congregation*

When English-speaking kids are taught to read, and to spell, it’s very much an out-loud process, using phonics, and methodically covers the various pronunciation of all the letters’ sounds. “Sound it out” is the first step in decoding written words. Then of course there’s using context clues to figure out what word you’ve heard before could be spelled using those letters’ possible sounds. And it’s not until later, once all the common rules and exceptions of pronunciation are automatic, that you start “reading to learn” and attempt words you’ve never heard before.

Tbf, you’re not wrong about the inconsistency of English, it’s because we stole words, phrases, entire dialects from so many sources. And sometimes we kept the original pronunciation, other times we rudely imposed our phonetic expectations of the time and place when we stole them. Also the “correct” pronunciation for many words is different in different English-speaking countries.

On the plus side for you, that means most people are pretty lenient about what we consider “fluent,” and make allowances for accent. Unless they’re a racist asshole in the first place. When you mispronounce a word because you’re following phonetic rules but that word breaks them, most of us can recognize that version because we did the same thing when learning to read.

https://oldsh.itjust.works/post/41805544

“ICE Predicts Record Month as Over 800 Mexican Search & Rescue Workers Deported to Honduras” The Onion

In B4 someone blames the Left

Israeli experts in using sexual violence as a genocidal strategy, eh?

Agreed, although I prefer silicone rather than rubber these days, it holds up better with heat.

I live in Los Angeles and just happen to have a grocery store within easy walking distance. Like 0.5 km. But I don’t, because the old nice little convenience store got turned into stupid Whole Foods. Or Mold Foods, as we started calling it after trying some of their groceries. Now I drive a mile to where I can get fresher produce and dairy, and paper towels that don’t disintegrate with the first touch of liquid. Or we get our groceries delivered.

Good points, both would be good.

But, $GOP$

True, and maybe it would make sense for the county (or a cellphone company?) to invest in strategically located towers so that cell service would be less spotty in general there? Not just for this kind of emergency but also lost hikers etc.

Oh sorry, family word maybe? A child cheater is a flexible spatula (rubber or silicone) rounded on one side, that scrapes all the yummy cake batter out of the bowl and into the baking pan, leaving not enough to lick.

Please don’t disable the alerts just because they’re irritating. They have saved so many lives, even though they fuck up sometimes.

Just, instead of panicking, do a quick internet check if you don’t have other evidence of the danger. You might find that you’re not in the danger zone yet but might be soon if the wind changes or whatever. Then you can monitor the situation.

You can also consider them a message from the Universe to check up on your emergency stuff: How much drinking water and food do you have and is it expired? Do you have a bug-out bag and do the pants in it still fit? What would you use to carry all your regular meds? (Don’t store just a few pills, scoop up all the bottles of what you’re normally using, because it might be awhile before you get refills) Do you have a litterbox and food for your cat, as well as a carrier? What about any important documents, know where they are? And where would you go?

Let’s see Mr and Mrs Bezos out there volunteering first. It’s a wholesome honeymoon activity!

64 fluid ounces = 128 servings of 1 Tablespoon = 11,520 total calories, if you use a child-cheater to scrape out every drop.

Speaking from near the Palisades in Los Angeles:

After we all knew the hurricane-force Santa Anas posed a big danger of fire, because of both news stories and phone alerts, the whole city accidentally got a major “evacuate now” warning, with the big WOOPy noise from our cellphones, that was only supposed to go to residents in a particular area. I had my quadriplegic husband dressed and out of bed and our old go-bags and medical equipment thrown in the car in the 20 minutes it took for the retraction to come out. I also had a bit of a panic attack.

Some people decided to turn off their alarm settings because of that error. But I took it as a warning that we were not ready enough.

I went into the bags and made sure, for instance, that the pants fit me, as I’d gained weight in a year. I stashed the fridge meds in a cold carrier, handy in the fridge. And put the right cat food for the new cat in the cat-kit/litterbox. And created a go-box for the box turtle.

Then I stowed as much as possible in the actual car, including the Important Paperwork file.

All along, we were monitoring as the fires started to pop up and spread.

At 9 pm, we got another WOOP alert. Our address had become part (the far edge) of the Yellow Zone. Not the Red Zone. But as you said, who’s going to catch a warning at 2am? (Well, me! But it’s a lot harder to react at that hour) In fact, I’m sure that’s why CalFire expanded the zones so wide at 9 pm, because they wanted to be sure they wouldn’t have to issue a new one overnight.

So we bailed immediately but calmly. Spent 5 days at a hotel near LAX.

Fortunately we had no damage, but had to dip into our emergency drinking water for a few more days until they lifted the Boil Water notice.

Super glad we had and heeded those early warnings about how dangerous those hot dry winds were going to be, and the 9 pm evacuation zone warning.

The relatively low death count in the Palisades fire came from the accurate weather forecast.

Puma, they’re such a beautiful big kitty. But I might trade in my wish on getting my own little kitty to be less spicy and enjoy pets and cuddles more, if that could be permanent.

Article says the camp has been there for a century, and the water washed away the cabin while the girls were asleep… Sounds like climate change to me. Even though the building is surely newer, they’d know where the river had risen to in the past.

Well, Huntsville Alabama has Space Camp and has been integral to US space exploration. Or so I’ve heard, haven’t been there myself.

Once you’ve cooled it and applied polysporin, you should put a bandage to keep from smearing off all the polysporin onto your clothes and keep it clean. If you don’t have a bandage that clean long sleeve will do, but it might get a greasy mark you’ll need to treat later for laundry: try rubbing in a dab of Dawn before laundering it.

Bear in mind, it may randomly start hurting and feeling burny again later, because the nerve endings hate burns. Cold water will help again. Fridge temp is fine, helps numb it without causing ice damage.

We did also get a reminder from our Congressperson today that fireworks aren’t just illegal and dangerous to the user, they can cause devastating wildfires. Which we don’t need any more of. Agreed, but what about the dumpster fire over there where you work, Representative?