March 2004 - Posts

Dihydrogen Monoxide, a New Threat to Human Health and Safety
In March 2004 the California municipality of Aliso Viejo (a suburb in Orange County) nearly voted to ban foam containers from city sponsored events because the hazardous chemical dihydrogen monoxide was used in their manufacture.

A paralegal doing research for the city used information from this web site, dedicated to the proliferation and dangers of this substance, to persuade the city that DHMO was a “threat to human health and safety." In his research he determined that:

  • DMHO is an odorless, tasteless chemical that can be deadly if accidentally inhaled.
  • Prolonged exposure to the solid form of this chemical causes severe tissue damage.
  • DHMO is present in nearly every creek, stream, pond, river, lake and reservoir in the U.S. and around the world. It is still legal to dump this chemical into any river, lake or ocean without any precaution. It has even been found in Antarctic ice.
  • DHMO is an "enabling component" of acid rain -- in the absence of sufficient quantities of DHMO, acid rain is not a problem.
  • Symptoms of DHMO ingestion can include excessive sweating and urination, and possibly a bloated feeling, nausea, vomiting and body electrolyte imbalance.

    • Governments all over the world refuse to ban the distribution and use of this chemical, citing its importance to their economies. It seems like dihydrogen monoxide is here to stay, and we will have to take our own measures to protect ourselves from it.
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    Posted 19 March 2004 03:53 PM by bkelly | no comments
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    Guinness, Guinness, Guiness
    Tonight I will drink a Guinness or two, as it is St. Patrick’s Day, and I am a Kelly. People all over the world will be celebrating with me, but how many know what St. Patrick’s Day is about?

    St. Patrick is famous for driving all the snakes out of Ireland. While it is true that there are no snakes in Ireland today, this feat is probably more symbolic. Serpent symbols were common in pagan worship, and this serpentine genocide possibly refers to his abolition of the pagan rites of the Druids and his introduction of Christianity to the island.

    One account of his death is at Saul, Downpatrick, Ireland, on March 17, 460 A.D, and it is said that his jawbone was preserved, and often used as a holy talisman at times of childbirth, epileptic fits, and in warding off the “evil eye”. It is somewhat ironic that a piece of the man that converted Ireland to Christianity be used to such ends, where faith in God would have been more appropriate. The throwing of human jawbones belongs somwehere in darkest Africa, not in the bright Emerald of Britain.

    The true spirit of St. Patrick’s Day, besides everything Irish, is the commemoration of the spiritual revolution this missionary brought to Ireland. While Druidry certainly did have its savage elements, such as burning human sacrifices alive, and surely many less organized pagan religions had their fair share of harmful superstitions, the history of Christianity in Ireland has not been a happy one, and one must ask if the eradication of one religion in favour of another one that has helped tear this island apart for so long was really worth it, and should we really be celebrating?
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    Posted 17 March 2004 01:02 PM by bkelly | 11 comment(s)
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