California Cow Gas

It is true, California Air Resources Board (Senate Bill 1383) can now regulate cow flatulence. It looks for practical ways to reduce cows' belching and breaking wind.

"Although these gases do not linger in the atmosphere, they still make people sick and hasten global warming due to their heat-trapping ability", per Reuters. Governor Brown added, "We're protecting people's lungs and their health."

Perhaps the farmers will next be required to affix these to their livestock.

Argentina’s National Institute of Agricultural Technology has come up with an innovative solution, the cow-fart-backpack to be used to fight climate change. The backpack captures the gases emitted through the cow’s mouth or intestinal tract via a tube inserted through the cow’s skin (which the researchers claim is painless). The gas is then condensed and ready to use to provide power for the farm.

Holidays and Flatulence

Every time we swallow, we gulp in air too. Fizzy drinks compound this. Bicarbonate in the saliva and pancreatic juices react with stomach acid to produce carbon dioxide and many of our gut bacteria react with whatever is passing through to produce methane, hydrogen and more C02. All of these cause wind, but it is the tiny amounts of sulfur containing gases that make it smell.

Things to avoid as much as possible when dining with relatives and friends for the holidays - go easy on food with a high proportion of the un-absorbable carbohydrate that provide a feeding frenzy for lower gut bacteria. These include beans, peas, broccoli, cauliflower, sprouts, artichokes, root vegetables, prunes, apples, and fruit juice (which is heavy in fructose).

Fizzy drinks, gulping, eating too fast, and overeating pump the gut with wind that will escape either up or down, as does smoking and chewing gum. Tight clothing and restrictive underwear give your bowel gas fewer options.

A brisk outdoor walk is a great way of reliving the pressure and a charcoal biscuit or tablet from pharmacies can minimize the smell. Chemists have other anti-flatulence products and in extreme cases, Under-Tec pants have a carbon filter gusset that deals with the odor.

Holiday Meal Cures

This also a bit tacky, but it is a real product. Pills to change the smell of flatulence to something less offensive. Just in time for the holidays.  LINK

Ten Interesting Facts About Humans

1. The surface area of a human lung is equal to a tennis court.
2. Sneeze outputs usually exceed 100 mph.
3. Approximately 75% of human waste is made of water.
4. The average person expels flatulence 14 times each day.
5. Earwax production is necessary for good ear health. It protects the delicate inner ear from bacteria, fungus, dirt and even insects. It also cleans and lubricates the ear canal.
6. Babies are always born with blue eyes. The melanin in a newborn’s eyes often needs time after birth to be fully deposited or to be darkened by exposure to ultraviolet light, later revealing the baby’s true eye color.
7. Every human spent about half an hour as a single cell.
8. After eating too much, your hearing is less sharp.
9. Women can smell better than men. (which is different than women do smell better than men.)
10. Your nose can remember 50,000 different scents.