Sunday 15 October 2023

DEFINING OPINIONS, fourth octet

previous posted poems:
(first octet):
academically
birdlife
crepuscular
cruddy
diaphoretic
envision
gluten sensitivity
hamuli
haunch
Haversian canals
heinous
hoarding
hoe
holdout
hole#1
hole #2
holler
hollow
homogenized milk
hone
honey
honk
honorifics
hooey

CURRENT CONTENTS (fourth octet):
Hoot
Hopeful
Hormones
Hors d'oeuvre
Hose
Hostility
Hot
Hourly
Housewife




















Authors' Note  As the hour is one of the most commonly used measure of time, fitting well with the time-frame of daily human activities, it is used more often in a general than in a scientific or precise sense. Examples of this usage include the appointed hour and happy hour. The derived adverb hourly shares this attribute.

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To resume daily titillations on our related blog 'Daily Illustrated Nonsense', click HERE. Once you arrive, you can select your time frame of interest from the calendar-based listings in the righthand margin, and check the daily offerings for any month in the years 2020 to the present. (As of September 2023, there are over 1200 unique entries available on the Daily blog, and most of these are also presented here on 'Edifying Nonsense' in topic-based collections.) The 'Daily' format has the advantage of including some photo-collages, song-lyrics and other material that are not shown here on this topic-based blog.




Tuesday 10 October 2023

Gift Suggestions: NOVEL COMMERCIAL PRODUCTS




Authors' Note The gecko, a non-threatening species of lizard imported accidentally into the United States (with range expanding in the last few decades), has entered the popular consciousness due to advertisements by GEICO (acronym for the Government Employees Insurance Co.) which feature a British-accented lizard, who gives advice on purchasing auto and other insurance.

   Voice-activated assistance (for humans) on Apple cellphones is provided by a persona known as ‘Siri’. As saurian is a synonym for reptilian, (and the suffix ‘-saur’ is well-known in regard to current and ancient lizard species), you won’t be surprised that we have developed an assistant named ‘Sauri’ for the high-tech gecko community. 




Authors' Note: This verse deals with a nonsensical 'tall tale' prevalent in the author's family. Our children grew up in the 1980s in a universe in which 'remotes' (remote controllers) miraculously helped manage elements of their computerized daily lives. With its expandable dimensions and the ability to either hide or display, the Cyber Box offered a digitized but imaginary solution to logistic problems, worthy of attribution to Aladdin. Unfortunately, no one could ever find the misplaced 'remote' for the mythical device.



Authors' Note:  The principal ingredients and other details of Dust, the indispensable furniture protector, are left to the reader's imagination.



Authors' Note A garden gnome is an ersatz creature, often assumed to be of below average intelligence and technical sophistication. Here the author reimagines the garden gnome as a technically adept home protection device, suited to the western American setting.



Authors' Note: The male turkey's facial snood is an erectile caruncle that plays an important role in his ability to attract females. Unfortunately for domestic toms, commercial turkey breeders see it as advantageous to remove these facial appendages at an early age. The process of desnooding, and its devastating effect on turkey romance, have been versified by the author previously. Commercial development of a prosthesis to assist males in adult life, as described in this verse, is apocryphal.




Authors' Note:  Sault Ste Marie, Ontario, on the St. Mary River, is known casually by its English-speaking inhabitants and visitors as ‘the Sault’ (pronounced SOO). (A smaller town, similarly named, is also present on the American side of the river). French colonists had referred to the rapids on the river as les saults de Ste Marie (SOH).

   A classic limerick, dating from 1902, concerns family economics and stressful relationships of a resident of the island of Nantucket in the state of Massachusetts:
     There once was a man from Nantucket ...
   A series of limericks by the present author provides satirical variations on this iconic tale. 

   The technically advanced bucket and safe combination imagined in the above verse might have been of use to the famous Nantucket protagonist.



Authors' Note: Shotgun-wielding hunter Elmer Fudd was the cartoon-world nemesis of the beloved character Bugs Bunny. Elmer was notable for his lisping speech, for his hatred of 'wascally wabbits', for his oversized weaponry and, fortunately for Bugs, for his rather poor eyesight and aim.
   Currently (2017), weapons can be legally web-purchased by residents of the U.S.,without  prior background checks of the purchasers.




If you want to resume daily titillations on our blog 'Daily Illustrated Nonsense', click HERE. Once you arrive, you can select your time frame of interest from the calendar-based listings in the righthand margin, and check the daily offerings for any week in the years 2020 and 2021. (There are now over 600 daily entries on the Daily blog, and most of these are also presented here on 'Edifying Nonsense' in topic-based collections.)







Thursday 5 October 2023

PATIENTS and their MALADIES, part #4

previous poetic posts (part#3)
hives
hoarding disorder
horseshoe kidney
knee effusion
lichen sclerosus
male infertility
nervous bladder
-OMAs, (subdural hematoma, atheroma)

CURRENT CONTENTS  (part #4):

Hemiplegia
Polyps, colonic
Vitamin A deficiency
Vitreous detachment
more to follow.

(Please note that many of the verses originally collected in this blogpost were moved to appropriate specialty collections as described below.) 



Authors' Note: In medical jargon, a stroke (cerebro-vascular accident) that leaves the victim with complete loss of function in the affected area is said to be dense. Patients like our old friend Dave, who have had a stroke with severe one-sided weakness (hemiplegia) in mid-life, may survive with appropriate early treatment of atherosclerotic lesions in the opposing carotid artery and other arteries, to prevent further loss of function. With appropriate physiotherapy, targeted at flexibility in the affected area and strength on the unaffected side, such patients can get through several decades, walking hesitatingly, with the use of canes and other assistive devices. As these courageous persons age, mobility issues become even more problematic than for the rest of us.






Authors' Note: The first step is to find a colonoscopist, usually done by enlisting your primary physician to arrange a referral.

You can find a poem about colonoscopists by your favorite blog-authors by clicking HERE.





Authors' NoteAvitaminosis, an absence of vitamins, causes specific deficiency diseases, as discussed for some other vitamins by (Dr.) SheilaB, a prolific contributor to OEDILF.
  Avitaminosis A, i.e. absence of vitamin A, is the most common cause of childhood blindness in parts of Africa and South Asia, resulting in specific eye damage including corneal ulceration and retinal damage. Early symptoms include xerophthalmia (severely 'dry eyes') and loss of night vision, although, it is noted that in appropriately nourished populations (developed countries), these symptoms are due to other causes.




Authors' Note:  The near-spherical posterior chamber of the eye ('the vitreous') is filled with a translucent gel that shrinks with age, and becomes 'stringy'. Fibrous strands in this space leads to the appearance of floaters, a common symptom.
  Progressive shrinkage may result in more sudden vitreous detachment with a marked increase in floaters, but generally no harm to vision, and symptoms regress spontaneously over several months. Occasionally, the initial event is accompanied by detachment (tearing –TAIR) of a portion of the light-detecting retina, so careful initial assessment and follow-up are warranted.



HERE'S A LIST OF LINKS to collections of intriguing verses on other medical/dental topics that can now be found on the following posts. (for the larger collections, grouped in multiple sets, follow the links at the bottom to proceed from 'part #1' to the next set on that topic.)
  
Doctors and their Practices (parts #1 and #2)
Funny Bones (parts #1 and #2)
Patients and their Maladies (parts #1, #2 and #3)
Sleek Greek Prefixes


DIRECTION FOR WEB-TRAVELLERS: 
To resume daily titillations on our related blog "Daily Illustrated Nonsense", click HERE. Once you arrive, you can select your time frame of interest from the calendar-based listings in the righthand margin, and check the daily offerings for any month in the years 2020 to the present. (As of September 2023, there are over 1200 unique entries available on the Daily blog, and most of these are also presented here on "Edifying Nonsense" in topic-based collections.) The Daily format also has the advantage of including some videos and other material that are not shown here on this topic-based blog.