Darkoshi

strange product review "the guilty of the product" and "supper fast delivery".

So I did figure out what the review was trying to say. But I'm surprised 8 people marked the review as helpful.

"The coronavirus pandemic was given a deadline of midnight last night to sign the agreement."

That's it for you, you virus, if you won't sign the agreement, you're done for!

Listening to it again, the whole thing was:
"RyanAir, which owns Laudamotion, was threatening to close the Vienna hub [...] The union representing the workers, who are currently on shorter hours due to the coronavirus pandemic, was given a deadline of midnight last night to sign the agreement."

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There's another news item I've heard twice now, which didn't make sense either time:
"[Trump's] been angered by the speed of reopening in some states, pushing governors, in particular Democrat ones, to speed up plans that he felt were too slow in spite of a spike...."

But I get it now. The first use of the word "speed" meant "slow speed" rather than "fast speed".

I filled in an online form which had a "Title" drop-down as a required field. The drop-down list included "Mr", "Mrs" and "Ms", but not "Mx".

One of the entries was "Me". I didn't know what it stood for, but considered using it because I'm surely me. I suspected that it might stand for "Madamoiselle", which I wouldn't want to use, but that is abbreviated "Mlle". "Me" seems to be for "Maître".

Then I saw that in addition to "Sir" and "Madam", the list also had "Sir/Madam", so I decided to select that one. Hah.

One of the entries was "Lovit", which even after doing a search, I have no idea what it might mean. Maybe it was in the list by mistake.

Lest is a neat word. I know what it means, but had difficulty in trying to verbally define it or explain it.

Dictionary definitions:
"for fear that; so that (one) should not (used negatively to introduce a clause expressive of an action or occurrence requiring caution)"

"so as to prevent any possibility that"

"with the intention of preventing (something undesirable); to avoid the risk of"

That's quite an impressive conveyance of meaning for such a small 4-letter word.

Etymology: from "whereby less that"

Although I'm vegan, I don't often buy much fresh fruit and vegetables. Doing so results in needing to wash, peel, cut, cook, (etc.) as well as eat them, and to do so before they go bad, regardless of whether I have the time that day or week. Background stress. Not buying them avoids that. Usually I'll only buy a few easy things here or there. Avocados are good. Occasional fruit. Carrots; they last almost forever in the fridge without going bad.

I felt like cooking something this weekend though, and that fruit would be nice too. So yesterday I bought:

a passion fruit
2 oranges
blueberries
blackberries
jicama (pre-cut sticks, ideal for munching on! such a great convenience even though it comes in a plastic container)
fennel
dandelion greens

The fennel didn't have a bar-code on it. At the self-check-out station, it wasn't listed in the item look-up menu. A Kroger store employee came over to help, but we couldn't find it on their physical cheat-sheet either. Then I said, "It's also called anise, but I don't think it would be listed under that..." Yet it was listed as "anise / fennel".

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My erstwhile flu or cold still lingers a bit. Last weekend, my upper right chest area ached for a day; might mean a slight lung infection. My throat has been phlegmy; I still have a slight cough and occasional runny nose. Otherwise, I've still been feeling ok. Still much better than the usual kind of colds I get, where my nose is runny and/or congested non-stop for days or weeks.

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Kleenex has renamed their "Cool Touch" tissues to "Cooling Lotion". In the store yesterday, I wasn't sure if it was the same product. The ingredient list included polyethylene (plastic!?), which I hadn't remembered it having. So I took a photo of the label and didn't buy any. But comparing that now to a "Cool Touch" box which I still have, the ingredients are the same.

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While walking, I passed a hickory tree and thought of that children's rhyming song, Hickory dickory dock, the mouse ran up the clock. Except I thought the rhyme must be like "Tickety tickety tock, the mouse ran up the clock" (since clocks go tick tock). I recall thinking, well if I *did* put in the word "hickory", how should it go, "Hickory hickory hawk?" I played around with other variations in my mind, "clickety clickety clock", "clippety clippety clop"

Looking it up today, I was surprised that my brain's initial word association of "hickory" with the rhyme was correct. It's interesting that those words "hickory dickory dock" may have come from Cumbric numbers.

Dictionary.com's word of the year is "existential". But the runner-up was "nonbinary". Woo!

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It was pointed out to me that when political pollsters call, they may show up as an unrecognized number. So if I want my voice to be counted in those polls, I'd need to start answering unrecognized numbers again, for the very slim chance that they'd call me. I'm not even sure what I'd answer about who I'm planning to vote for in the primary.

Based on this page about the debate qualifications, the candidates need to get at least 4% in 4 polls to qualify. Yang has 3 qualifying polls so far, so would I answer Yang, hoping to help him get the 4th necessary poll numbers? Or should I answer Castro or Booker, both of whom haven't even reached 4% in a single poll yet?

I was surprised and disappointed to hear that Kamala Harris dropped out of the race, when she had been doing better than my favorites, number-wise. Should I finally admit to myself that there's no feasible chance at all for Yang, Booker, or Castro to win?

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My left wrist has been aching a lot this week; I'm wearing a wrist brace again to reduce strain while on the computer.

My lower back started aching a lot yesterday while I was out shopping. So much that I considered sitting down on the floor right there in the store, before I remembered the benches in the shoe section.

Before this, it's been quite a while since my wrists or back bothered me. These problems seem to keep coming for a while and then going away for a while, and I can't figure out what the triggers are.

My last two periods were 16 days apart, and now it's been almost 5 weeks without signs of the next one. Yay, peri-menopause.

I wonder if it is all related.

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Before my back started aching, I took a look in a store named Five Below. They had a section of bulk loose candy for 10 cents each. These included both Zotz fizzy candies and Goldenberg's dark chocolate mini Peanut Chews! I was glad to find those because Qiao, who only rarely eats sweets, surprised me by eating up ALL the peanut chews that had been leftover from Halloween without me noticing until after they were all gone. I didn't take THOSE to work because I like them too much to give away.

So I got myself some candy for St. Nikolaus' Day.

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Aww... This is a rather impressive Christmas ad from the German store Edeka. The robot is cute enough to be from Star Wars.



The newspaper headline shown is "Humans flee from artificial intelligence!"
The text at the end says "Without love, it is only a fest / party".

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I was really searching for the song, "Lasst uns froh und munter sein" (Bald ist Nikolaus Abend da). Nikolaus Abend (St Nikolaus' eve) is when kids in Germany would put a boot out by the front door for St Nikolaus to fill with sweets and treats overnight.

Mainly for myself:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oT1dNkDW9i4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AcDAR71W0xg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=auwgXNMwIMI

There are various versions of the song lyrics. Some sing it as "Weihnachtsabend" (Christmas Eve) instead of St. Nikolaus' Eve, and with "Christkind" (Christ child) instead of St.Nikolaus, etc.

https://lyricstranslate.com/en/lasst-uns-froh-und-munter-sein-let-us-be-happy-and-cheerful.html

https://www.german-way.com/history-and-culture/german-language/german-christmas-carols/lasst-uns-froh-und-munter-sein/

Sometimes I play a word game in my head, choosing a word and then seeing how many other words I can make out its letters. For example...
"example"... lamp, ex, ax, axe, leap, maple, (etc.)

This morning while doing that game with the word "percussion", I realized that it is an anagram of "supersonic"!

That reminded me of the 1987 "Supersonic" song by J.J. Fad:



Video title: Supersonic (Flim Flam Remix)
Posted by: J.J. Fad - Topic
URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yH4fNNoVbaQ

I got a text: "Hey, is this still [.... .....]'s number?"

I typed a reply saying No, and that I've had this number for 12 years, so maybe they mis-dialed.

(Maybe it is inappropriate and old-fashioned to use the word "mis-dialed". Should one say "mis-typed" instead? But that's ambiguous. You'd need to say "mis-typed the number". So using "mis-dialed" seems simpler, even though most phones haven't had dials in a long long time.)

When I clicked to send the Reply, Android showed the message "Messages would like to send a message to 67329. This may cause charges on your mobile account".

That's when I noticed that the text hadn't come from a normal 10-digit phone number. So I clicked Cancel, and searched online for "67329". It seems to be this company: https://messagemedia.com/
Whoever sent the message must be using that company's texting service rather than sending texts from their own phone number. So it's probably a collection agency.

But still, Android's message confused me (could replying to that text cause me to get charged money? Could it be a scam?), so I looked up more info about it. Those 5 digit numbers are called "short codes", and are treated as potentially "premium SMS", which can incur extra charges. But a lot of companies use them for sending messages, and I've received texts from those kind of numbers before, without ever being charged for it.

So how does one end up getting charged? If it is really a premium SMS, can simply replying to an innocuous sounding text like the one I received subscribe you to a premium service? How could one ever be sure if it is safe to reply to such a text or not?

I've wondered about those kind of text numbers before, when watching TV programs like American Idol or what-not, that tell you to send a text to this number or that number, to vote for contestants. Or TV ads asking for donations. Or radio ads. Those may sometimes mention that there will be a charge, but I'm not sure. Is there any warning of what the exact charge will be, or confirmation that you really want to accept the charge, when you send such a text?

And is it even possible to incur such a charge or sign up for a premium service, if you're on a pre-paid phone plan? How would they charge you the money?

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Oh, by the way.... Several web pages I found gave instructions on how to enable or disable Premium SMS (which I think is what happens when you click the "Remember my choice" checkbox on the Android warning message). But the menu selections they listed didn't match my phone (Android 7.1.1).
This is how to get to it on my phone:
Settings - Apps - [ click Gear icon at the top of the page ] - Advanced / Special Access - Premium SMS access.

Many people don't X solely because they are against Y.

I think that could mean either:
For many people who don't X, the only reason they don't is because they are against Y.
or:
For many people who don't X, there are reasons for it other than them being against Y.

Actually, depending on X and Y, it could even mean:
Many people X, but not only because they are against Y.

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from https://vaxopedia.org/2017/05/19/which-vaccines-are-vegan/
"...many vegans don't vaccinate solely because they are against vaccines."

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I had read it is recommended for adults get tetanus & diphtheria booster shots every 10 years, and wondered if I should get one.

I am in favor of vaccines; they prevent a lot of disease and deaths.

But as a vegan, I don't like it that vaccines are made using animal ingredients and animal testing. It was long ago, in my teens, when I first read that some vaccines are made using eggs. So I checked if that is still the case today. It is.

Most flu vaccines, and a few others, are still made with eggs. Flublok is one which isn't. It is made using insect cells instead. Based on this page, it is made with "insect cell lines", so maybe it doesn't even require insects to be killed anymore to get those cells.

This web page lists vaccine ingredients, including "process ingredients (substances used to create the vaccine that may or may not appear in the final vaccine product), and growth mediums (the substances vaccines are grown in)"
https://vaccines.procon.org/view.resource.php?resourceID=005206

Based on that data, the current tetanus & diphtheria vaccines all are made using bovine extracts. So I'm still ambivalent about going out of my way to get those kind of vaccinations, when they are only suggested or recommended but not required. I don't work with children or sick people, so as an adult, I haven't been required to get any vaccinations. I wish there were vegan alternatives available, so that I wouldn't feel conflicted about it.

I find these kind of ideas helpful to combat the mental conflict:

Comment by user PacNW: Thank goodness for vaccines. I get them all. They are one of the best things about living in the modern era and not during the dark ages.

I know they aren’t vegan, so I compensate for that by making an extra donation to an animal rights/protection/welfare organization whenever I get one. We won’t be able to help animals if we die from some horrid, preventable disease.


Comment by user Sandra: if you have to go to the hospital for a serious illness, you will likely use more animal tested products than if you stayed healthy. In some cases doctors many even request having specimens taken from you and tested on animals. Stay healthy as possible for the animals too!

In other words, it's regrettable that most vaccines currently aren't vegan, but it would be much worse if those vaccines weren't available, or weren't widely used. So until vegan vaccines are more widely available, it is still the more ethical choice, for both humans and animals, to get vaccinated than not.


Vegan Flu Shots: A Guide

[ 2019/11/03 - that link isn't working today, but this one is:
https://edvfood.com/2015/01/08/vegan-flu-shots-a-guide/
]


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That reminds me, I was reading about rabies a few weeks ago. I'll make that a separate post.

It occurred to me that "vlog" may be the first word (non-person-name, non-place-name) in the English language to start with the "vl" sound. I checked my paper dictionary, and indeed there were no other such VL words. Now I checked online, and there is one other:

vlei: a grassy or marshy wetland.
The etymology of this word is from Afrikaans and Dutch, and its most common pronunciation is actually with "FL" rather than "VL", which makes sense as German, which is related to Dutch, also pronounces V as F.