#233651 - 16/09/2004 17:29
way off topic......and a little early for the season.
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enthusiast
Registered: 31/05/2002
Posts: 352
Loc: santa cruz,ca
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so is it:
feed a cold and starve a fever? or the other way around?
anyone care to share their favorite cure for the common head cold?
no rain for months, 70 to 80f most days, and I get hit with a cold. go figure.
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#233652 - 16/09/2004 17:34
Re: way off topic......and a little early for the season.
[Re: lastdan]
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veteran
Registered: 21/01/2002
Posts: 1380
Loc: Erie, CO
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Jasmine Tea and spicy asian food. Especially soups or Phad Thai. The spices really clear up my head, but it won't cure it. You just have to let it run it's course.
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#233653 - 16/09/2004 18:15
Re: way off topic......and a little early for the season.
[Re: lastdan]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 20/12/1999
Posts: 31578
Loc: Seattle, WA
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Quote:
anyone care to share their favorite cure for the common head cold?
Don't let yourself get exposed to the virus in the first place.
I didn't realize until earlier this year that colds are mostly spread by touch. I read a web site on the topic which unfortunately, I no longer have the link to, although google may help. The way it works is: Someone with a cold gets the virus on their hands, then you shake hands with them or they touch a surface that you touch shortly thereafter. Or they sneeze on a surface that you touch. Then you touch your nose, and the virus gets in that way. Telephones handsets and such are a great way to catch colds.
More rarely, a cold can be spread via airborne method: they sneeze near you, and a droplet of water floats in the air and gets in your nose. But this is a lot more rare than the touch method.
Anyway, the best defense against colds is to keep sick people away from you and your stuff, and wash your hands any time you've been near them or their stuff.
Our department manager was here with a cold a few months ago, and because I had a singing engagement the following week, it was critical that I not catch his cold. He kept coming by my office to discuss things and I made him stay at the doorway. I shook hands with him more than once during the period, but I would be careful not to touch anything (especially my face), and then wash my hands as soon as he was out of sight.
The idea that a cold is only contagious the first couple of days is a myth. He was subscribing to that myth, thinking it was OK for him to mingle with people. But that's not true-- if you're symptomatic, you're shedding the virus. That's what the symptoms are; that's how the virus spreads is via those symptoms.
Anyway, I'm the kind of person who picks up colds pretty easily, and making sure my hands stayed clean the whole time he was here kept me healthy.
The last time I caught a cold, I thought about all the people I'd been around and been in contact with, and I realized I could trace it back to a single touch of the hand from a single person. Argh.
Anyway, this season, I'll be the one in the hermetically-sealed room while all you sickos spread your favorite viruses amongst yourselves, thank you. Plus, it'll give me the time to work on my world domination plans and get started on my genetically engineered army.
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#233654 - 16/09/2004 18:30
Re: way off topic......and a little early for the season.
[Re: tfabris]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 17/01/2002
Posts: 3995
Loc: Manchester UK
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So your answer is to work from home every day? Sounds good to me!
_________________________
Cheers,
Andy M
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#233655 - 16/09/2004 18:37
Re: way off topic......and a little early for the season.
[Re: andym]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 20/12/1999
Posts: 31578
Loc: Seattle, WA
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Doesn't necessarily help if you've got offspring. They're little cold-spreading machines, and public schools are like virus exchange banks...
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#233656 - 16/09/2004 18:38
Re: way off topic......and a little early for the season.
[Re: andym]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 15/08/2000
Posts: 4859
Loc: New Jersey, USA
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I was wondering why there was such a short supply of duct tape and plastic sheeting recently... 
_________________________
Paul Grzelak
200GB with 48MB RAM, Illuminated Buttons and Digital Outputs
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#233657 - 16/09/2004 18:47
Re: way off topic......and a little early for the season.
[Re: tfabris]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 17/01/2002
Posts: 3995
Loc: Manchester UK
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Quote:
Doesn't necessarily help if you've got offspring. They're little cold-spreading machines, and public schools are like virus exchange banks...
That seems to tally, the ratio of guys at work who have kids compared to the ones that don't are 50-50. It's the ones with kids who have all the colds.
_________________________
Cheers,
Andy M
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#233658 - 17/09/2004 03:24
Re: way off topic......and a little early for the season.
[Re: lastdan]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 08/07/1999
Posts: 5543
Loc: Ajijic, Mexico
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no rain for months, 70 to 80f most days, and I get hit with a cold. go figure
Exposure to inclement weather or chilly conditions has nothing to do with whether you catch a cold. (Well, maybe very indirectly: if you were exposed long enough perhaps your body might deteriorate to the point where your immune system was compromised, but this is very unlikely.)
The only way you can catch a cold is to be exposed to the virus.
You could go out and play all day in the snow in your underwear until you were half dead from hypothermia, and you would not catch cold unless you were exposed to the virus.
tanstaafl.
_________________________
"There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch"
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#233659 - 17/09/2004 03:41
Re: way off topic......and a little early for the season.
[Re: andym]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 06/10/1999
Posts: 2591
Loc: Seattle, WA, U.S.A.
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Quote:
It's the ones with kids who have all the colds.
Pretty much. No colds for me for past 6-7 years. Avoiding toddlers does the trick.
Doug is 100% correct. "Caught a cold" from a draft, cold, etc. Not. Virii. Toddlers. Snotty toddlers. That's who to watch out for!
_________________________
Jim
'Tis the exceptional fellow who lies awake at night thinking of his successes.
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#233660 - 17/09/2004 04:15
Re: way off topic......and a little early for the season.
[Re: tanstaafl.]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 25/12/2000
Posts: 16706
Loc: Raleigh, NC US
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Of course, cold and/or nasty weather makes people crush indoors together more than on nice days, so there's a greater chance of coming in contact with someone who has a cold, simply because you're more likely to come in contact with more people. Also, children are not all jammed together in school during the summer to breed viruses for us.
_________________________
Bitt Faulk
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#233661 - 17/09/2004 05:48
Re: way off topic......and a little early for the season.
[Re: jimhogan]
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pooh-bah
Registered: 09/08/2000
Posts: 2091
Loc: Edinburgh, Scotland
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On the upside, the little plague vectors do raise your immune system - now my two are 4 and 2, I find I get ill far less often than the folks at work without kids.
Of course, this may mean I am immune enough to just be a carrier (Mwahahaha)
_________________________
Rory
MkIIa, blue lit buttons, memory upgrade, 1Tb in Subaru Forester STi
MkII, 240Gb in Mark Lord dock
MkII, 80Gb SSD in dock
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