The funny thing about my son's choice of Kashmir is I think it's partially influenced by the movie "Fast Times at Ridgemont High" (Again, he's 19 - born 16 years after the movie came out). Damone: "When it comes down to making out, whenever possible, put on Side One of Led Zeppelin IV." Then cut to Ratner in the car with his date playing Kashmir (which is actually from Physical Graffiti and not Led Zeppelin IV).

So, had this discussion with someone in our office about how they toast their bread. This person states that they always just put it at the highest level and then pop it up manually when the bread is toasted at a level where they want it. Never heard of anyone doing it this way and asked, why don't you just set it at the correct level and let it pop up on it's own. She said it's quicker her way (even if this was true, how much quicker do you need a toaster to be?). I didn't get into the whole discussion with her, but isn't the dial just a timer (not something that sets the heat level in the toaster)?

So, after this conversation, I did a little research on the internet which confused me even more. I found these two sites that talk about it:

http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/gadgets/a13823/why-the-numbers-on-your-toaster-are-meaningless-17517402/

http://www.snopes.com/a-toaster-dial-is-for-minutes-not-level-of-toasty-ness/

I never assumed that each mark on the dial represented one minute, but I do assume that the higher place the dial, the longer the toast will toast until it automatically pops "more time = more toasty-ness", so it's not any quicker to set it at high and pop it when you think it's done. This is the part that confuses me about those sites:

As the narrator explains, most toasters are too cheap to have a timing chip. Instead, they rely upon a metal strip that curves when heated, and the numerical setting simply tells the toaster how far that strip must bend before it triggers the toast to pop.

Toaster's technically do not have a timer, but in a sense the metal strip and how long it takes it to curve basically acts as a timer...right? The metal strip always curves at the same rate so the higher you set the dial, the longer the toast will sit in the toaster until the strip is at the correct "curvature". If you don't want it to go to full curvature and are going to hit the manual pop-up at less than full curvature why would you not just eventually figure out the correct setting for that level of curvature and leave it there? There is no "time-saving" going on by setting it at the highest level and manually popping it when you think it's done. Am I missing something here?

Well, it also has a settings dial which is basically a timer (even though it is not technically called a timer). The higher you set it at, the longer the toast will sit in the toaster before automatically popping up (and the longer it sits in the toaster, the darker it gets). You are not adjusting temperature when you set that dial, you are adjusting waiting time. My frustration with the conversation I had a work was that this person is under the belief that if she sets the toaster at the top level and then manually ejects the toast when she believes it is "done" she's saving time (rather than just setting the toaster at the correct level to begin with).

I wasn't really trying to correct her, but rather trying to understand her logic. If you are going to set the toaster to the highest level and then just pop the toast manually when you think it's done, why not just put it closer to the level of when you want it to be done and let the toaster do the work? I understand that it's trial and error, but eventually you figure out the correct setting. It sounded like this is always how she makes toast, even at home.

I don't make toast at work, so it was not a matter of waiting for her. The conversation started because someone in the office burnt their toast (someone who has done this before). I was talking to her about this when she stated how she does it and thought well, that's why this person probably burns his toast on a regular basis, because he doesn't expect the toaster to be at the highest level.