spatch

I am sure we're all familiar with the old metaphor involving a live frog in a pan of water that's heated gradually until it gets to boiling, only the change is so gradual the frog never notices and thus boils to death. You can use it to describe and accentuate almost any life experience, from involvement in cults to a presidential campaign.

So how'd we get a frog in there as the standard for comparison? Was it just for the mental image of the frog escaping (or not escaping, as it were) by simply hopping out of the little pan? Yes, surely that's a simple enough escape to our eyes. A frog not seeing that avenue must definitely be an idiot and deserves to be fried up for dinner.

But who the hell ever cooked anything by placing it, live, in a watery pan, and then applying heat v-e-r-y s-l-o-w-l-y? Who, indeed.

And what's the deal with airplane food?

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

hilker.livejournal.com

“The legend is entirely incorrect! (http://www.snopes.com/critters/wild/frogboil.htm) The ‘critical thermal maxima’ of many species of frogs have been determined by several investigators. In this procedure, the water in which a frog is submerged is heated gradually at about 2 degrees Fahrenheit per minute. As the temperature of the water is gradually increased, the frog will eventually become more and more active in attempts to escape the heated water. If the container size and opening allow the frog to jump out, it will do so.”