But there really is such a thing. And a team of t.p. researchers (yes! there’s more than one!) have created a 3-ply toilet paper. Because 3-ply is better than 2-ply right?

Researchers at George Pacific came up with the idea and it launched as part of their Quilted Northern line of products. The target audience for this ‘innovation’ – women over 45 who view their bathroom as “sanctuary” for their “quality time.” I’m trying not to snort here.

Hey, it’s cool that they’re trying to improve their product. But I think they may need to work on that marketing plan.

[source] Image: Newscom

Post from: Simply Dumb

And just like snake venom is used as an antidote to snake bites, Gila monster venom is being used medicinally, too. For controlling a diabetic’s blood sugar.

A few years ago, researchers discovered that a hormone in Gila monster saliva can help diabetics control their blood sugar. It’s on the market as Byetta, but some people call it “lizard spit.” Hmmm, not exactly a winning marketing term, is it?

But it seems to work and some patients are responding quite well to Byetta, controlling their blood sugar AND losing weight. Weight loss is tough for a diabetic, and most blood sugar controlling drugs don’t help with that, from what I’ve seen. A drug that does both would be a big deal to a lot of diabetics.

The bad news is that it can cause pancreatic problems. So it’s not without risks. But for many patients, the potential weight loss and blood sugar control would probably be far more appealing than the risks.

That is, of course, if they can get over the fact that they’re taking lizard spit. Yum.

Image: Newscom
[source]

Post from: Simply Dumb

Well how do you like that. French scientists are using particle accelerators to help authenticate vintage wines. As if the French weren’t big enough wine snobs to begin with. Not to mention that somebody paid for this research.

Don’t get me wrong, I like a good glass of wine now and again. But I am not a sommelier by any stretch. So forgive me if I find this new technique – or even the fact that it’s ‘needed’ – a little odd.

So how do they do it? They test the age of the glass in wine bottles by placing them under ion beams and analyzing the emitted X-rays. It’s supposed to not only verify the age, but the origin of the bottle. All without opening the bottle.

And that’s the important part for collectors. You wouldn’t want to ruin a bottle by opening it, but how else are you going to tell if it’s authentic? With this new method, the wine remains safely unopened. Interesting. I bet that serious collectors will love this idea.

Looks like a London wine dealer helped the National Centre for Scientific Research develop the new test.

[Source]

Post from: Simply Dumb

No, seriously.

Dr. Bhimu Patil said watermelon is high in phyto-nutrients, natural compounds that produce beneficial effects in the human body. Citrulline is the chemical that reportedly has the – ahem, special effect. Patil does note that the chemical is not as “organ specific” (his words, not mine) as Viagra. It doesn’t have the laundry list of side effects the drug does either. Thank God. Nobody wants to call the doctor because they got an erection lasting more than four hours from eating watermelon.

In addition to relaxing blood vessels, watermelon has chemicals that remove toxins from the body and help maintain a healthy immune system. I’m still having a difficult time reconciling this revelation though.  Maybe I should tell our church picnic director to go with honeydews this year…

Image by Bryan Sheffield licensed under Creative Commons.

Post from: Simply Dumb

Image details: Used Tea Bag served by picapp.com

A Florida man was arrested for violating bond after he failed a drug test. Happens all the time, right? The man claims it was herbal tea that caused him to fail the test.

His mother had served him a Bolivian herbal tea called Mate de Coca. It’s made from the coca plant. Yes, he tested positive for cocaine. But since he’d never been up on drug charges before, the judge released him from jail.

So let’s see, we shouldn’t eat poppy seeds because it will test positive for heroin. And now we shouldn’t drink Mate de Coca because it hits for cocaine? Interesting.

We saved the best part of the story for last. The man’s mom said she gave him tea because he wasn’t feeling well. She apparently won’t use the tea anymore. You think?

Post from: Simply Dumb

Pluto and other objects like it have earned a new designation: plutoids. The International Astronomical Association announced the new description Wednesday. Plutoids are celestial bodies in orbit around the sun farther away than Neptune. But that’s not all. They must have a near-spherical shape and no other smaller objects swept up in their orbits.

Right now the only two plutoids are Pluto and Eris but astronomers anticipate finding more in the coming years. The other most famous Pluto, Mickey Mouse’s faithful pet, had no comment on this issue.

Image courtesy of Newscom.

Post from: Simply Dumb

A search-and-rescue dog got a second chance after being diagnosed with a complete electrical heart blockage. Surgeons at the University of Missouri installed a pacemaker in a 5-year-old chocolate lab’s heart.

The dog, named Molly, helps search-and-rescue find murder victims and survivors of natural disasers. Her owners, Allen and Alicia Brown received multiple offers of help after the Joplin Globe reported on the dog’s heart problems.

Medtronic Inc., a medical technology company, donated the pacemaker, while a Kansas man offered to pay up to $2,000 towards the surgery.

Molly, normally energetic, became lethargic and out of breath last month, according to the AP. Veterinarians think Molly (her full name is The Unsinkable Molly Brown) had a heart attack.

This story isn’t really dumb, just a little odd. But it looks like there’s good reason to do what they can for Molly. It can take two years to train a search-and-rescue dog, while buying a fully trained one can cost upwards of $20K. They hope she’ll be back to work after a couple of months of limited activity. Saving her could save people’s lives due to the type of rescue she does.

Image: Newscom

Post from: Simply Dumb

Kenton Stufflebeam, an 11-year-old from Michigan, noticed a bold notation in the museum’s Tower of Time display that mistakenly identified the Precambrian as an era. The Precambrian is a dimensionless unit of time encompassing all the time between the beginning of Earth and the beginning of the Cambrian period of geologic time.

Yeah, I so knew all that info before I Googled. Young Stufflebeam told the Kalamazoo Gazette his teacher almost made the same mistake in earth science class. Last week the museum sent the Kenton a letter acknowledging that he was correct. However, the museum addressed the letter to Kenton Slufflebeam of Allegeny.

Maybe they should put Kenton in charge of fact checking, that is, if Jeff Foxworthy hasn’t already hired him.

Post from: Simply Dumb

Dubbed Henry the Hexapus, it seems that this guy suffers from a birth defect where two of the sets of legs failed to separate during gestation. 

This brings a whole new meaning to the term webbed feet…

Check out the story here at CNN.

Post from: Simply Dumb

According to a new study published in Science magazine, up to 85% of snowflake nuclei are bacteria.  The most common bacteria found was Pseudomonas syringae, which can cause disease in several types of plants including tomatoes and beans.

Gross stuff, eh?

source

Post from: Simply Dumb