is there an echo in here?

Because I failed to learn this yesterday, today I learned that when you write a shell script, putting something between two of those little backward quote thingies that no one uses for anything else (`) means to run whatever command is inside. The output gets used by whatever command you put in front of it.

Ok, back to our regularly scheduled programming: chemicals that will kill you. Human fetuses are exposed to all the nasty chemicals I've fussed about here (bisphenol A, pesticides, flame retardants, mercury, etc.) plus some others that I should have covered, but didn't get around to it (pthalates, PCBs, lead, heaven knows what else), and the doctors in this article think these exposures are to blame for everything from obesity to Alzheimer's to ADHD.

So right there in print it says that we're poisoning ourselves, and with extremely low doses of chemicals. I believe I've mentioned that here about 300 times in the last year and a half, so I'm pleased that the medical establishment is getting a clue. Also, I'm kind of happy that I got sick now instead of even ten years ago because it seems as though we, as a culture, might start making some progress toward cleaning ourselves up. Unlike the Europeans, who got a clue years ago, although with all the diesel cars, for all I know it could be worse over there.

In somewhat car-exhaust related news, retired professional bicycle racers are coming forward and admitting to doping. A temporarily-retired-due-to-injury pro told me last year after a bike race that pretty much to compete, you had to dope. I didn't particularly want to believe it, but it's getting more and more believable, which is disappointing.

In just plain annoying news, Blogger has written the following word that I cannot erase below this last paragraph. If you don't see it now, it's not because of anything I could do about it.