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

I will put this as delicately as possible.

I'm a chap.

So in the morning, I shower and put on a clean pair of underpants. Then I go to work. On the way to work, I handle all sorts of things including parts of my car which has been outside all night and my computer keyboard which may not have been cleaned for some time. In short, I'm picking general grubbiness from most of the things that I touch.

Then I decide that I need a wee. So off I go touching door handles along the way.

I get to the wee destination and do what I need to and then wash my hands.

Now. Think about this. Given the above description, shouldn't I be washing my hands BEFORE having a wee? Which part of me is most likely to be grubby?

(footnote. Toilets really need two door handles. One for people who wash their hands and one for those who don't.)

PP.

And when I was a kid (in the 60s), I would milk several cows by hand, clear stalls and waste of chickens and general critters. Then change the tube on a bicycle wheel and re-grease the chain.

Then a good wipe of the hands on grass before stealing a few potatoes, carrots or radishes from the garden. Hand wipe the soil off and munch away.

I will be 60 years old in a few months . . . .

( and of course, answered the call of nature out-doors as needed )

There's nothing wrong with your logic. I often prewash. I'm not obsessed with washing hands after urinating. My opinion, like yours, is that what's in my underwear, at least up front, isn't "dirty" so unless I dribble on my fingers, they're as clean as they were before. (Hand washing is absolutely required for #2s, of course.)

I do think most folks are either wasteful or ineffective or both when washing their hands. I get soap, then a splash of water and turn off the faucet while scrubbing. No wasting water while lathering. I also only use one paper towel (air dryers disgust me, spreading dirt and germs everywhere). I shake off my hands with a dozen shakes, then take one towel and fold it. It's plenty to dry my hands. Also, you should lather for more than a couple of seconds, many don't. Some folks I work with are really wasteful, likely due to some germophobia. At least one fellow pulls a towel first, uses that to turn on the faucet. Then soaps up, lathers, and rinses, then pulls at least two towels to dry with, another to open the bathroom door and then uses one to shut off the faucet.

Those electronic taps would save a lot of paper towels then.

There are some people who apparently know about such things, who feel that people are obsessed about being clean. If you're concerned about catching diseases because of germs on/in the food you eat, perhaps the digestive acids in your stomach will kill them anyway. Your body may have other defenses against microbes. A healthy amount of disease-resistance is a goal that most of us have, isn't it?

There have been some microbial scourges of the past that were transmitted through sneezes or touching hands, etc. Some of these diseases have gone extinct, or have succumbed to vaccinations or inoculations.

And when the odd disease does get a foothold, maybe there are drugs to send them packing again. At least I hope so. (Crosses fingers.)

For the record, I like the faucets that turn on when you wave your hand under them. I'm not fond of the air-dryers, but when I use paper towels, I use the minimum amount necessary to do the job.

I must admit I find the automatic hole-in-the-wall sinks that you put your hands in and they dribble soap on you, splash you with not enough water to wash the soap off and then blast you with cold air to freeze the soap on your hands rather annoying. Can't I be involved in deciding how much soap or water my hands require and be able to adjust accordingly?

<BB<

Urine is actually mildly antiseptic.

You wouldn't want to drink it though

Some people think otherwise.

Yeah, but Bear Grylls doesn't really knows what the hell he's doing, and he lies about what he does as well.

Still, it earned him the Chief Scout UK and World Ambassador titles, so I suspect there are things he can do. (like being the youngest climber to reach the Everest summit (at the time))

Wouldn't want to hide inside a dead camel to survive a sandstorm (gross...)

Meh... I'm not taking any survival advice from a man that drinks water from an elephant turd. Or one that risks a broken leg in a rain forest by repelling down a waterfall using old vines. These are things that will end your survival.

And, like I said before, he lies.
http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/07/24/a-tv-survivalist-caught-cutting-corners/

Just like most people in TV shows. What's new about that?

You could also rappel down that waterfall, using those vines -- assuming that they won't break halfway down.

I personally don't care what Bear Grylls does. Unfortunately, that hiding-in-the camel trick was borrowed for one of Sacha Baron Cohen's movies, and it was just as gross there.

It's lucky that we can watch or not watch as we choose. There's no requirement that we copy what we see.

Repelling down a waterfall with vines is a very bad idea. The vines actually did break while he was doing so. If you break a leg or sprain an ankle in the jungle, you die. A waterfall is a very noisy thing. It's easier to find another path down and come back to the stream by listening for that waterfall. (And obviously, his camera crew didn't repel down the waterfall.) That young woman in Hawaii did fall down a ravine and injured her leg. She was very fortunate that her family and friends hired a search team after the authorities ended the search after only a couple of days.
http://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/claudiakoerner/hawaii-woman-how-survived-lost-forest

>You could also rappel down that waterfall, using those vines -- assuming that they won't break halfway down.

I personally don't care what Bear Grylls does. Unfortunately, that hiding-in-the camel trick was borrowed for one of Sacha Baron Cohen's movies, and it was just as gross there. <yuk?

Nonsense A long time ago in a galaxy far far away - it was first done by Han Solo when trying to survive the cold of night on the ice planet Hoth. Though he did it with a Taunton(sp?) of course

Best Just to keep up the health and safety instructions if possible.

Getting back to the original question, it demonstrates how transitory is the cleanliness after hand washing. As I work in hospital hygiene is high on the agenda with 'bare below the elbows' rules & notices about correct hand washing etc.
I'm thinking of protecting myself rather than anyone else - if anyone shakes my hand when leaving, I'll immediately wash my hands. But so often, having washed hands, people are then touching what they touched just before, thus potentially replacing any dirt or germs they washed off.

When I'm at home, and my own bacteria are the only ones I will come in contact with, I'm content just to rinse my hands after various activities.

Quote from the Bio lab:

Save the bacteria! It's the only culture some people have...