Today’s links Thinking the unthinkable: At a certain point, we have to admit that the correct amount of radium in your suppository is zero. Hey look at this: Delights to delectate. This day in history: 2004, 2014, 2023 Upcoming appearances: Where to find me. Recent appearances: Where I’ve been. Latest books: You keep readin’ em, I’ll keep writin’ ’em. Upcoming books: Like I said, I’ll keep writin’ ’em. Colophon: All the rest. Thinking the unthinkable (permalink) Time and again, I find myself thinking about radium suppositories: specifically, I get to thinking about the day that the consensus shifted from “radium suppositories are great” to “stop putting radioisotopes up your ass.” The thing is, people really liked radium-based quack remedies. They drank radium-infused water, smeared radium cream on their faces and bodies, and yes, rammed radium suppositories up their assholes: https://maximumfun.org/episodes/sawbones/radium-girls/ The fact that this made whatever ailed you sicker didn’t deter the radium true believers: if you’re getting sicker, then you must need more radium. When I think about the debate over radium, I imagine that the people who understood that radium was really bad for you must have run up against critics who told them they were being unreasonable. “You can’t tell people to stop using radium. Tell them to use suppositories with less radium. Tell them to use them less frequently. But you can’t just tell people, ‘stop putting radium up your asshole.’ They won’t take you seriously.” About 20 years ago, I started pitching various institutions that…Pluralistic: Thinking the unthinkable (19 Sep 2024)