Category: FWIW

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How to Deal. . .

. . . with the loss of a loved one.

After her “sudden cardiac death” experiences, I used to wake up every night just checking to make sure my Wonder Woman was still breathing. I do so less often, now since, she has managed to live another 23 years, and thrive. This AM, I got a reminder of those “SCD” experiences and the aftermath was in my FarceBook feed (yeh, there are some folks I seem to only be able to stay in contact with that way. *shrugs*). A writer, former actual rocket scientist, whose books I have enjoyed and whose conversational abilities have lightened FarceBook, let folks know that she awoke this AM to find her husband’s body cold and lifeless beside her.

My sympathy for her loss was colored by a reawakening of those memories of nightly checks to make sure my Wonder Woman was still breathing. Those memories in no way lessen my sympathy for her circumstances. On the contrary, I feel the weight of her loss perhaps more greatly.

Processing. . .

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*shrugs* Sometimes — OK, Rarely — BrE Just Makes More Sense

For example, the Standard British English pronunciation of “echidna” is much more mellifluous than the Standard American English pronunciation.

Offhand, that’s about all I can think of that makes more sense in BrE. *heh*

(OK, OK, I suppose one could argue that the BrE silliness of calling a kitchen oven a “cooker” makes at least some sort of sense. . . in a rather vulgar sense — and I do mean “vulgar” in the nontechnical linguistic sense of “language of a lower order,” not in the vulgar, actually degraded, and flat-out wrong contemporary sense of “profanity” — which is also most often used in a degraded, and flat-out wrong sense nowadays. *sigh*)

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Lies, Damned Lies, and “News”

NEVER (as in DO NOT EVER) take “reporting” on ANYTHING about ANY scientific research as anywhere near what the actual research may (or may not) have shown. EVERY Mass MEdia Podpeople Hivemind “report” on science in the last couple of decades, at least, that I have read has either been grossly inaccurate (because of stupidity–willful or otherwise–in the reporting and editorial staff? Quite often) or a deliberate attempt to deceive for scaremongering purposes. If the topic is at al interesting to you, LOOK UP THE ACTUAL RESEARCH and read the actual paper cited, if available. It is the only way to discover whether the Hivemind “report” is lying to you or not. Well, you could ask your friendly neighborhood scientist to review it for you, I suppose. ? If you know one who is honest and can actually do decent research.

Gather up all your hens’ teeth to pay for the consultation, though.

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The Joys of Cat “Ownership”

A bit tired of dealing with “cat-bottom” flavored coffee. Wish I could effect a good way of keeping them from waving their, urm, posteriors over my coffee mug. Oh, well. At least my mugs are cleaned frequently. *sigh*

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Small Pleasures

Fun lil piece of dialog:

“I’m trustworthy, I just don’t seem like it, because seeming trustworthy is suspicious.”

“You are an unnecessarily convoluted man.”

“Thank you.”

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Filed Under. . .

Words I never thought I’d read: “. . .get your elegant and beautiful ass back in the saddle and get thee hence.” ?!? Oh, well. Next book. (Yeh, that was a high point. Would have been prettier if it’d been a picture of a Hi-Point. *smh*)

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When Tech Is Stupid

Yeh, so, hmmm, well (and other such placeholding stalls), dead TV, out of warranty, bought a new one with decent specs-to-price appeal. Remote sucks. Manual sucks dead bunnies (and is ONLY available online, either through the TV itself–a stupidly clumsy implementation–or via third party pdf downloads). Setup sucks worse. STILL only seven channels available, and no digital channels at all. It’s even worse than that. DEMANDS network access before it’ll do ANYTHING (I’ll fix that at the router; just lock it out there). And how many firmware updates will it require? Who knows? Two so far, but says three more. *sigh* Almost want to return it just for the setup headaches.

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Cool Lil Devices

Kinda enjoying my Caldwell Emax Shadow hearing protection. Really attenuates loud noises while passing ambient sounds at comfortable levels. That’s all I really use them for, although I probably could also use ’em with my phone via Bluetooth. But just enhanced ambient sound + hearing protection from loud noises is all I really want or need.