Best Fiber Supplements | Reviews.com

https://www.reviews.com/fiber-supplement/

"psyllium stands out because of what happens when it's mixed with water: It gels, and stays gel-like even as it passes through your body.

"Many fiber sources like inulin or wheat dextrin don't gel, or gel but lose their stickiness as they travel through the intestines. Instead, these fibers ferment, which causes much of the bloating and flatulence for which fiber is notorious.

"...looking for formulas that were easy to measure and free of off-putting odors, textures, smells, and flavors.

"[Psyllium] becomes more viscous the longer it sits. After three minutes, the texture reminded us of runny applesauce, and our main takeaway post-testing was that you should drink it quickly.

"We were unable to give Metamucil MultiHealth our top spot due to the sheer amount of sugar it contains — sucrose appears first on the ingredient list...

"I recommend people get their fiber from food first because along with the fiber, they also get vitamins, minerals, powerful plant compounds, water, and electrolytes"

"Instagram traps" are changing art museums"

https://youtu.be/Qx_r-dP22Ps

Current culture, obsessed with social media, forces galleries to change how they think about displaying art and interacting with the public.

When Airbnb goes wrong: (Marketplace)

https://youtu.be/I9_iZ2nH3lw

At 7:27 he says to look for hosts that have at least 50 reviewed that have only 5-star ratings, and at 7:38 he says to opt for Airbnb-plus and "super-hosts."

The truth about asbestos use in the U.S.

https://youtu.be/yOFioumFt3Y

At 1:26: Asbestos - a contaminant in crayons and makeup. 

How Asbestos is used in the Chlorine Industry | Mesothelioma.com

"Asbestos Use in Chlorine Manufacturing

Manufacturing chlorine has been in practice for well over a century, though many plants still use more toxic and unsafe methods to produce it. In general, the industry relies on three basic manufacturing processes:

The mercury cell process

The diaphragm cell process

The membrane cell process

All of these processes rely on the same basic chemistry. Chlorine and its co-products are created by electrolysing a salt solution with a direct electric current that ultimately converts chloride ions into chlorine. While the mercury cell process is decreasing globally and much of Europe has adopted the safer option of the membrane cell process, several plants in America still use diaphragms made from asbestos.

The diaphragm cell process works with a combination of water and sodium chloride to create a brine solution, which is processed and filtered to remove impurities. Heat is applied to the solution and more salt is added until the purified brine solution is prepared for the electric current, which is where the asbestos materials come into play.

An asbestos diaphragm is usually used to separate the cathode and anode, which will create the current. Though the United States Geological Survey noted in a recent asbestos study that more plants are looking for alternatives for the asbestos diaphragms, at least 15 plants in the United States still use these products today. According to the EPA, a typical plant will use anywhere from 5 – 25 tons of asbestos each year in production of these diaphragms.

The industry relied on making asbestos diaphragms because of the mineral's durability and chemical resistance. These properties help the diaphragm prevent the caustic soda also being produced in the process from reacting with the chlorine."

https://www.mesothelioma.com/blog/how-asbestos-invaded-the-chlorine-industry.htm

Brief history of the Banana Business and its shady past.

https://youtu.be/YkI3zkQ4WBo

Fusarium oxysporum, or "Tropical Race 4" fungus causes "Panama disease" by infections the "corm" or underground bulb of the banana tree, and quickly kills the monoculture of Cavendish bananas prevalent worldwide, which itself was developed and promoted in the 1920's to replace the "Gros Michel" variety.

Luckily, so far, this fungus has not yet reached Latin America. But when it does, a genetically modified Cavendish variety may be the only hope to save the 2.2 billion dollar banana industry in the US, unless an alternate banana variety can suit the tastes of the American public.

An update on this story in 2021: Father's are spending millions to prevent this same fungus from spreading to Latin America, the world's largest producers of bananas 

There is a genetically modified strain of banana resistant to the fungus, but people aren't buying the idea of GM crops, even though bananas are sterile and can't propagate a genetic modification. 

https://youtu.be/nhPEErJnErU

Snowclone

A snowclone is a type of phrase that has a standard pattern in which some of the words can be freely replaced; for example, the pattern "X is the new Y" can become "Navy is the new black" or "Comedy is the new rock ’n’ roll" or "Staying in is the new going out", and so on

It's a cliché and phrasal template that can be used and recognized in multiple variants. The term was coined as a neologism in 2004, derived from journalistic clichés that referred to the number of Eskimo words for snow.

The claim that Eskimo languages (specifically, Yupik and Inuit) have an unusually large number of words for "snow", first loosely attributed to the work of anthropologist Franz Boas, has become a cliché often used to support the controversial  linguistic-relativity hypothesis: the idea that a language's structure (sound, grammar, vocabulary, etc.) shapes its speakers' view of the world. This "strong version" of the hypothesis is largely now discredited, though the basic notion that Eskimo languages have many more root words for "snow" than the English language is itself supported by a single 2010 study.

Millipede and Beetle Have a Toxic Relationship | Deep Look

https://youtu.be/s5ocDRUFUIE

Impressive! This beetle had developed immunity to cyanide in order to prey on this millipede

Two-ingredient pizza dough

Greek yogurt and self-raising flour.

Put a pizza stone or inverted baking sheet on the center rack of the oven and preheat to 450 degrees F.

Put the flour and yogurt in a large bowl and mix with a fork until a shaggy dough forms. (The dough may appear dry and crumbly at first, but it will come together as you mix it.) Turn the mixture out onto a lightly floured work surface and knead until the dough is smooth and slightly elastic, about 8 minutes, dusting with more flour if necessary. If the dough feels too dry, add water, a tablespoon at a time and continue kneading until it is soft and pliable. Divide the dough in half, roll into balls and then use a rolling pin to roll out into two 10-inch pizzas. Dust the back of another inverted baking sheet or pizza peel with more flour, semolina or coarse cornmeal and place a circle of dough on top. 

Top the dough round with sauce and shredded cheese as desired, leaving a half-inch bare border around the edge. Slide the pizza onto the preheated stone or baking sheet in the oven. Alternatively, roll out the dough on a baking sheet, top as desired and put the sheet in the oven to bake. Cook until the crust is golden and the cheese is bubbling, 8 to 10 minutes. Using a large spatula, transfer the pizza to a cutting board and let sit 5 minutes. Repeat with the remaining dough round.

Cook's Note

When measuring flour, we spoon it into a dry measuring cup and level off excess. (Scooping directly from the bag compacts the flour, resulting in dry baked goods.)

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/food-network-kitchen/two-ingredient-pizza-dough-3542644.amp

Eery creepy science of the body farm.

Popular Science article: We need more 'body farms' to figure out how corpses rot - cadaver decomposition.

"unfortunately, a lot of people do die in the ocean…homicide victims are dumped, but also you’re going to have…maritime disasters, planes that go down, boats that go down, tsunamis...we still don’t know much about it. But researchers are starting to fill in the gaps in our knowledge...Gail Anderson, a forensic entomologist at Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, British Columbia... Kimmerle and her team are planning to study how corpses decompose in the state’s uniquely moist conditions at a new facility in Florida... Researchers do know that tissue may linger in water that is cold or low in oxygen, but predicting how a body will break down is rarely straightforward...“It really, really varies,” Anderson says. “In some of my experiments we’ve had pig carcasses…last months and months with almost no change whatsoever, and in some cases they’ve been skeletonized in three days.”
Water’s inhabitants can also complicate matters. On land and even in fresh water,will devour a body. In the sea, you’re more likely to find other arthropods such as and sea lice—or, less often, fish or sharks, Anderson says...She has seen how oxygen-rich water can better host voracious scavengers. “In some areas…there were such thick levels of on them you couldn’t see the carcass,” Anderson says.
https://www.popsci.com/body-decomposition-farm-florida

World's Weirdest Bird Sounds

https://youtu.be/Ray5GGBlZHk

Also, the Upland sandpiper:

https://ebird.org/species/uplsan

and the Bobolink

https://ebird.org/species/boboli/

3D printing all at once, not in layers - computed axial lithography

There is no planet B

Inspiring story of a young girl making a powerful difference. As she points out, having Asperger's gave her the persistence to follow through from her initial angst, and launch a school strike protest that grew virally.  
I like the poster at 4:54 that says "There is no planet B"

Crowdfunding challenges

Crowdfunding is hard - entrepreneurs are optimists by nature, and can't foresee all the hurdles and expenses that may prevent eventual shipment of their product. 

Old words for apathy

I finally found a good example of Google's Ngram viewer for the prevalence of words over time. The Victorian words torpor and languor have been supplanted by apathy and lethargy, all with very similar meaning. I find it humorous that "apathy" was particularly prevalent in the 1960's.

torpor - inactivity resulting from lethargy and lack of vigor or energy
languor - showing an unusual lack of energy
lethargy - showing an unusual lack of energy
lassitude - weakness characterized by a lack of vitality or energy
listlessness - inactivity resulting from lethargy and lack of vigor or energy
inanition - exhaustion resulting from lack of food