To shake or not to shake

[Cary]

My best friend is a paranoid germaphobe to the point he won't even touch door knobs or handles with his bare skin. He's also the sickest person I know since he adopted this policy. The human body is designed to fight infection. The way it generally does this is by taking on germs, kicking their asses and adding an immunity to other germs of that nature. If, however, the body doesn't get germs to fight and beat down on occasion, it cannot form immunity and becomes weaker overall.

So I say shake, rock some vitamin C and enjoy life.

[Gibson]

I think this is probably a different question for most of us here than it is for Scott Kurtz as well. Kurtz is on a level in our industry that takes a lot more than a few pissed off acne queens at a convention to affect much. In fact, I suspect making it a public thing that he wouldn't shake hands made more of a stink than just telling people at the con that he wasn't shaking hands ever would have done.

For someone at Ran's or my level, where we have a certain level of fame but are still gouging and scraping for our audience, pissing a few people off could have actual ramifications. Conversely, where us shaking those hands and kissing those babies could build our stock quite a bit, Scott Kurtz could tongue someone's taint and it would barely make a blip.

I still maintain that simply talking to one of these plague rats and letting them cough their malaria into your face is more dangerous than shaking their hands. No doubt, Ran got sick from some Naruto fanboy without the good sense to brush the hair on his palms, and that little fucker should be horsewhipped with a horsewhip, but that's the industry we chose. Ran, whenever we show up at the same con, the Purell's on me.

[Rob]

Scott Kurtz could tongue someone's taint and it would barely make a blip.

You're eloquence Sir; it knows no boundaries.  :o

[ran]

I'm hoping to go to some of the more webcomic friendly American cons when I get my passport/name change shit figured out, so the odds of us being at the same con will probably go up after I get that done. Oddly enough, I totally intended to bring some purell this time around and left it sitting in my keys drawer. =/ It was the ONLY thing I forgot. Aargh.

[mcfadyn]

Haha, I've always had a pretty good constitution when it comes to getting sick.  I usually only catch a bug once every 2 or 3 years.  Not too sure if I would be too worried about it as much as you guys are.  I went to the Calgary Con not long ago and I came out unscathed. :)  Lucky me?

[Gibson]

I'm hoping to go to some of the more webcomic friendly American cons

The C2E2 in Chicago was pretty webcomic friendly and large enough to make it worth the effort to get there. A big amount of the dealers area was devoted to them, as well as a few different panels. Sure, they were fairly Kurtz-centric, but hopefully it won't be quite that bad next year. This was its first year and it was pretty well-received, so I'm sure next year will be even bigger. I suspect we'll have a booth reserved fairly early for it.

I went to the Calgary Con not long ago and I came out unscathed. :)  Lucky me?

Cowboys don't hold with germs. Real men drink bacteria for breakfast.

[mcfadyn]

Yeah, Gibson.  We'll have to chill next year in Calgary.  Drop me a line if you're getting a booth or something.

AND yes, REAL men don't worry about colds, they worry about concurring nations!

[Cary]

Cowboys don't hold with germs. Real men drink bacteria for breakfast.

I dunno about bacteria, but I did get some questionable milk once, does that count?

[Alectric]

AND yes, REAL men don't worry about colds, they worry about concurring nations!

Concurring or conquering?

[mcfadyn]

heh.  the latter.  my bad

[Gar]

Real men drink bacteria for breakfast.

So probiotic drinks are manly?

[Gibson]

They sure are! You have to be really comfortable with your masculinity to drink them.

[Cary]

They sure are! You have to be really comfortable with your masculinity to drink them.

Or in serious need of intestinal regulation.

[Gar]

They sure are! You have to be really comfortable with your masculinity to drink them.

Or in serious need of intestinal regulation.

It can be both

[LegendWoodsman]

This being one of the more popular threads, it's little wonder that handshakes are a hot topic for the radio as well. Here's a link to June 18th's local Edmonton radio station's GAS 2 Go podcast entitled Handshakes and Bumper Stickers.

-tony