TheGoddessAnoia

My mother's wedding ring. My father was a monster, so it's not because of the marriage it represents. It was the cheapest he could get, it's thin and worn down and battered, and, of all the kids, she gave it to me. When I die, however I am disposed of, that ring goes with me, because... she gave it to me!

We use Wikipedia a lot, mostly to understand references from another country or culture, the rest to answer the question: "Who the hell is s/he..." The latter enquiries are often interesting, but rarely resolve the real issue, which is "... and why is s/he famous?" At any rate, we send a goodly annual donation, because without Wikipedia, we'd be even more out of touch than we already are!

Oh, NO!

Anyway...

Here's to the death of a company that has always looked down its nose at working people, brown people not wearing at least pearls and diamonds, anyone under the age of, say 21, and insisted on spraying you in the face with the latest Vogue magasine full page ad perfume as soon as you entered. It's been a long time since HBC was anything more than a shortcut to some other place.

There is a very low risk of getting H5N1 by eating the meat of infected cows or chickens, provided that meat has been properly cooked. The heat of cooking destroys the virus before it gets near us. However, you may have noticed that the prevalence of salmonella, e.coli and listeria infections has already been rising in the USA due to contamination of fresh produce that has, theoretically, been through the proper protocols for consumption. Now imagine just how much more salmonella, e.coli and listeria there will be on produce without the inspections and regulations that existed this time last year. Remember Typhoid Mary? She killed between 5 and 50 people (records were not well kept in the early 20th century) simply by being an asymptomatic carrier of disease in an era when kitchen staff not only did not wear protective clothing, but did not wash their hands between tasks. This is the kind of unregulated, untested food growing, harvest, processing and shipping the USA will face again, and several countries are setting up regulations will prevent American food from entering as a result.

I wonder, is this a result of the trade war, or because the US Administration cut all the quality assurance, health and safety regulations and personnel? I mean, would you import food that could be spoiled, contaminated with bacteria from handling, cross contaminated with allergens, or padded out with inedibles like nanoplastics, sand or styrofoam? I mean, there are a lot more reasons than just tariffs to avooid buying US farm products right now.

We're at the same stage, and devised a loose hierarchy of values to apply (ymmv):
1.) Canadian/not American, because the danger of economic/conventional warfare is acute and deadly for every living thing in Canada; 2) No Loblaw's/Weston company/products: we haven't forgotten. 3) Minimum possible plastic: a little extra cost, if we can afford it, to not infect the planet further, is worth it; 4) Downsizing: we've been giving a lot away, often from a table out front -- about 70% gets taken by local students or an ODSP recipient who resells it. Friends call to see if we have a spare, or want to get rid of, our , and a locally-run thrift store not only sells certain goods, it sorts and directs other items AND tells us what will get dumped, so we can look for alternative disposal.

It can be a lot of work, but on the plus side, doing the research online has forced me to brush up my language skills, which is apparently the best way to prevent cognitive decline at my advanced age. And, when we finally shuffle off the mortal coil, we won't leave a lot of stuff behind to bedevil any heirs we might have!

Canadian English, a jumble of Parisien and South Ontario French avec un levain de québécois, Bangladeshi Bangali, and old fashioned Cadre-speak.

I agree about the waste, not to mention the plastic. But I can't be too critical, as I use interdental brushes for gum care and plaque control, and ain't no bamboo interdental brushes with replaceable heads!

Ooooo. You know, that would have been painful, had it not been so entirely off base. Thanks for the laugh....

“The provisions make it difficult to run a business efficiently and provide adequate customer service,” said the sponsor of the legislation, Rep. Sherri Gallick, R-Belton. “The unpredictability threatens the stability of businesses, large and small.”

If that is the case, how is it that businesses, small and large, manage it in every other country in the world except the US, Sri Lanka, South Korea and Somalia for G-d's sake! I mean, these people are just one step up from Somalia, where there is no sick leave at all!

Um... if you look at the post again, you will find that the doctor in question is a PhD, admittedly in neuroscience, which does produce results used by medical doctors. But there is no indication the woman in question has ever, or will ever, practise medicine in a clinical setting. For that matter, there is only the inference from the mention of a US podcast that she is even American, mmm?

But, then, I infer from your userrname that you are male, and from your post that you are American. So I am not, at this point in history, terribly surprised if you have jumped to a wrong conclusion about the actual content of a woman's doctorate.

Signed, another woman with a doctorate that has nothing whatsoever to do with practising medicine in the USA, although you'd never know it from the number of Americans who immediately tell me their symptoms upon introduction. (Ah, yes! I think Napoleon died of something similar on Ste. Helena. Or possibly he was poisoned. But then French history is not my field, either.)

No need. Just invest 10% of that amount in McDonald's gift cards that expire at the end of April and wait for nature to take its course. Send the other 90% to Luigi to share with his prison mates.