Concomitant

Concomitant: existing or occurring with something else, often in a lesser way; accompanying; concurrent
This term is used at time to describe symptoms or medical processes.

"She was not looking forward to the hangover with its concomitant headache."

Found at work: "We can show with serial measurements that there has been an explosion in American body size in the last 20 years. The most frightening aspect is the concomitant growth in the frequency of weight-related diseases." Cheery stuff, that.

Source: "concomitant." Dictionary.com Unabridged. Random House, Inc. 15 Dec. 2009.

















Image: Concomitant signals act synergistically.

Ancraophobia

Ancraophobia: fear of the wind.

It's pretty safe to say that my cat is ancraophobic, which according to a youtube.com search, isn't all that odd. Props to these fine fellows for their scientific research on the subject.


Source: The Phobia List

Lacking a neat picture of my own annoying pet, here is one of a stranger's cat:



see more Lolcats and funny pictures

15 super foods!

In a time of medical crisis, there is only one hero: Superfood!

WebMD is all kinds of helpful when you want to turn a few symptoms into full-blown panic that you may have a rare, incurable disease. Little did I know it was also pretty sweet in suggesting prevention tactics for both the common cold and the United States enemy #1: the flu.

To save you the trouble of clicking through the pretty pictures of Superfoods (as well as how they work), here is the list:

Elderberry, Button Mushrooms, Acai Berry, Oysters, Watermelon, Cabbage, Almonds, Grapefruit, Wheat Germ, Low Fat Yogurt, Garlic, Spinach, Tea (green AND black), Sweet Potato and Broccoli.

I was sure Blueberries would make the list and am now disappointed in what must just be a Superfood sidekick. That's cool Blue. You're still my boy.

I'm on twitter.

I don't have any idea if anyone is actually reading this blog ever, but I have joined the Twitter universe and am equally awful at updating that online communication.

An Article that fully satisfied my logofascination!

Today while reading my daily web comics I came across a blog that pointed me in the direction of a great article on 20 words that have fallen into desuetude. Among my favorite are:

Chaetophorous: extremely hairy
Agowilt: a sudden and inexplicable feeling of fear
Hebdomadal: something that happens to you every seven days
Loganamnosis: when you forget words and you cannot rest until they have reappeared inside your memory
Antistatis: when an act is defended by saying that, had it not taken place, then something much worse could have happened
Nikhedonia: a word for the anticipation of success

Jing-Bang

I made an effort this week to work the phrase "jing-bang" into one of my master's exam essay. This is a Scottish term: the hail jing-bang means the whole lot or everything. I was able to use in the opening sentence for my International Commerce exam:

In the hail jing-bang of global economics, regional trade agreements (RTAs) have become the most common form of agreement.

Cat Puke Colors and their Meaning

Clear: water
Chunky: food
Yellow: stomach bile
Green: small intestine fluid

Time to go to the vet.

Nigeria... reason to hope?

The Economist: Briefing: Nigeria
You know how when you read about things in Africa.... no wait.

You know how once you learned there was a continent called Africa and all you've heard since then about it is about HIV/AIDS or Bono? Well here is some good news:

Even with a ethnic/resource power struggle in the Niger Delta, Nigeria (one of the oil-rich countries on the continent) seems to have a working democracy. Their leader may be sick, in fact several prominent leaders are calling for his removal or resignation due to how little time he spends governing, but infrastructure is on the rise as violence is declining.

For another bright spot, look to Botswana. It has the best economic growth of any country as well as government stability absent in many of its neighbors.