The Gates of Hell Are Actually In Turkmenistan

The Darvaza gas crater — also known as the Gates of Hell — is a burning natural gas field collapsed into a cavern near Darvaza, Turkmenistan. It was originally thought to be a substantial oil field site, but soon after engineers set up a drilling rig in 1971, they found a natural gas pocket. The ground beneath the drilling rig collapsed into a wider crater and the rig was buried. Fortunately, there were no casualties. Expecting dangerous releases of poisonous gases from the cavern into nearby towns, the engineers decided to burn the gas off. They estimated that it would take a few weeks, but it’s been burning for more than 50 years now. However, in January, the leader of Turkmenistan, President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov, announced that he was asking officials to find a way to extinguish it. It’s not only using up natural resources, but a giant burning greater isn’t great for air quality either.

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Kidney Stones Are Excruciating, But the Source of Pain Is Surprising

Every year, half a million people visit emergency rooms across the country with kidney stones, and around one in 10 Americans will have a kidney stone at some point in their life. You have two kidneys, and their main job is to filter waste products out of the blood. Normally, those waste products are flushed out of the kidney as urine. Your kidneys filter 50 gallons of blood every 24 hours and eliminate about 64 ounces of waste. In some cases, however, there are excess waste products in the blood that aren't flushed out of the kidneys. Those leftover waste products can form tiny crystals that bunch together over time to form increasingly large "stones." The real trouble starts when one of those stones leaves the kidney and enters the ureter, a narrow tube that transports urine from the kidney to the bladder. That's when it can feel like you've been stabbed in the back. The common belief is that the stone itself causes the pain, but stone have nothing to do with the pain. With a kidney stone stuck in the narrow passageway of the ureter, the urine has nowhere to go. As it increases, it puts pressure on the ureter and kidney, causing the tissues to stretch like a balloon. That stretching is what causes the pain that people feel, and it’s excruciating. Another common misconception is that the most painful part of having a kidney stone is passing it. In both men and women, the urethra is much wider — almost twice the size — than the ureter. For that reason, most people don’t even know when the stone has passed.

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Cheesegate: Why a Lawsuit Prompted McDonald's to Discontinue Its Mozzarella Sticks

Trouble seems to bloom for McDonald’s when the company attempts to pivot away from its trademark hamburger and fries menu. Their much bragged about McPizza, meant to satisfy American appetites for the Italian dish, was a famous flop. In 2015, the company tried another cheese-laden offering: three mozzarella sticks for $1.39. So why aren’t they still available? Call it a case of alleged cheese fraud. The mozzarella sticks debuted nationally at McDonald's in 2016 and were almost immediately scrutinized by fast food critics on social media for being mostly devoid of cheese. Photos of the sticks with their breaded exteriors looking hollowed out popped up, prompting people to question why the franchise was being stingy with the mozzarella — “fried air,” they complained. McDonald’s attempted to quell the bad buzz by claiming the cheese had oozed out of the sticks during the preparation process — a production error it promised it would resolve — but that wasn't apparently a sufficient answer. Cheesegate was soon followed by a lawsuit filed in California in which a disgruntled consumer claimed that the restaurant was marketing 100% real mozzarella, despite the cheese being partially made up of starch. He alleged the product was therefore “adulterated” and “misbranded,” adding filler to increase profits. The suit sought class-action status on allegations of false advertising and breach of express warranty, among other counts. McDonald’s responded to press inquiries by stating: “Our mozzarella cheese sticks are made with 100% low-moisture part-skim mozzarella cheese. We intend to defend ourselves vigorously against these allegations.” The case was voluntarily dismissed in October 2016, with no reward obtained by either party. Not surprisingly, the sticks quickly disappeared from the company’s menu in North America, though they have periodically popped up in Australia, complete with tomato chili dipping sauce.

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Wisconsin Man Marks 50 Years of Daily Big Mac Meals

Right after getting his first car in 1972, Don Gorske of Fond du Lac, Wisc., said the first place he went was to the McDonald’s on Military Road. He purchased and ate three Big Macs at lunchtime. He then returned two more times that day, to consume a total of nine Big Macs in the same day. The following month, Gorske downed another 265 Big Macs — chalking up a whopping 4,600 calories and 247 grams of fat daily. What started out as a minor celebration ended up turning into a record-breaking streak. In 1999, he earned a Guinness World Record for the most Big Macs eaten in a lifetime, and in 2021 he updated his record, having eating a staggering 32,340 Big Macs. This week, Gorske is celebrating 50 years of eating a Big Mac almost every day since 1972. There have only been eight days in all that time that he didn’t have a Big Mac at least once a day. His notoriety even earned him an appearance in the 2004 Morgan Spurlock documentary about McDonald’s called Super Size Me. Gorske has also appeared on I’ve Got a Secret, The Rachel Ray Show, and on the Netflix series History 101. Surprisingly, Gorske maintains that he has no health issues, and his latest doctor visit put his cholesterol level at a healthy 156 mg/dl.

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