I’ve always been annoyed that at this beautiful time of the year,  just when the air cools,  I unfortunately also start to sneeze and itch from airborne allergies. On general principals I avoid taking man-made chemicals into my body, without absolute need. Many antihistamines cause drowsiness and slow reaction times. There is also some concern that they act in a way similar to other chemicals that have been shown to promote cancerous tumor growth. So here are a few things I’ve found that help me deal with my pollen allergies without antihistamines.

Tell me your favorite natural remedy for pollen allergies in the comments. I’ve used homeopathic remedies with some success in the past, but I find the methods listed above to be more reliable.

The second half deals with SSRI drug dangers, such as hallucination, suicide, depersonalization and amnesia. Eric Harris, one of the Columbine shooters, was on Luvox at the time. We see what I think is home video of Harris and Kliebold playing with guns, and being stupid. There is also security camera footage from the actual event. The credits list several people for re-enactments, some of that might be mixed in as well. It is hard to tell.

The interviews with the families and victims of the administration of these drugs are heart-wrenching. Corey Baasgaard describes waking from a dream-state, in confinement with no memory of taking a high-powered rifle into his third-period English class, herding his classmates and teacher into a corner, holding them at gunpoint for 45 minutes, and then being persuaded by the principal into giving up his gun. He was using Effexor, his dose had just been upped to 300mg. His father tells how long, tedious and meticulous the weaning from this drug was. It took an extremely gradual reduction of Corey’s dose over a period of months, during which time if he took too little he would become extremely emotional. It seems insane that any drug that can creates such a degree of dependence can be so easily prescribed.

Michael Moore is extensively interviewed, he says that he would have been a perfect candidate for an ADD diagnosis as a child, and that he didn’t consider these drugs in shooting “Bowling for Columbine.”

Oddly enough Neil (Ignite Educational Software, Silverado scandal, brother of the president) Bush is interviewed and is an anti-drugging advocate. His profitable software uses cartoons and rap music to hold attention instead.

Nutrition, avoidance of lead, sugar and allergens are suggested as alternatives to ADD drugs.

Fire in Lower Manhattan: The 40-story Deustche Bank building is on fire, sending billows of smoke into the sky over Ground Zero. The building has been empty since 9/11, destabilized beyond repair by the events of that day and awaiting demolition for years — a process that finally began recently, on a floor-by-floor basis, according to this AP report. The cause of the fire is, so far, unknown.

The wind is from the west, similar to what it was on 9/11. It would be prudent to avoid the area. And if you live in lower Manhattan and possibly Brooklyn, think about keeping your windows closed for at least tonight. That’s what I’m doing. I hope this is not arson. Two firefighters have been killed.

I took the above shot around 8, as you can see there are no great plumes of smoke, but I could see a faint trail heading east, and the moon is definitely fuzzy behind haze of some sort.
The Deutshe Bank Building, if it could be seen, would be slightly to the left of the Woolworth Building (the one with the pointed roof). I’ve smelled nothing more acrid than usual in the air here on East Houston Street.

7-alarm fire imperils former Deutsche Bank skyscraper

Flickr Sets:

I’m not one for self-portraits, but this one might save some lives. Here’s how I’m coping with the heat. A tub of water cooled with frost hacked from my freezer cools the blood in my feet that will eventually, I hope, reach my fevered brain.

UPDATE 8/1/06: I tried this last night using a thin beach towel and it worked really well. With a fan blowing over me I was comfortably chilled. A heat index hovering around 110 is predicted for the next three days. The higher the humidity the less effective evaporative cooling is. This will be a real test for the Egyptian method. The wet towel on the neck technique, below, also works.

Place wet towel on the back of your neck and also the top of one’s head. Athletic team doctors have used this for years!