Browsing: Health/Medicine

A Brief History On July 5, 1937, Hormel Foods Corporation introduced Spam to a Depression weary world.  A cooked, ready to eat meat product in a can, Spam was just the ticket for soldiers in the field in the upcoming World War.  It was also ideal for shipping to hungry allies.  Unfortunately, many folks think the salty, greasy, fat laden stuff in better suited as dog food, especially if you do not like your dog.  Britain and Australia got their share shipped to them, and Spam became a Monty Python joke.  Even unwanted emails are called Spam!  Still, it now comes in several flavor varieties (as many as 15)…

A Brief History On June 28, 1987, Saddam Hussein’s Iraqi Air Force became the first military force in history to purposely target civilians with chemical weapons when they attacked the town of Sardasht, Iran with “mustard” gas. Digging Deeper Iraq was at war with Iran at the time, a particularly nasty affair.  Additionally, the people of Sardasht (perhaps 20,000) were Kurds, an ethnic group that also lives in Iraq and Turkey and has been clamoring for an independent country of their own.  Thus, the ruthless regime of Saddam Hussein could kill 2 birds with 1 stone so to speak, by…

A Brief History On June 22, 1969, the Cuyahoga River near downtown Cleveland, Ohio caught fire, sparking a story in Time Magazine and becoming the symbol for the ecology movement.  Nature and mankind have worked separately or together throughout history to create environmental disasters.  Here we list 10 of the more spectacular ones, the order of which is the ones we find most entertaining. Digging Deeper 10. Leaded Fuel, 1920’s-1970’s. Discovered to be an effective anti-knock compound for gasoline by Charles Kettering and Tom Midgely in 1921, the compound tetraethyl lead made by Dupont was necessary for engines to operate at higher compression, thus…

A Brief History On June 16, 2010, the nation of Bhutan became the first nation in the world to outlaw tobacco.  Growing and otherwise producing tobacco products and the sale of any tobacco product was outlawed.  Harsh penalties were put in place, but within a couple years things eased up a bit.  The actual use and possession of tobacco was not outlawed, just the production and sale.  The government was also mandated to provide anti-tobacco counseling and education. Digging Deeper Not Banned 5.  Tax Revenue. In 2013, the government collected $43.9 billion in tobacco tax revenue, and over half a…

A Brief History On June 15, 1667, Dr. Jean-Baptiste Denys, personal physician to King Louis XIV, performed the first human blood transfusion.  The patient was a 15 year old boy who had been treated by using leeches to suck out “the bad blood.” Digging Deeper Denys used about 12 oz. of Sheep’s blood and the boy lived, probably the first ever transfusion that did not kill the patient.  Trying this technique on other patients, using small quantities of sheep or cow blood so as not to overload the allergic response was not so successful and some of his patients died.…