Say Cheese

I heard a while back that dentists say that the amount of toothpaste you actually need is substantially less than the advertising pics you usually see about a good glob covering your toothbrush. Around half or even less is apparently all you need - and the way that toothpaste companies try to increase their revenue is to build a perception that you need more to keep your teeth in tip-top condition to reflect the sun's rays, be friends with polar bears, and wear top hats with that little touch of debonair.

Speaking of advertising, I saw this on a website:


And all this while I might have had infidel paste in my mouth? Who would have guessed that's where my occasionally foul tongue may have originated.

I've recently had the interesting experience to test out certain, well, myths or assumptions or whatever you want to call them. Last year while attending a university conference in Evansville, Indiana, I actually tested the theory that I could sleep through an earthquake. Scalding my left hand yesterday isn't exactly the height of my career as a poster boy for the accident prone (that one I think goes to having a lightbulb blow up in my right hand a couple of years back, or perhaps accidentally ironing myself) but let me announce proudly that smearing toothpaste over the area affected actually does work.

Apparently you can also swallow an inch of toothpaste you can fake a fever long enough to get an MC. But with my record of accidents I think that's one myth I shouldn't test; chances are it'll give me a real reason to have an MC.