There are at least two ways to get garlic-breath. One: Eat garlic. Two: Eat tellurium. The former will disappear in a day. The latter will linger for weeks. Yes, eating tellurium will give you garlic-breath for a long time. In fact, you’ll stink all over, and no superficial gargling with mouthwash or washing with soap will cleanse you of the smell.
Why would anyone eat tellurium? I assume that no one does so intentionally though our knowledge that this silvery semimetal makes one seem to have overdosed on garlic had to come from somewhere. Well, there’s always some early tellurium worker who asked, “Wonder what this stuff tastes like?” Is this a cautionary tale about not eating tellurium? No, rather, it’s a tale about how some things have similar effects but the degree of influence varies.
So, those who sample garlic get a little bad breath, but garlic has some positive side effects. It seems to have antimicrobial potency and was even used to prevent gangrene before the discovery of antibiotics. It might lower lipids, and it seems to help people with hypertension. It is also an antioxidant, probably because of it allicin content. Some think that ingesting lots of garlic wards off stomach and colon cancer.
Not so with tellurium; it has serious deleterious effects. “Doesn't affect me. I’ve never eaten the stuff,” you say.
“Ah! Contraire,” I counter. “Tellurium does get into us through some veggies, but not much, usually less than 0.05 ppm. In truth, you have to go out of your way to get too much tellurium. But, again, this isn’t a cautionary tale about eating tellurium-laced foods or being exposed to the teratogenic fumes of tellurium that can work their way into the human body. It’s about other exposures, emotional ones in a society with an appetite for violence and human degradation. Give yourself this test: 1) What is my favorite TV genre? 2) Movie genre? 3) Fiction genre? 4) Do the above genres incorporate violence of any kind?”
We like detective stories. We like trial stories. America was, for example, inebriated by the OJ Simpson trial. Millions watched daily. Think about our brain’s diet of violence, of cruelty of any kind, of human degradation. The effects on mature adults are like garlic, but the effects on young minds are teratogenic. Like tellurium, once the fumes of violence enter the brain, they linger, and there is nothing positive about the element of human degradation.
Is there a level of exposure to violence that is like garlic, somewhat beneficial with just a hint of bad breath? I’m just asking. You pick what you watch. You go a bit out of your way to ingest your programs of choice. TVs and movies (and chat rooms of hate and malicious gossip) don't turn on by themselves. You have to go out of your way to get tellurium-breath. But once you get it...
Why would anyone eat tellurium? I assume that no one does so intentionally though our knowledge that this silvery semimetal makes one seem to have overdosed on garlic had to come from somewhere. Well, there’s always some early tellurium worker who asked, “Wonder what this stuff tastes like?” Is this a cautionary tale about not eating tellurium? No, rather, it’s a tale about how some things have similar effects but the degree of influence varies.
So, those who sample garlic get a little bad breath, but garlic has some positive side effects. It seems to have antimicrobial potency and was even used to prevent gangrene before the discovery of antibiotics. It might lower lipids, and it seems to help people with hypertension. It is also an antioxidant, probably because of it allicin content. Some think that ingesting lots of garlic wards off stomach and colon cancer.
Not so with tellurium; it has serious deleterious effects. “Doesn't affect me. I’ve never eaten the stuff,” you say.
“Ah! Contraire,” I counter. “Tellurium does get into us through some veggies, but not much, usually less than 0.05 ppm. In truth, you have to go out of your way to get too much tellurium. But, again, this isn’t a cautionary tale about eating tellurium-laced foods or being exposed to the teratogenic fumes of tellurium that can work their way into the human body. It’s about other exposures, emotional ones in a society with an appetite for violence and human degradation. Give yourself this test: 1) What is my favorite TV genre? 2) Movie genre? 3) Fiction genre? 4) Do the above genres incorporate violence of any kind?”
We like detective stories. We like trial stories. America was, for example, inebriated by the OJ Simpson trial. Millions watched daily. Think about our brain’s diet of violence, of cruelty of any kind, of human degradation. The effects on mature adults are like garlic, but the effects on young minds are teratogenic. Like tellurium, once the fumes of violence enter the brain, they linger, and there is nothing positive about the element of human degradation.
Is there a level of exposure to violence that is like garlic, somewhat beneficial with just a hint of bad breath? I’m just asking. You pick what you watch. You go a bit out of your way to ingest your programs of choice. TVs and movies (and chat rooms of hate and malicious gossip) don't turn on by themselves. You have to go out of your way to get tellurium-breath. But once you get it...
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