11 responses to “Comments:”
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Nice work OG! Great to see an accompaniment to the room and great to have a humorous good-natured voice of reason in the interesting times we find ourselves đ
Rich
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You have a blog, well done. ________________________________
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Test! Are comments tracked/responded to?
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During todayâs discussion, someone mentioned that scientists didnât cause the leaded gasoline problemâthey exposed it. I wanted to offer a fuller picture based on historical evidence.
Tetraethyl lead (TEL) was developed in the 1920s by Thomas Midgley Jr., a chemist working for General Motors. He discovered that adding lead to gasoline reduced engine knocking, but very early on, it became clear this compound was dangerous.
In fact, Midgley himself became ill with lead poisoning and had to take a leave of absence. Workers at TEL production plants suffered severe symptomsâhallucinations, psychosis, and death. At one DuPont facility, the building was nicknamed âthe loony gas buildingâ because so many workers went mad or died from exposure.
Despite this, GM, Standard Oil, and DuPont pushed forward, forming the Ethyl Corporation to produce TEL. They dismissed concerns, claiming the danger was minimal, and suppressed safer alternatives like ethanol, which couldn’t be patented.
Decades later, it was Dr. Clair Patterson, an atmospheric chemist, who exposed the widespread contamination of lead in our environment and our bodies. For telling the truth, he was blacklisted from conferences and denied funding. Yet his work ultimately led to the banning of leaded gasoline in the 1980s.
âThe Secret History of Leadâ â The Nation, March 2000
See also: Jerome Nriagu (University of Michigan), âThe Rise and Fall of Leaded Gasolineâ
Pattersonâs story: Featured in A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill BrysonSo yesâscience did help uncover the damage, but itâs also true that industry-backed science helped cause and cover it up. Itâs not an attack on science, but a reminder that scientific integrity must always be protected from commercial and political pressure.
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During todayâs discussion, Oregon mentioned that scientists didnât cause the leaded gasoline problemâthey exposed it. I wanted to kindly offer a fuller picture based on historical evidence.
Tetraethyl lead (TEL) was developed in the 1920s by Thomas Midgley Jr., a chemist working for General Motors. He discovered that adding lead to gasoline reduced engine knocking, but very early on, it became clear this compound was dangerous.
In fact, Midgley himself became ill with lead poisoning and had to take a leave of absence. Workers at TEL production plants suffered severe symptomsâhallucinations, psychosis, and death. At one DuPont facility, the building was nicknamed âthe loony gas buildingâ because so many workers went mad or died from exposure.
Despite this, GM, Standard Oil, and DuPont pushed forward, forming the Ethyl Corporation to produce TEL. They dismissed concerns, claiming the danger was minimal, and suppressed safer alternatives like ethanol, which couldn’t be patented.
Decades later, it was Dr. Clair Patterson, an atmospheric chemist, who exposed the widespread contamination of lead in our environment and our bodies. For telling the truth, he was blacklisted from conferences and denied funding. Yet his work ultimately led to the banning of leaded gasoline in the 1980s.
âThe Secret History of Leadâ â The Nation, March 2000
See also: Jerome Nriagu (University of Michigan), âThe Rise and Fall of Leaded Gasolineâ
Pattersonâs story: Featured in A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill BrysonSo yesâscience did help uncover the damage, but itâs also true that industry-backed science helped cause and cover it up. Itâs not an attack on science, but a reminder that scientific integrity must always be protected from commercial and political pressure.
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On Thursday 15th May 2025, you mentioned chatGPT wrote you a poem about atheism.
I asked Gemini, androids version of chatGPT to write me one.
This is what it came up with, it really moved me and thought you’d like to see it.
Thanks, Nicky, wife of RaveCavePoem below:
The cosmos vast, a swirling, starlit sea,
Unfurling nebulae for all to see.
No whispered word from some celestial throne,
Just physics humming, beautifully alone.
The ancient tales, the myths of fire and flood,
The pantheons grand, misunderstood.
For reason guides, a lamp within the night,
To seek the truth with open, honest sight.
No unseen hand that shapes our fleeting days,
No judgment waits in some eternal haze.
But here and now, the choices that we make,
The bonds we forge, the love for goodness’ sake.
The human heart, a wellspring deep and wide,
With empathy and courage as our guide.
To build a world where kindness takes its hold,
A future bright, more precious than pure gold.
So let us stand, on solid ground we find,
With minds awake, and spirits unconfined.
To live with grace, and when our time is done,
Return to dust, the cycle ever spun.LikeLike
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Hi Hidden G.
The reason you have no received a reply for such a long time was because I did not understand how the comment section of my website worked and overlooked your message. My apologies. Thanks for the interesting information about lead in gasoline. Very interesting. I continue on my quest that has nothing to do with lead in gasoline and more about how you and I think. Thanks again, Oregon GuyLikeLike
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Hi Nicky,
Thank you for the poem. I was impressed and read it with pleasure. May I suggest you share with many others.
On a different note, my apologies for the long time you spent waiting for a reply. I did not understand how the comment section of my website worked and overlooked your message. Apologies. Please keep up your wonderful comments and sharing in the room and elsewhere. ATB, Oregon Guy
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Hi Anonymous,(I’m guessing Mormon Guy đ
My apologies for not responding sooner. I was unaware of how the comment section of my website worked and overlooked your entry. I was not ignoring you, I was Internet inept đ I read your comments a couple of times and appreciate your point of view. Please keep sharing and we will continue to exchange POVs in a friendly manner. The bottom line from my POV is that this is helping me understand how you and I think. ATB, Oregon Guy
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Hi Anonymous, (Is that you again, Mormon Guy đ
Wow, make that a double wow. You wrote a lot of information. You are obviously very serious about the subject of Helping Hands and their mission and lack of proselytizing. I appreciate and respect your POV and hope you respect mine. The part of our interaction that sticks in my mind was a news video clip of an African American woman, victim of a hurricane, saying “the only ones that came to help were the Mormons. They helped me get back in my house and talked about golden plates that appeared and disappeared. I don’t care about that, I’m a Mormon now because they cared.” Let’s hope we continue to share and communicate and learn how people think. ATB Oregon Guy.
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Hi Eddie from Big Screen,
Thanks for the wave. Glad to see you found the site. ATB, Oregon GuyLikeLike
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Always appreciate feedback. Will try to respond.