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

"Thanks to countless millions of years of evolution and the vast medical infrastructure of our civilization, you'll probably be okay"

I'm in 2 minds about this. I totally get the 'over-sanitised society is bad-our immune systems need something to work on' argument. It makes total sense.

However. We live in far larger and more diverse societies than those millions of years of evolution have prepared us for. Our immune systems can probably cope very nicely with contact from the same few hundred people in our own tribe/cave system/village, with their mostly predictable range of slowly mutating illnesses.

Nowadays however when you touch a handle in an airport toilet, before snacking on your sandwich, you are potentially ingesting the faecal matter of thousands of people from all over the world

I really love those Dyson Blade thingies you get in men's toilets nowadays. They dry the penis wonderfully but do tend to make the urine splash about a bit.

>> Nowadays however when you touch a handle in an airport toilet, before snacking on your sandwich, you are potentially ingesting the faecal matter of thousands of people from all over the world <<

But it might actually do you some good. I mean we have an immune system just itching to get going on identifying and responding to new types of bugs that survive the acid and enzymes of the digestive system. It is believed that a lack of usage of the immune system leads to various allergies and over responses (the Hygiene Hypothesis).

Okay sorry I see where you are going with this. This could be a new slogan campaign for UKIP

pps personally I kick open the door if it has one of those metal kick panels at the base or use a tissue to turn the handle.

It's the wet handles I particularly dislike and I prefer my hands not to be smelling of urine or worse.

Petty hates, the glue on my hands that I keep scraping off and the fact my hands smell slightly rubbery because of the glue.

MP, I know the feeling.

When I remember, I wear those Natural Latex disposable gloves (medical type but, I think, cheaper) of which I bought a box of 100 some years ago and probably have 80 or so left - by rights there should be far fewer than that by now, but...

See, e.g. : lynnriver.com - or dot something


Petty Hate:

Putting those gloves on, a few minutes late - one or both tear 'cos of sticky fingers

I have some of those gloves and I plan on using them for any further gluing. Assuming that the top of the glue tube isn't stuck on come tomorrow morning. That can be another petty hate.

My other petty hate is myself, I'm progressing so slowly with editing/revising my book and it's winding me up. Last two chapters before I can get onto the planned changes.

"It's the wet handles I particularly dislike and I prefer my hands not to be smelling of urine or worse."

You know it's probably just water from someone's recently washed hands, right? I mean it's not like people just dunk their hand right in the toilet and THEN grab the door handle.

Though on that subject, another petty hate of mine is seeing people rinse their hands in the sink, but not use any soap. Don't they realize that the water is useless without soap?!

"... We live in far larger and more diverse societies than those millions of years of evolution have prepared us for. Our immune systems can probably cope very nicely with contact from the same few hundred people in our own tribe/cave system/village, with their mostly predictable range of slowly mutating illnesses.

Nowadays however when you touch a handle in an airport toilet, before snacking on your sandwich, you are potentially ingesting the faecal matter of thousands of people from all over the world"


Well if it makes you feel any better, I can provide you with the anecdotal report that I personally haven't gotten sick in over ten years. And while I haven't gone out of my way to expose myself to every slimy mess I come across, I haven't been losing sleep over the unknown history of flush handles either.

So I think my argument is pretty sound.

Mr X's personal anecdotal report:
>>I personally haven't gotten sick in over ten years. And while I haven't gone out of my way to expose myself to every slimy mess I come across, I haven't been losing sleep over the unknown history of flush handles either.<<

Personally reinforced. Mind you, I do tend to flush with knuckles or wrist - also open doors similarly...
... PH: toilet doors with knobs instead of handles

Asparagus. It's a love hate - thing.

Last night I was like

This morrning I'm like

PP.

"water is useless without soap"

Hmm, Not so sure about that

Water is quite a powerful solvent. In fact, it's sometimes called the 'universal solvent'

- see the initial pink bit here:
http://www.rsc.org/pdf/TCT/aqueousSample.pdf

My Dad's a microbiologist. He explained to me that soap binds to the viruses and microbes on your hands and then water washes away both the soap and the organisms it's bonded with. He said that without the soap the water isn't able to remove them on its own.

Of course, he's also a bit of a germaphobe, but I reason that if soap didn't do anything then all the doctors of the world wouldn't be telling you to wash your hands with it. So I figure he's probably not exaggerating.

Fair enough, Mr. X, I consider myself corrected ( if not slapped down!)

Mind you I knew that anyway ... didn't I?

1. Being stuck in a car with someone who makes inane comments on whatever he sees every five minutes.

2. Also, said someone not defending his beliefs and using the refrain of "agree to disagree" as an excuse to avoid conflict. (Though this applies to everyone.)

I'm with you on the inane comments. If it's an impressive sky - just look, don't say so. I can see that for myself. Let's enjoy the view. IN SILENCE.

Even worse, someone who makes a comment which is not inane because it is exactly what the listener (me) said two minutes before. But, of course, the other person thought of it and proclaims it proudly.

Sometimes I wonder if I am heard at all. Perhaps what I say goes into people's subconsciousness without them actually hearing it, which is why they think they thought of it themselves. Must try that theory out today.

PH: just trying to get a passport done through the Post Office. Yes, I want it to be thoroughly checked, but if adult photos don't need to be countersigned, why are you so concerned about it? And if your colleague tells you that signatures do actually change, and that the Post Office aren't asked to look at signatures, then why get uptight about that? Very annoying, especially since she then sneakily tried to get me to fill in a marketing questionnaire. No, I won't be choosing you to get my foreign currency in future, I'd rather choose a company that doesn't annoy me with such sales ploys.

don't talk to me about passports - and the Gruesome Twosome's passports are in that big pile of red boxes plastered all over the newspapers and have been for some weeks.

"Sometimes I wonder if I am heard at all."

Sometimes, I wonder if I am heard at all.