this post was submitted on 01 Jul 2025
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Today I Learned

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[–] Chozo@fedia.io 159 points 2 days ago (4 children)

Hahaha, what a bunch of morons, sugar isn't even good for you!

[sips sugar-free microplastic energy-slurry]

Buncha dummies.

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[–] roofuskit@lemmy.world 48 points 2 days ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (2 children)

Yeah, well we pumped it straight into the air for everyone to breathe in. We painted schools and nurseries with it as well.

[–] Diplomjodler3@lemmy.world 19 points 2 days ago

Ah, the good old days. Before those evil woke leftists ruined everything!

[–] kiwifoxtrot@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago (2 children)

We still pump it into the air via small aircraft!

[–] GraniteM@lemmy.world 2 points 22 hours ago

Well, thankfully we made NASCAR stop using leaded fuel way back in [checks notes] fucking 2007?! Holeee shiiit.

[–] XTL@sopuli.xyz 2 points 22 hours ago

Yeah, the good old days are still here. They're just not evenly distributed.

[–] AllNewTypeFace@leminal.space 36 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Not having zero, they couldn’t have computers and thus social media, so they had to improvise

[–] Illecors@lemmy.cafe 5 points 1 day ago

Thanks for a good chuckle!

[–] OCATMBBL@lemmy.world 34 points 2 days ago (3 children)

With the US asbestos comeback, are we getting Sweet Lead now too?

[–] SereneSadie@lemmy.myserv.one 6 points 2 days ago

Its been in use for a long while over there.

[–] acockworkorange@mander.xyz 3 points 1 day ago (1 children)
[–] Bronzebeard@lemmy.zip 6 points 23 hours ago (1 children)

Donny dipshit loosened asbestos restrictions in his first term. Guess which adversarial country is the largest producer of asbestos?

[–] acockworkorange@mander.xyz 3 points 23 hours ago
[–] ivanafterall@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago

Isn't that those little rolls of crunchy, colorful candies? SweetTards? (Sorry.)

[–] MNByChoice@midwest.social 24 points 2 days ago (2 children)

They had a lot of names for it.

"salt of Saturn"

And a lot if uses.

How much would cause brain damage, and how much brain damage did the average Roman have?

[–] bizarroland@lemmy.world 35 points 2 days ago (1 children)

One thing that's overlooked about the Romans and lead exposure is that they did have organic forms of oral chelation available, which helped mitigate the effects. The most commonly quoted version of which is eating garlic, but many foods and nutrients can either decrease the amount of lead you absorb from the other foods that you eat, or increase the amount of lead that you excrete, which decreases their effects on your body and brain.

Of course, these foods by themselves are not going to completely remove all of the lead in your blood, but it would have reduced the amount, so it's not like they were completely raw-dogging lead in their wine.

https://lead.org.au/fs/Foods_for_Lead_Detox_A-Z_20150214.pdf

[–] acockworkorange@mander.xyz 6 points 1 day ago

Man, as if I needed any more reasons to eat even more garlic.

[–] some_designer_dude@lemmy.world 18 points 2 days ago (2 children)

How much brain damage would a brain damaged Roman have if a brain damaged Roman could have brain damage?

[–] thisbenzingring@lemmy.sdf.org 12 points 2 days ago

dollar fifty

[–] ThePiedPooper@discuss.online 6 points 2 days ago

Not as much brain damage as any MAGAt.

[–] HootinNHollerin@lemmy.dbzer0.com 21 points 2 days ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Lead in wine as a sweetener is believed to be why Beethoven was deaf

[–] bizarroland@lemmy.world 19 points 2 days ago (1 children)
[–] johncandy1812@lemmy.ca 13 points 21 hours ago (1 children)

One of the reasons lead paint chips were frequently eaten by children was because they tasted sweet.

[–] Rubanski@discuss.tchncs.de 4 points 20 hours ago

Oh what, so that's not an exaggerated story? I always thought that's hyperbole

[–] LovableSidekick@lemmy.world 11 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

It has a mildly sweet taste and also causes brain damage

Well... but so does Jack Daniel's. Interestingly, the Romans were aware of the dangers of lead poisoning, including that it could cause madness - which they called "plumbism" (plumbum being the Latin word for lead). Kind of like we know about the dangers of alcohol, flavored sugar water, and many other things we consume wantonly. Like us, they apparently just didn't GAF.

[–] madcaesar@lemmy.world 7 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Lead and alcohol are on completely different levels.

There is no way Romans understood fully the damage lead does and how it accumulates in the body.

Also alcohol is presumably consumed by adults only, while this sweet shit was probably given to children too which makes it even worse.

[–] Melatonin@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 points 22 hours ago (1 children)

What makes you think it was for children?

[–] madcaesar@lemmy.world 2 points 22 hours ago (2 children)
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[–] burgerpocalyse@lemmy.world 10 points 22 hours ago (1 children)

i could use some brain damage to get me though the day

[–] HugeNerd@lemmy.ca 2 points 22 hours ago

oooh ooooh leeeead sugar ♩

I believe you can get me through the daaaayyy ♫

[–] driving_crooner@lemmy.eco.br 6 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Didn't they also had lead pipes and lead cutely and coups?

[–] oppy1984@lemdro.id 4 points 2 days ago (1 children)
[–] driving_crooner@lemmy.eco.br 6 points 2 days ago (1 children)
[–] oppy1984@lemdro.id 1 points 1 day ago

Not a fan of shoowd and JRY, eh.

[–] genuineparts@infosec.pub 6 points 2 days ago

Hmm Wall candy.

[–] j4k3@lemmy.world 4 points 2 days ago

Republicans have a 2k year old 𝔖𝔴𝔢𝔢𝔱 𝔄𝔫𝔡 𝔖𝔩𝔬𝔴 tradition

[–] SnarkoPolo@lemmy.world 4 points 19 hours ago

And thanks to Patriotic Jesusy Murkan Small Government, soon you won't know if it's in your kid's Halloween candy.

[–] some_guy@lemmy.sdf.org 2 points 21 hours ago (1 children)

They also used lead in their makeup.

[–] kadup@lemmy.world 3 points 20 hours ago

And we used lead in our paint, gasoline and water pipes.

[–] toppy@lemy.lol 2 points 20 hours ago (1 children)

What is the mechanism ? Why does it taste sweet ?

[–] absentbird@lemmy.world 4 points 20 hours ago* (last edited 19 hours ago)

When lead combines with acid it creates lead acetate which interacts with the sugar receptors in the mouth. I'm not sure why, I think the molecules just happen to have a similar shape.

EDIT: after looking at the molecule for lead acetate, it appears to resemble two simple carbohydrates connected by an atom of lead, so I'd imagine the receptor sees the outside and assumes it's something sweet.

[–] ArchmageAzor@lemmy.world 0 points 20 hours ago (1 children)

They also thought tomatoes were poisonous because the water in them would pick up the lead their plates were made from

[–] calebm@lemmy.world 5 points 20 hours ago (3 children)

Tomatoes are a New World plant. The ancient Romans didn't think they were poisonous because they had no idea what a tomato was.

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