Idiots

Nothing I appreciate more than the fact that any low-grade idiot with a keyboard can post whatever they want on the internet. My latest find comes from "Anne F" and the Mannsfield-Storrs Patch (of idiots, one would assume). The article covers brining turkeys. I was looking for a decent brine recipe for Thankspigging.


To wit:
"In an era of health consciousness, high blood pressure and many out of shape, it seems lunacy for someone to recommend, and a responsible news service to report, a recipe that soaks a healthful food (turkey) in pure salt. Why not just take a syringe with the brine water and mainline it into a vein? Nutso!"


Yes, "Anne F", yes! The overwhelming evidence that salt is so terrible for you (please note my sarcasm). Dietary sodium intake has much contradictory evidence as to whether it worsens blood pressure. I'm also unaware of any evidence linking sodium intake with "out of shape". Further, when brining not all of the salt is absorbed into the meat.


Let's also not forget about evidence that turkey isn't really a "healthful food", oh and what about this, too? Let's also remember that cooking meat is also bad for you.


So let's all just gnaw on some bark! Congrats "Anne F" you are my idiot of the month (and in front running for idiot of the year).

This year's Thankspigging wines

Plus Hickory smoked stout and Denny's Rye IPA.

Thankspigging

Behold a new American holiday - Thankspigging!

Russia Classifies Beer as Alcoholic

Russia Classifies Beer as Alcoholic: "

BBC News:

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has signed a bill that
officially classifies beer as alcoholic.

Until now anything containing less than 10% alcohol in Russia has
been considered a foodstuff.

"

I'm aghast.

Renaming illegally named files in Windows

I tried and tried and google'd the hell out of it. The only reasonable way seems to be to burn a live CD of Linux. Shame nobody makes such a utility.

In which it is revealed that too many blog posts start with "In which it is..."

There. Now go write something more creative.

Re: Expert help on Lifehacker (or why not to volunteer to be an expert)

Hey [name removed to protect the innocent] -

Sorry for taking a while to get back to you.

I'm afraid there's no correct answer. Particularly for men - men can wipe however they want without any consequences other than social ill will from smelling bad. It's alleged that women should wipe front-to-back to avoid urinary tract infection. This certainly seems reasonable as it makes sense that keeping feces away from the female urethra would keep the area sterile (urine itself is sterile, after all). Unfortunately, there are no randomized, placebo-controlled studies looking into this that I am aware of.

In researching your question, I did come across some interesting facts about the history of toilet paper (there's a Wikipedia entry). Also, I enjoyed the humorous website http://howtowipeyourbutt.com/ in researching this piece. It almost looks like something from http://theoatmeal.com/, but it's not.

Anyway, hope this helps. As a gastroenterologist, believe it or not, it's a question that no patient has ever, ever asked me.

Best,

commander flatus

On Fri, May 20, 2011 at 6:49 PM, [removed] <[removed]@lifehacker.com> wrote:

Hi [commander flatus],

Thanks for emailing in to volunteer your expertise. We're starting up a section next week called "Am I Doing This Right" (title not yet finalized), that takes basic stuff that you and I and everyone else does on a daily basis, and asks an expert if we are, in fact, doing it correctly.

Here's the question/activity I'm concentrating on first: wiping your butt. Silly topic, but one that's pretty interesting. How many people are doing it the "wrong" way? We'll find out.

So my question to you, as a medical professional, what is the "correct" way of wiping? Front to back, or back to front? And what are the medical reasons why and why not?

Feel free to write as much as you like, giving opinions, examples or even previous cases where you've encountered this. (No names necessary.)

Thanks for helping out Lifehacker! Don't forget to include any websites or links or info you'd like us to credit you under.

--
[removed contact info]