#table salt

[cacartoon]

Table Salt

[a-typical]

Probability figures in everyday decisions we make. Consider the public’s sentiment toward genetically modified organisms—GMOs. Reactions tend to be bimodal, depending on your politics, itself a warning flag. The truth and efficacy of science should never correlate with your political views.

The food chemical company Monsanto, now owned by Bayer, developed a genetically modified variant of corn that was completely resistant to glyphosate, a weed-killing herbicide marketed under the name Roundup, which they also developed. Monsanto scientists genetically removed their corn’s susceptibility to the chemical. This potent combo—Monsanto’s GMO corn coupled with Monsanto’s weed killer—enabled farmers to spray their entire crops and have the herbicide kill everything but the corn. The Vermont ice cream company Ben & Jerry’s uses corn syrup as a sweetener for some of their products. (Yes, I too was surprised to learn this.) News that some of their ice creams had trace amounts of glyphosate from the corn used in their syrup created a media dust-up. In response, Ben & Jerry’s decided to stop using GMO corn syrup altogether, even though the one-part-per-billion detection levels of glyphosate were far below US and European standards. Since many people who buy Ben & Jerry’s ice cream lean left—aligned with the company’s generally progressive views on all things—Ben & Jerry’s Homemade Holdings Inc. judged this ban to be a wise business decision.

Let’s look closer at what happened there. Every substance you could possibly ingest, food and otherwise, has a calculated lethal dose associated with it, measured by what’s called LD50. That’s the dose per kilogram of body weight where 50 percent of the people who consume that amount will die quickly. These data often come from tests on laboratory mammals such as mice. There’s another metric, called no-observed-adverse-effect level (NOAEL), which addresses the long-term influence of a substance on your health and is more sensible when thinking about food safety. LD50 helps to make a different point. The smaller its value for a substance, the more lethal it is. As such, tables of LD50s can be quite illuminating. Here’s a sampling:

Sucrose (table sugar) | 30 grams per kilogram

Ethanol (common alcohol) | 7 grams per kilogram

Glyphosate (Roundup) | 5 grams per kilogram

Table Salt | 3 grams per kilogram

Caffeine | 0.2 grams per kilogram

Nicotine | 0.0065 grams per kilogram

The most lethal substance on this hand-picked list is nicotine. Caffeine looks quite potent too. Just drink about eighty demitasse cups of espresso if you want to die from it. Next comes salt.

The least deadly on the list is sugar, as you might expect. Notice further that glyphosate is less lethal than table salt, but not by much. Actually none of this concerns us here. What matters is what happens to a 150 lb. (70 kg) person who eats Ben & Jerry’s ice cream—a fact I calculated but relegated to my Forbidden Twitter file, where it remains, simply for how disturbing it would be. In social media, I never intend to be disturbing:

You would need to consume four hundred million pints of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream for its trace amounts of glyphosate to kill you. But after only 20 pints you will die from its sugar content.

Ben & Jerry’s made the right corporate decision if it protected their profits. Although they could have also used the occasion as a teaching moment—a mind-blowing lesson on comparative risk. But that works only if people are open to learning. In modern times, many of us don’t satisfy that criterion, perhaps because, according to the nineteenth-century British essayist Walter Bagehot,

One of the greatest pains to human nature is the pain of a new idea.

It is, as common people say, so “upsetting;” it makes you think that, after all, your favourite notions may be wrong, your firmest beliefs ill-founded.… Naturally, therefore, common men hate a new idea, and are disposed more or less to ill-treat the original man who brings it.

— Starry Messenger: Cosmic Perspectives on Civilization - Neil deGrasse Tyson (2022)

[theshippirate22]

one day Lyn gets home from work and Hunter very obviously wants to fuck and shes on board but she’s really tired and gets her wires crossed and says “how can i help you?” in her customer service voice and they both just sit there for a second and then he climbs off of her and they both roll over and go to sleep and they never speak of it again

[your-fave-killed-the-queen]

table salt did her in. too spicy

Table Salt killed the Queen!

Did your fave play a part in Queen Elizabeth the Second’s death? Submit them here!

[idonotblogatall]

I legitimately don't know the difference between a slug and a snail except one can explode with sodium chloride.

[theultimatetournament]

Mtn. Dew Baja Blast or Table salt

Baja

Salt

Voting ended onJun 9, 2023

[themirroredmoon]

Types of Salt Used in Witchcraft

• Himalayan Pink Salt • Protects Relationships. Removes Negative Blockages & Curses.

• Black Salt • Protection (Easily the Best).

Ingredients to Make: Incense Ashes, Salt. Optional Ingredients: Charcoal, Eggshells. Tools: Mortar & Pestle

- If using eggshells, make sure the membrane layer inside the egg is removed so all you have left is the dried, clean shell. Crush the shells with the mortar and pestle. - Add the salt - Add the charcoal and mix and grind well - Add the incense ashes - Add more salt as needed to fill whatever container will be holding this mixture.

Tada! Black Salt.

• Table Salt • Cleansing. Protection.

• Sea Salt • Balance Emotions. Cleansing & Purification.

[spark-enchanter]

Weekly Dose of Salt

Table Salt: mined from underground deposits, very processed to remove minerals, added iodine, added anti-caking agents

A Processed, Altered Salt

Unlike with rock salts, minerals that could energetically affect your magic have been removed. However, iodine and anti-caking agents have been added. Iodine is an element needed by the thyroid, and something that our bodies cannot produce. Necessary for our diet (iodine deficiencies are an issue), and present in a lot of seafood, I do not currently know how iodine acts energetically. I do plan on pursuing finding out at some point.

The anti-caking agents do just what they say, they prevent the table salt from clumping and caking, creating a lovely pouring experience during use. I am also unaware of their properties, but have no current inclination to find out.

Due to these things, table salt is not my preferred salt to use in magic. As far as I am aware, other salts are just as accessible when shopping, so I don't use it in my life. If you find yourself only able to obtain table salt, or only have table salt on hand, it will still do the trick of negating psychic energies. Table salt is not ideal for detail oriented craft however.