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Benzene on my balls

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Sometimes I don’t shower as often as I should, and because I’m a fat, sweaty guy, a rash starts growing under my balls. When this happens, it’s a reminder to shower, and sometimes I’ve used Lotrimin® jock itch spray powder.

Amazon, where I bought my most recent can of that stuff, sent an email yesterday, telling me that Bayer® has issued a voluntary recall of Lotrimin®, “due to the presence of benzene in some samples of the products." 

"Benzene is not an ingredient in any of Bayer® Consumer Health products,” says Bayer®, but apparently it is an ingredient in Bayer® products, only — accidentally.

“Benzene is classified as a human carcinogen. Exposure to benzene can occur by inhalation, orally, and through the skin. Depending on duration and level of exposure, it can result in cancers including leukemia, and blood cancer of the bone marrow and blood disorders which can be life-threatening.” 

The can of Lotrimin® I bought was emptied over several days, months ago, entirely onto my testicles. I’m not delighted about that now, but screw it, I’ve accidentally eaten plastic, and inhaled enough insecticide to drop a herd of elk, and I'm still here.

It’s surprising to me, though, that Bayer® is also recalling Tinactin® jock itch spray powder. I had thought that Tinactin® was a competitor of Lotrimin®, but it’s not. It’s only different packaging for the same product. Ain’t capitalism an endless wonder?

I'd also been unaware that Lotrimin® and Tinactin® are made by Bayer®. You may remember or might not know that Bayer® is a German company that's been around for a long time. During WWII, Bayer used prisoners at the Auschwitz, Buchenwald, Dachau, and Gusen concentration camps in medical experiments. War crimes. Those users received no recall notifications.

I’m all for letting bygones be bygones, so I’ve never made a big deal about it, and wouldn’t even say I’m boycotting Bayer®. I avoid buying their stuff when I see that name, Bayer®, though. Guess I hadn’t looked at the small print.

Now that I know Bayer® makes Lotrimin® and Tinactin®, and that they’re sloppy about what chemicals are added to the recipe, I’ll be buying a generic alternative. Or showering more often.

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No matter how stupid people some people seem to be, they can always be stupider.

To protect radio astronomy, some things aren't allowed within a few miles of the Green Bank Observatory, in West Virginia. Cell phone service, wi-fi, and unshielded microwave ovens, for example. Perhaps predictably, this has attracted ‘electrosensitives’ — people who’ve convinced themselves that they’re allergic to radio waves.

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Mark Maynard has interviewed me for his website’s ongoing “History of Zines” feature, where he talks to decrepit geezers who were involved with zines a few generations ago.

I was interviewed a few times way back when, too, but even the biggest outlets pretending they cared about zines didn’t ask a fraction of the questions, or quality of questions, that Mark asked. Dude seriously gives a damn about zines. Whether the resulting interview will be interesting to read I can’t predict, but it was fun rehashing things from way back when with someone else who was there.

My wife and I had a million conversations about everything in the world, but they can only be replayed in my mind. I wish I’d interviewed her at length like this, and printed it for posterity. Damn, I’d be re-reading that interview every day for the rest of my life.

Anyway, I’ll drop a note here when the interview is published. You have been warned. [Here's the link.]

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January 6 rioter who said she looked for Pelosi 'to shoot her in the friggin' brain' pleads guilty to misdemeanor for illegally protesting 

The person who sent me that link thinks it’s outrageous that this extremely stupid woman faces such puny charges and penalties.

I’m more mercy-minded, though. 

Dawn Bancroft said she’d come to the Capitol to kill Pelosi, but she said it as she was leaving, after her actual crimes, so I don’t think it was a serious threat. Morons like Bancroft should be mocked and insulted in perpetuity, of course, but I’m not interested in penalties that ruin people's lives just for being another damned fool with a big mouth.

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Even though she didn’t get the story, you gotta be impressed at the increasingly crazed lengths Kalyn Kahler and her employer, Defector, went, to almost get what would’ve been an amusing story.

"It felt like everyone I talked to was in on the secret, like they were waving around one of those feathery jingly cat toys and I was the cat. ..."

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Amusing trivia about trivia. 

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Nature is cool.

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Three incompetent pilots, and one who’s pretty good.

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Just gourds, that's all. Animals eating gourds.

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  Mystery links   — Like life itself, there’s no knowing where you’re going: 

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Sincere tip 'o the hat to:

• Becky Jo
• Dave S.
BoingBoing
Captain Hampockets
Mark Maynard 
National Zero
Voenix Rising
• and One of the Butt Sisters but definitely not the other.

🧁 ☕ 🍩
You’re always invited
to add anything below,
about anything at all.

🍩 ☕ 🧁

 10/3/2021

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6 comments:

  1. >Anyway, I’ll drop a note here when the interview is published. You have been warned.

    It's up.

    http://markmaynard.com/2021/10/the-untold-history-of-zines-doug-holland-on-pathetic-life/

    Great interview. And hey, there's me. If Maynard does contact me, I'm gonna tell him all about your love for disgusting pornography.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh, please don't. Everyone looks at it but porn is rot and nobody wants to know your porn preferences please.

      Delete
    2. Well, that settles it so it's added to my list: Gotta write an article about my preferences in porn.

      Delete
  2. I have a question about the benzeene. It seems like the mistake Bayer made was announcing the problem and if they'd kept quiet about it you would still be a contented customer. Are you punishing them for doing the right thing?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. When a company is that big, one customer matters not at all. I'm not punishing them, just choosing a different product off the shelf.

      Delete

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