h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Ah, cats. You sort of kinda answer your own question there. Fastidiously clean animals. It's your garden and not theirs, which is its first good feature as a dumping ground. The other thing is, you obviously keep it nice and clean. My neighbours, on both sides, are keen gardeners and have no dogs. When they've just dug the gardens over and the soil has that lovely crumbly texture, ready for planting - or even more outrageous, it's just been planted - all the neighbourhood cats seem to come in and use "the facilities" little rascals.

I have a dog (just the one now), so the cats usually only use my front garden as a lavatory. It's just something else to clear up. Cleaning up the garden is a bigger job than keeping the house clean. That's why the huffing and tutting thoughts drift through my brain while I'm scrubbing away at the table, feeders and bird bath. I can't help it, as I finish the job and fill them all with clean everything. The idea that the ungrateful little feathered hooligans are going to use that water for drinking, bathing and defecating - then spat on the table and feeders, then, if they have any left, they'll leave a streak across my windows and car bless 'em, causes a bit of mental chuntering. Perhaps it's something like being the mother of messy teenagers

Anyway, you're right of course. It's the concentration that's likely to be a problem. And it's a pain when the food gets wet too. You'd think they'da come up with a waterproof feeder by now, wouldn't you?

A46416125 - Filth: What Is It Good For?

Oh, I forgot, speaking of cats, do you mention Toxoplasmosis?

I mentioned toxoplasmosis in the first section, Matt - right after legionnaires' disease. Thanks for the thought though

Very easy read and full of info. Plus, it supports my attitude to house-cleaning

I wonder too about the psychological effects of regarding dirt as untouchable - I mean we produce the stuff naturally, in all sorts of ways, and to build up a horror or a fear of it, just can't be good. So it seems to me.

Thanks LLWaz!

I agree with you about the psychological effects of an exaggerated fear of contamination. I did consider mentioning obsessive-compulsive disorder, but thought that, if I did, I'd have to elaborate and it might get too long and woolly.

Hmm, a delightful topic. Well done.

I am reading this, btw, while enjoying iced tea in a glass that was last washed about a week ago. (I think)

I'm curious about peanut allergies - I read the link and didn't find any mention of cleanliness being the culprit - is it really?

Excellent ending

'too long and woolly' - I agree, the present length and amount of info is right. And the title doesn't call for it, it's not that filth is good for your mental health, it's that cleanliness is bad for it.

Sort of! A subject for another entry 'Sanitation: Bad for your Sanity?'

Thanks pailaway and sorry about the peanut link. There are loads of links I could have used for the peanut allergy, but none of them were just about peanut allergy. They were all a bit too general. They mentioned peanut allergy in relation to the hygiene hypothesis, but you'd have to dig to find that bit. So I used the link that I did, because it was a BBC one and had a peanut allergy title and a nice picture of a pile of peanuts. Do you think I should have used one of the more general ones that mention peanut allergy more or less in passing? Here's a selection of the sort of thing that's available:

Life threatening allergies:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/insideout/northwest/series7/allergy.shtml

Worms to help combat allergies
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4215234.stm

Too clean for our own good:
http://www.hampdencountyphysicians.com/articles.php?aid=8

Nut allergy: with one kiss I could kill my husband:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/dietandfitness/3355755/Nut-allergy-With-one-kiss,-I-could-kill-my-husband.html

Too clean for our own good:
http://allergies.about.com/b/a/000006.htm

Allergies on the increase:
http://www.washingtonjewishweek.com/main.asp?SectionID=4&SubSectionID=4&ArticleID=6354&TM=223.41


Good point LLWaz.

The one that seems to come the closest to suggesting that there may be a link between hygiene and peanuts is

Too clean for our own good:
http://www.hampdencountyphysicians.com/articles.php?aid=8

However it seems that the most direct link is to asthma, and from there peanuts are indicated more in the sense that if you have one allergy, particularly asthma, then you are likely to have more on account of a generally weakened resistance. I'm just not sure that any direct links to peanuts and hygiene have been demonstrated.

In any case, the hampden county physicians link that you found does seem most relevant of the lot.

If you really want a decent article to link to: http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/296/5567/490

Thank you pailaway and Alex

Peanut allergy is in there because it was one of the things I came across a number of times, that were blamed on the too-clean environment. In the context of the sentence containing the link (now I come to look again), the thing it was really meant to demonstrate, was that cases had *reportedly* doubled in the last decade.

It wasn't my intention here to demonstrate that any of the hygiene hypothesis was proven fact. It's a hypothesis that some scientists are working on. I find it persuasive but I guess it might turn out to be wrong - or only partly true - when all the data's in. I haven't said anything is definitely the case. I've been careful to uses terms like 'seems', ''suggests', 'perhaps', 'may'. I would've preferred a link that also mentioned the hypothesis, and I will change it if you feel sure the Hampden County Physicians one is better. I'd have a look at the Science Mag article Alex, only when I clicked on your link I couldn't see it. It said:

"The content you requested requires a AAAS member subscription to this site or Science Pay per Article purchase"

I could take the peanut reference out altogether I suppose. Is it a problem?

"The content you requested requires a AAAS member subscription..."

Weird... it must be because I'm using a university computer that I could access it. Sorry

You could perhaps link to the abstract of the paper - it mentions allergies, though not peanuts specifically: http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/296/5567/490

Good entry, Tibley!

>>In the context of the sentence containing the link (now I come to look again), the thing it was really meant to demonstrate, was that cases had *reportedly* doubled in the last decade.<<

You know what? You're right.

It's a statement that is in line with how peanuts are lumped together with allergies that have increased in incidence.

So, just ignore me - that's what I usually do.

Thank you Alex, Danny, Gnomon and pailaway. I've found out how to add references without having to link them to body text or footnotes, so I've added several, including the abstract suggested by Danny from the article suggested by Alex and the Hampden County Physicians article preferred by pailaway. Is that better, or have I overdone it?

(Wouldn't dream of ignoring you pailaway)

Good Entry!

As a preemie, I had to spend the first few weeks of my life in a completely sterile environment - and I currently have a rather damaged immune system, the effects of which include chronic toxoplasmosis. But I grew up on a farm and spent much of my childhood grubbing around in the dirt and around a lot of different animals.

So now the only things I'm allergic to are the disinfectant they used on me as a baby, and most antibiotics, and my immune system is holding up fairly well under the circumstances

There's also a psychological angle to consider. Some of the people on our Uni field trip to Romania couldn't bear the mere thought of using the outhouse in the remote village, because of the very thought that they might not be using disinfectant there Same with the communal showers in the youth hostel...

The Oysters entry now has its final A number - A46904772 - which can be updated and the footnote removed

Since I'm subbing the Oysters, is there anything I need to change in that?

Well, the h2g2Editors are credited as my co-author at the moment

There is also a link to the unedited version of Tibley's entry, which might have to be removed - you'll find a note within <--! !--> tags in the Entry. I can always Curate it back in later