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( Jun. 7th, 2010 01:09 pm)

A little piece of cigarette history I've only just discovered:

By the early 1950s, the link between smoking and lung cancer–long discussed in medical journals–was getting increased attention in the popular press. As they do to this day, the tobacco companies denied smoking was dangerous, but behaved as if they knew better. Threatened with the loss of jittery customers, they launched new filter brands to convince smokers their habit could be safe. [...] Once an oddity, the filter tip soon dominated cigarette sales, as millions who might have quit were able to rationalize their habit, thanks to these "safer" smokes. Smokers bought L&M filters, said to be "just what the doctor ordered!" They bought Parliaments, which provided "maximum health protection." And they bought Kent, whose "Micronite" filter made the biggest splash of all.

Kent was launched in 1952 by P. Lorillard Co. and named for its president, Herbert A. Kent. Something of a maverick among the cigarette makers, Lorillard came closest to admitting that cigarettes were harmful. It promoted Kent as the brand for "the 1 out of every 3 smokers who is unusually sensitive to tobacco tars and nicotine." It said Kent offered them "the greatest health protection in cigarette history."

In double page magazine ads that played on the public’s gee-whiz faith in science and technology, Lorillard said its quest for the new filter "ended in an atomic energy plant, where the makers of KENT found a material being used to filter air of microscopic impurities."

"What is ‘Micronite’?" another ad asked. "It’s a pure, dust-free, completely harmless material that is so safe, so effective, it actually is used to help filter the air in hospital operating rooms."

In reality, the Micronite filter–whose actual composition the ads never revealed–contained a particularly dangerous form of asbestos. [...] There was asbestos in the filter from 1952 at least until 1957. During this time, according to sales figures, Americans puffed their way through over 13 billion Kents. It is unknown if Kent smokers inhaled asbestos from the filter, or if they have experienced a higher rate of cancer than smokers of other brands.

Lorillard would not respond to written questions on this subject, nor to separate requests to three vice presidents to tell the company’s side. The company offered a single piece of information: "We do not have asbestos in our products, nor have we had for many years," said Sara Ridgway, Lorillard vice president for public relations. "That is all I’m going to say."

— "The Greatest Health Protection In Cigarette History!", Myron Levin, 1987

I just crushed my co-worker's preconceptions by informing him that no, "not from concentrate" orange juice is not in effect any different to a juice which is from concentrate.

When water is added back to the concentrate, the product is labeled "reconstituted" or "made from concentrate" and has the same nutrition profile as the original juice.
— "Juice up your diet", 11 Jun 2008, Peggy J. Noonan, CNN health

"It's a misconception that it's freshly squeezed from the groves of Florida," she said. Rather, it's often a heavily processed product. In the pasteurization process, it's heated, stripped of oxygen and flavor chemicals, then put in huge storage vats for up to a year. When it's ready for packaging, flavor derived from orange essence and oils is added to make it taste fresh. Each company has its own special flavor pack, but to call it natural at this point is a real stretch.
— "That not-from-concentrate orange juice? It's not so good for your budget", Jul 2009, John Ewoldt, Minneapolis Star Tribune

Fresh orange juice, on the other hand, is a totally different thing, and is both nutritionally better for you [Noonan 2008] and tastier [Ewoldt 2009] than either reconstituted or not-from-concentrate juices.
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( Sep. 17th, 2007 09:42 pm)

Today I spent an hour dragging my tubby frame up a climbing wall repeatedly — something I haven't done in literally years. I had forgotten several things about climbing:

  1. It bloody hurts
  2. It's bloody terrifying
  3. Fit, talented people are annoying
  4. The routes marked "easy" aren't
  5. You always end up pulling muscles that you previously had not even suspected the existence of
  6. "Climbing wall vs. skin" is a rather one-sided match
  7. Your fingers don't work for the rest of the evening
  8. In general, "ow"

Can't wait to go again next week!

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( Apr. 11th, 2007 10:00 am)
[livejournal.com profile] galaxy_girl00 has been suffering yesterday and today with a hurty wrist. Not sure what it is; whenever she moves it in certain directions, she gets shooting pains down the outsides of her wrist. Symptoms don't sound quite right for RSI, but she can't think of any incident where she might have injured it, either.

Yesterday she was keeping it bound up and trying not to move it, which I thought was sensible, given that moving causes hurtyness. This morning, however, she phoned NHS 24, who advised her to "keep it mobile". I advised her, in turn, to ignore this advice, and to go in and see a real doctor instead.

(No offense meant to nurses — some of them are competent.)
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( Mar. 30th, 2006 06:40 pm)

This has been going round in email for a couple of years now, and has recently made it onto LiveJournal (courtesy of [livejournal.com profile] lisatheriveter).

RECOGNISING A STROKE

Sometimes symptoms of a stroke are difficult to identify. Unfortunately, the lack of awareness spells disaster. The stroke victim may suffer brain damage while people nearby fail to recognize the tell-tale symptoms.

Now doctors say a bystander can recognize a stroke by asking three simple questions:

  1. Ask the individual to SMILE.
  2. Ask him or her to RAISE BOTH ARMS.
  3. Ask the person to SAY A SIMPLE SENTENCE.

If he or she has trouble with any of these tasks, call for an ambulance immediately and describe the symptoms to the dispatcher.

After discovering that a group of non-medical volunteers could identify facial weakness, arm weakness and speech problems, researchers urged the general public to learn the three questions. They presented their conclusions at the American Stroke Association's annual meeting in 2003. Widespread use of this test could result in prompt diagnosis and treatment of the stroke and prevent brain damage.

Reference: The American Heart Association.
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Meh

( Dec. 14th, 2005 08:30 pm)
Went to juggling today, for the first time in yonks. Unfortunately the whole thing seemed to bring up some negative associations. Got paranoid and ran off. Walked home feeling slightly pathetic and sorry for myself.   8^(

Somewhat better now, though. I guess it just shows that no matter how much better you might be feeling, emotional baggage has a habit of lurking in the corners of the mental attic.

Of course, I can't just run away from everything that I was; it's unhealthy, and anyway, I have friends that I don't want to lose. But "slowly, slowly" seems to be the way to do it.

On the plus side: got hugs, and proved to myself that I haven't forgotten how to juggle.
So, I've been trying to get rid of stomach/abdominal cramps, and so am experimenting with cutting ingredients out of my diet. First experiment is going gluten-free. Read more... )
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