This morning I was tipped off to a new article over at Self called “The Dirty Truth About Reusable Shopping Bags.” It cites a study that found “64 percent of reusable bags are contaminated with at least some bacteria, 30 percent have elevated bacteria counts that are higher than what is considered safe for drinking water, and 40 percent have mold and/or an unacceptable presence of coliform.” As someone who’s had E. coli, I can say that food-borne illness is not something to mess around with. But hold on a minute.The link to the study is broken, but it leads to a media page on the Canadian plastics association’s website. They’re cleverly called Environment and Plastics Industry Council, but really it’s the trade organization that lobbies for and represents the plastics business. A little Googling seems to indicate that the study Self cites is actually a year old, and that even though the results were provided by “two independent laboratories,” the study was commissioned and funded by the EPIC.But let’s say the study’s findings are true-that the bags sampled had bacteria from food in them, and that that bacteria isn’t the sort of thing you want to be ingesting along with your farmer’s market vegetables-it still doesn’t mean that the bags are at fault, or that the average consumer is rubbing their produce along the seams of their bags, where the bacteria seemed to collect.But beyond that, I think it’s fair to say that any reasonable person regularly washes anything that comes into contact with their food-like cutting boards, for example, or dinner plates. Or, you know, the things they carry their groceries in.If there’s a takeaway from that link it’s not that your reusable bags are poisoning you, it’s that you should check your sources before getting wound up about new studies, and you should probably wash your reusables on a regular basis.Image (CC) by Flickr user Mommypeace
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Man’s dog suddenly becomes protective of his wife, Internet clocks the reason right away
The online community came through in a big way.
Reddit user Girlfriendhatesmefor’s three-year-old pitbull, Otis, had recently become overprotective of his wife. So he asked the online community if they knew what might be wrong with the dog.
“A week or two ago, my wife got some sort of stomach bug,” the Reddit user wrote under the subreddit /r/dogs. “She was really nauseous and ill for about a week. Otis is very in tune with her emotions (we once got in a fight and she was upset, I swear he was staring daggers at me lol) and during this time didn’t even want to leave her to go on walks. We thought it was adorable!”
His wife soon felt better, butthe dog’s behavior didn’t change.
Otis knew before they did. Canva Girlfriendhatesmefor began to fear that Otis’ behavior may be an early sign of an aggression issue or an indication that the dog was hurt or sick.
So he threw a question out to fellow Reddit users: “Has anyone else’s dog suddenly developed attachment/aggression issues? Any and all advice appreciated, even if it’s that we’re being paranoid!”
The most popular response to his thread was by ZZBC.
Any chance your wife is pregnant?
ZZBC | Reddit
The potential news hit Girlfriendhatesmefor like a ton of bricks. A few days later, Girlfriendhatesmefor posted an update and ZZBC was right!
“The wifey is pregnant!” the father-to-be wrote. “Otis is still being overprotective but it all makes sense now! Thanks for all the advice and kind words! Sorry for the delayed reply, I didn’t check back until just now!”
Redditors responded with similar experiences.
Anecdotal I know but I swear my dog knew I was pregnant before I was. He was super clingy (more than normal) and was always resting his head on my belly.
realityisworse | Reddit
So why do dogs get overprotective when someone is pregnant?
Jeff Werber, PhD, president and chief veterinarian of the Century Veterinary Group in Los Angeles, told Health.com that “dogs can also smell the hormonal changes going on in a woman’s body at that time.” He added the dog may “not understand that this new scent of your skin and breath is caused by a developing baby, but they will know that something is different with you—which might cause them to be more curious or attentive.”
The big lesson here is to listen to your pets and to ask questions when their behavior abruptly changes. They may be trying to tell you something, and the news may be life-changing.
This article originally appeared last year.
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14 images of badass women who destroyed stereotypes and inspired future generations
These trailblazers redefined what a woman could be.
Throughout history, women have stood up and fought to break down barriers imposed on them from stereotypes and societal expectations. The trailblazers in these photos made history and redefined what a woman could be. In doing so, they paved the way for future generations to stand up and continue to fight for equality.
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Why mass shootings spawn conspiracy theories
Mass shootings and conspiracy theories have a long history.
While conspiracy theories are not limited to any topic, there is one type of event that seems particularly likely to spark them: mass shootings, typically defined as attacks in which a shooter kills at least four other people.
When one person kills many others in a single incident, particularly when it seems random, people naturally seek out answers for why the tragedy happened. After all, if a mass shooting is random, anyone can be a target.
Pointing to some nefarious plan by a powerful group – such as the government – can be more comforting than the idea that the attack was the result of a disturbed or mentally ill individual who obtained a firearm legally.
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A man asked how to be less scary to women and the Internet prescribed quality, empathetic tips
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