MrsHobieJoe wrote: 
I don't have any tonsils

 pdhski wrote: 
It's what us Brits say when a man has a heavy cold, sort of mickey take. When women have a cold they say they have a cold, when men have a cold they say they have flu, hence manflu.

 geordiezimmerman wrote: 

Could be tonsillitus although asthma sufferers are being recommended to stay indoors if dust is settling.

 pdhski wrote: 
As opposed to WOman flu.

 geordiezimmerman wrote: 
wot?

 mzpro5 wrote: 
Road trips would increase.

 samiyam wrote: 
Be aware of the fly!

 NoEnzLefttoSplit wrote: 
Global cooling?
Poor Al Gore will be out of a job.

 ndg wrote: 
I just got an email from aer lingus for a special 100 discount - I checked the fare and it was 1300 - exactly 100 more than the typical  I can get through the usual internet agents. Last year the same flight was 500. I wonder how much the air fares will go up now because of the money they're losing. 

 geordiezimmerman wrote: 
Sucks for sure. I read it is the glass that is the big problem. It turns molten inside the jet turbo engines and gums them up. Your must be breathing that...That sucks...Get a mask.

What's also rather worrying is there are absolutely no health warning on the news about this. It's all about those deserted and how much money is being lost. Mrs Hobie mentioned earlier that there is some of this fine rock on the ground in the south west. If it's on the ground it must be in my lungs. I'm actually quite sick right now with what feels like man flu but my throat is extremely sore. Ok, this could be a coincidence but some advice would be helpful but there's none at all. What goes up must come down so to speak.

 JrzyTmata wrote: 
this is how Iceland will get out of it's financial crisis... bag that stuff up and sell it!

 hippiechick wrote: 
the good news is that it will kill all the slugs in the garden.

 hobiejoe wrote: 
"Ash" is a bit of a misnomer. It is really ground rock. That's why it's so abrasive and bad to be breathing.

 hobiejoe wrote: 
Stock up on air filters for the car!  

Been a light coating of incredibly fine ash here in the SW for the last few days - very abrasive stuff, I can quite understand the flight ban.

 mzpro5 wrote: 

It's surprising that those cities weren't connected many years ago - it's not as if they are "new" cities.  The Southeast is pretty sparse when it comes to rail too, and there has been a long tradition of keeping it that way.  I guess I was thinking more of the Northeast, which has a lot of rail coverage.  But much of the country would be up the creek if there were no flights.

 Proclivities wrote:
There's a pretty extensive rail system, particularly east of the Mississippi, but it could and should be more extensive; it really only connects major metropolitan areas.

Well here in Ohio and most of the Midwest there is for all intent and purposes nothing.  They keep talking about "high speed" rail on a Cleveland-Columbus -Cincinnati route but they have been doing taht for years.

 

 mzpro5 wrote:
There's a pretty extensive rail system, particularly east of the Mississippi, but it could and should be more extensive.  It really only connects major metropolitan areas and trips generally take a long time.