Category: Bad Things

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New Chemicals

In 1965, the CAS Chemical Registry System listed 211,934 synthetic chemicals. In 2006, that number rose to 88,758,285 and it’s still growing. Many of the chemicals are in products you use everyday from cosmetics to plastic toys.

Many soak through our skin or are breathed in and can be detected inside our bodies. For instance, researchers sprayed the common household oil, WD-40, on volunteers’ fingertips, and detected it in their blood five minutes later.

The average American male has a sperm count 75% lower than 40 years ago. Could this be partially due to these chemicals?

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Robocalls

Last year, Americans received 47.8 billion robocalls, averaging 146 calls per man, woman and child. One person who was probably the victim of a software bug, received 117 robocalls in a single day.

According to Congressman Greg Walden, “This year, nearly half the calls made to cell phones in the U.S. will be spam. These calls are more than just a pesky annoyance. Robocalls perpetuate fraud, threaten personal privacy, infiltrate our health care system, and undermine our communications system.”

Legally, robocalls can target only business phones, but that doesn’t seem to stop anyone.



Rep Greg Walden

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Big Farming

In the 1980s, more than a quarter-million family farms were shut down, as factory-farms took over. More than 900 farmers committed suicide. The number may be even higher, but many of the suicides appeared to be farm machinery accidents.

Now, we’re in an era of super-farming. For instance, 6 mega-dairy farms in Texas produce more organic milk than all 453 organic dairy farms in Wisconsin. Is the organic milk of the same quality when it comes from an operation of that size? Are the cows still grass-fed? Are they raised in pastures where they can live natural, happy cow lives, or merely fed grass (so they can be called ‘grass fed’) in crowded holding pens? Can everything remain organic when huge populations of cattle can rapidly spread a disease? Can the mega-farmers comply with truly organic requirements?

Source: https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/dairy-farming-is-dying-after-40-years-im-out/2018/12/21/79cd63e4-0314-11e9-b6a9-0aa5c2fcc9e4_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.26a5de358d17



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Plastic or Paper Cups?

What is better for our environment, use of polystyrene cups, or paper cups? Polystyrene. It takes twenty-four times more power to produce a paper cup. Furthermore, when a paper cup decomposes in a moist landfill (in dry soil, it doesn’t decompose any faster than plastic) it produces methane gas, a threat to add to the greenhouse effect.

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Fears

Here is a list of common fears:

Acrophobia – Fear of heights
Ailurophobia – Fear of cats
Arachnophobia – Fear of spiders
Ophidiophobia – Fear of snakes
Claustrophobia – Fear of confined spaces
Nyctophobia – Fear of the dark
Glossophobia – Fear of public speaking
Thanatophobia – Fear of death or dying
Trypophobia – Fear of clusters of small holes or bumps
Coulrophobia – Fear of clowns
Thalassophobia – Fear of deep bodies of water
Aviophobia – Fear of flying
Mysophobia – Fear of germs or dirt
Agoraphobia – Fear of open or crowded spaces
Hemophobia – Fear of blood
Dentophobia – Fear of dentists
Emetophobia – Fear of vomiting
Autophobia – Fear of being alone
Xenophobia – Fear of strangers or foreigners
Nosocomephobia – Fear of hospitals
Pyrophobia – Fear of fire
Taphophobia – Fear of being buried alive
Zoophobia – Fear of animals
Galeophobia – Fear of sharks
Atychiphobia – Fear of failure
Decidophobia – Fear of making decisions
Achluophobia – Fear of darkness
Entomophobia – Fear of insects
Phonophobia – Fear of loud noises
Cacophobia – Fear of ugliness or things perceived as ugly
Amaxophobia – Fear of driving or riding in a vehicle

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Worst Flower

The world’s largest flower is also one of the worst smelling flowers. Rafflesia Arnoldii is often over 3 feet (1 meter) wide and its petals are almost an inch (2.54 cm) thick. You wouldn’t want it in your garden, however, because it smells like a rotting animal. The flower is attempting to attract flies for pollination.

See the worst of everything: The Worst

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Pregnancy Quote

“If you’re pregnant, you go to the doctor and he treats you as if you’re sick. Childbirth is a nine-month disease which must be treated, so you’re sold on intravenous fluid bags, fetal monitors, a host of drugs, the totally unnecessary episiotomy, and – the top of the line product – the Caesarian delivery!” – Dr. Robert S. Mendelsohn, from his book, Confessions of a Medical Heretic