Blooper (informal):  A film or videotaped outtake that has recorded an amusing mistake and/or accident during the course of regular filming.

In the course of updating this site, I’ve done far more research than I thought imaginable. Some of this research was designed to bring you the latest and greatest facts, but a surprising amount went toward coming up with silly jokes for the tutorials.

Some organizations are paranoid when it comes to saying anything on the record, even if it’s something that everybody in the world agrees is true.  This page is dedicated to the responses that some of these folks have given me.

Don’t brush your teeth?

When writing about the octet rule, I commented that fluorine is highly reactive as an element, but highly unreactive after it has gained an electron.  To point out the harmlessness of the fluoride ion, the active component in toothpastes, I asked several people to go on the record to recommend that everybody brush their teeth twice a day:

U.S. Federal Government (via usa.gov chat with “Maria A.”):  “At this time, I can’t make any statement regarding this.”  She did, however, recommend that I contact the American Dental Association.

Procter and Gamble (the makers of Crest Toothpaste):  In emailed response, they said that “the particular information is either confidential or unavailable.”  In other words, the makers of Crest don’t want to go on record as recommending that we brush our teeth regularly.

Fortunately, there are people who are willing to stick their necks out as being in favor of brushing teeth.  John Malone, Manager of Information at the American Dental Association, tells us that: “If you brush twice a day and floss once a day, you can remove most of the harmful plaque and bacteria.”  Likewise, Erika Hoeft of the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry has informed me that they recommend that “children brush their teeth for two minutes twice a day.”  Whew!