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How to Pick Up on Prehistoric Girls (And Other Matters)

I had a cold well over a week ago. The cold is gone, but I still have this lingering tickle in my throat. It's making me cough constantly -- the kind of cough that if I were in a movie or play would mean that I would be totally dead by Act 5. It does have a sort of cool death-rattle quality that's good for freaking out my coworkers, at least. But I wish it would stop now.

Gotta say, between this cough and catching the flu earlier this winter (for the first time in over a decade), my immune system is really falling down on the job. This worries me a bit, since a kick-ass immune system is part of my genetic heritage. Honestly, I figure it's pretty much all the Prehistoric Goers had going for us. Obviously we weren't particularly big or strong or fierce, so we couldn't bash Ogg's head in with a club and carry off Ogg's wife. But we could wait for Ogg to drop dead from disease! Woo-hoo!

Anyway, while I'm calculating how much cheap knock-off Benedryl to take so that I can actually get an hour or two consecutive hours of sleep, here are a few quick links for your reading pleasure:

Robert J. Sawyer is interviewed on Ficlets. He sure has won a lot of awards!
It's Raining Evans: Seriously, first there's Evan Almighty starring a self-righteous Congressman named Evan. Then there's Superbad starring the awesomely talented Michael Cera as a hopeless nerd named Evan. And if that's not enough, Sam managed to find this D&D themed webcomic. Hmmm. I'd like to think that "Evan" is going to be the hip new baby name someday, but I don't think this is our year.
Finally, Matt Feeney of Slate Magazine asks, "If you like '300', are you gay?" The answer, Mr. Feeney, is yes. This has been another edition of Simple Answers to Silly Questions.

Posted by Evan Goer on Jun. 27, 2007 at 10:48 PM | Comments (8)

Comments

I had an LJ post some time ago about a lingering cough - I don't know if yours is that bad, but I termed mine the Month-Long Scottish Cough.

I used to suffer it constantly, until I discovered a very effective cure. It involves applying tiger balm quite liberally... pretty much everywhere. (well okay, throat, chest, and nostrils)

Posted by Chris Azure on Jun. 28, 2007 at 12:13 AM
Hmmm -- what is tiger balm, and where is it sold?

Posted by Evan on Jun. 28, 2007 at 6:49 AM
Cough syrup with codeine. Seriously. Codeine is great for coughs, plus there's the bonus of effect of making you much more entertaining to all of your friends. (And it helps with the sleeping thing, too.)

Posted by remedy gal on Jun. 28, 2007 at 6:55 AM
Sounds great for the nighttime, but as for my day job, I can't imagine writing API reference manuals on codeine.

Or can I???

Posted by Evan on Jun. 28, 2007 at 8:28 AM
I'm thinking that with the combination of the immune system, and the devious cleverness (or clever deviousness -- and none outside the family shall ever know which, muahahaha!), we were probably early practitioners of biological warfare. "Hey Ogg, this meat is a bit off, but not too bad; I'm sure a tough guy like you will have no trouble at all stomaching it!"

Posted by Auros on Jun. 28, 2007 at 11:05 AM
It's an interesting theory, but I think our family is only moderately devious at best. (Consider the competition!) We are pretty good at abstract symbol manipulation, but that doesn't get you all that far against Ogg, sabertooth tigers, etc.

Posted by Evan on Jun. 28, 2007 at 12:52 PM
Exercise.

It's the only thing clinically proven to make you less likely to get sick. (With the exception of Zinc, which when taken in massive doses shortens colds by some miniscule amount.) Anecdotally, it seems to work for me.

Of course, there's a bootstrapping issue. It's tough to exercise if you're sick a lot. But it doesn't take much. A bit of mild exercise several times a week makes a world of difference.

Dude, you grew up near Berkeley and you've never heard of Tiger Balm? The stuff was pretty common around Boulder when I was a kid. Think hippie VapoRub/BenGay.

Posted by Dinesh on Jun. 28, 2007 at 7:35 PM
Yeah, Tiger Balm is pretty widespread in the US these days. Most of my local pharmacies have it.

It's pretty much like VapoRub, but more potent. Very common throughout Asia (and increasingly, here)

Posted by Chris Azure on Jun. 28, 2007 at 11:25 PM

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This entry was posted on June 27, 2007 by Evan Goer.

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