Pictures and Words

Hello! My name is Peter C. Hayward, and for a little over 24 hours, two plates of meat have been sitting in a cage in my back yard, exposed to the elements. (but not the animals)

As you can see, no meat was stolen during the night. This is a first for StinkyPete.

StinkyPete 1.5 are go. I went down and took photos during the day, and noticed that ants and flies had already got to work on the Pork Steak. It wasn’t until I was looking at the photos later, however, that I noticed how many ants there were on the Kangaroo Steak:

Dozens of the buggers, goin' nuts!

Anyone who followed the original StinkyPete experiment will remember that the Kangaroo Steak was by far the least popular meat, among insects, animals, and myself. At the end of the experiment, every other meat had been stolen several times, but the Kangaroo Steak was still sitting there, untouched. I don’t remember a single ant showing even a smidgen of interest.

So it’s an unexpected result that ants are positively swarming Kanga in this experiment. It will be interesting to see whether or not the dark meat’s popularity will continue. Incidentally, I cooked some more kangaroo steak the other day, and then put it into a stir fry. It wasn’t bad; I cooked it for less time, which seems to have helped a lot.

Based on a comment from “TheVegan”, I’ve removed the piece of metal that I had leant up against the cage door:

So long as the door is locked i think that’s enough and if any animal can get past that then it deserves to have some meat.

Agreed! If the animal can work out the lock (it always takes me a bit longer than it reasonably should) then it can carry away sausages and SPAM to its heart’s content. Humans, that does not include you.

I’ve had two suggestions for names for the currently-unnamed plate of meat (the one with Pork Steak, Kangaroo Steak and Bolognaise Sauce.) “Willomo” suggests Three Meat Island, and “Jen” suggests Team Bolognaise. I like both of these names, but I’m still taking suggestions until Sunday.

Until then, I shall simply refer to it as The Original StinkyPlate, despite the fact that it’s not. (the original plate, the physical plate that the meat sits on, is actually under the SPAM and sausages. This plate is the “original” in that it’s the three original meats I chose for the project.)

I also got a comment from a Mr. Mahlon Smith, the man behind the original StinkyMeat project! I feel like I have been touched by a celebrity, a celebrity in the world of watching meat rot. He writes:

The security camera was awesome. I think GuiltyCat™ would make a great iconic mascot.

I own and regularly eat off of the same plate design that you used in the experiment. I already can’t eat off of yellow plates. Now faux-oriental patterns are ruined for me.

Thanks for your kind words, Mr Smith!

You can visit the original StinkyMeat, or Mahlon Smith’s personal site by clicking on those lovely blue words earlier in this sentence.

Meat news!

When I went down this morning, the Original StinkyPlate was covered (as you can see in the photo up the top) in ants and flies. When I went down at midnight for the daily photos, the Original StinkyPlate was completely bereft of insect life, but Fort SPAM was covered in bugs.

Apparently insects prefer Steaks and Bolognaise during the day, but as soon as the sun goes down, they’re all over the more processed foods, SPAM and Cheerios. I can honestly say that I did not see that coming.

Fort SPAM, in the day and in the night:

The SPAM didn't spontaneously grow, it's just a different angle.

Similarly, the photo of the Original StinkyPlate at night has nary a bug in sight, despite being covered in them during the day. Bizarre!

Today’s stats:

Weather – asleep – I’ll be honest; I didn’t wake up until mid-afternoon. I have no idea what the weather was like today. It didn’t rain while I was awake, but it was a bit overcast. Both the plates have a bit of liquid on them, so it could well have rained. Who knows? (if you do know, leave a comment. I need to check in with my housemate Cannibal Kate every day, find out what the weather was like. She sleeps normal, human hours.)

Stench – 0.5/10 – exactly the same as yesterday; when my head was actually in the cage, I could smell the SPAM, but only when I was turned towards it. None of the other meats are giving off an odour yet.
Stench Radius – 10cm – less than yesterday, when I could smell the SPAM no matter which direction I was facing.

Kangaroo Steak:

Toughness – 6/10 – Using the handy Poking Stick, I was surprised to discover that the kangaroo steak was juicy, even tender.
Popularity – 4/10 – there were a handful of flies buzzing around the Kangaroo Steak, and a whole heap of ants feasting on it.
Appeal – 8.5/10 – (I remind you that this is appeal if I was starving to death and got to cook the meat first.) The steak looks like I could chuck it on the hot plate, and quickly have a delicious meal.

Perhaps it’s a different cut than I used in the original StinkyPete experiment, perhaps it’s because it rained on the first day, but whatever the reason, Kanga is behaving completely differently this time than last time. It’s popular, pokeable…if things keep going like this, I’ll wake up and discover it’s the first meat to be stolen.

Thinking about it, this could have to do with the fact that I bought this piece of steak the day before I put it outside, whereas the other one spent a week or two in my freezer first. Any butchers or meat experts out there, able to explain the differences in results? Does two weeks freezing dramatically change a Kangaroo Steak?

Moving on, Pork Steak:

Toughness – 7/10 – actually slightly tougher than the Kangaroo Steak. I feel like I’ve stepped into Bizarro-world.
Popularity – 3.5/10 – there were a few flies on the Pork Steak, and a number of ants as well – not nearly as many as on the Kangaroo Steak, they’re just more obvious. Ants contrast against the pink better than against the dark brown.
Appeal – 9/10 – just like the Kangaroo Steak, these steaks look like you could fry’em up and chow down, no worries. Slightly more appealing, but only because the Pork Steak itself was nicer than the Kangaroo Steak.

Dad’s Bolognaise Sauce:

Toughness – 0/10 – I think that it must have rained, because the bolognaise sauce tended to build up a bit of a crust on drier, hotter days. Absolutely no resistance, the Poking Stick went straight in.
Popularity – 1/10 – there were a few flies, but no interest from ants at all.
Appeal – 9.5/10 – it’s only been out there a day; it’s still looking moist and delicious. If you threw this into the microwave and poured it over spaghetti, I think you’d still have a decent meal; even better when you’re starving to death.

Wall of Saveloy:

Toughness – 7.5/10 – go out, buy a sausage, and poke it with a toothbrush. That’s what this felt like. Springy.
Popularity – 1/10 – there were definitely some ants on the sausages, but it looked more like they were using it as a path to get to the SPAM. If the red skin starts disappearing, you’ll know I’m wrong.
Appeal – 10/10 – they look and feel completely unchanged. Unlike the others, while eating these I wouldn’t even have to worry about accidentally eating a bug. As appealing as any of this meat is going to get!

Can o’ SPAM:

Toughness – 4/10 – at first this was going to be much higher, but then as I was testing the resistance, the Poking Stick made a hole in the SPAM. I’ve decided that 5 is the point of toughness where you can no longer make holes in it just by poking.
Popularitiy – 2.5/10 – the thing is absolutely crawling with ants, but no other insects have shown the slightest bit of interest.
Appeal – 8/10 – it looks (and smells) exactly the same, but even when starving to death, SPAM isn’t very appealing. Also, it’s all covered in ants.

Daily head-in-cage Shot: Day 1. (I need to shave.)

Interesting start so far! Remember, I’m still taking suggestions until Sunday  for the Bolognaise and Steak plate’s name, and if you can answer any of today’s pressing science questions, you can leave a comment or just email me!

Tomorrow: The Daily Check-in