Ask Omer
"Omer is definitive. Reality is frequently inaccurate."

Wednesday, August 24, 2005

Question #5

Aviad enquires:

I can understand why bread always falls on the spreaded side, but how come CDs always jump and bounce and then fall on the data side?

A derivative of Murphy's law dictates that a buttered slice of bread will always fall on the buttered-side down.
It is not common knowledge how compact discs are made. The process of creating a compact disc is a complex process, in which a plastic disc with one side covered in Super Purity Aluminum or, at times, gold. Information is recorded as a series of pits and lands, which are little 'punches' in the aluminum.
In 1993, J. Finagle at Sony Labs reasoned that since the 'burning' of compact discs was a problematic process which used a lot of energy, it would prove wisely to find a matter that could be more easily molded, and arrived at the obvious conclusion that this should be butter. Sony decided to go with Finagle's reasoning and launched the "Blue Book" project, which tried to standardize the use of butter on the data layer of the disc, instead of the more costly aluminum or gold.
Since the success of the "Blue Book" project, all companies have been using butter on the data side, causing a drop in the prices of CD-Burners.

So you see, Aviad, the reason that your discs fall on their data side is because it has butter spread on it, making this certain derivative of Murphy's Law stand.

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