Things I learned lately - 16 September

• Myth: You need to find a food supply immediately if you are lost in the wilderness. You can survive up to six weeks without food. Water and shelter from the elements are far more important.
• Myth: You can suck the venom out of a snakebite. If a bite delivers venom, it’ll immediately enter the bloodstream. Putting your mouth on the bite will deliver extra bacteria to the wound and may simply get venom into your mouth and esophagus.
• The real reason that many people who have cut out gluten claim to feel healthier, is simply because their diets are better. They're buying fresh vegetables, cooking well, and eating a lot better. In other words, while cutting gluten may seem as though it helps you lose weight or clears up your complexion, the reality is that 500 other things could be the real cause. But when it comes to food, people are incredibly unwilling to question self-diagnoses. No one wants to think that the benefits they experience from going gluten-free might be psychological. Only about 1% of people worldwide actually have celiac disease.
• German architect Herman Sörgel who devoted his whole life to promote his grand scheme to partly drain the Mediterranean by building 3 gigantic dams. The first would be between Spain and Morocco, separating the Mediterranean from the Atlantic Ocean. The second would shut off the Black Sea. A third dam would stretch between Sicily and Tunisia, cutting the Med in two, with different water levels on either side. The benefits of Atlantropa were numerous, according to Sörgel. Each of the dams could provide enough hydroelectric energy to supply Europe with all the electricity needed. Lower sea levels would create vast stretches of new farm land along the current coastline.
• In North America, eggs are cleaned with soap and hot water, a process that removes the protective outer layer that keeps water and oxygen in and bad bacteria out. After the protective layer is removed, eggs are sprayed with oil and refrigerated to keep bacteria at bay. In Europe, eggs are not usually washed and therefore do not need to be refrigerated.
• Uber is currently testing self-driving cars on real passengers in Pittsburgh.
• Lululemon founder Chip Wilson came up with the yoga wear brand's name because he thought Japanese people wouldn't be able to pronounce it.
• The Spanish Flu, of sub-type H1N1, killed somewhere between 50 and 100 million people between 1918 and 1919.
• Edibles offer a completely different experience than a joint. When eaten, THC, the psychoactive ingredient in weed, transforms in the liver into a substance that's twice as strong and lasts twice as long as when inhaled. It also takes our bodies much longer to process cannabis when we ingest rather than inhale. With smoking, the peak blood levels happen within 3-10 minutes. With eating, it's 1-3 hours. Because it takes so long to process, people often overdo it. If you don't feel high after ingesting an edible, wait at least 2 hours before consuming a second dose.
• For now, if a Canadian is asked by US border guards if they've ever smoked marijuana recreationally, the answer to give is 'no'. Unless you don't want to enter the US.