Age of Information

The other day for dinner, we had some shrimp fried rice. I went to grab some orange juice, but when I turned around my mom slapped the drink out of my hands.

HER: No! That's bad!
ME: !?!?!?!
HER: Orange juice and shrimp is BAD! It makes poison!
ME: ...Mommy, where is the science in that?
HER: I read about it! Someone died from orange juice and shrimp!
ME: But how?
HER: The orange juice and shrimp have a chemical reaction and --
ME: Your stomach has chemical reactions all the time and you don't die from them
HER: -- and made a poison and KILLED PEOPLE.

Following this, I promptly googled "orange juice and shrimp" to see what would came up.

First I found a forum that told this story about a woman who ate a Vitamin C tablet before eating some shrimp. Somehow the Vitamin C reacted with chemicals on the shrimp to create the poison As which caused her to bleed out of her eyes.

I happened upon an article next, which said that the eye-bleedy woman story was a HOAX and COMPLETELY made up. Not only that, but it was an email that began circulating way back in 2001! I had been suspicious that this was some sort of strange house wife gossip, and when I asked my mom if she read this in an email she refused to admit it... only confirming my thoughts.

It's times like these I really see the disparity between generations. My mom, still relying on email for communication, immediately believed the forwarded message from a friend. My initial reaction was a raised eyebrow and a google search.

I wonder if that makes me more resourceful or more cynical than she is.

In the end, I still didn't get my orange juice D: