• @[email protected]
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    291 year ago

    Food grade diatomaceous earth is a thing. It’s not going to save her, but it’s not like she went outside and started chowing down on potting soil.

    • GONADS125
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      1 year ago

      After watching the episode of Untold Stories of the ER where a homeless lady with a schizophrenia-spectrum disorder made a series of incisions, stuffed them with dirt, and put earthworms inside them; someone eating potting soil wouldn’t surprise me…

      The lady had names for each of the worms and would not let the doctors remove them, until they had maintenance bring them of dirt for each worm. The worms were put in individual containers which were labeled according to the names she had for each worm.

      Edit: Found a clip!

      • @seth
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        91 year ago

        deleted by creator

      • SokathHisEyesOpen
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        1 year ago

        What the fuck? Clearly that woman needs a padded room, and a little unbreakable terrarium for her worms.

  • @[email protected]
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    181 year ago

    Diatomaceous earth consists of the fossilized remains of diatoms, a type of hard-shelled microalgae. It is used as a filtration aid, mild abrasive in products including metal polishes and toothpaste, mechanical insecticide, absorbent for liquids, matting agent for coatings, reinforcing filler in plastics and rubber, anti-block in plastic films, porous support for chemical catalysts, cat litter, activator in coagulation studies, a stabilizing component of dynamite, a thermal insulator, and a soil for potted plants and trees as in the art of bonsai.[2][3] It is also used in gas chromatography packed columns made with glass or metal as stationary phase.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diatomaceous_earth

    Huh.

    • @[email protected]
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      161 year ago

      It is extremely good at killing insects. Especially ants. You can spread it in a perimeter around your house and insects will pick it up as they try to come in and it will kill them. IIRC ants bring it back to the colony on their bodies and it spreads which is what makes it so effective against ants.

      • flipht
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        181 year ago

        My understanding is not that they pick it up and carry it back, but rather they don’t make it far past the line of it before it shreds them to death, and thus they can’t leave their scent trail to anything inside your house.

        We’ve successfully used it to stop a sugar ant invasion.

        • @[email protected]
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          71 year ago

          It does not shred, it acts as a dessicant, much like the silica packets that come with shoes, it dehydrates them relatively rapidly. And in some cases insects do bring it back as it sticks to their bodies, spreading it around their peers.

    • SokathHisEyesOpen
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      51 year ago

      It’s also dangerous to breathe, if the packaging is to be believed. Apparently it can cut your lungs up? Yeesh!

      • Tar_Alcaran
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        81 year ago

        It’s tiny enough the breathe, tough enough not to break down, and sharp enough to cut your lungs up. All those traits are shared with asbestos…

  • Flying Squid
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    101 year ago

    If your idea of a snack is dirt and lemonade, I think you already had the stroke.