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I brought in a fruit-topped angel food cake and for the third week in a row noticed the same theme: The baked good would go largely untouched until lunch and then be devoured in a frenzy. This is in stark contrast to my previous workplace where the item would be consumed at a more-or-less constant rate over the day with a slight bump around lunch. This curve was irrespective of the item brought. For instance, I once brought in meatballs which were entirely eaten before 10:30am.

I wonder what causes this difference. The “now” orientation of engineers? The future discounting abilities of actuaries? Differences in professional courtesy? Just the quirks of the constituent people?

I’m not sure.

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The first question that was asked in my undergraduate organic chemistry course was as follows:  What is the melting point of bread?

Normally, I wouldn’t insert a carriage return there except that such a statement has such aneurysm-inducing levels of stupidity within its words that I fear it may spread if not properly contained.  Today I learned an interesting diagnostic for differentiating between an engineer and a scientist by asking each the above listed question of the damned and gauging their response.  The engineer will look at you like you’re a moron, say “that’s a stupid question” and laugh.  The scientist will look at you like you’re an idiot, say “that’s a stupid question” and glare.  It appears to all be in the eyes.