…Goddamnit.

Let’s see how well they drop test…

Sorry, should have been clear. Lethal allergen tour = bad. Banning completely = also bad.

My main point was that there is a line between discomfort and danger. That line can move based on the situation, so it is awkward to abstract without getting down to specifics.

If say 5% of the population suddenly developed a tendency to go into anaphylactic shock on exposure to vanilla, then you could easily see it disappearing from fragrances altogether and becoming a non-problem in that regard. Yet it would still have culinary use and join many friends on the bolded ingredient lists on food.

There is a turnover point (that I cannot explicitly define) where the onus is on the afflicted to ensure their own safety, rather than the population at large going out of their way to ensure it.

I am fortunate to have no issues like this. In 5% Vanilla-Death-Land, the smell of the stuff would still give me pause, as I probably know someone who could well die from the idiot that just walked in the door honking of it.

If the same person instead just brought in a vanilla milkshake, I probably wouldn’t bat an eye.

Eating an allergen loaded sandwich to yourself - A-OK.

Coating yourself in allergens and going on tour - No.

Banning an allergen because a small fraction of the population suffer - Also No.

For matters of personal preference, I would invite the offended to suck it up and deal with it. For anything with consequences beyond offense, each individual situation is nuanced and common sense should apply. Maybe don’t eat that PB&J just before meeting a bunch of people for the first time.

Of course, they happen the most when you are expecting something.

Back in the day it was an SMS or a call. Then maybe also an email if you had a good feature phone or a BlackBerry.

Now everything has an app and they just love notifications…

I loved that TV tuner cartridge.

Had a pair of NiCad battery packs in the end - folks got sick of buying the ‘good’ alkaline batteries for it. Always had one on boil while the other was draining.

Woodlice are my favourite for this. From the wiki:

Common names include:

• armadillo bug
• boat-builder (Newfoundland, Canada)
• butcher boy or butchy boy (Australia, mostly around Melbourne)
• carpenter or cafner (Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada)
• cheeselog (Reading, England)
• cheesy bobs (Guildford, England)
• cheesy bug (North West Kent, Gravesend, England)
• chiggy pig (Devon, England)
• chisel pig
• chucky pig (Devon, Gloucestershire, Herefordshire, England)
• doodlebug (also used for the larva of an antlion and for the cockchafer)
• fat pig (Ireland)
• gramersow (Cornwall, England)
• hog-louse
• millipedus
• QuaQua regional to Beddau and Keppoch Street Roath
• mochyn coed (‘tree pig’), pryf lludw (‘ash bug’), granny grey in Wales
• pill bug (usually applied only to the genus Armadillidium)
• potato bug
• roll up bug
• roly-poly
• slater (Scotland, Ulster, New Zealand and Australia)
• sow bug
• woodbunter
• wood bug (British Columbia, Canada)