this post was submitted on 03 Mar 2026
250 points (97.7% liked)

Showerthoughts

40907 readers
634 users here now

A "Showerthought" is a simple term used to describe the thoughts that pop into your head while you're doing everyday things like taking a shower, driving, or just daydreaming. The most popular seem to be lighthearted clever little truths, hidden in daily life.

Here are some examples to inspire your own showerthoughts:

Rules

  1. All posts must be showerthoughts
  2. The entire showerthought must be in the title
  3. No politics
    • If your topic is in a grey area, please phrase it to emphasize the fascinating aspects, not the dramatic aspects. You can do this by avoiding overly politicized terms such as "capitalism" and "communism". If you must make comparisons, you can say something is different without saying something is better/worse.
    • A good place for politics is c/politicaldiscussion
  4. Posts must be original/unique
  5. Adhere to Lemmy's Code of Conduct and the TOS

If you made it this far, showerthoughts is accepting new mods. This community is generally tame so its not a lot of work, but having a few more mods would help reports get addressed a little sooner.

Whats it like to be a mod? Reports just show up as messages in your Lemmy inbox, and if a different mod has already addressed the report, the message goes away and you never worry about it.

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
top 16 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] Sharkticon@lemmy.zip 38 points 1 day ago (2 children)

There was a West Wing joke somewhat similar to this.

Margaret: Red meat has been found to cause cancer in white rats. Maraschino cherries have been found to cause cancer in white rats. Cellular phones have been found to cause cancer in white rats. Has anyone examined the possibility that cancer might be hereditary in white rats?

Surgeon General Millicent Griffith: Let me tell you something, I'm not a hundred percent sure we've ruled that out.

[–] village604@adultswim.fan 4 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 child)

The only part of that show I remember is one guy realizing that the stray dog he found thought its name was Damnit.

[–] Sharkticon@lemmy.zip 1 point 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 child)

99.99% sure you are thinking of a different show.

[–] village604@adultswim.fan 2 points 1 day ago

Shit, it was JAG I think.

[–] SaveTheTuaHawk@lemmy.ca 2 points 1 day ago (1 child)

Rodent model studies are mostly done in very inbred mouse models. Toxicity and cancer data is typically done at doses a human could not possibly get in a lifetime.

Remember when BPA was a hormone in plastic? BPA was originally a failed attempt to make a synthetic hormone, the only way they could see anything like a hormone effects was when they injected huge amounts into rodent muscles. People went stupid with media driven fear.

Junk science is a waste of time and money.

[–] Sharkticon@lemmy.zip 1 point 1 day ago

See I posted a joke from an early 2000s television show, and then you posted all that.

[–] fartographer@lemmy.world 5 points 1 day ago

The sad part is that you're not too far off from many fields of research. For example, research in neurodegenerative diseases in humans tested on mouse models means acquiring mice with diseases that they can't get. So, you instead use gene-edited or generically engineered mice that are designed to exhibit all of the symptoms of a human neurodegenerative disease, and then try changing those symptoms in the mice in hopes that you'll learn something that can be translated to humans.

[–] GreenShimada@lemmy.world 20 points 1 day ago (1 child)

100% of people that drink water and eat food die over the long term.

Would you be willing to let your children risk dying from this spurious correlation?

[–] TubularTittyFrog@lemmy.world 3 points 1 day ago

no, but if they drink Monster and eat meat they won't turn gay.

[–] actionjbone@sh.itjust.works 32 points 1 day ago

c/shittyyoushouldknow

[–] YetAnotherNerd@sopuli.xyz 9 points 1 day ago (1 child)

Mice aren’t meant for too much of ANYTHING. A friend in ChemE said the mice that got cancer from saccharin (Sweet N Low) were the size of plates, they had gained so many calories from such a large dose.

[–] TheReanuKeeves@lemmy.world 13 points 1 day ago

A dinner plate? They're not researching cancer, they're trying to master pokemon evolutions

[–] mech@feddit.org 9 points 1 day ago

No dangerous cancers, though.
None of the mice have ever died from it.

[–] snek_boi@lemmy.ml 4 points 1 day ago (1 child)
[–] lolola@lemmy.blahaj.zone 3 points 1 day ago (1 child)

Indeed. By which I mean, where are the controls? How could a control even exist for such an experiment? Any non-research mouse becomes research by default.

And blah blah blah that's what they want you to think. lol

[–] kuberoot@discuss.tchncs.de 2 points 1 day ago

Reminds me of a recent xkcd: https://xkcd.com/3201