Re: One Explanation

1

Avoid exposing your children to lead and they'll grow up to be happy drinkers.


Posted by: AcademicLurker | Link to this comment | 12-12-16 10:13 AM
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2

WTF is Generation Lead? Lead was used in plumbing continuously from Roman times until the 20th century; it was used in cosmetics continuously from Mesopotamian civilisation until the 19th century, later in some countries.


Posted by: chris y | Link to this comment | 12-12-16 10:26 AM
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3

It's a tempting thought that the generation now entering adulthood is the first truly lead-free generation in centuries - at least in the cities; lead water pipes, you know - and that we are poised to enter some sort of Arthur C Clarke-type revolution in clarity of thought and calm rationality which will end with our grandchildren, intellects vast and warm and sympathetic, looking over to us in our life support capsules and asking "but did people really behave like this in the 1980s?" while watching "Karate Kid".


Posted by: ajay | Link to this comment | 12-12-16 10:27 AM
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4

You're the best around. Nothing heavy metal gonna bring you down.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 12-12-16 10:30 AM
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5

Leadites are the new Luddites.


Posted by: fake accent | Link to this comment | 12-12-16 10:39 AM
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6

Generation Leaded Gasoline. While lead's been around forever, there were only fifty or so years where were vaporizing it into the atmosphere and having it settle in a thin coating of dust over everything in populated areas.


Posted by: LizardBreath | Link to this comment | 12-12-16 10:41 AM
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7

I have had a similar thought about scary teen culture in the late fifties/early sixties. I can think of a bunch of novels I've read from that period that talk about teenagers as a frighteningly alien, irrationally violent group -- things like Blackboard Jungle, or for movies The Wild Bunch.

If it were adults who grew up in a less lead-heavy environment, looking at lead-damaged teenagers and young adults... it'd work pretty well.


Posted by: LizardBreath | Link to this comment | 12-12-16 10:46 AM
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8

6. But in previous generations it was the basis for a wide variety of paints which flaked off and settled in a thin coating of dust...


Posted by: chris y | Link to this comment | 12-12-16 10:49 AM
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9

Sure. But accidental chipping and abrasion isn't going to hit the same levels of dust generation that having it come out of the tailpipe of every car does. I haven't checked the numbers here, but the premise of the Kevin Drum Crusade (TM) is that lead exposure went way up in the mid-twentieth century, and that seems very believable to me.


Posted by: LizardBreath | Link to this comment | 12-12-16 10:55 AM
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10

It's also talked about in an episode of the rebooted Cosmos series with NdGT. Leaded gasoline led to exposures that were exponentially higher than anything we ever saw before or since.


Posted by: sam | Link to this comment | 12-12-16 11:28 AM
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11

What about Roman wine drinkers?


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 12-12-16 11:32 AM
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12

That does make me curious, do we have hard data to that effect or is it just a reasonable surmise?

(Makes sense to me either way, since with just paint it would only be indoor exposure.)


Posted by: Minivet | Link to this comment | 12-12-16 12:06 PM
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13

(To the effect that people's exposure was more than before leaded gasoline, rather than the big assertion about behavioral impact that is forever at issue.)


Posted by: Minivet | Link to this comment | 12-12-16 12:07 PM
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14

Here's a paper that on a quick skim says that atmospheric lead levels quadrupuled during the industrial revolution, but then tripled again when they started adding lead to gasoline in the twenties.


Posted by: LizardBreath | Link to this comment | 12-12-16 12:11 PM
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15

7: The Wild Bunch is about aging outlaws, not teenagers.

[Adjusts cowboy hat, gunbelt, spurs.]

And the only lead poisoning they had to worry about came from Ernest Borgnine a Colt .45. Works every time.


Posted by: Flippanter | Link to this comment | 12-12-16 12:22 PM
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16

Wrong movie. I meant Marlon Brando as a motorcycle gang: "What are you rebelling against?" "Whaddaya got?"

On googling, the one I wanted was "The Wild One."


Posted by: LizardBreath | Link to this comment | 12-12-16 12:31 PM
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17

Marlon Brando as a motorcycle gang

Brando didn't reach gang size until later in life.


Posted by: Todd | Link to this comment | 12-12-16 12:37 PM
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18

Todd, WMYBALB?


Posted by: LizardBreath | Link to this comment | 12-12-16 12:41 PM
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19

For the sake of a good joke!


Posted by: JRoth | Link to this comment | 12-12-16 1:09 PM
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20

17: I thought we agreed that unfogged was a no-Brando-shaming space.


Posted by: Flippanter | Link to this comment | 12-12-16 1:27 PM
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21

I've been thinking of Donald Trump as Mapache.


Posted by: CharleyCarp | Link to this comment | 12-12-16 1:56 PM
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22

And it was good joke! All power to JRoth.


Posted by: Mossy Character | Link to this comment | 12-12-16 2:29 PM
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23

||

We're moving out of my building at work, and into another, due to mold levels. The chair of my department is claiming we need to wipe down our books...so that we don't contaminate the new building? Am I right that this is a dumb stipulation that I can ignore? You don't introduce mold like that - a moldy book is stinky and gross, and if I have one maybe I don't want it anymore. But a book that seems normal is in fact normal, right?

|>


Posted by: heebie-geebie | Link to this comment | 12-12-16 2:48 PM
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24

that is the most asinine thing I've ever heard. Your dept chair should be shamed.


Posted by: urple | Link to this comment | 12-12-16 2:55 PM
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25

23: Boil them for ~10 minutes and they should be fine.


Posted by: AcademicLurker | Link to this comment | 12-12-16 2:56 PM
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26

Hope could brushing them off be safe, unless you're equipped with a full biohazard suit?


Posted by: CharleyCarp | Link to this comment | 12-12-16 2:57 PM
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27

I'll lick each one, and if it tastes ok, that's as far as I'm going.


Posted by: heebie-geebie | Link to this comment | 12-12-16 3:00 PM
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28

Why couldn't books carry mold spores from one place to another?


Posted by: JRoth | Link to this comment | 12-12-16 3:06 PM
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29

They could, but then infect the new building? Or just continue to be moldy books in a new place? It's not cholera.


Posted by: heebie-geebie | Link to this comment | 12-12-16 3:10 PM
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30

28 This. Use an electrostatic cloth.


Posted by: Barry Freed | Link to this comment | 12-12-16 3:10 PM
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31

28 This. Use an electrostatic cloth.


Posted by: Barry Freed | Link to this comment | 12-12-16 3:10 PM
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32

Once should be sufficient though.


Posted by: Barry Freed | Link to this comment | 12-12-16 3:11 PM
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33

So, does lead explain Bourbaki?


Posted by: Gentile Ben | Link to this comment | 12-12-16 3:38 PM
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34

Aren't mold spores everywhere and the only way they don't grow is if you keep out The Damp?


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 12-12-16 3:38 PM
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35

34 is right. There's no such thing as a mold problem, only a moisture problem, and anyone who tells you otherwise is trying to sell you overpriced mold mitigation. (That said, once you've solved your moisture problem, if you have enough mold around you're going to want to get rid of it.)


Posted by: Unfoggetarian: "Pause endlessly, then go in" (9) | Link to this comment | 12-12-16 4:14 PM
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36

"Rising Damp" would make a good name for a band.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 12-12-16 4:22 PM
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37

I think Paulie is meant to veer into comedy. Otherwise you'd be dwelling on how abusive he is.


Posted by: slolernr | Link to this comment | 12-12-16 4:46 PM
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38

slol!


Posted by: teofilo | Link to this comment | 12-12-16 4:58 PM
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39

Hey.


Posted by: slolernr | Link to this comment | 12-12-16 5:04 PM
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40

SLOL!!!


Posted by: nosflow | Link to this comment | 12-12-16 5:51 PM
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41

Earnin' the Slols.


Posted by: ogged | Link to this comment | 12-12-16 6:27 PM
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42

Somebody's gotta do it.


Posted by: slolernr | Link to this comment | 12-12-16 6:37 PM
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43

Oh slol mio.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 12-12-16 6:40 PM
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44

Oh yeah, The Damp! One of the least-known punk bands. They had only one hit: "Peat Peat Peat".


Posted by: Todd | Link to this comment | 12-12-16 7:00 PM
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45

Heh.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 12-12-16 7:02 PM
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46

Well, there was the extended version,"Repeat, repeat, repeat"


Posted by: slolernr | Link to this comment | 12-12-16 7:21 PM
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47

Oh good lord.


Posted by: LizardBreath | Link to this comment | 12-12-16 7:36 PM
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48

Peat and Repeat grew on a wall. Peat did not fall off.


Posted by: heebie-geebie | Link to this comment | 12-12-16 7:49 PM
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49

Then what


Posted by: nosflow | Link to this comment | 12-12-16 8:10 PM
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50

They just kind of sat there for a while, then they got buried by sediment and changed their names to Coal and Recoal.


Posted by: teofilo | Link to this comment | 12-12-16 8:21 PM
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51

They got made into electrical parts, named Coil and Recoil.


Posted by: heebie-geebie | Link to this comment | 12-12-16 8:25 PM
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52

Oh good lord.

LB isn't happy to see me.


Posted by: slolernr | Link to this comment | 12-12-16 8:35 PM
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53

All the more reason to stick around, slol!


Posted by: Thorn | Link to this comment | 12-12-16 8:36 PM
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54

Don't mind her. It's Megan you need to make wince.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 12-12-16 8:37 PM
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55

It's Megan you need to make wince.

Try accusing her of supporting dictatorship. (Not guaranteed to work.)


Posted by: teofilo | Link to this comment | 12-12-16 8:39 PM
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56

It only counts with puns.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 12-12-16 8:53 PM
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57

That probably works better anyway.


Posted by: teofilo | Link to this comment | 12-12-16 9:09 PM
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58

One good way to make me wince is to preemptively spoil your own jokes by signing as OPINIONATED. That's an easy way, if you can't think of any puns.


Posted by: Megan | Link to this comment | 12-12-16 9:16 PM
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59

You can't prove which of those are mine.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 12-12-16 9:17 PM
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60

Not that I ever can't think of any puns.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 12-12-16 9:18 PM
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61

One doesn't think of a pun. It comes to one.


Posted by: slolernr | Link to this comment | 12-12-16 9:18 PM
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62

There's no such thing as joke spoilage, only joke moisture.


Posted by: OPINIONATED | Link to this comment | 12-12-16 10:19 PM
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63

SLOL! (sorry, it took me a while to realize you were here.)


Posted by: alameida | Link to this comment | 12-12-16 11:36 PM
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64

Almost as if you learned, slowly.


Posted by: Mossy Character | Link to this comment | 12-13-16 2:37 AM
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65

One good way to make me wince is to preemptively spoil your own jokes by signing as OPINIONATED

Note to self: Megan reads things from the bottom up rather than the top down.


Posted by: ajay | Link to this comment | 12-13-16 3:01 AM
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66

That can be more efficient when studying water supply.


Posted by: Mossy Character | Link to this comment | 12-13-16 4:37 AM
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67

FWIW, I agree with 35.

-JRoth


Posted by: Don't worry, Megan, no puns here. | Link to this comment | 12-13-16 6:54 AM
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68

One good way to make me wince is to preemptively spoil your own jokes by signing as OPINIONATED.

That annoys me too.


Posted by: Opinionated AcademicLurker | Link to this comment | 12-13-16 6:54 AM
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69

Comrade Putin will be informed of your views.


Posted by: Opinionated Soviet Tank Commander/Lactation Consultant | Link to this comment | 12-13-16 6:56 AM
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70

48, 50, 51: Ed Reed.


Posted by: JP "OPINIONATED" Stormcrow | Link to this comment | 12-13-16 7:41 AM
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71

What is "opinionated" in Indonesian?


Posted by: DaveLMA | Link to this comment | 12-13-16 2:31 PM
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72

It's a tempting thought that the generation now entering adulthood is the first truly lead-free generation in centuries - at least in the cities; lead water pipes, you know - and that we are poised to enter some sort of Arthur C Clarke-type revolution in clarity of thought and calm rationality which will end with our grandchildren, intellects vast and warm and sympathetic, looking over to us in our life support capsules and asking "but did people really behave like this in the 1980s?" while watching "Karate Kid".

This process is documented in Demolition Man.


Posted by: Ginger Yellow | Link to this comment | 12-14-16 8:58 AM
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73

73 Does this mean we'll have to learn how to use the three seashells?


Posted by: Barry Freed | Link to this comment | 12-14-16 12:58 PM
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