death by kapok and moth, and an elephant

Today I learned that kapok, that fluffy stuff I make pillows and mattresses out of, absorbs oxygen in cargo holds to the extent that it could kill you.

In other news that could kill you, people in Santa Cruz, CA, have been made sick by the aerial pesticide spraying for the light brown apple moth, the larvae of which will eat all our crops. I recognize that having all our crops eaten would suck, but I am so very not surprised that people are getting sick. I am a little surprised it made the newspaper, however.

In extremely related news, the California Department of Food and Agriculture argues that the ingredients in their spray appear in all kinds of personal hygiene and other common products, and as such, should be safe. Their "Consensus Statement on Human Health Aspects" (look under Hot Topics; pdf) is where I learned that butylated hydroxytoluene is a common food preservative, which I find to be another good reason to avoid eating conventional processed foods. I mean, I'm not even a chemist, and when you say 'toluene,' I think 'fume hood.'

In more entertaining news, the Pinnacles appear to be far enough away from places they're spraying that I could go there this summer, and I don't know if this elephant was trained or what, but it paints better than I do.