Jun 5, 2020
Google Tip
If
you are looking for comparisons or more varied reviews, an easy
way to find them is to type the name of the product you are
interested in into Google, followed by “vs.” An example is
iphone vs. android. You will see other popular alternatives.
Wordology, Pronounciations
Crayon - Some people pronounce it
cray-awn, rhyming with "dawn," and others pronounce it cray-ahn,
rhyming with "man." According to Crayola, the correct way to say
it is cray-awn, but even they admit that there are too many
regional differences to try and implement a single
pronunciation.
Coupon - You do not pronounce the word "cool" with a /q/ sound, so you would not think to pronounce the word "coupon" with a /q/ sound either. Unfortunately, it is not that simple. Though the word's accepted pronunciation is the simple koo-pon, many an educated individual pronounce the first syllable of the word like "kyoo," as if they are sounding out the letter q.
Poem - Wherever you travel to in the United States, you will find people who pronounce the word "poem" as both pome (rhyming with "home") and po-emme. The pronunciation of this word is not limited to regions, but to personal preference.
Bowie Knife - Bow-ie knife, or Boo-wie knife, depends on who you are talking to. In the Harvard Dialect Survey, researchers found that approximately 19 percent of respondents, most of whom lived in the Northeast region pronounced it the second way.
Monday - Most people will say the days of the week—Monday, Tuesday, etc.—and pronounce the second syllable so that it rhymes with "day." A small portion of the population, however, primarily in the South and Midwest, will say this syllable so that it rhymes with "dee."
Huge - A majority of Americans pronounce the letter "h" in words like "huge. In the Harvard Dialect Survey, though, approximately 3 percent of respondents, mostly people in the Northeast, do not pronounce the "h" sound when saying words like "huge," "humor," "humongous," and "human."
Quarter - Most Americans pronounce the word "quarter" so that it has a [kw] sound at the beginning. However, some people in the Northeast and Midwestern regions pronounce this word so that the first syllable is more of a [k] sound.
Roof - There are actually two common ways to pronounce this four-letter word. While people born and raised in the West tend to pronounce the word as if it rhymes with "hoof," those from the East see it as rhyming with "poof."
Coupon - You do not pronounce the word "cool" with a /q/ sound, so you would not think to pronounce the word "coupon" with a /q/ sound either. Unfortunately, it is not that simple. Though the word's accepted pronunciation is the simple koo-pon, many an educated individual pronounce the first syllable of the word like "kyoo," as if they are sounding out the letter q.
Poem - Wherever you travel to in the United States, you will find people who pronounce the word "poem" as both pome (rhyming with "home") and po-emme. The pronunciation of this word is not limited to regions, but to personal preference.
Bowie Knife - Bow-ie knife, or Boo-wie knife, depends on who you are talking to. In the Harvard Dialect Survey, researchers found that approximately 19 percent of respondents, most of whom lived in the Northeast region pronounced it the second way.
Monday - Most people will say the days of the week—Monday, Tuesday, etc.—and pronounce the second syllable so that it rhymes with "day." A small portion of the population, however, primarily in the South and Midwest, will say this syllable so that it rhymes with "dee."
Huge - A majority of Americans pronounce the letter "h" in words like "huge. In the Harvard Dialect Survey, though, approximately 3 percent of respondents, mostly people in the Northeast, do not pronounce the "h" sound when saying words like "huge," "humor," "humongous," and "human."
Quarter - Most Americans pronounce the word "quarter" so that it has a [kw] sound at the beginning. However, some people in the Northeast and Midwestern regions pronounce this word so that the first syllable is more of a [k] sound.
Roof - There are actually two common ways to pronounce this four-letter word. While people born and raised in the West tend to pronounce the word as if it rhymes with "hoof," those from the East see it as rhyming with "poof."
Six Words That Changed Meaning
Fun was first a verb meaning "to cheat
or hoax." It came from fon, an old word for "fool." It still
retains some of that sense in “make fun of,” but now also means
a good time.
Fond also goes back to fon, and it once meant "foolish and weak-minded." It came to then mean over-affectionate in a negative, cloying way. Now it is positive. At its root, being fond of something is basically being a fool for it.
Terrific root is terror, and it first meant terror-inducing. It then became an exaggerated intensifier (“terrifically good!” = so good it is terrifying) and then a positive term.
Tremendous has its roots in fear. Something tremendous was so terrible it caused trembling or shaking. It also became an intensifier (“tremendously good!”) before it became positive.
Awe originally referred to “immediate and active fear.” It then became associated with religious, reverential fear, and then to a feeling of being humbled at the sublime. While awful retains the negative sense, awesome took on the positive one.
To grin was to bare the teeth in a threatening display of anger or pain. It then became the term for a forced, fake smile, before settling into an expression of happiness.
Fond also goes back to fon, and it once meant "foolish and weak-minded." It came to then mean over-affectionate in a negative, cloying way. Now it is positive. At its root, being fond of something is basically being a fool for it.
Terrific root is terror, and it first meant terror-inducing. It then became an exaggerated intensifier (“terrifically good!” = so good it is terrifying) and then a positive term.
Tremendous has its roots in fear. Something tremendous was so terrible it caused trembling or shaking. It also became an intensifier (“tremendously good!”) before it became positive.
Awe originally referred to “immediate and active fear.” It then became associated with religious, reverential fear, and then to a feeling of being humbled at the sublime. While awful retains the negative sense, awesome took on the positive one.
To grin was to bare the teeth in a threatening display of anger or pain. It then became the term for a forced, fake smile, before settling into an expression of happiness.
Happy Friday
Keep your head up so everyone can see your smile.
I like to smile so all can see I am enjoying a Happy Friday!
National Nurse Week
Every year we celebrate this holiday, but this year is especially
relevant. National Nurses Week begins each year on May 6th and
ends on May 12th, Florence Nightingale's birthday. Florence
Nightingale was a celebrated English, social reformer,
statistician, and the founder of modern nursing. The theme this
year is Compassion|Expertise|Trust.
SpaceX Starlink Broadband
The new satellite service from Elon Musk is
almost here. Musk said that private beta testing for the service
will begin in about three months, with public beta testing
beginning in about six months.
In early 2019, SpaceX received approval to launch 12,000 satellites into space to build a low earth orbit network of satellites, enabling the company to sell home internet. After another successful launch of 60 satellites, there are now 422 Starlink satellites in orbit.
This week, SpaceX’s director of satellite policy, David Goldman, said in a document filed with the FCC that limited service will be offered by the end of this year, with rapid expansion to “near global coverage of the populated world in 2021.”
In early 2019, SpaceX received approval to launch 12,000 satellites into space to build a low earth orbit network of satellites, enabling the company to sell home internet. After another successful launch of 60 satellites, there are now 422 Starlink satellites in orbit.
This week, SpaceX’s director of satellite policy, David Goldman, said in a document filed with the FCC that limited service will be offered by the end of this year, with rapid expansion to “near global coverage of the populated world in 2021.”
Five COVID-19 Facts
The overwhelming majority of people do not have any
significant risk of dying from COVID-19.
The recent Stanford University antibody study now estimates that the fatality rate, if infected is likely 0.1 to 0.2 percent, a risk far lower than previous World Health Organization estimates that were 20 to 30 times higher.
Protecting older, at-risk people eliminates hospital overcrowding.
We can learn about hospital utilization from data from New York City, the hotbed of COVID-19 with more than 34,600 hospitalizations to date. For people ages 65 to 74, only 1.7 percent were hospitalized. Of 4,103 confirmed COVID-19 patients with symptoms bad enough to seek medical care, Dr. Leora Horwitz of NYU Medical Center concluded "age is far and away the strongest risk factor for hospitalization." Even early WHO reports noted that 80 percent of all cases were mild, and more recent studies show a far more widespread rate of infection and lower rate of serious illness. Half of all people testing positive for infection have no symptoms.
Vital population immunity is prevented by total isolation policies, prolonging the problem.
We know from decades of medical science that infection itself allows people to generate an immune response — antibodies — so that the infection is controlled throughout the population by “herd immunity.” That is the main purpose of widespread immunization in other viral diseases, to assist with population immunity. In this virus, we know that medical care is not even necessary for the vast majority of people who are infected. It is so mild that half of infected people are asymptomatic. In fact, infected people without severe illness are the immediately available vehicle for establishing widespread immunity. By transmitting the virus to others in the low-risk group who then generate antibodies, they block the network of pathways toward the most vulnerable people, ultimately ending the threat.
People are dying because other medical care is not getting done due to hypothetical projections.
Critical health care for millions of Americans is being ignored and people are dying to accommodate “potential” COVID-19 patients and for fear of spreading the disease. Most states and many hospitals abruptly stopped “nonessential” procedures and surgery. That prevented diagnoses of life-threatening diseases, like cancer screening, biopsies of tumors now undiscovered and potentially deadly brain aneurysms. Treatments, including emergency care, for the most serious illnesses were also missed. Cancer patients deferred chemotherapy. An estimated 80 percent of brain surgery cases were skipped. Acute stroke and heart attack patients missed their only chances for treatment, some dying and many now facing permanent disability.
We have a clearly defined population at risk who can be protected with targeted measures.
The overwhelming evidence around the world consistently shows that a clearly defined group, older people and others with underlying conditions, is more likely to have a serious illness requiring hospitalization and more likely to die from COVID-19. It is a commonsense, achievable goal to target isolation policy to that group, including strictly monitoring those who interact with them. Nursing home residents, the highest risk, should be the most straightforward to systematically protect from infected people, given that they already live in confined places with highly restricted entry.
The recent Stanford University antibody study now estimates that the fatality rate, if infected is likely 0.1 to 0.2 percent, a risk far lower than previous World Health Organization estimates that were 20 to 30 times higher.
Protecting older, at-risk people eliminates hospital overcrowding.
We can learn about hospital utilization from data from New York City, the hotbed of COVID-19 with more than 34,600 hospitalizations to date. For people ages 65 to 74, only 1.7 percent were hospitalized. Of 4,103 confirmed COVID-19 patients with symptoms bad enough to seek medical care, Dr. Leora Horwitz of NYU Medical Center concluded "age is far and away the strongest risk factor for hospitalization." Even early WHO reports noted that 80 percent of all cases were mild, and more recent studies show a far more widespread rate of infection and lower rate of serious illness. Half of all people testing positive for infection have no symptoms.
Vital population immunity is prevented by total isolation policies, prolonging the problem.
We know from decades of medical science that infection itself allows people to generate an immune response — antibodies — so that the infection is controlled throughout the population by “herd immunity.” That is the main purpose of widespread immunization in other viral diseases, to assist with population immunity. In this virus, we know that medical care is not even necessary for the vast majority of people who are infected. It is so mild that half of infected people are asymptomatic. In fact, infected people without severe illness are the immediately available vehicle for establishing widespread immunity. By transmitting the virus to others in the low-risk group who then generate antibodies, they block the network of pathways toward the most vulnerable people, ultimately ending the threat.
People are dying because other medical care is not getting done due to hypothetical projections.
Critical health care for millions of Americans is being ignored and people are dying to accommodate “potential” COVID-19 patients and for fear of spreading the disease. Most states and many hospitals abruptly stopped “nonessential” procedures and surgery. That prevented diagnoses of life-threatening diseases, like cancer screening, biopsies of tumors now undiscovered and potentially deadly brain aneurysms. Treatments, including emergency care, for the most serious illnesses were also missed. Cancer patients deferred chemotherapy. An estimated 80 percent of brain surgery cases were skipped. Acute stroke and heart attack patients missed their only chances for treatment, some dying and many now facing permanent disability.
We have a clearly defined population at risk who can be protected with targeted measures.
The overwhelming evidence around the world consistently shows that a clearly defined group, older people and others with underlying conditions, is more likely to have a serious illness requiring hospitalization and more likely to die from COVID-19. It is a commonsense, achievable goal to target isolation policy to that group, including strictly monitoring those who interact with them. Nursing home residents, the highest risk, should be the most straightforward to systematically protect from infected people, given that they already live in confined places with highly restricted entry.
More Bacon Facts
Bacon dates back to 1500 BCE. The Chinese were the first to
cook salted pork bellies more than 3000 years ago. This makes
bacon one of the world’s oldest processed meats.
Romans called bacon petaso. Bacon eventually migrated westward. The Romans made petaso by boiling salted pig shoulder with figs, and then seasoning the mixture with pepper sauce. Wine was a frequent accompaniment.
The word bacon refers to the "back" of a pig. The word bacon comes from the Germanic root “-bak,” and refers to the back of the pig that supplied the meat. Bakko became the French bacco, which the English then adopted around the 12th century, naming the dish bacoun. Back then, the term referred to any pork product, but by the 14th century bacoun referred specifically to the cured meat.
LINK
Romans called bacon petaso. Bacon eventually migrated westward. The Romans made petaso by boiling salted pig shoulder with figs, and then seasoning the mixture with pepper sauce. Wine was a frequent accompaniment.
The word bacon refers to the "back" of a pig. The word bacon comes from the Germanic root “-bak,” and refers to the back of the pig that supplied the meat. Bakko became the French bacco, which the English then adopted around the 12th century, naming the dish bacoun. Back then, the term referred to any pork product, but by the 14th century bacoun referred specifically to the cured meat.
LINK
Paul Revere Myth Debunked
Paul Revere’s shouting “The British are
coming!” in the streets would have been the modern day
equivalent of running down Times Square in New York and
shouting, “The Americans are coming!”
At that point, the colonies were still technically British, and not everybody was ready for a revolution. More likely, Paul Revere, and he was just one of dozens assigned to put the word out in Boston, whispered his alarm, and instead of warning of the British, he likely said, “The regulars are coming out.” We have Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s patriotic poem to thank for anybody even knowing Paul Revere’s name.
At that point, the colonies were still technically British, and not everybody was ready for a revolution. More likely, Paul Revere, and he was just one of dozens assigned to put the word out in Boston, whispered his alarm, and instead of warning of the British, he likely said, “The regulars are coming out.” We have Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s patriotic poem to thank for anybody even knowing Paul Revere’s name.
Wordology Idiom, Metaphor, and Simile
Idiom: An idiom is an expression
that conveys something different from its literal meaning, and
cannot be guessed from the meanings of its individual words.
"Between a rock and a hard place" is an idiom that means “in a
difficult or bad position with no good way of getting out of
it.” What makes an idiom different from a figure of speech is
that its non-literal meaning is already familiar to speakers of
the language.
Metaphor: A metaphor is a word or phrase typically used to describe one thing, but unexpectedly used to describe something different. Metaphors make language interesting and help create imagery. "He was drowning in paperwork" is a metaphor that makes a connection between having to deal with a lot of paperwork and drowning in water.
Simile: A simile is an expression that uses the words like or as to describe something by comparing it with something else. A simile is like a metaphor except that a simile uses the words like or as to signal that a comparison is being made. “She is as fierce as a tiger” is a simile, but “She is a tiger when she is angry” is a metaphor.
Metaphor: A metaphor is a word or phrase typically used to describe one thing, but unexpectedly used to describe something different. Metaphors make language interesting and help create imagery. "He was drowning in paperwork" is a metaphor that makes a connection between having to deal with a lot of paperwork and drowning in water.
Simile: A simile is an expression that uses the words like or as to describe something by comparing it with something else. A simile is like a metaphor except that a simile uses the words like or as to signal that a comparison is being made. “She is as fierce as a tiger” is a simile, but “She is a tiger when she is angry” is a metaphor.
Flu Fact
There
are estimated 1 billion cases worldwide; 9.3 million to 45
million cases in the US per year. During 2019/20, in the US, the
flu has already caused an estimated 26 million illnesses this
season, according to the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention.
Alexa Remembers
To set a reminder, use a command like, “Alexa, remember that
my wallet is on the kitchen counter.” Later, you can ask,
“Alexa, where did I put my wallet?” and Alexa will remind you of
whatever location you previously provided.
Keep forgetting your spouse’s birthday or anniversary? Can’t remember where you put your keys or your phone? Forgot the name of your new neighbor? Give the job to Alexa. Just tell Alexa what you want her to remember and when you are in a bind, she will remind you.
There are other ways you can take advantage of Alexa's built-in memory. Say, "Alexa, remember that Maggie’s shoe size is 7." Say, "Alexa, remember that we are leaving for vacation on August 3." Then, ask Alexa for Maggie’s shoe size, or when your vacation is, and she will respond with what you told her.
Making this feature even handier, its use is not tethered to your Echo. Just use your iPhone or Android device to ask Alexa to recall something when you are out and about. If you are shopping for shoes for Maggie and you forgot her size, just use the Alexa app on your phone to ask for a reminder.
Try this handy reminder say “Alexa, remind me to take out the trash at 6PM,” and she will notify you at the proper time.
Keep forgetting your spouse’s birthday or anniversary? Can’t remember where you put your keys or your phone? Forgot the name of your new neighbor? Give the job to Alexa. Just tell Alexa what you want her to remember and when you are in a bind, she will remind you.
There are other ways you can take advantage of Alexa's built-in memory. Say, "Alexa, remember that Maggie’s shoe size is 7." Say, "Alexa, remember that we are leaving for vacation on August 3." Then, ask Alexa for Maggie’s shoe size, or when your vacation is, and she will respond with what you told her.
Making this feature even handier, its use is not tethered to your Echo. Just use your iPhone or Android device to ask Alexa to recall something when you are out and about. If you are shopping for shoes for Maggie and you forgot her size, just use the Alexa app on your phone to ask for a reminder.
Try this handy reminder say “Alexa, remind me to take out the trash at 6PM,” and she will notify you at the proper time.
Happy Friday
A smile is to your face
as happiness is to your soul.
It is time to smile and be happy, especially on a Happy Friday!
It is time to smile and be happy, especially on a Happy Friday!
Walpurgisnacht
Germany is a country that
does not traditionally celebrate Halloween. Instead, it has
Walpurgisnacht, the Witches’ Night, which takes place every year
on April 30.
One of the largest Walpurgisnacht celebrations in Germany takes place at the Hexentanzplatz, the Witches’ Dance Floor, a mountain plateau looming over the sleepy town of Thale. Locals light an enormous bonfire and run wild dressed as witches, demons, and all forms of nightmarish ghouls. Statues of witches and demons from regional folklore line a square where local vendors sell all sorts of Harz specialties from sausages to schnapps.
One of the largest Walpurgisnacht celebrations in Germany takes place at the Hexentanzplatz, the Witches’ Dance Floor, a mountain plateau looming over the sleepy town of Thale. Locals light an enormous bonfire and run wild dressed as witches, demons, and all forms of nightmarish ghouls. Statues of witches and demons from regional folklore line a square where local vendors sell all sorts of Harz specialties from sausages to schnapps.
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