I had a tour of an aluminium smelting factory which I thought might be a bit boring, but was astounded at the skill and precision required to create all sorts of cooking pots and utensils. Moulds are made out of sand in boxes followed by pouring of recycled melted aluminium into the mould, where it cools rapidly and is finished on a spinning wheel to smooth the edges. These guys work so fast, I always thought that stuff was made by machines...
Then I went to the popcorn "factory"...
Small metal containers are spun at top speed by one person while another stokes the fire underneath. This happens for exactly 7 minutes, after which the lid is pull off and the popcorn literally explodes into a little wooden shack. Trying to get a photo and cover my ears at the same time didn't happen, it was so loud I thought the corn was popping inside my head! The product is then swept up off the floor and packaged into bags for sale... a bit of dirt never hurts.
