Miraz Jordan

Sasha’s throat Xray didn’t show anything to worry about. She has a little throat inflammation. The benign but growing cyst was removed from her back. Now 10 days of taking her on a lead to pee or for brief walks. Carprieve pain relief. 🐶

Our dogs are brachycephalic which means flatter faces and shorter noses, breathing problems. Sasha snores a lot and has increasing episodes of ‘choking’. Today she’s with the vet for surgery to check her throat, and to remove a slowly growing harmless cyst on her back.

Hmm, I just watched a preview of a movie about Marie Curie which includes her saying “My science could cure cancer”.

When I was a kid in the 1960s people around me didn’t say the terrible word “Cancer”. They’d whisper simply “C”, in case the word would conjure the phenomenon.

Nessie Hill encourages us all to be science communicators in this 10 minute video: How to Convince Others to Wear a Mask. She talks about methods that work … and methods that don’t.

Hey @martinfeld I listen to and enjoy most of the Lounge Ruminations. 😀 On #33 start at 6:15 you say: “the crucial element of a conversation is the words”. 🤔 Can’t speak for blind, deaf, folks with body movement issues, but gesture, posture, face, breathing etc are = crucial.

Interesting: Why Older People Really Eschew Technology

The assumption that seniors are “alienated” by technology…ignores the essence of her research: older adults’ resistance to technology is a value-based choice. Thus, many seniors resist some technologies and embrace others.

All on for Mars:

The United Arab Emirates is about to launch its first mission to Mars. It will be the Arab world’s first flight to another planet.

The SUV-sized spacecraft, called the Hope probe, …will reach Mars by February 2021.

Also launching soon: NASA and China.

a detailed DNA analysis of the genomes of more than 800 Polynesians and Native Americans, both modern and prehistoric, [shows] evidence of contact … as far back as 1200 CE.

…a single contact event … between Polynesian individuals and a Native American group

Source

Oh, there was a blast from my youth, when the good music was! The Shangri-Las ‘Leader Of The Pack’ .

Many thanks to @agilelisa for introducing me to musicians Abigail Washburn and Wu Fei. I found this enjoyable 30 minute video: Abigail Washburn and Wu Fei at the National Immigrant Integration Conference. A wonderful fusion of Appalachian and Chinese music. And in 2 languages. ♬

If you enjoy both nature and words then this 22 minute episode of Brit Garner’s Nature League is for you: Nurse Sharks and Other Strange Names

Brit investigates how the nurse shark and other species got their intriguing English names.

Seems one may have come from Portuguese.

Matariki is the time when Māori celebrate the new year. The Matariki star cluster is known to many of us as Pleiades. 🌟

Now the year turns and we look towards spring. Already our peach and nectarine trees are showing buds. We have 15 more minutes daylight than at solstice. 😎

This Micro Monday I suggest @kimberlyhirsh , a space mermaid sparkle goth who also is a doctoral candidate in information and library science. Nice variety of posts.

This applies to Covid-19 testing done in Aotearoa New Zealand, but tests elsewhere may well use the same methods: Coronavirus testing - how does it work?.

Some excellent videos of how a nasal swab is done and how samples are processed. Great informative science article. 🦠

This may be handy for other users of the fabulous NetNewsWire RSS reader from @brentsimmons — an Applescript to grab an article summary and its link and mash them together ready for further editing after pasting:

tell application "NetNewsWire"
	tell current article
		set mySummary to summary
		set myLink to permalink
		set myReport to "x" & myLink & mySummary
		set the clipboard to myReport as string
	end tell
end tell

We enjoyed Netflix ☛ The Old Guard with Charlize Theron, even though I’m a bit over superheroes. This had some nice gentle touches on various issues around immortality and the point of living, and whether we can do good in the world. 🎬 Director: Gina Prince-Bythewood.