. And here’s a letter from Aunt Edna, also totally soaked. Mailbox cooking is the best though.

    • MacN'CheezusOP
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      73 days ago

      I hope there’s no stray dogs in your neighborhood, or you might have trouble getting to your mailbox at all when you come home.

      • lettruthout
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        43 days ago

        If the dogs are big, maybe the box won’t be standing any longer.