@ephemeromorph “Lars Onsager used to tell a story about a glycerin factory somewhere in Canada. One winter it was so cold that the glycerin froze, and from then on no matter how thoroughly the place was cleaned, it was impossible to get rid of all the nuclei of solid glycerin. As a result, it was no longer possible to produce glycerin in its usual (metastable) liquid phase. They had to close the factory, he would say with his impish grin.”