Posted on 06/11/2008 2:01:03 PM PDT by fanfan
For those tired of texting or disillusioned with downloading, there now appears to be yet another use for their mobile phones - cooking popcorn.
Intriguing videos showing people amusing themselves by watching corn being popped by the energy given off by their ringing mobiles have been posted on the video-sharing internet site YouTube.
Each of the four videos shows small groups of friends casually lounging around tables and placing a small handful of corn in the middle of a circle of three or four phones.
Then, after a few seconds of the phones ringing, the kernels expand and jump in the air, much to the onlookers' delight. In some of the clips, they happily eat the freshly cooked popcorn.
The clips have been viewed by hundreds of thousands of people since they were posted in the last few days - and have cooked up heated debate on internet discussion forums about whether they are genuine.
Some commentators are convinced that the clips are evidence of the health risks posed by mobiles, arguing that if they can cook popcorn they must surely be capable of doing something dreadful to our brains too.
However, most agree that mobile phones do not produce anywhere near enough heat to cook popcorn.
Popcorn kernels need to be heated to around 450F before the moisture inside them turns to steam, causing them to explode and pop, according to experts who point out that if mobile phones emitted that much microwave energy, the water in the fingers of people holding them would heat up every time they used them and our ears would literally burn.
Having accepted that it is scientifically impossible for mobiles to cook popcorn, most agree that it must therefore be a hoax - and quite possibly a viral marketing campaign.
This suspicion has been fuelled by similarities between the clips and a feeling that their home-made feel has been contrived.
"Each of the videos has a similar stagey look and feel with three or four people sitting around a table," said Steve Bass on his PC World blog.
"The table is adorned with an assortment of props and the walls have the same off-white, creamy colour. The camera's jerky style is the same."
Despite apparently being filmed by groups of friends in different countries - there are two American versions, one French and one Japanese - the clips were all posted by just two YouTube users called bobtel08 and benzin513.
But what no one can seem to understand is, if the clips are a viral marketing stunt, who could be behind it.
The US media blog Gawker asks: "Would any phone company actually contract videos like these? Can you sell phones by convincing stupid people that they'll fry their brains?
"Seems a bit counterproductive, but I'll admit it would be satisfying to see this uncovered as history's worst viral campaign."
Another blogger comments: "Who could be behind the stunt? Another phone company about to market a new (greener, cooler) product, perhaps."
As for what is actually cooking the popcorn, most seem to think that, as one blogger puts it, "Surely the heat comes from some device located underneath the table?"
No mobile phone company has admitted that the videos are part of a marketing strategy.
hoax
When Snopes confesses that man made global warming is also a hoax I will turn to them for “scientific” information, otherwise I will turn my nose up at the leftist propagandists that run that site and defend to the end their beloved Clintons.
We have the answer to GoreBull Warming! It is all the damn cell phones!
Good.
So all that burning I feel in my cheek when I talk on my cell phone is psychosomatic?
Phew.
Please be sure to ping me when you find it.
Thanks. ;-)
Happy am I to see someone ELSE who recognizes that Snopes is a Leftist site run by Clinton apologists that doesn’t deserve the Web hits they so desperately need.
Hoax, of course. People are stupid enough to believe anything.....
The GOP is pushing McCain on conservatives using the same principle.
corn popping cellphone ping
They should put that infamous microwave poodle on the table and repeat the experiment.
They would need more cell phones.
All the videos were also posted at around the same time, so it’s not a matter of one group seeing it and saying, “Oh let’s try that.” I think this ads to the likelihood that it’s a hoax.
See?
Your computer just made some popcorn!
Maybe these phones were web enabled.
That’s it.
;-)
Since you are gullible enough to believe the story in spite of your own experience consider this follow up experiment.
Assuming that popcorn must reach 450 degrees Fahrenheit before popping and knowing for a fact that at sea level water boils at 212 degrees Fahrenheit place one drop of water where you had been placing the popcorn. Please let us know if that drop of water turns to steam indicating it reached a temperature of 212 degrees Fahrenheit.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0rA-zhTJuFU
Power a TV with a AAA battery.
If it’s on the internet, TV, youtube, in the newspaper...it must be true.
Too bad.
It would make a great survival tool.
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