Going Nuts over NIST’s Standard Reference Peanut Butter (2016)
72 comments
·January 24, 2025buildsjets
TheJoeMan
There’s many mandatory flammability tests for upholstery in the US related to cigarette ignition and spread. I wonder what would happen if cigarettes were fully banned, would we keep the test method?
parsimo2010
I imagine that the tests wouldn't go away completely, they might just be modified to make sure that a faulty Juul or other vape box doesn't cause them to burn. But probably nothing would change for several years, because just because you outlaw cigarettes that doesn't mean people are going to quit overnight.
And then if you outlawed vapes then I'm sure there's still some other fire hazard to worry about and they would modify the tests again.
potato3732842
Hopefully they're rolled back to sane levels. Clothing flammability tests/requirements were more or less an overkill response to a moral panic in the 1970s when the media took and ran with some questionable stories about flammable kids clothing and whatnot. Furniture and drapery are/were of legitimate concern but as we all know it's never just the tip.
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bell-cot
[Cuba Libre Cigar Co. stands by, ready to assist]
ycombiredd
Relevant SRM #2387 use case https://github.com/scottvr/PBVD?tab=readme-ov-file#future-ex...
The PB is ~1/3 of the entire materials cost. ;-)
From the BOM:
…
NIST Standard Peanut Butter 1 jar $150 $150
Laser Safety Goggles 1 pair $25 $25
Total Estimated Cost - - $520yellowapple
I know inflation's gotten bad and all but it seems a bit crazy that the typical diet is $901: https://shop.nist.gov/ccrz__ProductDetails?sku=1548b&cclcl=e...
Rant423
Mandatory Tom Scott videos:
0xC0ncord
Veritasium has a great video[1] on NIST's Standard Reference Materials including their peanut butter. It talks about some of the other aspects of NIST's business in selling these items, their history, why they exist, and some of the other interesting ones like their standard reference cigarettes.
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NaOH
Related:
NIST Standard Peanut Butter – $1,107 - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38016900 - Oct 2023 (35 comments)
NIST Standard Reference Materials Catalog [pdf] - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41917035 - Oct 2024 (9 comments)
JimDabell
Along similar lines, the British Standards Institution has defined BS 6008:1980, which is the standard reference cup of tea. ISO has adopted this as ISO 3103.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_3103
Along with it being Peanut Butter Day, it is also Tea Day! This is not as much of a coincidence as it might first appear though, since every day is Tea Day.
automatic6131
Wait wait wait, milk in before the tea? That's not right.
Aloha
It can be either!
* If the test involves milk, then it is added to the bowl before pouring the infused tea into it, unless that is contrary to the organisation's normal practice.
* If milk is added after the pouring of tea, the standard notes that best results are obtained when the liquid is between 65 and 80 °C
My organization tends to prefer milk after, But I'm a silly yank who has lots of wrong opinions on a great deal of things (or so I've been told).
genewitch
As an American I think it depends on how the tea is made. I have a kettle, but I steep in a tea cup rather than another dish to wash. So by standards of decorum I put milk after the tea bags are removed.
I put cream at the bottom of coffee cups before the machine puts coffee in about half the time, though. I have a lot of family in Britain.
numpad0
Regurgitating web crawl dataset: it's not the best way to brew any tea, just a standardized method used for evaluation/quality control purposes. It helps supply chain workers to notice molds early and to price tea leafs.
s0rce
Milk before tea reduces thermal shock on fragile fine china tea cups
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workmandan
Dharma Initiative Peanut Butter
sambaumann
(2016) - the NIST Peanut Butter now costs $1,217 (https://shop.nist.gov/ccrz__ProductDetails?sku=2387&cclcl=en...)
kazinator
The saddest thing about this isn't the waste of resources on this nonsense, but that the reference stuff is not actually peanut butter. It's some Kraft-like paste that contains hydrogenated vegetable oil and whatnot. You can tell even from the photo that it's not just peanuts.
Instead of concocting reference garbage, maybe your government should just ban anything that is not just ground peanuts from being called "peanut butter".
NaOH
Here are the US Government regulations of what is necessary for products to be labeled as "Peanut Butter":
https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-21/chapter-I/subchapter-B...
kazinator
I appreciate you digging this up; thank you.
ethbr1
Would you be interested in a job at the United States Department of Health and Human Services?
You've got exactly the kind of attitude we're looking for!
LorenDB
(2016)
spinach
Do other countries also use NIST's products as standards, or do other countries have their own standards/NIST?
kergonath
Both :) Some countries have their own standard bodies [1], but I would not be surprised if some smaller countries just used NIST standards. And even countries with their own standards use some of NIST or ANSI indirectly when they become ISO standards.
There's also NIST 1196a, "Standard Cigarette". As a friend said, I bet they taste like drywall and taxes.
https://www.nist.gov/image/cigarettes-lab
https://www.nist.gov/fire/history/standard-reference-cigaret...