Category Archive

This public service ad from 1969 is about VD.  Of course, if you didn’t know what VD was, you might view this ad and think VD is something that will make you desireable, successful and happy.

I know people who own these, so this is a shoutout to them: The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission announced the recall of about 26,000 packages of Chinese-made "Hillbilly Teeth" due to a health hazard. The CPSC said the importer, Funtastic of Houston, initiated the recall because gray surface paint on the teeth was found to contain excessive levels of … Read More

The Independent: Mobile phones could kill far more people than smoking or asbestos, a study by an award-winning cancer expert has concluded. He says people should avoid using them wherever possible and that governments and the mobile phone industry must take "immediate steps" to reduce exposure to their radiation. The study, by Dr Vini Khurana, is the most devastating indictment … Read More

New York Times: In a highly unusual outbreak of measles here last month, 12 children fell ill; nine of them had not been inoculated against the virus because their parents objected, and the other three were too young to receive vaccines. The parents who objected to their children being inoculated are among a small but growing number of vaccine skeptics … Read More

Meat recalls, I can deal with, but when something goes awry with the nation’s pancake supply, that’s when I withdraw all my money from the ATM and head to the bomb shelter in fear of armegeddon. Strange news out of St. Louis: Dierbergs and Schnucks grocery stores said reported today that they have removed some pancake mixes off its shelves … Read More

It’s National Sleep Awareness Week, and we, as a nation, aren’t getting enough sleep. God knows I’m not. Below is the percent of adults who report getting less than 6 hours of sleep per night.  Note that the perecentages have risen since the question was last asked two decades ago. This is CDC data from 2006. There are some hints … Read More

For most of us, we don’t have to worry about contracting this stange paralysis-related illness which has yet to be named. But for workers who suck the brains out of dead pigs in a Minnesota Hormel plant, it’s a big concern. In any event, what’s been happening in Austin, Minnesota makes for an interesting and still-to-be-solved medical mystery story.  Kind … Read More

Remarkable legislation from the State of Mississippi:   HOUSE BILL NO. 282 An act to prohibit certain food establishments from serving food to any person who is obese, based on criteria prescribed by the state department of health; to direct the department to prepare written materials that describe and explain the criteria for determining whether a person is obese and … Read More

Sounds like a wive’s tale to me, but if you want to be safe, then leave them alone at night. Radiation from mobile phones delays and reduces sleep, and causes headaches and confusion, according to a new study. The research, sponsored by the mobile phone companies themselves, shows that using the handsets before bed causes people to take longer to … Read More

According to the Daily News, there is an epidemic in New York: A bedbug epidemic has exploded in every corner of New York City – striking even upper East Side luxury apartments owned by Gov. Spitzer’s father, the Daily News has learned. The blood-sucking nocturnal creatures have infested a Park Ave. penthouse, an artist’s colony in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, a $25 … Read More

A pretty cute public service message, actually, even it does make Barbie out to be a bit of an easy slut:

Well, that can’t be a good thing: U.S. safety officials have recalled about 4.2 million Chinese-made Aqua Dots bead toys that contain a chemical that has caused some children to vomit and become comatose after swallowing them. Scientists have found the popular toy’s coating contains a chemical that, once metabolized, converts into the toxic "date rape" drug GHB, or gamma-hydroxy … Read More