What didn't you know until recently?

[Professor Willow]

^ I wish they would ban them altogether.
The smell of tobacco smoke is mild compared with some of the sickly fruit flavours/smells from vapes.

[genovese]

They've made another Saw film

[anxiouslondoner]

Margarine was once made out of whale oil.

Imagine that at breakfast. "Does this toast taste a little bit... whaley to you?"

[biscuits]

^ Margamarine.

Margarine, hey... I'd totally forgotten about that stuff.

[Laurel]

Women in the middle ages completely removed their eyelashes and eyebrows to give prominence to their foreheads which were their most important feature at that time. The Catholic church even made it a sin and an offense to God to show hair of any kind in public.

[Dougella]

^ Why would God have given humans eyebrows if he didn't want other people to see them? Religions rules can be very odd sometimes.

[Laurel]

No questioning God Dougella. Shave your eyebrows

[Amara 94]

Originally Posted by Dougella

^ Why would God have given humans eyebrows if he didn't want other people to see them? Religions rules can be very odd sometimes.

Idk but it actually reminds me of afro hair and men especially. It's now and the last 10 years that growing out afro textured hair is common, before I remember the style usually being short. But not due to religion but more cultural norms and expectations.

Sam might be said about beard or different hairs.

[Dougella]

Barbie is deliberately child free and unmarried. Her creators wanted her to be an independent woman.

[Laurel]

Barbie never had kids? wow never knew that. All that time in her plastic casing, she could have least had maybe one or two.

[Amara 94]

Kids would be too expensive considering the amount of botox and surgery she has.

[Dougella]

Originally Posted by Laurel

Barbie never had kids? wow never knew that. All that time in her plastic casing, she could have least had maybe one or two.

Although funnily enough I'm sure i remember there being a pregnant barbie with an actual baby that actually came out of her stomach, which thinking about it must have been confusing for kids! Or maybe that was another brand of doll.

She never married Ken apparently.

[anxiouslondoner]

^^^ how would she get pregnant, considering neither she nor Ken have any genitalia?

[biscuits]

^ haha exactly - do we need to get the birds and bees book out?

Seems like a silly thing for a manufacturer to stipulate as it's a toy.

Surely Barbie got married plenty of times in living rooms, bedrooms, playrooms, gardens. She even had a wedding dress.

My Barbie had five babies because I had quints toys too.

[Merry]

^ my barbie was paraplegic, and was bald.

[Dougella]

Originally Posted by anxiouslondoner

^^^ how would she get pregnant, considering neither she nor Ken have any genitalia?

With difficulty I would assume! Or the Stork helped.

[Laurel]

I discovered this:

Caffeine has a dopamine release of 1.5. Chocolate has a dopamine release of 2.0. Cigarettes has a dopamine release of 2.5!

No wonder smokers find it tricky to give up.

[genovese]

Originally Posted by Laurel

Caffeine has a dopamine release of 1.5. Chocolate has a dopamine release of 2.0. Cigarettes has a dopamine release of 2.5!
.

Similar dopamine release with other activities...

Online shopping. Specifically the searching, sorting, finding the one item/bargain you want

Searching online for The Truth, stuff that The Man Doesn't Want You Know. Again, the whole searching, sorting finding, treasure hunt process of it. Ending by basking in dopamine because you now know the things the other muggles in society don't.

Knowing your dopamine hits and adjusting them towards healthy & beneficial activities can greatly improve your state of mind and mental health.

[Dougella]

^^ That must be why we get a little lift from chocolate.

[anxiouslondoner]

^^ Nicotine is supposedly on a pair with heroin as far as levels of physiological addiction go.

[Laurel]

Cost of living on a houseboat
https://vm.tiktok.com/ZGJsHq9qW/

[Laurel]

They did a study:

People who met 3 criteria in their 40s and 50s:
- high blood pressure
- high blood sugar
- fat around the belly

27% died within the next 25 years.

[Laurel]

Ebbw Vale in Wales is the fattest place in the UK. Yet they live by the one of the best national parks in the UK. Reasoning being is they have the highest amount of fast food eateries.

[Rocket Spud]

Lol, 'you can lead a horse to water.. '. I suppose many people don't like outdoor activities anyway, so they could just as well live slap bang in the middle of a national park and still do sod all. Fast food presence and culture is higher in some places too. It would be difficult not to partake in a bit of stodge if everyone around you is eating it.

[Laurel]

yeah I can't understand it, but yeah probably makes sense if the culture is eat and eat. Some towns I guess their culture is drink and drink.

[Amara 94]

Originally Posted by Laurel

Ebbw Vale in Wales is the fattest place in the UK. Yet they live by the one of the best national parks in the UK. Reasoning being is they have the highest amount of fast food eateries.

I feel like diet and maybe sleep and stress can actually have a bigger effect on weight than exercise. Or as much of an effect.

As soon as I quit my hotel job, then quit my pub job, and change my diet all of a sudden I am not as fat and lose weight.

I think I am exercising as much because I am conscious of doing so but I am not walking as much. The hotel job had leftover alcohol from parties and lots of cakes and sweet treats, but also finished late sometimes and started early. For example at worse I finished 4-5 am and would have to be back the same day at 10 am and some shifts were 12 hours. The pub job didn't encourage healthy eating although it was possible.

[Rocket Spud]

^^ Indeed. There was still a fairly strong attitude of 'eat up if you want to be big and strong', 'he's a growing lad', 'there ain't nothing of ya, eat some more' - lot's of that sort of thing. Honestly, why must we eat so much? Big and strong for what... ? You don't need a great deal of food to sustain and be healthy at your natural level.

[Laurel]

that's definitely a bit of a Welsh thing. They have lots of sayings like that.

Amara_94: yep sleep has an impact for sure on weight.

[Rocket Spud]

I forgot to add that that was from a personal experience, growing up in the 90s, 00s - i'm from the South btw.

[Laurel]

oh right