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Comment by OldGuyInTheClub | Hacker News Reader

I commented to a prior post on Currie's new weapon that did not make it off 'new' and onto the front page.

Wired did a great video profile of him a few years ago.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1uNpjqH-mQQ

I admire that he defended against incremental competitors by having quantum improvements in his library. Looks like he had no challengers so he elected to release at least one big improvement in heat.

Nile Red shows how to use the underknown Soxhlet extractor to make nearly pure capsaicin oil at home. Assuming of course that home has a fume hood, safety equipment, a rotary evaporator, and a Soxhlet extractor.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQIMLEwQWL0

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> by having quantum improvements in his library

i don't get this part(, not sure if it's related to the video which I didn't watch).

he used quantum mechanics to enhance his peppers?

Meant in the sense of a big jump between levels.

Oh, I see! My sign for a second coffee :)

I just now realized that it wasn't the Wired video where Currie said he had peppers in reserve against his competitors!

It is this one from Great Big Story: The whole video is good but the part I'm referring to starts at ~2m30s in.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hrF3jVppfr4

Ah right. In physics, a quantum is the _smallest possible_ increment, which made the original sentence quite impenetrable.

On the other hand, the quantization of energy states into discrete levels as opposed to a continuum is exactly why the phrase "quantum leap" implies a sudden, very noticeable, step-change jump in some quantity.

A sudden, noticeable, sub-atomic indivisible step-change jump, indeed.

The common expression would be "a quantum leap". Which has nothing to do with the "size" of a quantum, but suggests a massive (technological) improvement and increase in capabilities - like going from a normal binary computer to a quantum computer.

AFAIK that usage traces back to the 1990s TV show "Quantum Leap", in which the protagonist would travel in space & time to a new place each episode.

The phrase 'Quantum Leap', then, was popularly taken to mean a large change.

The damage done to the vernacular by that show's title is only exceeded by the damage done to the vernacular by another piece of 1990s popular culture, Alanis Morissette's song 'Ironic'.

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