General Discussion Thread

[Fimbulvarg]

I know a lot of people say that chicken soup is good but not entirely sure why chicken.  I can understand that getting a hot liquid inside you will make you feel better, and the vitamins and protein contained within will help strengthen your body, but why chicken?  Because it is cheap and people have packets of it lying around that store for a long time?  Perhaps?

Apparently chicken and vegetables have some kind of synergy properties:

"Using blood samples from volunteers, he showed that the soup inhibited the movement of neutrophils, the most common type of white blood cell that defends against infection. Dr. Rennard theorizes that by inhibiting the migration of these infection-fighting cells in the body, chicken soup essentially helps reduce upper respiratory cold symptoms. The researchers couldn’t identify the exact ingredient or ingredients in the soup that made it effective against colds but say it may be the combination of vegetables and chicken that work together. The tested soup contained chicken, onions, sweet potatoes, parsnips, turnips, carrots, celery stems, parsley, salt and pepper."
(Source)

[Koeshi]

Hmmm, sounds kind of like a false cure then.  It stops some of the symptoms, but in doing so prevents the body from fighting the infection as effectively.

[Haiz]

the apocalypse is here
i'm also sick

it was in the middle of the danish lecture I realized three things
1) I literally don't understand anything that is being said, but neither do any of my classmates so that's okay
2) i'm shivering
3) i feel like lalli on a ship except i'm neither lalli nor on a ship so this is a bad sign

4) cough drops are so expensive even the cashier was startled because surely she was supposed to return more change than that?

so yeah im home now. im going to die under a pile of art history books. it was nice to get to know you all

[Laufey]

Oh no, I hope you guys get well again soon! If not and if the end is really here, well, am I glad I live in Iceland.

I also swear by oranges, lemons or any other source of vitamin C. Honey helps with a sore throat and soups of any kind are good because they're easy enough to eat even if you don't have any appetite left.

Btw the weather here has been great for a few days and I was wondering what happened to the non-stop snow storms, but I guess Haiz has them now. No need to return them anytime soon, keep them for as long as you like! I promise we can do ok without them for a bit.

[Richard Weir]

Hmmm, sounds kind of like a false cure then.  It stops some of the symptoms, but in doing so prevents the body from fighting the infection as effectively.

Neutrophils primarily attack bacteria, not viruses, but can cause inflammation that makes it harder to kill viruses. A treatment such as chicken soup that (supposedly, I'm not too sure that one small study really counts) reduces neutrophil activity would help the body deal with the virus, improve secondary symptoms and generally make people feel better.

Of course, if a "cold" turns out to be bacterial in nature then any real neutrophil inhibition could be counter-productive.

[Haiz]

at which point is it appropriate to ask who's in charge of the tiny flags

[Eich]

at which point is it appropriate to ask who's in charge of the tiny flags

Any.  And it's me.
Reason I haven't uploaded an Czech flag yet is because the server won't let me. 
Once we make the move to the new server, I'll be able to upload more flags, including the Slovakian one someone asked me to upload months ago.  I've already tested it out on the test site, and they upload just fine.

[Haiz]

Any.  And it's me.
Reason I haven't uploaded an Czech flag yet is because the server won't let me. 
Once we make the move to the new server, I'll be able to upload more flags, including the Slovakian one someone asked me to upload months ago.  I've already tested it out on the test site, and they upload just fine.

aaahhh yayy!! im so excited for my czech flag

[Eich]

aaahhh yayy!! im so excited for my czech flag

Can't wait to get it to you. 
Also, for the future, the Forum and Website board has threads for this sort of thing.  It's a handy little place!

[Haiz]

Can't wait to get it to you. 
Also, for the future, the Forum and Website board has threads for this sort of thing.  It's a handy little place!

I know, I saw it, someone already asked for it there, and I was afraid to look like an obnoxious little kid that's too impatient or something. IN HINDSIGHT asking here was probably even more obnoxious. sorry^^"

I'm gonna blame it on the fact that I'm still sick and woozy and everything's kinda out of perspective, and I stayed at home and missed two lectures and idk how to absorb knowledge through books tbh

[mithrysc]

Yay, just spent a bunch of time drawing deer skeletons instead of studying chemistry like I really should be doing. I'm so good at time management and all...

[Silenter]

Yay, just spent a bunch of time drawing deer skeletons instead of studying chemistry like I really should be doing. I'm so good at time management and all...

...and chatting with the others on the IRC chat, and just staring at the screen, F5ing away....
When I could've finished my english assignment hours ago. XP
My time management slipped as well, heh.

[Lenny]

I will just leave this here because it made my weird day better and might make someone else's weird day better, too.

[Haiz]

I will just leave this here because it made my weird day better and might make someone else's weird day better, too.

this is beautiful
thank you

.... wow, did we break new forum visitor record yesterday? 80 people??

[Lenny]

It appears so! But it is weird, because it's saying "Most Online Today: 25" and then "Most Online Ever: 80 (Today -insert time here-)". There is a discrepancy of 55 people there.

Also, you are most welcome.