better now

Maybe my immune system is weaker than most other people my age. Or maybe just my digestive system is; I seem to fight off random common colds just fine, but not random food-related problems. Like that time in college when R's green tea ice cream made my intestine go haywire. Or this weekend. (Oh, feeling much better, yes. All symptoms have basically subsided. I started eating other things besides crackers, rice, and jello today.)

Food poisoning is more common than I thought. The CDC estimates 76 million people in the US get foodbourne illness each year. The population of the United States is approximately 296 million. That's a 1 in 4 chance of getting food poisoning in any year... and a probability of 1 that you will get it in your lifetime (assuming the 1/4 probability every year, that it's the same probability for everyone, blah, blah). If you want to lessen your chance of getting food poisoning, move to the UK (3.4% chance) or France (1.2% chance).

If you're lucky to get the right bacteria, you'll only experience lots of poopage (aka diarrhea). If you're unlucky (like me), then you might experience: excessive poopage, throwing chunks, feeling like you'll throw chunks, stabbing pain in the abdomen, elephants pounding your head, fever, tiredness. Symptoms start to arise anywhere from a few hours up to 48 hours after eating the food.

If you ever get food poisoning or some other illness that might cause you to not eat and possibly become dehydrated, make a solution: 1 tsp salt, 4 heaping tsps sugar, 1 liter water (~ 1 quart). Gatorade would be a bad choice (sorry R).

Unrelated... while looking up the US population size in the CIA World Factbook, I ran into some other interesting facts I did not know about the US:

• about half the size of Russia; about three-tenths the size of Africa; about half the size of South America (or slightly larger than Brazil); slightly larger than China; about two and a half times the size of Western Europe
  
• the US is the largest single emitter of carbon dioxide from the burning of fossil fuels
  
• world's third-largest country by size (after Russia and Canada) and by population (after China and India)
  
• Mt. McKinley is the highest point in North America and Death Valley the lowest point on the continent
  
• Life expectancy at birth:
  total population: 77.71 years
  male: 74.89 years
  female: 80.67 years (2005 est.)
  (Do we really live this long?)
  
• Protestant 52%, Roman Catholic 24%, Mormon 2%, Jewish 1%, Muslim 1%, other 10%, none 10% (2002 est.)
  
• government type: Constitution-based federal republic (federal republic? hmm... need to learn what that means)
  
• Since 1975, practically all the gains in household income have gone to the top 20% of households.