Here are 5 things you should know.
1. Gasoline is not just extremely flammable and can create explosive mixtures with air, it is also very carcinogenic, toxic and a strong teratogen.
Parts of the USA are currently experiencing a significant gasoline shortage/crunch, which is why many photos of people hoarding gasoline using plastic bags and other unsafe containers pop up on the internet.
Gasoline, as it is sold as a fuel in many parts of the world, contains up to 5 vol.-% of Benzene, which is toxic and carcinogenic, up to 35 vol.-% of Toluene, which is toxic, and many other aromatic hydrocarbons, which mostly are toxic too. Most of these compounds are not only toxic and/or carcinogenic via dermal exposure, but inhalation too. Some (including Benzene) are also teratogen, meaning they will be harmful to an unborn child, when the mother is exposed, or for infants via lactation. Some even lower your chance of being fertile/increase the risk of infertility. When inhaled, gasoline can make you dizzy or even pass out.
If it wasn’t for the general use of gasoline as a fuel, the average person (without proper certificates/qualifications) would not be able to buy gasoline, as it is such a dangerous chemical and poses a great risk to general health. When working with the compounds making up gasoline in a lab, chemists are advised to wear proper safety equipment, including gloves and eye protection, by the GHS (Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals).
It is also a common misconception, that ingesting gasoline (as in drinking it), in contrast to inhalation, will instantly kill you. While it is true that gasoline has rather high toxicity, according to specialist Brad Dahl “even two mouthfuls wouldn’t be that dangerous as long as it goes down to your stomach and stays there or keeps going.” Therefore small amounts of ingested gasoline generally do not require special medical treatment and vomiting, lavage or activated charcoal can even make it worse. THIS EXPLICITLY DOES NOT MEAN, THAT DRINKING GASOLINE CANNOT BE A SERIOUS THREAT TO YOUR HEALTH. DO NOT TAKE HEALTH ADVICE FROM PEOPLE FROM THE INTERNET! WHEN YOU OR SOMEONE ELSE HAS INGESTED GASOLINE, CONTACT YOUR LOCAL POISON INFORMATION CENTER!
Gasoline is also very problematic when it gets into the environment and poses a big risk for aquatic organisms.
For further (professional) information and studies regarding the health effects of gasoline visit: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/2683228/ or
https://www.firstfuelbank.com/msds/Tesoro.pdf
2. Huge, high-ranking universities like MIT and Stanford have hundreds of recorded lecture series on YouTube for free.
3. “Restarting” your PC is not the same as shutting it down and turning it on again.
Windows 10 has the feature “Fast Startup” enabled by default, which essentially puts the PC into a hibernation state instead of completely turning it off. When you Shut Down your PC, this feature enables it to start up faster later.
When you restart your PC, it completely turns off and on again. This may help to solve errors regarding devices or certain programs. This is why you are usually required to restart your PC while updating it.
To completely shut down your PC, you can either disable Fast Startup here –
Control Panel > Power Options > Choose what the power buttons do > Change settings that are currently unavailable > Uncheck “Turn on fast startup”
Or you can turn the PC off completely by holding the Shift key as you click “Shut Down”.
4. You should always go and look at a house you’re planning to buy after it has rained heavily (if possible).
You should get a gauge of whether the soil gets heavily saturated or super-saturated during rain events. If your lawn is below the water table during flood events, it will be mushy, there will be standing water, and depending on how quickly it runs off, you could be living in relatively swampy land during rainy parts of the year. When your yard is mushy people, dogs, anything becomes a great erosion agent, and this can cost you $$$. Pick the other house!
5. Canvas CAN and DOES track students’ browser history.
Context: article
Dartmouth’s medical school is in hot water after accusing 17 students of cheating due to Canvas tracking the student’s browser history. Some of these students have already been expelled/suspended with marks on their transcripts. The school never provided data logs to the students proving the accusations.
Long-story-short, Canvas is tracking its user’s internet usage. Make sure to log out of canvas when it is not absolutely necessary to be using it.
