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I’m going to be honest with this one- this article isn’t urgent or pressing in the slightest. Why did I write it, then? Well, because it’s fun to know things! For all the doom and gloom surrounding health and wellness, it’s nice to read about something that’s NOT life-threatening for a change. This article was originally just meant to be about Tylenol, but I ended up finding some other weird tidbits in my research, and I couldn’t just leave them out of my writing. Also, if I don’t meet my word quota, my boss will throw me into the sun and make me write about lead for all eternity. So, consider this a series of “mini-articles” that aren’t deep or urgent enough to suit a full write-up, but still fun to bring up at the dinner table.
I’m going to be honest with this one- this article isn’t urgent or pressing in the slightest. Why did I write it, then? Well, because it’s fun to know things! For all the doom and gloom surrounding health and wellness, it’s nice to read about something that’s NOT life-threatening for a change. This article was originally just meant to be about Tylenol, but I ended up finding some other weird tidbits in my research, and I couldn’t just leave them out of my writing. Also, if I don’t meet my word quota, my boss will throw me into the sun and make me write about lead for all eternity. So, consider this a series of “mini-articles” that aren’t deep or urgent enough to suit a full write-up, but still fun to bring up at the dinner table.
Ah, XKCD- truly the voice of a generation. For those who don’t know, XKCD is a webcomic that has been running for around 19 years now, filled with very, very nerdy humor, and I absolutely love it (some of my personal favorites are #750, #1301, and #2711). Though, perhaps one of the best is #2682, a graph which plots questions on scales of expected difficulty versus actual difficulty. Like any of these comics, it’s filled with absolute gold, especially- wait, does that say we don’t know how Tylenol works?
The Tylenol Trouble
The Tylenol Trouble
Okay, wait, that can’t be right- ther’s no way the 9th most prescribed drug in the United States is a complete mystery to doctors and patients alike. Also known as acetaminophen, Tylenol is renowned for being one of the strongest painkillers and fever reducers on the market. We know it shares a “diminishing returns” effect with other types of painkillers, but that’s just about all we know for sure about it. Experts have theorized about it for over a century now, but almost every explanation has come up short.
The best explanation we have is that it acts on a cycloxygenase (COX) enzyme like other anti-inflamatory drugs do, though even that doesn’t fully add up considering it shouldn’t be strong enough to numb pain if it acts this way. In fact, we know so little about it that doctors have put acetaminophen in its own category of drugs.
At the very least, decades of use have proved that it isn’t harmful, so you’re still safe to take it as long as you follow the instructions.
That time Columbia students stole 100 pounds of Nutella in a single day
That time Columbia students stole 100 pounds of Nutella in a single day
I really don’t get the hype around Nutella. That might be because it has like a 30% chance of killing me if I eat it, but that’s besides the point. On another day, we’d be tearing apart the nutritional value of this nutty putty, but this is a silly article, so that’ll have to wait. Anyways, people clearly love the stuff- perhaps a tad too much. As an example of this, look at the aptly-titled Nutellagate scandal that struck Columbia University back in 2013.
Apparently, the hazelnut fever ran so high that one student source reported that the school lost about $2,500 in one week solely from this one chocolate spread. In an interview, Peter Bailinson, a council member of Columbia’s Dining Services, estimated that over a hundred pounds of Nutella had gone missing per day, as students pillaged the dining hall to claim the brown prize for their dorm rooms.
Maybe best to file this under “weird trivia” and not “logistics thought exercises” (seriously, how does one hundred pounds of something just go missing?).
Ever wanted to cook salmon using a dishwasher?
Ever wanted to cook salmon using a dishwasher?
What? No.
If you’re a dishwasher fanatic like I am, you’re well acquainted with the distinct heat that comes from one. This is to help aid the soap in getting the grime out, but what if it could be used to aid in something… different? What if you need to quickly* prepare a meal AND need some clean plates to serve it on? Well, have no fear, because a new method acclaimed by many some a few critics has just the answer for you. Just wrap a salmon in foil, toss it in with your regular load of dishes, and wait for the result! Some party poopers (doctors) mention how cooking a salmon this way doesn’t fully heat it and can lead to food poisoning, but who cares what they think, right?
*Cooking a salmon by traditional means takes about twelve to fifteen minutes, while the dishwasher clocks in at a cool one to four hours for a full cycle. I can’t believe I’m seriously analyzing the logistics of this. Anyways, post’s over, go home.
Written By: Alex
Sources:
[1] Barron, James. “For Columbia Students, Nutella in a Dining Hall May Be Too Tempting.” The New York Times, 6 March 2013, https://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/07/nyregion/for-columbia-students-nutella-in-a-dining-hall-may-be-too-tempting.html. Accessed 18 May 2024.
[2] Daspin, Eileen. “A Jaded Cooks Turn To Other Appliances.” Wall Street Journal, 3 December 1999, https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB944178306659175983#articleTabs_panel_article%3D1. Accessed 18 May 2024.
[3] Fuentes, Andrea V., et al. “Comprehension of Top 200 Prescribed Drugs in the US as a Resource for Pharmacy Teaching, Training and Practice.” NCBI, 14 May 2018, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6025009/. Accessed 18 May 2024.
[4] Shaughnessy, Allen, and M. Med. “How Does Acetaminophen Work?” Tufts University School of Medicine, 14 September 2022, https://medicine.tufts.edu/news-events/news/how-does-acetaminophen-work. Accessed 18 May 2024.
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