Lord_Griff wrote:

I dunno what is going on but over the last two or three months I appears to have been perpetually ill. Chest infection, tonsillitis, cold, and now another cold! I don't feel run down, I haven't been out all that much, been using hand sanitizer religiously. The only thing I think it could be is: (i) A few hospital visits to see a sick relative or (ii) Having a baby in the house (can they act as incubators of viruses etc etc?)

Kids are a nightmare for making you ill - especially once they start nursery.  Being perpetually tired also can't be good for your immune system.

I have a chest infection, again.

I have whooping cough.  The internet tells me that apparently vaccination wears off over time, so I suppose I got unlucky.  It started off with a persistent sinus infection and headache three weeks ago that I though was just sinusitis, and then became a cough that I though may have been a resulting chest infection, but then the cough lingered and has gotten progressively worse.  I'm about to finish my second course of antibiotics, but the symptoms can last for quite a while including bouts of coughing so severe that you cannot breath and coughing to the point of vomiting.  On the up side between the coughing fits I'm just fine, after I catch my breath that is
Shit disease.

Not kidding, same here.

Has there been a government lab security breach that we should know about?

Lord_Griff wrote:

I dunno what is going on but over the last two or three months I appears to have been perpetually ill. Chest infection, tonsillitis, cold, and now another cold! I don't feel run down, I haven't been out all that much, been using hand sanitizer religiously. The only thing I think it could be is: (i) A few hospital visits to see a sick relative or (ii) Having a baby in the house (can they act as incubators of viruses etc etc?)

I'm no expert but ill all the time?

Deffo aids. Sorry Griff. 

Can I have your stuff?

EDIT: Also hand sanitizer makes you weak. All of the obsession over the last 20-30 years for chemically sanitising everything in your house so there are no germs left is why kids these days have terrible allergies and respiratory problems. There is nothing for their immune system to fight when they are babies and spend 90% of their time indoors.

Is that a no for the stuff, or a no because you have aids?

TYVM for giving me a quick resume of your sexual health history Griff.

Yes once they start mixing with other kids as they always have done then their immune systems have something to do. But apparently that's not the issue. The problems start when they are little newborn babblers. These days people's houses (on a biological level) are way cleaner than they used to be.

That means that these days there are little toddlers whose immune systems are totally unprepared for when they start mixing with other kids. They lack the previous couple of years worth of strengthening they would have got in the past. Kids don't have to be throwing up and getting the sniffles to be fighting germs. Those are just the diseases that manage to effect the body, there are thousands of occurences of your immune system kicking the shit out germs that we never even notice. However these days there is much less of that going on during newborn infancy and early toddlering. Then the little blighters mix with the other kids and get proper tonking. Which is where the infections that can lead to lasting respiratory problems and allergies and the like are able to take hold and do the damage they would otherwise not be able to do.

Nothing personal, but I fucking hate it when people with kids ask me if I have kids and then make an obvious point or glaring observation about raising kids. I have no kids, I have a fucking awesome grasp of the sciences though, so I think I can hold my own against real parents when talking about babies, germs and the current lack thereof in modern households and a correlating rise in allergies and respiratory conditions in youngsters.

No, wasn't personal, that is my stock level of vitriol reserved for all parents making that comment. I'm an equal opportunities grump. 

Please don't follow me out of the thread and beat me up.

Ex elm, you're a massive cunt.

I think Griff is making a 'joke'.

Nope.

I really don't get it then.

Elmlea wrote:

I really don't get it then.

Anyway. 

But back to my sneezing while flying question...

Combat pilots learn to override (or don't have in the first place) a sneeze-reflex (e.g. when squinting into bright light). Confirm or deny, Elm?

igorgetmeabrain wrote:

Combat pilots learn to override (or don't have in the first place) a sneeze-reflex (e.g. when squinting into bright light). Confirm or deny, Elm?

Errr... deny.  You can sneeze if you like, it's just not nice in an oxygen mask.

There aren't many circumstances where a tiny sneeze will result in death.  There are times it's undesirable (close formation in cloud, in the middle of a strafing attack, etc), but same as most things, you can generally control the urge if it's a bad time.