
Let’s go back to calling influenza “the grippe”.
Did you know acid phosphate was one of the original ingredients in Coca-Cola and essential at soda fountains?
Continue readingLet’s go back to calling influenza “the grippe”.
Did you know acid phosphate was one of the original ingredients in Coca-Cola and essential at soda fountains?
Continue readingThree ingredients: roasted wheat bran, wheat and molasses.
Postum was developed by C. W. Post, the Grape-Nuts guy.
Continue readingBone shards:
Some very interesting words are used to sell this amazing product. My apologies in advance if you are a Victorian hypochondriac.
Alterative — a drug used empirically to alter favorably the course of an ailment
Deobstruent — having the power to clear or open the natural ducts of the fluids and secretions of the body
Scrofula — a condition in which the bacteria that causes tuberculosis causes symptoms outside the lungs
King’s Evil — (AKA scrofula) a tuberculous swelling of the lymph glands, once popularly supposed to be curable by the touch of royalty
White Swellings – a swelling seen in tuberculous arthritis, esp. of the knee
Scrofulous — refers to scrofula, or figuratively, morally contaminated and corrupt
Indolent — lazy or slothlike, or a problem that causes no pain, or is slow-growing and not immediately problematic
Mercurial — characterized by rapid and unpredictable changeableness of mood
Neuralgia — a stabbing, burning, and often severe pain due to an irritated or damaged nerve.
Tic-Douloureux — a severe, stabbing pain to one side of the face
Goitre — (you might know this as “goiter”) a swelling of the thyroid gland that causes a lump in the front of the neck
Bronchocele (swelled neck) — impacted mucoid secretions within the bronchial tree
Tetter – any of various skin diseases, such as eczema, psoriasis, or herpes, characterized by eruptions and itching, or possibly ringworm for old-timers
Biles — either something having to do with your bile/liver/gall bladder, or going back even further, either of two bodily humours, one of which (black bile) was thought to cause melancholy and the other (yellow bile) anger
Carbuncles — a skin infection that often involves a group of hair follicles. The infected material forms a lump, which occurs deep in the skin and often contains pus.
Dyspepsia — indigestion
Dropsical Swellings — (AKA edema or dropsy) swelling caused by fluid retention
Don’t you feel smarter (and a little bit sicker) now?
Continue readingNo matter how nice you were asking,
Karen was totes against masking.
In science she’d scoff
As she said with a cough,
“In Covid I’d rather be basking.”
What a lovely and fashionable girl.
What do you suppose the 1913 ad she was featured in was selling?
Go ahead, take a guess.
An upscale department store?
No.
The season’s latest fur styles?
No.
A vacation to exotic Canada?
No.
Embalming fluid?
What are you, some kind of wise guy!?
Oh, wait…
You’re right!
It’s an ad for embalming fluid.
D-uh. It’s so obvious now!
Bone Shards:
Ripley’s has a lovely handful of weird embalming stories just waiting for you.
The next time you’re in Houston, don’t forget to stop at the National Museum of Funeral History. Slogan: “Any day above ground is a good one.”
I know! I’m sad I missed out on this auction too.
Continue readingWanna lose weight and get in great shape! Eat a shitload of sugar!
On second thought, don’t do dat.
Fun facts:
In the Middle Ages, rich and royal people would commission giant sugar sculptures called subtleties.
Artist Kara Walker confected us a modern one and called it “A Subtlety“.
Want more sugar trivia? Here ya go. Want ever more. Ok, but pace yourself.
Continue readingI imagine the guys who refuse to wear masks are the same guys who refuse to wear condoms.
Perhaps we should rebrand COVID-19 as Air AIDS.
Earlier, I considered rebranding COVID-19 as Death Breath, but that sounds like something that could be cured with a mint.
And originally, I thought we could change the Coronavirus’ name to Lung Gonorrhea, because Gonorrhea is one of the most awful-sounding words out there, but then I remembered that lung cancer is a very real thing but that doesn’t stop smokers from smoking. Until it does.