It seems that the adoption of the southern/northern names was in part related to what GP is referring to.

https://entsoc.org/news/press-releases/northern-giant-hornet...

I wonder what level of additional waste is now caused by these reusable bags that we will continue to see forever. FreshDirect will provide 2 heavy reusable bags each delivery I receive each week. They claimed to offer to pick these up but that has been suspended for years. They now suggest to “donate” the bags. Obviously these end up in the trash.

The strange part of whatever law led them to this idea is that because these bags aren't rigid enough, products tend to be damaged and arrive organized like a trash pile where at least one thing spills all over everything else. Oh, and they still put frozen goods in thin plastic bags.

I recall the best quality delivery for my use-case being products in standard takeout delivery paper bags wrapped in plastic to avoid leakage. I’m certain far less plastic was used in those cases, and the bags themselves could be easily used to store trash for the compactor avoiding the need for the thicker trash bags.

I’ve noticed missing bolts a few times when sitting in wing view seats. Didn’t realize that isn't supposed to be ok. This problem might be quite common.

I’m sure people can hallucinate differences in taste, but there are very much differences in taste between water sources and water stored in different containers. For instance, many restaurants in nyc serve tap water in glass containers cleaned with bleach and improperly rinsed so you smell the chlorine. The water supply itself can contain chlorine, for instance in many countries chlorine is added to the water supply for various reasons including known mixing of fresh and sewage water. Plastics used in water bottles affect taste and smell. Aquafina and Dasani bottles for instance have a commonly known strong taste of plastic. Plastic bottles left in sunlight for prolonged periods will have an even stronger taste and smell. Cities will change water sources periodically. For instance nyc recently in the last few years adjusted their sources and building managers sent notices saying the new source will taste more “nutritious and earthy”. My building also has had a hot water boiler and cold water mixture issue as well as a contaminant issue that they solved by introducing additional chlorine. However the cold water also is frequently rusty and brown from boiler water mixing in, which probably has its own flavor.

Taste can differ from building to building, city to city, container to container.

Possibly similar situation…but probably due to something else other than miscommunications.

I had insurance partnered with my university. I went to the uni clinic due to a headache and fever so I could get some ibuprofen. They had no capacity to perform any tests and told me I needed to goto the hospital. They ordered an ambulance and said I needed to sign a waiver if I refused them. I had no idea what the impact would be to my insurance so I went along with it. At the hospital ER they hooked me up to IV immediately and then said I needed a spinal tap to check for meningitis because they couldn't explain the fever. I asked to leave, but nobody came to unhook me from the IV or bring my belongings back. They then guided me to another room after an hour or so with 5 people in it. I asked to leave immediately, and they said I could have a life threatening case and I needed to sign a waiver if I left. Apparently they were bringing another doctor from another hospital as emergency to do the test. This time I called my family for advice and signed the form but they were very pushy. The headache and fever were gone the next day. This experience has scarred me from going to U.S. healthcare to this day.

These wikipedia articles have some related information:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forced_labor_of_Germans_afte...

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1944–50_flight_and_expulsion...

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allied_plans_for_German_indu...

Edit: Added an additional link for forced deindustrialization of Germany

Maybe someone knows the answer.

But is there something unique about munitions used in Afghanistan or Ukraine vs those used in WW1/2 or Vietnam or Korean wars that are particularly more toxic or have increased duration of toxicity that would make crops unusable? I would have suspected the munitions to be similar enough to see the same effects.

Truly tragic.

After the war, German soldiers were passed around to be used as slave labor by the Allies (obviously Germans acted similarly with Allied PoWs during the war). Germans were expelled by the millions from culturally German areas. Not every Axis power received the same degree of treatment, which I assume is due to the higher level of vilification of Germans caused by wartime and continuing post wartime propaganda (obviously the Nazis created quite a bit of ammunition for this).

I bring this up because we can observe this type of vilification in real-time by western media against Russians as well as the same propaganda against Ukrainians by Russian media. I'm hoping that once the conflict is over that Europe's experience makes this type of post-war pillaging distasteful.

Within the last 6 months, a local Target I use has refitted most of the store with locked sliding doors for shelves and anti-theft tags for larger items. I noticed that high priced groceries like steaks also tend to be permanently ‘sold out’. There is an open street market nearby that sells products that match closely with what the target sells. Homeless tend to just hang out in front or inside. Wasn’t like this several years ago, so times are clearly changing.

The effects were measurable. For instance, paragraphs within essays were crossed out as illegible and removed from the final marks. So for instance if you had to write a 5 paragraph essay, and 1 paragraph was missing due to this, then maximum grade would be a C+ due to missing a conclusion section or introduction or other required section.

I can attribute a great deal of poor school results due to books and timed or take-home handwritten assignments.

I had a 40lb backpack for school filled with books and notebooks and implements required for class. Forgot a book? Lose a mark. Random checks on note-taking during class. Forgot your notebook? Lose a mark. Protractor split due to the compression between two books? Lose a mark.

I walked to school on many days. My back hurt permanently.

I write with my left hand. Nobody knows how to teach this. Letters smear into the next. Ball point pens get jammed. Can’t read your handwriting? Lose a mark. Know exactly what you want to write but cant produce it in time? Lose a mark. Hand is cramped from P.E. from doing 30 pull-ups? Lose a mark. Its a pain to think faster than you can write as you watch the clock run out.

When it started being possible to turn in typed assignments or timed tests, life became easier.

Don’t do this to kids.

Thanks. This is very helpful to me. I have weekly migraines. I never thought to attribute it to high blood pressure.

For the record, my blood pressure is not nearly as high, but its typically 140/85 as infrequently measured. I’ve never measured during a migraine, but I will now.

Myself being someone who suspects that they have high blood pressure (based on infrequent measurement), would you mind sharing if you had any recurring symptoms (outside of hearing heartbeat) when your blood pressure was at its peak?

Having lived in a few countries globally, I’ve had the chance to observe the decline in food in multiple regions. Some local industries decline at different rates likely due to locals not tolerating it. Bread and milk are good indicators in my opinion. Whole milk fat content is lower in US vs Europe, and in the middle east, milk fat is replaced with coconut fat or others non bovine sources.

Regardless of the merits of this tax, a scary thing is that the availability of news in an entire nation can be thwarted by Facebook and Google.