7 ms·

Good question. I wonder if the Romans knew they were getting dumber from sweetening their food with lead.

• flyinghamster 2y ago
  Not just the Romans, but anyone over 50, particularly in urban areas, got dosed with plenty of lead as well. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetraethyllead https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetraethyllead
  • JumpCrisscross 2y ago
    Has anyone plotted the amount of lead in the electorate over time?
    • slater 2y ago
      It'll be interesting to see as the baby boomers pass away [0] if the political pendulum swings from "rah rah fu got mine, cruelty is the point, suck it libt*rds" conservatism, back to liberalism. It'd give me hope that Tr_mp winning again was just "one last hurrah" of those right-of-center (or by international standards, far-right) in the US. [0] https://incendar.com/baby_boomer_deathclock.php https://incendar.com/baby_boomer_deathclock.php
      • JumpCrisscross 2y ago
        If one had to pick a single demo that propelled Trump in ‘24, it was young men [1]. [1] https://apnews.com/article/election-harris-trump-women-latinos-black-voters-0f3fbda3362f3dcfe41aa6b858f22d12 https://apnews.com/article/election-harris-trump-women-latin...
  • oftenwrong 2y ago
    Lead does not readily degrade, either. It is still in the soil, the dust, our building, our foods, et cetera. People seem to be generally less exposed in each successive generation, however. https://www.efsa.europa.eu/en/efsajournal/pub/1570 https://www.efsa.europa.eu/en/efsajournal/pub/1570