Annoying Questions I'd Like Answered...

[RadiantPhoenix]

The question is not exactly annoying, but for you Americans: do you make your own food? I mean actual cooking from scratch, not heating up some revolting junk from the frozen foods aisle. From what I'm gathering from media ranging from tv shows to news articles, actual food appears to be in decline in the US. You being a relatively normal sample group, how do you respond?

I don't make my own food.

When I'm at college, I go to the dining hall; when I'm on vacation, I live with my parents. Everything else is a rounding error. My parents mostly cook real food.

[Ted the Flayer]

What is the best way to reduce sinus congestion and pressure?

[Blasted]

I like decongestants
Failing that, some people (but not me) find lying face down works, I also use anything that would normally make you cry - hot foods, Mike Mearls, etc. (can also clog you up again, but often gets things flowing).
You can always squirt saline up there.

[Maxus]

There's various over-the-counter stuff.

If you don't want to do that, go take a 15 or thirty-minute steaming hot shower and breathe the steam in.

Use a vaporizer/humidifier in your room at night. Some of that vapor-rub stuff helpful, but not 100% essential.

Or, my personal favorite, take a slow stroll down the detergent aisle in the grocery stores. Does your tubes a power of good.

[RobbyPants]

If you don't want to do that, go take a 15 or thirty-minute steaming hot shower and breathe the steam in.

This always seems to work for me. I don't take the showers for the purpose of decongestant, but it seems to work.

[shadzar]

The question is not exactly annoying, but for you Americans: do you make your own food? I mean actual cooking from scratch, not heating up some revolting junk from the frozen foods aisle. From what I'm gathering from media ranging from tv shows to news articles, actual food appears to be in decline in the US. You being a relatively normal sample group, how do you respond?

i buy products that allow me to make my meals. TV dinners and veggies for soups i buy frozen as well some "school-pizza" type things that have the little cubes of pepperoni and corndogs.

slabs of meat are the larger part of my diet and the sides for them are either raw veggies cooked or boxes of pasta.

not everyone if a fat stupid fuck that thinks McDonalds was always supposed to be healthy food that you could survive on. the media sensationalizes things in order to sell their product "story".

"believe nothing you hear, and only half of what you see." ~ Mark Twain

[shadzar]

What is the best way to reduce sinus congestion and pressure?

Alka-Seltzer Plus Sinus effervescent tablets, but it seems they have been removed form the market again for some reason or replaced with something else that adds other medicines for cold and such that are unrelated to those with simple sinus problems.

[Maj]

Neti pot, hot shower, eucalyptus oil in an aromatherapy thingie, eating something spicy...

[fectin]

The question is not exactly annoying, but for you Americans: do you make your own food? I mean actual cooking from scratch, not heating up some revolting junk from the frozen foods aisle. From what I'm gathering from media ranging from tv shows to news articles, actual food appears to be in decline in the US. You being a relatively normal sample group, how do you respond?

Depends what you mean by "from scratch," but probably yes. I cook from ingredients, but not usually from scratch.
For example, when I make huevos rancheros, I usually use premade salsa, and tortillas, and use homemade refried beans about half the time. For pasta, I use dry pasta from the store instead of making my own, and sometimes use premade pasta sauce as a base.

[Maxus]

We cook from scratch, by and large. But then, I live in the Deep South, by the Gulf Coast. Seafood country. And barbecue country. And breakfast country. Seriously, I spent middle school/high school eating breakfast at 5:30 in the morning because the bus came through at 6:15.

But for an example:

Saturday, I had a lazy day while my mom and my sisters went to have a girls' day out at the first Mardi Gras parade of the season. They left a few things. In exchange for them leaving me by and large alone, I put together a mixed grill for supper. Chicken and hamburgers, and leftovers from the fridge for the rest of it.

Mom's friends with a lady on the parade route, so they used her place as home base. And my sister apparently made Jalapeno Cornbread for the party, while she was there.

I can't speak for the rest of the country, but I don't think we're in much danger of forgetting how to cook shit around here.

[Koumei]

What is the best way to reduce sinus congestion and pressure?

The main two decongestants used are phenylephrine and pseudoephedrine. The former one typically isn't very good for most users, but the latter one is highly restricted (in .au you don't need a prescription but do need to show photo ID with your address, to have it stored in a database so the police notice if you go to a few stores in a row and stock up to cook speed).

However, many people reported that saline spray is actually more effective than either of the two - it's salt water in a little spray-nozzle-bottle. You spray it up the nostril, it sort of burns as you might expect, but it quickly unclogs your nose. Isn't that helpful for chest colds and the like.

Note: all this info is like 5 years old and I was only trained as a pharmacy assistant, not a pharmacist or doctor.

Another great one, not taught in the course, is to inhale the breath of a koala. There are obviously localisation problems, and the petting zoo will notice if you try to smuggle the koala out, but the pure eucalyptus essence in their breath will clear you up in one go. It's very sweet-smelling too, you might actually want to take it home. Again, don't, the legal ramifications are quite steep, as I know to my cost.

[RadiantPhoenix]

What is the best way to reduce sinus congestion and pressure?

IME: Sit up straight for a while instead of lying down.

It isn't always enough, but it frequently does a lot of good with little effort.

[Stahlseele]

Most aetheric oils seem to help me clean up my sinuses.
I Prefer Lavender Oil. Just rub some under my nose and let it run it's course.

[tussock]

Assuming infection, rather than allergy.

Drink plenty. Water being good, preferably not cold. Your body is expelling dead virus, bacteria, burnt out immune cells, and dead bits of you directly into your sinuses in an attempt to avoid collateral damage from the war in your head spreading through into your liver and killing you (a tactic now abused by most infectious agents to help them spread).

This uses quite a lot of extra water, and if you don't compensate by drinking more the mucus gets thicker, which increases the swelling and makes you more prone to further bacterial infection in a cycle that defeats the whole purpose of the immune response. Fluids, plenty of rest. Chicken soup, even, beats placebos quite handily.

But pseudoephadrine is reported by everyone I know to kick ass if you need to not sulk and get some work done for a few hours instead. Beware to also eat, drink, and rest.

[Cynic]

- snip - tripping the Koala fantastic - Again, don't, the legal ramifications are quite steep, as I know to my cost.

Do elaborate.

[Shrapnel]

Indeed do, koala smuggling is always a subject of interest to me.

[Koumei]

I added that bit to make it more entertaining.

[Ted the Flayer]

Now I feel disappointed.

[Shrapnel]

Koala's go "beh", and so do I. Pooh on you sir- er, mam, pooh on you.

On another note: What the fuck is, exactly, a hipster? What does it mean to be one? I know the style of dress it refers to, but what about the ideals? I've been wondering this for several years.

[Whatever]

Basically, instead of doing things, you "do" "things". Because if you aim for ironic failure in life, you(can pretend that you)'re never disappointed.

Also, koalas are filthy beasts and they all have chlamydia, as I know to my cost.

[Koumei]

Hipsters are an evolution of emo, beatnik etc. and are wastes of space like them. Everything they do (which isn't much), they do "ironically". So they spend good money to dress like they're poor, they enjoy nerd stuff "ironically - it's okay, I'm actually really cool!" (some people fall for it, most don't - the actual "in" crowd think they're losers just like us real nerds do!) and so on.

But by asking what they do, you're expecting too much. Largely it's "use macs" (except now they're too mainstream, hilariously), smoke hand-rolled cigarettes* and marijuana, drink coffee and... that's about it. Not included in things they do: wash.

Also, no hipster identifies as such. Everyone else is a hipster, they're just unique.

---

Question: I've had to detox from my venlafaxine antidepressants before (money reasons) and it was not fun. But the worst happens 3-4 days in. First there's just weird dizziness and lightheadedness but not in a nice way. Several times I've forgotten to take it for one day, and basically had that effect. I've just started a fresh repeat script, and am experiencing those early signs. Is it possible that this is part of some we've-already-released-it-to-the-public placebo test or something? Like, can companies legally do that or is all placebo testing done before normal people can just go get prescriptions and I certainly do have the real thing and these symptoms are just caused by (unknown)?

*I have no idea if this is in general better than buying pre-packaged. For all I know it could be healthier to get bags of tobacco and roll your own, but that's not why they do it.

[Darth Rabbitt]

As far as I can tell Hipsters are the new scenes who are the new emos who are the new goths who are the new annoying subculture that dresses funny and still manages to get disproportionately large amounts of hate.

In a few years there'll probably be a new subculture of stupid people that listens to shitty music that dresses stupid that will be the new WORST THING EVAR.

But most importantly hipsters are this.

[Blasted]

Several of my unemployed friends who smoke rollies and wear old clothes, by virtue of cost, have become hipsters. Apparently it's better to be identified as a hipster than as poor.

[Maxus]

As near as I can tell, one of the major defining characteristics of a hipster is doing stuff differently because it's different than how most people do it. Especially in matters of personal appearance.

This goes double if the method is retro.

So listening to music on vinyl, big ugly plastic glasses, elaborate facial hair and/or other aspects of grooming get marked as hipsterdom.

I remember a guy about my age in the bookstore I frequent, talking at length about how great cigars are, how it's totally worth the money to smoke them, how humidors are the best thing ever, and how great his favorite cigar shop is because it has a smoking room where cigarettes are not allowed and how it's a very "mature and adult atmosphere".

[Prak]

- snip - tripping the Koala fantastic - Again, don't, the legal ramifications are quite steep, as I know to my cost.

Do elaborate.

I have no idea if this is in general better than buying pre-packaged. For all I know it could be healthier to get bags of tobacco and roll your own, but that's not why they do it.

Supposedly it is, due to not getting cigarettes full of extra chemicals and such, but a lot of the rolling tobacco comes from big tobacco companies, I think, and so you're just as screwed either way, if not more so because you (can but) often don't have a filter in a hand rolled. If you really want to smoke cigarettes that aren't as horribly awful for you as others, you have to go by brands. American Spirits are vaguely expensive, but have less fillers and such, so they're a little less unhealthy. Also they are composed solely of paper, cotton and tobacco, so tossing the butts on the ground is a lot less bad than others. I mean, there's still the pesticides in the tobacco itself (ie, nicotine), but it's not like you're tossing around rat poison.

I remember a guy about my age in the bookstore I frequent, talking at length about how great cigars are, how it's totally worth the money to smoke them, how humidors are the best thing ever, and how great his favorite cigar shop is because it has a smoking room where cigarettes are not allowed and how it's a very "mature and adult atmosphere".

Yeah, sounds like typical hipster bullshit.