So I asked Gemini this question:

> Are "caught" and "court" homophones?

It gave me:

> No, "caught" and "court" are not homophones. [...] While they might sound similar in some accents, they are distinct words in standard English pronunciation.

Thanks, Gemini, for calling out those Brits for not following "standard English pronunciation."

On the other hand, I asked it:

> Does the word "drawing" rhyme with "soaring"?

And it quite succinctly explained:

> Yes, "drawing" and "soaring" rhyme.

Hmm.

[ SmokeDetector | MS ] Blacklisted website in answer, username similar to website in answer, blacklisted user (239): Word for the moment of excitement after creating something‭ by cyberops‭ on english.SE

Baroque Obama

@CowperKettle do you need a doctor's appointment and prescription every time you need B12 injection (I guess you take injection monthly)?

I took oral pills for 3 months and ended now but I don't think it has made any improvement. Maybe 10-20% at best.

I'm really stuck in this mess.

@M.A.R. thank you

@jlliagre thank you very much

> In China, retail sales of new electric cars accounted for 50.84% of the total in July 2024.

@Vikas Hi! No, I just buy a box of B12 vials and inject one vial every 15 days.

I use insulin syringes to inject B12, this makes is much less painful.

> Two doctors – Salvador Plasencia and Mark Chavez – worked to supply Perry with ketamine, Estrada said. In a September 2023 text message, Estrada said, Plasencia wrote: “I wonder how much this moron will pay?” edition.cnn.com/2024/08/16/entertainment/…

@CowperKettle I guess they must be prescription free in Russia.

@Vikas Yes, they are over-the-counter, and cheap

Word of the day: technoference medicalxpress.com/news/…

@CowperKettle Nice. Also do you self inject it in your upper arm in muscle? Would need lot of practice?

The most common injections available here are recommended intramuscular on hip sites.

So that's impossible for doing it yourself.

@Vikas I inject it into hips or into the shoulder muscles

Oh. Isn't it difficult on hip by yourself?

@CowperKettle Yeah I read about it.

But on hip they have two sites. Both are very confusing.

@Vikas No, I don't find it difficult, it's quite quick and easy

The thigh option seems easy :D

Especially with insulin syringes, they are so thin.

I just tried to move my hand on hip side and looks like I can reach the site easily. Not as difficult as I had assumed. But I would never try on my own.

You'll get used to it quick )) But you can ask a friend who is skilled, like a nurse. I asked a woman from my apartment block who was a nurse, and she did it a couple times and then I went on doing it myself

I read a lot of posts on Reddit and they also had a common issue as me, they prefer self injecting because nobody wants to pay to doctor every few months for same reason when you already know you need it.

I think it's not prescription free in many countries.

Including India

@CowperKettle That's a good idea to hire a nurse to teach you.

It seems my dad confirmed the next travel abroad to the Baltic countries and the North European countries.

Planned to be October 2025.

@CowperKettle Would Saint-Peterburg safe to travel to then?

It depends on who's on the plane 🤣

Not a plane, but a cruise.

My dad, my brother, and me.

Ah

@DannyuNDos I think it's 100% safe

Thanks. You lifted my concern.

@DannyuNDos My dad returned from St Pete recently and he liked it.

What about Kaliningrad?

@DannyuNDos Why not, it's a beautiful city

Wow! @Robusto has been gone for a full week. I hope he's okay.

@tchrist And 10 days for tchrist :(

@Vikas hip should be easier than arms. More muscle mass.

@Vikas based on new lab results, or just a feeling?

@DannyuNDos most travel advice branding Russian cities as unsafe (I presume, haven't checked myselt) errs quite heavily on the side of caution and the advice is meant for citizens of countries like the US or the UK which are a step removed open hostility towards Russia.

Otherwise unless they're active warzones most places even in 'troubled' parts of the world should be safe, especially for South Koreans given nobody except North Korea dislikes S. Korea.

Iran has been and will remain unsafe for American and some European citizens according to travel guides, but would be quite safe to visit for anyone from East Asia, for example.

Though of course whether you'd want to visit is another matter entirely

Excuse the typos. Mobile in a moving car

@M.A.R. Just a feeling. I overall feel a little better than 3 months ago. But that could also be because of vitamin D pills I took along with B12.

@M.A.R. I saw a video on YouTube where a guy teaches how to inject Ventrogluteal Injection on hip. It was quite on side of his body rather than behind. From what I remember, whenever I got an injection (for other issues) on hip in the past, I had to lay on my stomach and it was quite behind my body. So I'm not sure if that was Dorsogluteal or Ventrogluteal muscle. Or maybe none - maybe it was into that fat of hip.

@Vikas injections into the butt are into gluteus maximus. No other point injecting in there. Injection 'into fat' is subcutaneous, not muscular, and the needle is held at 45 degrees.

We inject into different parts of the body to control the rate at which the drug is released into the systemic circulation. The idea is that the bigger the muscle, the more uniform the release profile, which is better.

And gluteus maximus is maximus, big.

I dunno about dorsal and ventral positions. It's probably just for accessibility (obviously you can't skillfully self-inject from behind)

Sitting on the needle has not been researched for effectiveness.

> The Guardian is funded by readers like you in Iran and the only person who decides what we publish is our editor.

Oh shut up

At least it didn't say "readers like you in Iran, Islamic Rebulic of and ..."

Oh, how very personalised.

That kind of marketing must work very well on you.

Reminds me of:

@Cerberus oh according to Google ads people in Iran, Islamic Republic of have bought everything from Harley Davidson bikes to Calvin Klein sports bras.

I have no idea why it would advertise either of those to me but it's good to know what your neighbor is into.

@M.A.R. Yes, I would place high trust in them.

It would be nice if each country had its own body of censors who blocked all ads.

What would this be about, you think?

Word of the day: racoon eyes (periorbital ecchymosis) en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raccoon_eyes

I have a racoon eye on my left side now, but only partial, above the eye, but now below.

I rode into a lamppost 7 hours ago, broke my glasses and bumped my left eye against the lamppost

@Cerberus Something about transportation

A bit.

But what is transported?

@CowperKettle Seems offensive. That term should refer to eyes that are uniquely handsome and indicate a depth of wisdom and insight.