I was amused to learn, while doing some cooking research, that the original recipe for Oysters Rockefeller is still a family secret. It has been made at the original New Orleans restaurant where it was first invented in 1899, and is unchanged since then. Many chefs have attempted to re-create the dish, and there are a lot of versions out there, but those at the restaurant say they’ve never seen anyone get it exactly right. William “Big Secrets” Poundstone had a lab do some analysis on the dish, and claims to have figured it out, but the restaurant says no.
Me, I think that’s amazing. What are the odds that in the age of information something like this would still be unknown, even with millions of people basically looking right at it, and a sizeable fraction of those millions actively trying to uncover the secret? Espionage, bribes, chemistry… and the mystery has held.
How many of these kinds of things are there still in the world? I don’t just mean things we don’t know, but things regarding which we know where we can look for the answer. The makeup of “dark matter” doesn’t count, but the identity of Watergate’s Deep Throat does. Or, it did, anyway, until Mr. Felt appeared.
(It’s sort of a fine distinction; I hope I’m explaining it clearly.)
Lots of things remain trade secrets instead of getting a patent. Coke, for example. KFC seasoning. I can only think of food examples right now (I’m hungry), but the advantage is that a patent runs out, but a trade secret lasts as long as you can keep from spilling the beans.
Cervaise, the last link in your OP says several things that don’t agree with Poundstone. IIRC, he said that celery was a main ingredient, not parsely. Moreover, he says that Antoine’s says there’s no cheese in the topping (and he himself did not use any), so the reference to Parmesan Cheese seems irrelevant. Ditto on the spinach – in one of the few categorical statements, Antoine’s denies the use of spinach.
I’ve been impressed with Poundstone’s research, which seems believable. He certainly might have gotten things wrong, but his reconstruction was based on research and the use of a food laboratory – it’s informed guesswork, at the very least. And, of course, whether he got it right or wrong, Antoine’s isn’t going to say he got it right.
Similarly, there’s not going to be corroboration for other things in Poundston’e book from the owners of the items he’s guessing. But I do note that his recipe for Coca Cola seems to taly with the one given by Cunningham in his history of Coca Cola, For God, Country, and Coca Cola.
It was originally scheduled for Boston, moved north because the promoters weren’t licensed in Massachusetts. Why they held a title fight in front of 2500 fans instead of getting their license is beyond me… they must have left millions on the table.
Can someone explain why this is a big deal? This sort of catch/run/try (touchdown) happens reasonably regularly in rugby. Is there something about American Football that makes this an unlikely occurrence - or was it within seconds of the end of the game and the touchdown won it or something?
Cite that these are legitimate mysteries, as opposed to the kinds of things kooks happen to ramble on about in front of the credulous cameras of the Hitler Channel?
I don’t trust any trade secret on this list… How do you know nobody’s ever found it? No matter what any researcher says, the secret-keeper is going to say “no, that’s not it” so they can keep selling it.
We can’t know for sure, of course, but this one’s probably known. Fermat did indeed come up with a proof that there were no solutions for the cases n=3 and n=4, and the method he used does look like it would generalize to all n. This is probably what Fermat was referring to in the famous margin. When he later found out that it wouldn’t work, he had no reason to go back to that book and correct the margin note, since after all, it was his own book and he’d never told anyone about it. It wasn’t like he’d made it public and would need to issue a retraction.
It combines all unlikely elements and fortunate elements into one play. It was a playoff game (single elimination) with 22 seconds left, no timeouts, and the Steelers trailing. The Steelers quarterback, Terry Bradshaw, had to scramble to avoid several tackles, threw the ball rather hopelessly down the field, it was tipped by a defensive player, a star Steelers player happened to scoop it up just before it hit the ground and ran it a long way for a touchdown.
The Steelers went on to win the Superbowl that year and became a football dynasty because of that play. Does that make more sense?