The History of the McDonald’s ‘Cocaine Spoon’ | Mental Floss

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The History of the McDonald’s ‘Cocaine Spoon’ | Mental Floss

In 1979, a controversy was brewing at McDonald’s. The concern was over a small plastic utensil that had a spoon on one end and the company's name and those famous arches on the other. Millions of the spoons were in the company’s restaurants all over America, and most people were using them for their intended purpose—to stir coffee.

But others had discovered an alternative use: The spoons were purportedly also ideal for snorting cocaine

Catching a Killer Doctor

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Catching a Killer Doctor

3/19/21 by Pushkin Industries

Web player: https://podcastaddict.com/episode/120603572
Episode: https://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/chtbl.com/track/39E17/traffic.megaphone.fm/HSW1450694571.mp3

Family doctor Harold Shipman got away with murdering his patients for decades. He was one of the most prolific serial killers in history – but his hundreds of crimes largely went unnoticed despite a vast paper trail of death certificates he himself had signed. Why do we sometimes fail to see awful things happening right under our noses? And how can the systems that maintain quality control in cookie factories be employed to prevent another doctor like Shipman killing with impunity?

Hauling Water 💦

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Hauling Water 💦

I was listening to a Robert Caro lecture about Lyndon Johnson the other night. He was talking about what a big deal electrification was to rural Texas homes in an era when many ranch wives were still hauling water by hand from wells to their homes, backbreaking work without electric or mechanical pumps and hoses. I follow a lot of off-griders these days out west, and many still rely on hauling water onsite, although they tend to use electric or gas powered pumps to move water between tanks from their pickup trucks to storage in buildings and and barns.

Hauling your own water must make you much more conscience of your water use, every shower you take, every drop of water you use for washing dishes, taking a shower or if you have flush toilets, every time you flush the toilet. But the flip side, is it makes you a lot more conscience of your use, especially if you are buying it in town, and hauling it back 250 gallons at a time on your 1 ton pickup. A lot off-griders who haul their water from town have big full-size pickup trucks, not because their good-ol’ boys, which many are, but because water is heavy, and you need the big truck to move water.

But alas, this day of age there are all kinds of pumps, so moving water is relatively easy when you fire up a gas generator and pumps to move the heavy product. It’s a lot easier to quantify a gallon of water when you are buying it and moving it, and using it. Especially in the desert or other drier western climate where water isn’t as accessible. And if your raising livestock, I can imagine it means moving even more water, although in such cases most farms have ponds and other sources of water, which might be good for watering livestock but maybe not so great for drinking, especially without purification.

‘Highly aggressive’ algae found in Skaneateles Lake; could affect fishing, boating – newyorkupstate.com

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‘Highly aggressive’ algae found in Skaneateles Lake; could affect fishing, boating – newyorkupstate.com

Syracuse, N.Y. – A potentially problematic invasive algae has been found in Skaneateles Lake.

Known by the cheery name of starry stonewort, the algae could cause problems for the lake, an angler’s haven and the unfiltered source of drinking water for Syracuse and suburbs.

“It’s like many aquatic invasives in that it can take over and push out natural vegetation,” said David Carr, project manager for the starry stonewort collaborative in the Finger Lakes. “It can ruin fish habitat, and if it gets thick enough you can’t pull a boat through.”

Time to Worry About Thieves Stealing Your Car’s Catalytic Converter

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Time to Worry About Thieves Stealing Your Car’s Catalytic Converter

The past couple of weeks have not been good for catalytic converter thieves in California. Last week, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department raided four locations, arresting 19 people and seizing 250 stolen catalytic converters. This week, sheriffs in neighboring San Bernardino county raided a home and recovered 400 stolen converters. Meanwhile, in nearby Anaheim, a would-be converter thief died when he was crushed by the Toyota Prius whose converter he was trying to pillage.