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electriclandOdd. Amazon.com denies that my account has ever existed. Not that I've ever bought anything from them, but still -- hmph.
It's fluffy-seed season, which means it's time for my annual irritation with people who look out the window and say "Look at all the pollen flying around! No wonder my allergies are acting up!"
Gods and goddesses know, I sympathize with the allergy thing. I am allergic to many airborne things: pollen (tree and grass), mold, dust mites, dog and cat dander... you name it, I'll sneeze at it. But here's the thing: the odds of something visible to the unaided eye from several metres away getting up your nose and causing you an allergic reaction are actually quite slim. Very slim, in fact. Almost nonexistent. I mean, think about it. Pollen is teeny tiny -- anything over 0.2 mm in diameter is giant in the world o' pollen. Grass and tree pollen, the bad stuff, spreads on the wind, rather than by sticking to insects and hopping from flower to flower. Therefore it's all around, it gets everywhere, it cozies right up to your immune globulin E and says "Hello, sailor!" to your mast cells. Which makes sense, since pollen is the sperm of the plant world and has similar insinuating properties.
Seeds, by contrast, are large and really have no interest in getting up your nasal passages. Yes, some of them fly around while they're thinking about where to settle down and grow up, but that's pretty much the only similarity. If one of the things that's flying around outside as I speak did get up your nasal passages, you would notice. Why? BECAUSE IT'S HALF AN INCH WIDE AND FLUFFY, THAT'S WHY.
I didn't rant about this at work, if you're wondering -- I saved it all for you.
On a somewhat related and far less crabby note, when we were going to Kenya I got a bazillion vaccinations but the only one I remember is gamma globulin. Why? Because I was repeating it for the next two days, doubtless driving my parents up the wall. Go on, say it, it's fun: Gamma globulin. I didn't find out what the stuff was* for another 20 years, when I worked on a project teaching sales reps about it, and I still don't know which particular things mine was supposed to be protecting me against -- presumably something for which there was either no vaccine, or no vaccine that was safe to use on a 7-year-old -- but it's stayed with me all this time.
Gamma globulin.
Editing on small intense project pretty much done, editing on huge scary project yet to begin, think I'll go see HP tonight.
*It's immune globulin G, if you weren't sure, and it does nifty things.
Edited to change my mood, because really, who am I kidding?
It's fluffy-seed season, which means it's time for my annual irritation with people who look out the window and say "Look at all the pollen flying around! No wonder my allergies are acting up!"
Gods and goddesses know, I sympathize with the allergy thing. I am allergic to many airborne things: pollen (tree and grass), mold, dust mites, dog and cat dander... you name it, I'll sneeze at it. But here's the thing: the odds of something visible to the unaided eye from several metres away getting up your nose and causing you an allergic reaction are actually quite slim. Very slim, in fact. Almost nonexistent. I mean, think about it. Pollen is teeny tiny -- anything over 0.2 mm in diameter is giant in the world o' pollen. Grass and tree pollen, the bad stuff, spreads on the wind, rather than by sticking to insects and hopping from flower to flower. Therefore it's all around, it gets everywhere, it cozies right up to your immune globulin E and says "Hello, sailor!" to your mast cells. Which makes sense, since pollen is the sperm of the plant world and has similar insinuating properties.
Seeds, by contrast, are large and really have no interest in getting up your nasal passages. Yes, some of them fly around while they're thinking about where to settle down and grow up, but that's pretty much the only similarity. If one of the things that's flying around outside as I speak did get up your nasal passages, you would notice. Why? BECAUSE IT'S HALF AN INCH WIDE AND FLUFFY, THAT'S WHY.
I didn't rant about this at work, if you're wondering -- I saved it all for you.
On a somewhat related and far less crabby note, when we were going to Kenya I got a bazillion vaccinations but the only one I remember is gamma globulin. Why? Because I was repeating it for the next two days, doubtless driving my parents up the wall. Go on, say it, it's fun: Gamma globulin. I didn't find out what the stuff was* for another 20 years, when I worked on a project teaching sales reps about it, and I still don't know which particular things mine was supposed to be protecting me against -- presumably something for which there was either no vaccine, or no vaccine that was safe to use on a 7-year-old -- but it's stayed with me all this time.
Gamma globulin.
Editing on small intense project pretty much done, editing on huge scary project yet to begin, think I'll go see HP tonight.
*It's immune globulin G, if you weren't sure, and it does nifty things.
Edited to change my mood, because really, who am I kidding?
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no subject
Date: 2004-06-08 03:39 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-06-10 04:45 pm (UTC)Let's hear it by all means for longer living through chemistry. How are you doing these days?
no subject
Date: 2004-06-10 06:46 pm (UTC)thanks for asking
no subject
Date: 2004-06-08 03:58 pm (UTC)"Hello sailor" and "HALF AN INCH WIDE".
Bwaaaahahaha...
no subject
Date: 2004-06-08 08:33 pm (UTC)And my allergies are starting up again, so it's back on the loratadine...
no subject
Date: 2004-06-09 04:56 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-06-10 04:42 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-06-10 04:42 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-06-08 04:56 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-06-10 04:44 pm (UTC)I had chicken pox 3 years ago. DON'T GET IT.
Or if you must get it, don't get it in August.
Or if you must get it in August, for heaven's sake make sure nobody dies and you have to attend their funeral while you're still all spotted. The wedding was a breeze after that.