Six Things the World Doesn’t Want You to Know

Advertising agencies’ influence on the media is a lot more widespread than you would think. This may not surprise you, but this is only the beginning. Here is an example:

During the year of 1995, the San Jose Mercury News almost died because of a boycott by all of its car company advertisers. But why? The reason behind this was the fact that the newspaper had published an article telling readers how to get a better deal from car dealers.

Medication errors kill thousands of US citizens each year. That’s right; doctors aren’t right all of the time. Next time you get a prescription, check the label very carefully. The wrong dosage kills hundreds or possibly even thousands of people in the US alone. And I’m not even including the amount of people injured.

“A Texas doctor wrote an illegible prescription causing the patient to receive not only the wrong medication, but at eight times the drug’s usually recommended strength. The patient, Ramon Vasquez, died. In 1999, a court ordered the doctor and pharmacy to pay the patient’s family a total of $450,000, the largest amount ever awarded in an illegible prescription case.” Well, according to the New York Newsday anyway.

Here’s something the Catholic Church doesn’t want you to know. Pope Pius II, Aeneas Sylvius Piccolomini, wrote an erotic novel. For the record, it was before he became pope, but who cares. Fortunately for him, it was a bestseller, and I have a passage from it, but I’m afraid that I can’t show it here. But, after reading it, I can see why the catholic church tried to cover it up. Just like in The Davinci Code.

Why can’t popes do this anymore?

As a big fan of M*A*S*H, I became rather interested in the Korean War. While checking it out on the internet, I came across an old article that was startling. It never ended. The war, not the article. All that happened was that a ceasefire, or The Korean Armistice, was signed. And the man who wrote the thing, Howard S Levie even said himself:

“An armistice is not a peace treaty. While it’s main objective is to bring about a cease-fire, a halt to hostilities, that halt may be indefinite or for a specified period of time only. An armistice agreement does not terminate the state of war between the belligerents. A state of war continues to exist with all of its implications for the belligerents and for the neutrals.”

So what he’s saying is, it’s only that there’s no fighting. A peace treaty was never occurred. Also, funnily enough, neither South nor North Korea signed The Korean Armistice. But then again, According to The Korean War: An Encyclopedia, the Korean War was never declared as a war. Makes you think, doesn’t it.

Wal-Mart, the shopping superstore, with thousands of stores across America, (probably even in the tens of thousands) constantly puts its employees in dangerous situations where they could die or be inflicted with serious injuries. It has a lesser-known policy to lock in employees overnight. Wal-Mart claims they do it to stop employee theft. This may sound fun, but in 1911, 146 workers died when a fire broke out in their workplace. In 1991, again, 25 workers were killed when fire broke out in the processing plant in which they worked. The only keys for fire escapes and other exits are given to managers. But what happens if the employees happen to cut a major artery, or break a bone?

Now for a big one. In 1961, the US accidentally dropped two nuclear bombs on North Carolina. A B-52 with two of these kaboomers (I like that word) was flying in the general vicinity of Goldsboro and Faro when the right wing leaked fuel and exploded. One major problem with planes is that with even one wing missing, they tend to crash. A lot easier than old Windows 95-98.

The bomber disintegrated, with five of the eight crewmen surviving. For some unknown reason, the MARK 39 Thermonuclear bombs disengaged, careening towards the earth. Only one of the parachutes worked, and it drifted gently downwards. The other was not so lucky. It drove itself 150 feet into a marshy swamp. Because of the swampiness, it was difficult to retrieve most of the bomb, but a crucial part, containing much of the nuclear material was impossible to retrieve.

Now, every year, state regulators test the water for radioactivity. The scariest part of this is that they almost detonated. They have four arming devices, and three were activated. All that was left was a tiny switch in the cockpit to be flipped and goodbye millions. It could have been flicked by debris or any other object.
It was a close one.

If this list has enlightened you, or made you check your prescriptions twice, please leave a comment, and press the “I like it!” button. I would be very grateful. If you want links to my information, just post a comment.