Bugs

in message <[email hidden]>, Elisa Francesca

Roselli (') said:

As the weather turns nice, clouds of midges and gnats are starting to
form. Larger and less clean biological specimens are also air-borne
and thickening.

Remembering - how could I forget - the day on my kick-scooter when I
swallowed a large bluebottle (ah, that savour of rotting melon
lingering at the back of my throat for the rest of the week ...), and
being conscious that on a cycle, one sooner or later ends up opening
one's mouth to breathe, I want to ask you people if there are any
standard solutions.

It occurs to me that I have never seen a cyclist wearing a veil. Why
not?

It's quite common in London and other filthy places for cyclists to wear
an anti-polution mask, or a hankerchief or bandana tied across the
lower part of the face, or wear a buff similarly. What the
smartly-dressed terrorist wears about town...

See for example
<URL:http://www.wiggle.co.uk/?Category=anti%20pollution%20masks>

--
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Morning had broken, and I found when I looked that we had run out
of copper roove nails.

In rec.bicycles.misc Mark Thompson said:

Quoted message said:

Besides, what about vegetarians?

Quorn fed - gotta be tasty :-)

mostly bean fed, sadly. not so tasty. & smelly.
--
david reuteler
[email hidden]

Elisa Francesca Roselli said:

As the weather turns nice, clouds of midges and gnats are starting to
form. Larger and less clean biological specimens are also air-borne
and thickening.

Remembering - how could I forget - the day on my kick-scooter when I
swallowed a large bluebottle (ah, that savour of rotting melon
lingering at the back of my throat for the rest of the week ...), and
being conscious that on a cycle, one sooner or later ends up opening
one's mouth to breathe, I want to ask you people if there are any
standard solutions.

How about one of those little "personal face fans", turned outward to blow
those offending buggers away?

Bill "duct tape and batteries, baby" S.

in message <[email hidden]>, Elisa Francesca

Roselli (') said:

I go for the Dork Look, myself. I already have a little rear-view
mirror attached to my helmet like a Martian antenna. Then, as you
recall, I prefer to ride in skirts. But to keep them out of the pedals
I tie them up in a great knot over my right knee, or take the back up
between my legs and tuck it in front like a baby's diaper. Underneath
I wear cut-off tights and a lacy slip. Recently I bought a pair of
shoes that work well for cycling, because they have knobby rubber
bubos on the bottom that adhere beautifully to the pedals. On top they
are like Alice in Wonderland shoes, in bright metallic silver.

GIF! GIF! (or perhaps in this case, JPEG! JPEG!)

--
[email hidden] (Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/

;; MS Windows: A thirty-two bit extension ... to a sixteen bit
;; patch to an eight bit operating system originally coded for a
;; four bit microprocessor and sold by a two-bit company that
;; can't stand one bit of competition -- anonymous

I had the misfortune yesterday of accidentally snorting a gnat up my nose
whilst riding through Chinatown. I'm not sure exactly where it went after
that, probably into my lungs somewhere, because it seemed to cause a sort of
horking cough.

What happens to small beasties that get caught in your lungs like that? I
imagine they get caught in the mucus, and die there. Then what? They
dissolve and are absorbed into the body? Kind of disgusting to contemplate,
eh?

Warm Regards,

Claire Petersky
Please replace earthlink for mouse-potato and .net for .com
Home of the meditative cyclist:
http://home.earthlink.net/~cpetersky/Welcome.htm
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Claire Petersky said:

What happens to small beasties that get caught in your lungs like that? I
imagine they get caught in the mucus, and die there. Then what? They
dissolve and are absorbed into the body? Kind of disgusting to contemplate,
eh?

Any detrius that enters the lungs is normally cleared by the constant
sweeping of the cilia - hairlike structures that line the air passages
which propel small foreign objects up the bronchial tubes and into the
esophagus, or back of the throat where you can cough it out. In addition
there's a slight peristaltic (wave-like) motion that moves things up out of
the bronchi and secretions can thicken and increase to help this process.

I don't believe it is normally possible in a healthy individual to develop
a problem from such events as long as the object isn't large enough to form
an obstruction. I've known people who have even inhaled a small kernal of
corn only to expell it in the middle of the night without incident.

There are sensory nerves right at the epiglottis which promote the spasming
cough which often results if food goes down the wrong pipe and this is
normal.

HTH,

-B

Elisa Francesca Roselli said:

I think a veil or mask would complete my outfit admirably, but I'm slightly
worried about being interned.

I guess they do that to folks in France who choose to wear veils,
don't they?

RFM
http://www.masoner.net/bike/

On Tue, 18 May 2004 07:51:04 -0400, Badger_South <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

Well I made a mask myself using nylon netting.

Hey, we can all just ride around with nylon stockings over our heads.

RFM
http://www.masoner.net/bike/

Fritz M said:

On Tue, 18 May 2004 07:51:04 -0400, Badger_South <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

Well I made a mask myself using nylon netting.

Hey, we can all just ride around with nylon stockings over our heads.

RFM
http://www.masoner.net/bike/

Just be sure and stop in at the 7-11 at the end of your ride.

-B

Zog The Undeniable said:

Nah, it's a horse.

I know an old lady who swallowed a horse...she's dead of course

But she died of old age....

EFR
Ile de France

S o r n i said:

How about one of those little "personal face fans", turned outward to blow
those offending buggers away?

That should work. You'd have to hold them in your teeth, of course.

EFR
Ile de France

Claire Petersky said:

What happens to small beasties that get caught in your lungs like that? I
imagine they get caught in the mucus, and die there. Then what? They
dissolve and are absorbed into the body? Kind of disgusting to contemplate,
eh?

I've read that the concerned conduits are designed to take this kind of stress.
Noses are lined with hairs to filter, there are all sorts of anti-septic
barriers, and even if it does get swallowed it just ends up digested in
hydrochloric acid. Still, I don't much like the idea. Besides, bug-snorting
makes one sneeze, and with my disastrous balance that's amply sufficient to
blast me into a ditch.

OTOH, wasps and stingy things could be a real danger. I'd think a wasp sting on
the oesophagus could easily lead to anaphylactic shock. Or at the very least, a
critical bout of asthma!

EFR
Ile de France

On Wed, 19 May 2004 09:33:12 +0200, Elisa Francesca Roselli
<[email hidden]> wrote (more or less):

Quoted message said:

Claire Petersky said:

What happens to small beasties that get caught in your lungs like that? I
imagine they get caught in the mucus, and die there. Then what? They
dissolve and are absorbed into the body? Kind of disgusting to contemplate,
eh?

I've read that the concerned conduits are designed to take this kind of stress.
Noses are lined with hairs to filter, there are all sorts of anti-septic
barriers, and even if it does get swallowed it just ends up digested in
hydrochloric acid.

Surely that only happens if they go to the stomach?

--
Cheers,
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In article <%Dwqc.75856$iF6.6370227@attbi_s02>, cpetersky@mouse-
potato.com says...

Quoted message said:

I had the misfortune yesterday of accidentally snorting a gnat up my nose
whilst riding through Chinatown. I'm not sure exactly where it went after
that, probably into my lungs somewhere, because it seemed to cause a sort of
horking cough.

What happens to small beasties that get caught in your lungs like that? I
imagine they get caught in the mucus, and die there. Then what? They
dissolve and are absorbed into the body? Kind of disgusting to contemplate,
eh?

They will almost certainly die, but will probably be worked out of the
lungs by the ciliae (sp?), just as dust and other inhaled particles are.
Most of that stuff is then swallowed.

--
Remove the ns_ from if replying by e-mail (but keep posts in the
newsgroups if possible).

Fritz M said:

On Tue, 18 May 2004 07:51:04 -0400, Badger_South <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

Well I made a mask myself using nylon netting.

Hey, we can all just ride around with nylon stockings over our heads.

RFM
http://www.masoner.net/bike/

Remember how the bad guys in old Western movies disguised themselves
to hold up the stagecoach?

Works great for me if I get caught out riding when the bugs swarm.

Zog The Undenia said:

Elisa Francesca Roselli said:

Mark Thompson said:

NOOO! Don't do that! In the full version she ends up swallowing a
bird, cat, dog and after some more ends up with a cow which kills her.

Besides, what about vegetarians?

Nah, it's a horse.
I know an old lady who swallowed a horse...she's dead of course

The cow was just the appitiser.

--

Eat'm up, it's free protein? Where's the down side?

P.S.
Elisa, I was wondering why do so many of the French have Italian
sounding last names?

Elisa Francesca Roselli said:

As the weather turns nice, clouds of midges and gnats are starting to
form. Larger and less clean biological specimens are also air-borne and
thickening.

Remembering - how could I forget - the day on my kick-scooter when I
swallowed a large bluebottle (ah, that savour of rotting melon lingering
at the back of my throat for the rest of the week ...), and being
conscious that on a cycle, one sooner or later ends up opening one's
mouth to breathe, I want to ask you people if there are any standard
solutions.

It occurs to me that I have never seen a cyclist wearing a veil. Why
not?

EFR
Ile de France
(mais non M'dame, ce n'est pas un signe ostenatoire d'appartenance
réligieuse ...)

--
Tp,

-------- __o
----- -\<. -------- __o
--- ( )/ ( ) ---- -\<.
-------------------- ( )/ ( )
-----------------------------------------

No Lawsuit Ever Fixed A Moron...

Quoted message said:

Elisa, I was wondering why do so many of the French have Italian
sounding last names?

I think Elisa is actually an American in Paris, but my memory may
be faulty.

--

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__________306.350.357.38>>[email hidden]__________

On Sat, 22 May 2004 11:55:05 -0400, "Eric S. Sande" <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

I think Elisa is actually an American in Paris

Nah, that was Gershwin.

"Badger_South" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Claire Petersky said:

What happens to small beasties that get caught in your lungs like that? I
imagine they get caught in the mucus, and die there. Then what? They
dissolve and are absorbed into the body? Kind of disgusting to

contemplate,

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

eh?

Any detrius that enters the lungs is normally cleared by the constant
sweeping of the cilia - hairlike structures that line the air passages
which propel small foreign objects up the bronchial tubes and into the
esophagus, or back of the throat where you can cough it out. In addition
there's a slight peristaltic (wave-like) motion that moves things up out

of

Quoted message said:

the bronchi and secretions can thicken and increase to help this process.

According to this, then, I probably stopped coughing once the little beasty
got expelled, and then I swallowed it, without being aware of it.

I guess it sounds better that it dissolved in the stomach, where proteins
are supposed to be digested, than stuck in the mucus of bronchial tubes.
According to a vegetarian friend of mine, humans are made to eat animal
protein, but the main source, evolutionarily speaking, should be from
insects: grubs and whatnot.

--
Warm Regards,

Claire Petersky
Please replace earthlink for mouse-potato and .net for .com
Home of the meditative cyclist:
http://home.earthlink.net/~cpetersky/Welcome.htm
See the books I've set free at: http://bookcrossing.com/referral/Cpetersky