This is sort of a shower thought because this morning I was using some shaving cream and I thought, if it turns out in 5 years this was giving me cancer, I wouldn’t be surprised.
Comes out a goo, ejected from a can with force, immediately becomes a foam?
Do you have anything you use that you think might be too good to be true?
Our phones are probably doing something to us
I read somewhere that the existence of the internet massively stifles our ability to reason. For every question I have, spending a few minutes to ponder what the most plausible answer is provides a small workout for my brain. If everything I’m curious about is answered within seconds, I don’t get those mental workouts.
I think that comes down to your desire to learn. One person might just repeat a google answer but another person might spend some time thinking about why it’s the right answer.
Google is how people get degrees after all, it’s the modern day version of hunting down books in libraries
I think there are many questions where it’s very easy to convince yourself the solution is obvious after you’ve been shown it, but it’s less obvious for someone who is taking the time to try to figure it out on their own.
I teach college math courses (usually around calculus-level), and for every exam I give I will write a practice exam to post online a week before, and I’ll devote the lecture prior to the exam to reviewing those problems. I try to make every problem that appears on the exam very similar to one that was on the practice. The students who attempt the problems before the review session, even the students who get incorrect solutions in the process, will bulldoze their exams and will say it was essentially identical to the practice, while the students who just watch me give the solutions and copy down what I’m writing will tell me the practice was easy but this was barely similar at all.
When you see an obvious solution immediately, you completely bypass seeing potential stumbling blocks which might have tripped you up.
I get what you’re saying about how people establish stronger pathways when they discover something on their own rather than copying something down but at the same time, that’s how education works. You have something explained to you simply first, whether that’s by human instruction like a prof or written instruction/visual demonstration like doing your own research on google. Of course there are low quality/high quality internet sources just like there are low quality/high quality professors and that goes back to how much of a desire the student has to learn, whether they just want to copy and paste answers or actually understand why it is that answer.
As a math teacher I’m sure you can agree that high level academics depends on having a understanding of the fundamentals. If I don’t understand algebra or polynomials then It’s going to take me a while to get a hang of derivatives or calculus and that doesn’t mean I’m stupid or lazy, I just haven’t devoted my life to that specific field because I have 9 other courses to study at the same time. Graduation numbers would be insanely low if we expected kids to figure everything out on their own without access to previous knowledge like the internet. Having the world’s library at your fingertips gives you the ability to copy and paste but also the ability to be an autodidact, it really depends on that specific person’s desire and goals.
I had a lot of foreign students as TA’s for my calc courses, I know it’s not their fault but it was really difficult for a lot of us to understand their accents and we didn’t want to be rude by asking them to repeat themselves all the time. If I didn’t learn google-fu for explanations on concepts I would have failed those classes easily.
I was trying to use an example from personal experience to illustrate the benefit, but my point is that immediate answers wasn’t an option not too long ago, so curiosities you actually did want answered would necessarily have that delay. Being able to learn things well in spite of this shift is becoming a skill not everyone has. It’s something that needs to be nurtured, and it’s now easy to neglect, which really can affect everyone, although obviously some attitudes and lifestyles will be hit harder than others.
Something of a tangent but honestly I hate the way academia works here in general and I resent my role in contributing to math being used as a barrier to a better life. Unfortunately, I do need a career of some sort and there are worse things I could be doing. So I play by the rules well enough to keep my job and just try to do my best to be understanding.
I didn’t even enjoy math myself until I took an analysis course because I thought a math minor would help with job prospects. I always had an easy time with math and when I took analysis I got a D the first time and barely scraped by with a C the second. Math is actually interesting when you feel there’s creativity required in problem-solving, but it’s not reasonable to demand that in a lower-level math course because it doesn’t mesh well with a course existing primarily as a roadblock for students.
A hardworking student might still struggle to develop that creativity quickly enough to get through the course unscathed, which is fine if you’re enrolled because you just want to learn, but not fine for students trying to get good grades or at least pass everything to get through as quickly as possible. A student might have the crazy idea that failing is a financial hit or something. The result is you’re simply put through a grind until you voluntarily take on a course beyond the calculus sequence.
What I’m getting at is that I think your complaints all stem from the fact that, in spite of what we’re all forced to pretend, education is not the main purpose of academia.
We know that depending on your use it can ruin your attention span. But I agree, it’s probably worse than we know.
Probably my asbestos fake snow.
I’ll stick to my anthrax lip balm.
But your snow is, at least, fireproof!
Not all snow can make that promise. Some is quite flammable.
I didn’t even know such a thing existed!
It was pretty common, even after the dangers of asbestos were well-known. The most famous example is probably the Wizard of Oz, but it was used all over the place.
The skin paints weren’t so great either.
I can promise you it’s not nearly as bad as not taking your insulin.
UHT milk.
I’ve been mad about UHT milk ever since I discovered I can’t make clotted cream with the ultra high temperature stuff. I don’t want unpastuerized milk but ffs, let me have some texture I can work with!
You make clotted cream from milk? Doesn’t that take like a week? Don’t you usually start with some form of cream?
I mean, I made it once from double cream, but they don’t sell that here in the Netherlands, and it’s so not worth the time compared to just buying a jar of clotted cream.
More power to you though!
You can make it from milk and butter if I remember. You can make it from double cream (heavy whipping cream in the US).
And I would love to just buy a jar but I can’t find them anywhere except online!! It’s such a shame because I grew up enjoying it, and went a few years too busy to have anything with it, and then when I went to buy it… nowhere.
Eta: If someone has a solution for me in the US thst doesn’t involve paying a fortune online, I am all ears! More ears than anything really.
Does it count if I already know whiskey is bad for me?
It absolutely counts, if you wouldn’t be surprised to learn that it’s worse for you than you know.
Air fryers.
Most of them are designed so poorly that it’s also impossible to get all grease out of them. That can’t be healthy. My sister has a ninja air fryer, you can’t remove the top grate. There is grease build up in there. A friend of mine has one he brings it over during the Super Bowl party, the moment he opens up the lid on it you can smell the old grease come out of it. That’s not an exaggeration. There’s no way in hell that can be healthy. So it won’t surprise me if years from now people go we should never have used those.
It also won’t surprise me too much if there’s some health hazard with them other than just the buildup of grease.
Sidenote, what are these companies thinking to make a product where they know there’s going to be grease that is going to build up, and make it in a way that makes it almost impossible if not completely impossible to clean said grease?
Unless they thought process is: use it three times throw it away go buy a new one.
It also won’t surprise me too much if there’s some health hazard with them other than just the buildup of grease.
It’s an electric heating element and a fan, same as a convection oven except it exhausts rather than recirculates the air. Any issues beyond the grease buildup you mention would apply to any electric oven or toaster.
Yes but with an oven you can get in there and clean it. The grate at the top of the air fryer is built in away, where you can’t really clean it.
I have a toaster oven / convection oven / air fryer combo and it doesn’t suffer from this issue.
Mainly, what I was trying to point out is aside from the grease issue that was pointed out, there’s nothing special about air fryers. Any issue aside from grease buildup would also affect convection ovens, which have existed for a long time with no ill effects noted. It’s just an electric heating element and a fan, they’re not doing anything that special. I don’t think they’re going to be found to be dangerous in the future.
I too have watched Technology Connection’s video on the topic. :P
Oh my gosh, I never thought of that!
I bought an air fryer, but honestly, I never use it because I hate cleaning the basket. I didn’t even think about the top!
Adding this one to my list. Definitely nothing good about blasting your food with old oils.
Mine is one of my most non-stick surfaces and usually wipes clean with a paper towel
…. Now that I’ve been trying to move away from teflon
Huh we bought an expensive air fryer because my in-laws wouldn’t stop bragging about it. It was on super discount because bed bath and beyond was going out of business, but still super expensive. And I’ve never had any problem cleaning it, in fact it’s the easiest dish we own to clean, the grease just wipes out and the tray is removable.
I’m so nervous I’m going to find out aquaphor is bad. I’ve been spreading it on my baby’s diaper area since they were born. I know she’s absorbing it right into her little body. There’s been so many articles about how diapers and tampons and pads are all just awful for us and full of lead and who knows what else and we’re putting them right against our mucus membranes and just poisoning ourselves.
If you want to try something else, Burt’s bees has a healing ointment for babies that is shea butter based instead of petroleum. Never actually used it on a baby myself lol but it worked wonders for me on my scalp (I have curly biracial hair and I’m picky about what goes in it) and scaly winter hands!
Bottled water. The plastic contaminates the fluid. Just drink straight from the sink if you live in an area that allows for it!
I bet you’re right. If you leave a plastic bottle in the sun, the water tastes god-awful.
It doesn’t even have to change temperature, it is enough that the water remains in the bottle for few days for plastic to start “decomposing” (probably not the correct word for it). And by the time you buy the bottle, it has been long since it was filled in the first place.
Oh, and the expiration date on the water bottles? Obviously it’s not the water getting stale. It’s for the plastic.
Tap water in super contaminated with PFAS in most areas, pick your poison
(Or get a reverse osmosis filter)
I switched over to have water delivered to my home in glass bottles (fortunately multi-use glass bottles are still a thing here in Germany). It tastes so much better than the same brand from PET bottles.
(Why don’t I drink tap water? Because I want my water sparkling with CO2 bubbles, and I don’t like the simple carbonaton appliance)
Methadone
Commercial yogurt. Yeah maybe it’s just a tasty and healthy probiotic. Or maybe it’s a way for food conglomerates to change our gut bacteria so that we crave even more foods with cheap sugar.
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That’s why I use a mini split ductless unit. A lot easier to clean.
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I’ve read articles with such claims, but not really reputable sources.
However I like the idea of the timer ones where in theory you could have the bed preheated for you, but never be in it when it’s on.
Most heated blankets have such a feature
The fireproofing chemicals are pretty bad for you.
Nah whats a little rapid oxidization between friends?
Source?
I haven’t been able to use one of these since I used a crummy one about 12 years ago and got burned, but it was so insanely nice to be so toasty.
My wife uses on every night, and it’s just a Walmart special no-name brand heating pad. Never had problems with burning even with kids and pets in the mix to really do a number on them
Probably my vape tbh
I wouldn’t be surprised. I wish there was a way to enjoy flavor without any horrific side effects.
Tea, maybe?
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Not with that attitude!
I also drink tea but in between swallows I could see myself enjoying a vape, if they weren’t bad for me. Which is why I have never used one.
E: Drinking Yukon Gold at the mo’.
I figure we may see documetaries in yhr next decade on how Vape industry was complicit like the tabacco industry was
There already are those documentaries? Jule or whatever it’s called has already been doing the exact same stuff that the tobacco industry did for literally a decade now.
I mean, that’s just how capitalism works. The health of your consumers isn’t relevant, unless a law mandates it.
A majority of vape brands are already owned by tobacco companies.
Like, an organic banana vs a original banana. What the fuck am I missing out on here?
Mostly I’ve noticed the organic ones have more flavour. If there’s nutritional differences, I’d mostly expect it to just be more of the same nutrients in the organic version.
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Warfarin blood thinners.
Wouldn’t be surprised if we find later that after decades of use that someone’s body can gain resistance to it. I’d be fucked since I’m on the blood thinner train for life*.
*or until we can start printing human cells to recreate human parts
