Discussion Groups / English Usage / February 2010

<snip>

The NY/CT boundary is still a way out of NYC -- about the same
population density both sides of the line. The 55mph speed limit on I-95
in NY isn't because it's close to NYC; it's because NY State has decided
that its freeway speed limit shall be 55mph -- even out in the boonies;
at least, it was when we lived there.

Perce

No, it's really true.

My mother had a call like that recently - she thought, and I agreed,
that it must have been a scam. They called her, they had a name neither
of us recognized, but it included 'Leukemia', which killed a relative
and which another relative now has, so she thought she'd like to donate.
They refused to send her any information in the mail so she could send
them a cheque (she LIKES using cheques; she uses cheques to pay
businesses and people I've been paying electronically for years). They
offered instead to transfer her to a 'secure line' so she could give
them her credit card information. She refused.

Plastic loops are really bad. I've heard of the problem for years, but
it was brought home recently when a wild duck got one stuck around its
head and bill so it couldn't eat. It died before local bird enthusiasts
were able to rescue it.

Here are a couple of articles about the "plastic bag soup" in the
Pacific ocean:
http://international-environmental-affairs.suite101.com/article.cfm/plastic_soup
_in_the_pacific_ocean

   Plastic Soup in the Pacific Ocean
   Sea of Trash Spans Area Twice the Size of Continental United States
   
   ....
   ....
   Why this Plastic Soup is so Dangerous
   
   Plastic is a synthetic material that is not biodegradable, and
   cannot be digested by any living thing. The plastic in the ocean can
   only photodegrade, which means it is broken into smaller pieces by
   the sun’s rays, but it never goes away.
   
   This means that the plastic eventually becomes a plastic dust which
   mixes with the ocean, and now outnumbers zooplankton, the natural
   food, 6 to 1 in the North Pacific Central Gyre.
   
   This plastic is mistaken for food by marine animals, and will make
   them feel full even though they gain no nutrients from the plastic
   and their bodies cannot digest it. The plastic can also block their
   digestive track, leading to starvation.
   
   All of the toxins entering the food cycle through plastic are a
   danger for human life as well, because a lot of our diet comes from
   the sea.
   
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/the-worlds-rubbish-dump-a-garbage-tip-t
hat-stretches-from-hawaii-to-japan-778016.html

   ....
   ....
   According to the UN Environment Programme, plastic debris causes the
   deaths of more than a million seabirds every year, as well as more
   than 100,000 marine mammals. Syringes, cigarette lighters and
   toothbrushes have been found inside the stomachs of dead seabirds,
   which mistake them for food.
   
   Plastic is believed to constitute 90 per cent of all rubbish
   floating in the oceans. The UN Environment Programme estimated in
   2006 that every square mile of ocean contains 46,000 pieces of
   floating plastic,
   
   Dr Eriksen said the slowly rotating mass of rubbish-laden water
   poses a risk to human health, too. Hundreds of millions of tiny
   plastic pellets, or nurdles – the raw materials for the plastic
   industry – are lost or spilled every year, working their way into
   the sea. These pollutants act as chemical sponges attracting
   man-made chemicals such as hydrocarbons and the pesticide DDT. They
   then enter the food chain. "What goes into the ocean goes into these
   animals and onto your dinner plate. It's that simple," said Dr
   Eriksen.

Even allowing for "campaigning exaggeration" there does seem to be a
problem.

That's what I've always called them. For something that tastes so
good, IMO, they are easy to make. From scratch, of course.

They are also know as "potato scallops" in some places.

A decade ago when I was more mobile I visited as many Chinese food
shops as I could find to see if I could buy frozen dim sum anywhere
near as good as the stuff that those Chinese restaurants that bother
to serve dim sum make themselves.  I must have found half a dozen
shops and supermarkets, and discovered that their frozen dim sum was
all from one manufacturer, and not very good.

Looks as if I got it wrong - I thought the little dumplings were called
dim sum and that dim sim was a brand name.

This link is 3 years old, but if it's still true, I'm glad I don't eat
"butterfish":

http://www.growfish.com.au/content.asp?contentid=5733

William Wing Young. He was from an interesting family that had lived and
worked in Australia for three generations But each generation returned
to China to marry and have children before bringing them back to
Australia. His grandfather was one of the gang that built the original
railway to Echuca.

They vary in quality, but the better ones are quite good. Especially
steamed, not fried.

Or just a different dialect or transliteration of dim sum. As I
understand it the inventor tried to get as close to what the family in
China made, but using only ingredients that were easily available in
Australia at the time (1930s-40s, IIRC). So they have minced meat,
cabbage, onion, salt and pepper in a wrapper of won-ton pastry.

Rob Bannister:

Ah, so it's the "have to" of phobia, not of banking rules.  Got it.  Thanks.

I'm sure in (small) part to remedy this, the bank I use (Too Big To
Fail, N.A.) has begun to replace its ATMs with units that scan the
face of the check (or currency) right then and there, and (for check
deposits) give you the option of a receipt with an image of the
deposited item(s) on them as evidence of your deposit.  (They do not,
apparently, truncate the check on the spot -- or if they do, there is
no audible shredder noise -- but I don't have a way to verify that.)

-GAWollman

I use the ATM to deposit checks for thousands of dollars each month as
the treasurer of my HOA[1].  The ATM scans the check and determines
how much it's for[2], totals it up and prints out a receipt with
images of all of the checks deposited[3].

[1] About half of the unit owners pay on-line.  This means that a
   clearinghouse prints up a check and sends it through the mail to
   the HOA mailing address.  I could probably set it up so that the
   money could be transferred directly, but I believe that that would
   cost money, and receiving the check gives me the impetus to record
   the payment.

[2] presenting a thumbnail of each with its decision and allowing me
   to enlarge the image and run a magnifying glass over it and
   correct it if it's wrong...I've had a couple out of hundreds where
   it was wrong and only one where it gave up.  (The guy had written,
   in the number slot, $200.00+$75, apparently having written the
   number wrong at first.)

[3] They remove the bottom strip of the check from the image, so the
   bank routing numbers aren't on the receipt.

I live near a small market town and my bank has such little frontage
that there's only space for its door and a cash dispenser.  It's not
really an ATM.  If you want to deposit cheques you have to go inside
during banking hours to another machine that only accepts cheques in
sterling.

Yes, I always get asked if I have a Frequent Flyer card, and I've never
bothered to join.

Hey, Sobey's has a Frequent Flyer point program, too. Actually a lot of
businesses belong to the same program. I cashed in some of my points a
while back for grocery coupons, boring but useful.

At least one of the other stores here has the option of turning your
points in their program in for cash; well, not cash exactly, but a cash
card you can use in that store.

I think that probably is the generic name, though a Wikiskim suggests
there are other meanings. A "loyalty card" seems to me slightly
different, as it only works in one shop or group. I hate this term, as I
don't want to think of myself as being "loyal" to a supermarket.