239. The Great Cinnamon Experiment and More About Why Captioners Make Mistakes

A while back when I talked about a fungus attacking the stem of a tomato plant, Sue wrote that she had successfully used cinnamon to stop a plant fungus.  I had read this assertion before, and have read it a couple times since.  Well, the other day I decided to give it a try on my powdery mildew problem on the squash plants.  I didn't know what would happen, but I figured what the heck.  I went out and used a ginormous bottle of Costco cinnamon (next time I will go to the dollar store, because even Costco cinnamon is not cheap!) all over those giant squash leaves.  I didn't do the entire pumpkin patch, because those leaves looked too far gone, I thought. 

I noticed a few things when I did the cinnamon-sprinkling:  Well, it's a well established fact that cinnamon is a female aphrodisiac, and I gotta tell you, when sprinkling about a pound of cinnamon all around me, well.... Fact.  (Excuse me -- I'm off to Costco to buy another pound of cinnamon so I can take a bath in it...)

Okay, I'm back.  What was I saying.......?

Oh, yes.  So apart from that physical effect on me, it seemed to upset the bees that were pollinating the summer squash.  They seemed upset and maybe even disoriented by the strong scent.  I don't know if that is a lasting effect, and I hope it's not harmful, but one of the reasons we are losing our bees, I've been reading, is that the pesticides that are being used in "traditional" agriculture are making the bees somehow disoriented and unable to find their hives.  So that worried me a little bit. 

Also, this has been a rainy year here, and I am practically eaten alive by mosquitoes whenever I go out to my garden, even in the full sun.  But when I was coated with cinnamon, not one mosquito bothered me.  Or maybe I was just so blissed out by the love powder that I didn't notice if they did.  (What?  That was NOT ME with a straw up my nose doing cinnamon lines!)

I wasn't able to go to my garden the day before yesterday, but when I got home from work yesterday I went out and I found this:

Perfectly perfect, unblemished by powdery mildew, squash leaves.  All these leaves were coated with powdery mildew the other day, and it even rained the other night and much of the cinnamon washed, or was blown, off.  The leaves I missed (because at that point I needed to ....well, you know, I got distracted) still have a little bit, but otherwise we're all good.  I sprinkled more cinnamon on the untreated spots yesterday, though I didn't have enough to get everything. 

So there you have it.  My little garden cinnamon experiment. 

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And a little funnism from work:  There is a very knowledgeable presenter who is featured heavily in this multi-week section of work.  There is just a leetle problem:  He has a heavy Indian accent. 

The first day he was talking a lot about the epicardium of the heart, which he pronounced A.P. cardium.  All right, fair enough.  I caught on to that one about ten minutes into this talk after I saw "epicardium" written on the PowerPoint, and adjusted my steno writing accordingly. 

Yesterday one of the pronunciation gems was, "Al Wheeler gas exit change." 

Any guesses?

Anyone? 

Bueller?

How about "alveolar gas exchange"? 

Eek. If it weren't for all that talk about alveolar gas exchange I had in the courtroom for all those many years in DUI cases, I wouldn't have had a clue WTF he was talking about.  You should have seen the hearing students cluster around my screen, too.  And they looked at my face like, "How did you know that?!"

But just when I was smugly basking in the glow of being The Most Amazing and Intelligent Human Being on Earth, "infarct" started translating "infarmer's market."  I made "FARKT" a brief form for "farmer's market" during the Michael Pollan talk.  This is exactly why I hate brief forms -- they lurk in there in that steno dictionary, forgotten, until they come out at the most inopportune moments.  Thankfully, I have a wonderful working relationship with my medical student, we both had a great laugh about it, and I fixed it quickly on the spot.  But geesh. 

Then followed two hours of a speaker who talks no less than 7 million words a minute.  I was a puddle of quivering goo at the end of it.  My student asked me, "Which do you like better -- a slower speaker with a heavy accent, or a too-fast speaker without an accent?"

.....

I asked if I could see a different menu. 

.....

And speaking of inopportune moments, next week we have a return visit from the "I Heart Female Orgasm" people, and you may remember that I got caught out by a brief form following that event last year also, so that I went and orgasmed right in the middle of my work. I know that to some people this will not come as much of a surprise, but still, I do try to maintain appropriate decorum whenever possible.

All those who wonder why captioners make mistakes or want to quit their jobs, or why court reporters won't caption in the first place, raise your hands.

Comments

[Sarah]

I'm off to see if cinnamon can help here.

[Mel]

I wonder if cinnamon works for the gay boys. Either way, I've already got one of those huge ass jus of cinnamon and may just have to go try it out on my apple trees. Once I'm home from Vegas, that is.

[Nora]

An interesting and informative post, all around!! I have a niece who captions for TV. I need to ask her about her proudest moments.

[Jennifer]

This is why I get up in the morning! You are too funny. BTW - my neighbor installed a "bat house" and after 6-12 months, the bats came, nested, and ate all the mosquitoes. Might be something you'll want to try. Bats. Cinnamon. D... It could be a whole new "ABC Along in the Garden". I'm going to re-read the post now for a second chuckle. Thanks for the smiles.

[CindyCindy]

Do you have sprinkle yourself with cinnamon???? And, the captioning? I do believe it requires a terrific sense of self and a marvelous sense of humor. Thankfully, you have both.

[margene]

Sex, sex, sex....all you talk about is sex. You, the bees, cinnamon aphrodisiacs, organism...oh my god...sex, sex, sex! Keep it up!

[Manise]

One of the big bee killers is towns spraying for mosquito. The spray contains pyrethrins which is deliterious to bees. The town and company counter that they spray at dusk after the bees "have gone to bed", but I always notice a significant decline in my pollinators after a spraying. I have since put my property on the "No Spray" list and make sure it is respected.

Will have to give the cinnamon a try. My poor bee balm is rather powdery looking.

[Roxie]

Your husband must be such a happy boy!

[Linda M]

Yep, cinnamon is great stuff for plants. When I was actively raising orchids it was common to use cinnamon as a patch/protector/anti-fungal agent on any cuts that had been made into the plants to divide them. It worked great and the plant could heal the cut area under the protection of the cinnamon crust.

[Marcia]

I'm on the way out to the garden with my big shaker of cinnamon as we speak.....

[Judy]

At my house, I've got a pack of men with big machines.. cinnamon, huh?

[marianne]

(Judy...'pack of men with big machines' just exactly what is she saying ;^)

MMMM, love the cinnamon and yes, with a passion. I love that it helped your plants, did the bees return after the rain washed it off? crap, I hate that it would mess with them. love and hate, sheesh.....
You're student is so lucky.

[Carrie]

OMG! My husband is going to take a quit-smoking therapy, and they give the clients cinnamon sticks to suck on to help with the oral fixation thing. I joked to him that tasting like cinnamon instead of an ashtray will get him more kisses, but it might get him more than that! ROFL.

[Elizabeth]

Okay, just went to check on my previously sprinkled squash leaves and have to report they are still covered in cinnamon AND powdery mildew.
And a mosquito bit my ankle.
No signs of horny, either.
I guess I didn't use enough.

Will report back after I sprinkle some more
( but just about the squash leaves...)

[Anne]

Slow speaker/heavy accent. Some of the WORST dictators I have dealt with are GOBs (good ol' boys) from the South who talk a mile a minute, theoretically in English, but you can't understand three-fourths of what they are saying. Sheesh.

[FiberFeverKate]

I wonder if cinnamon would have worked on my bee balm leaves. Those got horribly moldy this year. Must try it next year. Remind me ok :-)

[Kelli]

This summer was so moist that I am surprised the only thing my garden didn't get was fungus/mildew. I will store the cinnamon application away for future (multiple) uses (heaven forbid I should have to use it on the garden). ~ksp

[Vicki]

OMG, the love powder... Thanks for the "gardening" advice.
; )

[Beth S.]

I didn't know cinnamon was considered an aphrodisiac! But this explains SO MUCH, lemme tell ya. (I use *tablespoons* of it where others would just use a perfunctory sprinkle.)

[Cookie]

I wonder if next week's visitors know about cinnamon. ;^)

[Raquel Moreno]

LOL about the accent thing...

Great tip about the cinnamon, I really wanna try it out.

[lisa]

OMG I was blowin the cinnamon right outta my nose reading this post! I just posted a picture for you... honking big wicked red. (I guess I didn't read that january 16 post... I know Chris Mahoney, he's a naturopath in Augusta... same guy?). OK, really I had no idea about the cinnamon, off to get a BIG bottle. For the garden. Right.

[Anne]

alveolar gas exchange! I got it before I even scrolled down to it. I'm off to find my cinnamon...

[Dani in NC]

Now I know why I like cinnamon-flavored gum so much ;-).

[Alison]

Sarah: your comment was delightfully ambiguous. :) Myself, I saw powdery mildew on my butternut squash just last night, so...

[Melissa]

Hi! I saw a post on Sandy's blog about captions and she referenced your post. I came over to check it out, being a closed captioner myself. "All those who wonder why captioners make mistakes or want to quit their jobs, or why court reporters won't caption in the first place, raise your hands." I never want to quit my job :) In fact, I love it. Yes, we captioners may be crazy, but I've been captioning for 17 years. I'd never go back to court. This is the best job out there as far as I'm concerned!

I'm going to check out the rest of your steno-related posts now. Glad to have found you.

[Joan in Reno]

Will cinnamon work on my roses? I wonder. The rest is certainly a bonus.

[cari]

I woke up this morning to find powdery mildew all over my yellow squash plant. I attacked it with cheap cinnamon, and will report back tomorrow. Fingers crossed.