Out of the gate as a tyke, I was best 'buds' with allergies. There was a time dear ol' mom would get me to the allergist for tests, and I'd leave with vials for shots and prescriptions for Dimetapp and Chlortrimeton. Just an allergic kid, I.
The human body is pretty amazing...you can grow out of allergies just as easily as you can grow into them, and I did enjoy some years without too much trouble.
It's interesting to note that, be it at News 14 or at WSOC TV9, I can go bonkers with a sneezing attack once a month for reasons totally unbeknownst to me, except that studios are prone to high levels of dust with the hot lights. When I get a sneezing attack, it ain't pretty...and there is nothing worse than sneezing on-air when you're live, or having to back out of the frame when your nose runs like water...sorry for the gross factor, but it's real and it happens, and I have no doubt it shows up nicely on large HDTV screens!
My medicine of choice? Generic pseudoephedrine. Works like a charm, every time. Ultimately it dries me up and I feel under control, again. But there is one problem that has developed the past few years...
Government anti-drug regulations. To get the pills I have to provide my license and home address, as I'm limited as to how much I can get, as in mg per month. All thanks to the proliferation of crystal meth over the years, which uses pseudoephedrine as the 'runner' to speed up delivery of the drug through the bloodstream. In itself, that regulation has significantly reduced the 'visible' meth activity...the flip side is it's a pain in the @ss for me to get and use when I'm in allergy season. Big "grrrrrrrr" factor for me...
So the latest headlines are letting everyone know that there is now a new and improved method for using limited amounts of pseudoephedrine to create smaller but quicker and easier amounts of meth. No more cooking on the stove, no more arsenic byproducts...this new method is kind of like a 'shake and bake' that can be done in the back seat of a car.
It still comes with its risks, namely a life-taking explosion if not done properly...but it's a new way to make meth with 'monthly legal' amounts of pseudoephedrine, flying under the regulatory 'radar' screen...
Don't know what the government follow-up will be, but I will be the first to become infuriated if authorities take pseudoephedrine away from legitimate allergy sufferers. It's nothing to sneeze at, I tell ya!
So here's a little knowledge for your craw, speaking of allergy-related things....
I would imagine that most of us don't ask for a 'tissue' or a 'handkerchief'; rather, we ask for a 'kleenex'. What do we call words that were originally proper nouns that through cultural use and time have become more generic, vernacular terms?
Eponyms.
Which opens a mini can of worms because an 'eponym' is usually when a person's name becomes associated with something generalized...in intellectual property law, a word like 'kleenex' is referred to as a 'proprietary eponym'. There, I hope I've done a good job confusing you. There was a good reason I didn't go to law school...
Now, go have a great Tuesday, everybody!
The human body is pretty amazing...you can grow out of allergies just as easily as you can grow into them, and I did enjoy some years without too much trouble.
It's interesting to note that, be it at News 14 or at WSOC TV9, I can go bonkers with a sneezing attack once a month for reasons totally unbeknownst to me, except that studios are prone to high levels of dust with the hot lights. When I get a sneezing attack, it ain't pretty...and there is nothing worse than sneezing on-air when you're live, or having to back out of the frame when your nose runs like water...sorry for the gross factor, but it's real and it happens, and I have no doubt it shows up nicely on large HDTV screens!
My medicine of choice? Generic pseudoephedrine. Works like a charm, every time. Ultimately it dries me up and I feel under control, again. But there is one problem that has developed the past few years...
Government anti-drug regulations. To get the pills I have to provide my license and home address, as I'm limited as to how much I can get, as in mg per month. All thanks to the proliferation of crystal meth over the years, which uses pseudoephedrine as the 'runner' to speed up delivery of the drug through the bloodstream. In itself, that regulation has significantly reduced the 'visible' meth activity...the flip side is it's a pain in the @ss for me to get and use when I'm in allergy season. Big "grrrrrrrr" factor for me...
So the latest headlines are letting everyone know that there is now a new and improved method for using limited amounts of pseudoephedrine to create smaller but quicker and easier amounts of meth. No more cooking on the stove, no more arsenic byproducts...this new method is kind of like a 'shake and bake' that can be done in the back seat of a car.
It still comes with its risks, namely a life-taking explosion if not done properly...but it's a new way to make meth with 'monthly legal' amounts of pseudoephedrine, flying under the regulatory 'radar' screen...
Don't know what the government follow-up will be, but I will be the first to become infuriated if authorities take pseudoephedrine away from legitimate allergy sufferers. It's nothing to sneeze at, I tell ya!
So here's a little knowledge for your craw, speaking of allergy-related things....
I would imagine that most of us don't ask for a 'tissue' or a 'handkerchief'; rather, we ask for a 'kleenex'. What do we call words that were originally proper nouns that through cultural use and time have become more generic, vernacular terms?
Eponyms.
Which opens a mini can of worms because an 'eponym' is usually when a person's name becomes associated with something generalized...in intellectual property law, a word like 'kleenex' is referred to as a 'proprietary eponym'. There, I hope I've done a good job confusing you. There was a good reason I didn't go to law school...
Now, go have a great Tuesday, everybody!
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