Cynical Activities - P
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PEOPLE
Of all the things that are bad for you, people top the list. An international panel on climate change has found that most Global Warming over the past fifty years was caused by people. Careless treatment of the environment means that 11,046 species of plants and animals face a high risk of extinction in the near future, 180 mammal species and 182 bird species are critically endangered, freshwater wetlands have been reduced globally by up to 50 percent, soil degradation has affected two-thirds of the world's agricultural land, coastal ecosystems are losing their capacity to produce fish, and 20 to 50 percent of the world's forest cover has been destroyed. If you really want to do some good in the world, use contraception. |
PERU
Don't get smart on our world tour and think you can beat the odds by going somewhere off the beaten track Peru, for example. Being original about your holiday will only make things worse. In that same study, two-thirds of the tourists who went to Peru got sick. |
PESSIMISM
If you think everything always goes wrong for you, you're probably right. Pessimists recover more slowly from heart attacks, surgery, and spinal injuries, and are more prone to severe reactions to traumatic events. They're also likely to die sooner, especially from accidents or violence. But who cares? Life sucks anyway. |
PESTICIDES
According to the World Health Organization, at least three million people are poisoned by pesticides every year, of whom more than two hundred thousand die. If you're regularly exposed to pesticides, you're more likely to experience memory loss and other cognitive dysfunctions later in life. You may be more likelyto get Parkinson's disease, and if you're a man you could become infertile. Pesticides may also encourage growth of bacteria on some crops, putting you at risk if you eat raw fruit and vegetables such as strawberries and lettuce. Pesticide runoff stored in the blubber of whales is released into the females' milk, threatening the survival of some species. No, we don't know why they're still legal either, but we assume there are large amounts of money involved. |
PETS, HAVING
Asthma cases in the U.S. could drop nearly 40 percent among children under six if they didn't have allergy triggers (such as pets) in their homes. Before you auction off the Lab, though, check out the entries about children. You might want to keep the Lab and get rid of the kid. |
PETS, NOT HAVING
People without pets have higher cholesterol and blood pressure, cope more poorly with anxiety and stress, and live less long after heart attacks. Older people without pets are less active and more likely to be depressed. And small children in homes without cats or dogs are more likely to develop eczema and hay fever. They're also more likely to get asthma yes, we know the last entry said the opposite, but we can prove whichever theory worries you more. |
PHILADELPHIA
Among U.S. cities, Philadelphia has the third highest number of people dying as a result of pollution from power plants. It's also the third fattest city in America (looks like Philadelphia Light is a contradiction in terms). |
PHOENIX
By the time you get to Phoenix, you'll be raging. In a study of sixty-eight American cities, Phoenix was twelfth worst in terms of traffic, with almost 47 percent of daily road travel taking place in congested conditions. |
PIERCING
Body piercings can take two to nine months to heal, and nearly one in ten results in an infection, possibly even by viruses such as HIV or hepatitis B or C. "High" ear piercing can lead to peri-chondritis and cauliflower ear. At least one young woman is reported to have suffered an abscess of the brain following an infection in her pierced tongue. All this is unlikely to keep your teenager from getting that second stud in his eyebrow or wherever but you can always try. |
PILL, NOT TAKING THE
Women who don't take oral contraceptives may be more likely to develop bowel cancer. You'll have to work out the reasons for yourself. |
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