The notion that a pig’s lack of functional sweat glands has anything to do with its risk of transmitting disease is without scientific basis, though several posts that have gained widespread attention online have claimed that pigs are more likely to harbor dangerous bacteria and parasites because they do not sweat, making them unhealthy to eat.

Origin: Pork has a long history of being maligned as an unhealthy and unclean meat primarily due to beliefs expressed in ancient religious texts, while in the modern era some armchair scientists have attempted to provide scientific explanations for the same belief.

In the latter category, scientists have claimed that pigs are more likely to harbor dangerous bacteria and parasites because they do not sweat.

Addressing the unfounded claim that pigs are unhealthy to eat because their inability to sweat precludes them from getting rid of toxins or parasites:

Do Pigs Sweat?
It is accurate to say that pigs do not sweat. Although pigs possess some sweat glands, they do not respond to thermoregulatory cues, which is one reason why pigs wallow about in mud to cool themselves. A pig’s lack of functional sweat glands might be a compelling argument about pork’s being an unsafe food if the same thing were not also true of other animals which we eat as well.

Most meat we consume comes from animals that do not sweat much or at all, which would call into question essentially all the meat humans eat if sweating were an important factor in food safety. Cows have a limited number of functional sweat glands. Chickens are not mammals and therefore do not possess any sweat glands at all. Humans, with between two to five million sweat glands, are prodigious sweaters compared to most other mammals, especially the ones we commonly eat.

Would Sweating Actually Remove Harmful Chemicals from a Pig’s Body?
A popular folk-medicine notion is that the human body purges itself of toxic substances by sweating them out through work-out. Although several chemicals, some of which could accurately be described as toxins, can be found in human sweat, no scientific study has indicated that this could be or is likely to be a significant mechanism for the excretion of dangerous substances:

The body does appear to sweat out toxic materials — heavy metals and bisphenol A (BPA), a chemical found in plastics, for instance, have been detected in sweat. But there is no evidence that sweating out such toxins improves health … The concentration of metals detected in sweat are extremely low. Sweat is 99 percent water. The liver and kidneys remove far more toxins than sweat glands.

Pigs also have a liver and a kidney, both of which serve to remove “toxins” from their body. The amount of metals or other toxins that would theoretically be removed from a pig by sweating are negligible, and therefore a pig’s lack of sweat is entirely unrelated to its potential “toxin” load.

Would Sweating Actually Remove Parasites from a Pig’s Body?
Ignoring entirely the scientifically impossible proposal that bacteria, through the process of being jailed in the body of a sweatless animal, could “turn into parasites,” the notion that sweating could be an effective mechanism for the removal of parasites from an animal’s body at all is far-fetched on its own.

The assertion that “worms which attack the digestive system” could escape from a sweat gland requires two absurdities to be true:  1) that a physical, tunnel-like connection exists between a mammal’s digestive system and its sweat glands, and  2) that worm parasites could fit into a sweat gland.

Ascaris suum is a species of roundworm commonly found in a pig’s gastrointestinal tracts. Its life cycle, broadly representative of (though slightly more convoluted than) many of the common species of parasites found in pigs, does not at any point involve the epidermis of the animal:

When Ascaris suum eggs are ingested, the larvae hatch in the intestine, penetrate the wall, and enter the portal circulation. After a short period in the liver, they are carried by the circulation to the lungs, where they pass through the capillaries into the alveolar spaces [in the lungs]. Approximately 9–10 days after ingestion, the larvae pass up the bronchial tree, are swallowed, and return to the small intestine by ~10–15 days after infection, where they mature into adult worms. Those adult worms, with a diameter of around 2-4 millimetres, would be roughly 10,000 times wider than a human sweat gland, which are roughly 30-50 µm wide. All livestock, regardless of species, are susceptible to similar parasites, including cows.

Conclusion, Pork like any other food is subject to the risk of infection by parasites or bacteria, and could in theory contain heavy metals introduced by the environment in which the animal was raised. Sanitary farming conditions, proper feeding, and prudent food preparation, not sweat glands, are the means of reducing those risks.


Harris Robinette Natural 100% Grass Fed Short Ribs – 10 Pounds

Made to Order Fire-Grilled Oriental Minced Pork Jerky (Original Flavor) aka Singapore Bak Kwa

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A popular bit of “too crazy to be a coincidence” trivia suggests that the location of the Great Pyramid of Giza is in some way cosmically aligned with the universe – or, the Egyptians themselves aligned their pyramids with the universe because its latitude in decimal degrees is 29.9792458 N and the speed of light in a vacuum as expressed in the contemporary metric system is 299,792,458 meters per second:

It is true that the latitude 29.9792458 N intersects the Great Pyramid of Giza (at the selected longitude of around   31. 134667 E ) .

According to a reliable source, however:

Firstly, if a point of latitude’s merely crossing a structure at any point is the bar to meet for revealing a hidden meaning to its location, then the latitudes between 29.980150 and 29.978150 (all of which intersect the same pyramid) also fit the bill, leaving a coincidence-monger roughly 2,000 numerical latitude formulations to choose from with respect to the Great Pyramid of Giza.

Second, if the apex of the pyramid were meant to represent an homage to the fundamental laws of the universe, the correct latitude would actually be closer to 29.9791750 N, which would bear less resemblance to the speed of light in a vacuum expressed in meters per second.

Third, although the Great Pyramid of Giza was constructed around 2550 BC, the notion that light “travelled” at all (though discussed theoretically in ancient Greek times and by early Arab scholars) was not firmly established until the first estimate of the speed of light was made in 1676.

Fourth, the unit of measurement on which the speed of light is based in this meme — meters — was not defined until 1771, making it a highly anachronistic one for the ancient Egyptians to have been referencing.

Fifth, Egyptians of that time would have been more likely to express such a theoretical concept as the speed of light in “cubits” per second. Using 0.525 m as the estimated length of one ancient Egyptian cubit puts the speed of light at 571,033,253 cubits per second. Converting this number into latitude expressed in decimal degrees via the same approach would require the pyramid to be somewhere in western Russia in order for its location to correspond to the speed of light.

Sixth, our system of referencing locations on the globe via latitude did not come into being until long after the construction of the Great Pyramid of Giza. And decimal degree mapping at the level of precision implied by the meme relies upon exacting measurements of our globe that were not possible until the late 1900s.

The latitude of the pyramid in decimal degrees can match a sequence of numbers expressing the speed of light if you look hard enough for it, but that phenomenon is nothing more than coincidence. All in all, this “coincidence” depends upon people who lived thousands of years ago having knowledge of concepts that were not discovered or created until much, much later in human history, and referencing systems of measurement that did not exist in their time and place.

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Images and videos of the shoebill stork, a large African bird, which went viral are often met with skepticism.

In short, the video shows a real animal called the Shoebill Stork. The shoebill stork is also known as the whalehead stork.

Many people claimed with varying degrees of disbelief. Viewers who think this bird has a distinctly prehistoric appearance will probably prefer its scientific title: Balaeniceps rex. How on earth is it called the Shoebill? “Monsterface” would be better. Or “Death Pelican.” Or “Literally the Most Frightening Bird On Earth.”

The fact is Shoebills are large birds that can grow to nearly 1.52 meters tall. They primarily live in tropical locations in central Africa, such as Sudan, Uganda, and Zambia. The bird, which is listed as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources, subsists on a diet of eel, lizards, snakes, baby crocodiles and lungfish.

Besides, being gigantic, looks like footwear, and can decapitate crocodiles. It can makes awesome machine-gun noises. Shoebills are silent most of the time but engage in “bill-clattering” around the nest or when greeting another bird. It is loud and scary and the last sound that lots of poor monitor lizards ever hear.

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The phrase “took an arrow in the knee” is old Norse slang for getting married?

The origins of many marriage-related rituals are known by very few. One searches in vain to find any references in Norse languages or mythology that links the phrase ‘took an arrow in the knee’ to the concept of marriage, so we can safely rule out this explanation.

The phrase “took an arrow in the knee” is actually of fairly recent vintage, a line popularized by the role-playing video game The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.

Then, where did the tradition of getting down upon ones knee to propose marriage come from? No definitive historical explanation exists, but as many sources have posited, the practice is likely related to customs involving kneeling as a demonstrative act of both supplication and respect; During the Middle Ages, chivalry was not yet dead and formal courtship was the medieval version of modern-day dating. Kneeling was also the protocol for many ceremonial rituals and rites of passage, including those of the romantic kind. Medieval artwork and literature shows knights genuflecting before their feudal lord as a sign of honor and respect, or kneeling in front of a noblewoman to express their eternal servitude and admiration in a show of “courtly love.” Nevertheless, religion play a role as well. Many faiths, like Christianity, Buddhism and Islam, have their worshippers kneel in prayer to express their devoted service and everlasting respect for their God.

In today’s world, kneeling has connotations of complete submission, giving yourself to the mercy of the other person who has the power to do whatever they desire. So when we propose in this way, we are showing that we truly trust our partner, and that we are completely committed to intertwining our life with theirs. It is also a respectful thing, which is nice, and shows that we are willing to break down our walls and be truly intimate;-As kneeling is placing yourself in a vulnerable position with all power to the person standing.

In short, offering a ring upon bended knee to propose marriage is a symbolic manner of expressing a fervent desire for a positive response, and of demonstrating that your beloved is deserving of your honor, respect, and love — not due to an old arrow injury.

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A joke by comedian Tim Vine about a vacuum cleaner has been voted the winner of the Funniest Joke of the Edinburgh Fringe Award 2014.  See the full top 10 list above.

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