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Anndee
hunter
Username: Anndee
Post Number: 245
Registered: 5-2003
| | Posted on Sunday, October 22, 2006 - 4:16 pm: |     |
(And cavebear wonders how old threads get resurrected.)
In "Blues in the Loo," Ted wrote: "And it doesn't matter how many times you fold the paper, those little fellas will be on your hands."
So, everytime I fold the paper, I wonder just how fast those little fellas are.
Or if folding the paper is the bacterial equivalent of folding the space-time continuum.
Just latrine musings here. |
Ted
hunter
Username: Ted
Post Number: 486
Registered: 5-2004
| | Posted on Sunday, October 22, 2006 - 9:01 pm: | |
It's not a matter of speed, it's a matter of access.
I don't have any evidence for this, but it seems to me that people with a satisfactory diet and enough exercise will have moist motions.
I remember that recipe for happiness:
"Easy boots and easy bowels"
Now, if you have turds that are as hard as rocks, I guess the little fellas haven't got a chance.
And if you use shiny loo paper, the same.
But if you have soft motions, and use absorbent paper, and fold (lets say) to give four thicknesses, it is possible that some of the moisture carrying the little fellas will penetrate to your hand, or your hand will touch your bottom while performing your morning ritual, and there you are.
It doesn't have to happen every time you go to the toilet, it just has to be possible, and it will happen sometime.
The laws of probability are inexorable.
Nobody's perfect, or at least I'm not. I'm careful, and I've sometimes had to wash off more than my own skin oils when I wash my hands after going to the toilet. Hands up all those to whom this has never happened.
However all you can do is keep the little fellas down to a dull roar.
There's the exit from the toilet. You put down the lid, or not, you press the toilet button to flush, you turn on the tap and turn it off, you open the toilet door by its handle...
This is how paranoia develops.
Ted
Do not go gentle into that good night...Rage, rage against the dying of the light
Benjamin Disraeli: "The Jews are a nervous people. Nineteen centuries of Christian love have taken a toll." |
Cavebear
cave painter
Username: Cavebear
Post Number: 2943
Registered: 9-2003
| | Posted on Monday, October 23, 2006 - 9:41 pm: | |
It is like poison ivy oils. After exposure to it, the doorknob you turn to get into the house to wash off those poison ivy oils is the one that will expose you again on the way back out.
Similarly in the bathroom, it is often the turning off of the sink handle that gets you, and then it is on the door handle as you leave.
Well, you (routinely, no insult meant to exceptions) have two hands, don't you? Just keep track of which does what. 
Seriously, when I started reading about "danger zones" in public rest rooms a few years ago, I started taking a clean paper towel to use to turn off the faucet handle and open the rest room door.
Here's something to worry about; grocery store shopping cart handles!
Thank you, Carl Sagan... |
Scott
flint knapper
Username: Scott
Post Number: 1530
Registered: 5-2003
| | Posted on Tuesday, October 24, 2006 - 1:26 am: | |
LOL Ted!
And then you go type a post - there goes the keyboard!
We are having this exact problem now. Ayla is toilet trained for the most part, but we have to wipe her bum with toilet paper. She came down with the norovirus - a nasty gastro-enteric bug that causes vomiting and the scoots. Well, I now have the scoots. When she poops, she gets off the toilet and bends over and we wipe her clean. 6,7, 8 folds and a little moisture still gets through. I wash my hands vigorously and religiously and still had problems with this one. We sanitize taps, door handles and yes my keyboard!
My wife isn't sick and for that reason, I am on poop detail until this thing is over.
Yeah cavebear, I use feet in public restrooms or just go in the bushes and avoid the horrid places!
Scott
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Ces gens, Jondalar, ils sourient. Ils me sourient. - Ayla |
Pine
flint knapper
Username: Pine
Post Number: 1226
Registered: 5-2003
| | Posted on Tuesday, October 24, 2006 - 4:41 am: | |
Scott:She came down with the norovirus - a nasty gastro-enteric bug that causes vomiting and the scoots.
Poor Ayla! Hope both of you get well soon. My daughter had a couple of bouts of enteric viruses way back in her second year and was quite miserable. Fortunately no one else caught it from her at home. Acidophilus (infant formulation) helped with the recovery.
Cohen's Law: 'Unless you fail at more than 10% of the things you try, you aren't trying enough things.' |
Scott
flint knapper
Username: Scott
Post Number: 1536
Registered: 5-2003
| | Posted on Wednesday, October 25, 2006 - 1:32 am: | |
Thanks Pine! Acidophilus it is (I didn't realise they had infant formulation, but our local health food store has it) and she hasn't thrown up today at least.
My wife is fine still and I have washed aobut four layers of skin off my hands in the meantime!
Scott
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Ces gens, Jondalar, ils sourient. Ils me sourient. - Ayla |
Cavebear
cave painter
Username: Cavebear
Post Number: 2958
Registered: 9-2003
| | Posted on Friday, October 27, 2006 - 8:24 am: | |
Skin is rather protective of us, isn't it? Sometimes, I think we don't appreciate it enough.
Thank you, Carl Sagan... |
Scott
flint knapper
Username: Scott
Post Number: 1546
Registered: 5-2003
| | Posted on Saturday, October 28, 2006 - 3:08 am: | |
It really is cavebear. Get a full body sunburn and you will realise how much skin you really have! No, don't go and do that, but if you have ever had one, you know what I mean.
Anyone know if those alcohol based hand sanitizers work? I won't have antibiotic laden soap in the house, but in times like this my wife thinks that a sanitiser might help break the chain of infection.
Scott
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Ces gens, Jondalar, ils sourient. Ils me sourient. - Ayla |
Pine
flint knapper
Username: Pine
Post Number: 1232
Registered: 5-2003
| | Posted on Saturday, October 28, 2006 - 3:57 am: | |
An oncologist who does bone marrow transplants recommended them once when our tissue cultures were getting contaminated a lot. If they work for patients without functional white cells, they'll work for anyone.
Cohen's Law: 'Unless you fail at more than 10% of the things you try, you aren't trying enough things.' |
Cavebear
cave painter
Username: Cavebear
Post Number: 2962
Registered: 9-2003
| | Posted on Saturday, October 28, 2006 - 4:32 am: | |
Antibacterial cleaners have to be used extremely thoroughly. Most of our current problems are due to bacteria evolving a resistance to our slipshod sanitation measures.
Thank you, Carl Sagan... |
Pine
flint knapper
Username: Pine
Post Number: 1233
Registered: 5-2003
| | Posted on Saturday, October 28, 2006 - 4:42 am: | |
The alcohol based ones just need to be applied. Between evaporation of the alcohol and skin absorption, you are soon ready to go, no need to wash off. So in that way they are likely to be less problematic than anti-bacterial soaps that only remain on the skin for a short while.
Cohen's Law: 'Unless you fail at more than 10% of the things you try, you aren't trying enough things.' |
Scott
flint knapper
Username: Scott
Post Number: 1555
Registered: 5-2003
| | Posted on Sunday, October 29, 2006 - 3:46 am: | |
I agree cavebear and they promote bacterial resistance. We overuse antibiotics!
Scott
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Ces gens, Jondalar, ils sourient. Ils me sourient. - Ayla |
Cavebear
cave painter
Username: Cavebear
Post Number: 2967
Registered: 9-2003
| | Posted on Monday, October 30, 2006 - 7:47 pm: | |
I have an antibacterial liquid dish soap. It's primary use is for my cutting boards. I use only enough water to scrub the board thoroughly, and then let it sit in the dry sink for a full 10 minutes before removing the soap.
And even so, I think it is not precisely "antibiotic". I think the manufacturers just discovered that if you leave their detergents on a surface for 10 minutes, they are permitted to call it "antibacterial".
Thank you, Carl Sagan... |
Scott
flint knapper
Username: Scott
Post Number: 1562
Registered: 5-2003
| | Posted on Monday, October 30, 2006 - 9:07 pm: | |
That's not a bad idea CB. I soak my plastic boards in bleach and water for an hour.
I've also used hydrogen peroxide.
In the bathroom I use bleach and/or alcohol on surfaces.
Elsewhere, I don't much care, with the possible exception of door and drawer handles.
Scott
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Ces gens, Jondalar, ils sourient. Ils me sourient. - Ayla |
Cavebear
cave painter
Username: Cavebear
Post Number: 2972
Registered: 9-2003
| | Posted on Monday, October 30, 2006 - 9:47 pm: | |
My main cutting board is maple. I'm of two minds about cleaning wood. On one hand, I read that wood tends to be naturally antibacterial because it dries out and kills bacteria. And I worry that wood soaks up soaps and they are hard to get out (which can disflavor food). But I rinse the wood cutting board thoroughly after scrubbing with "antibacterial" soap.
I'm not sure if the one practice negates the other. On the other hand, I haven't had any sort of food-born illness for decades, so I suppose something is working well enough (either the cleaning habits or my immune system).
The plastic cutting boards get the antibacterial soap, and (usually a bleach rub) afterwords. Sometimes I just stick them in the dishwasher and hope that also helps.
Thank you, Carl Sagan... |
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