I should have gotten a UV sterilization thingy for those face masks I picked up in parking lots and on sidewalks. Aw what the heck…they lay out in the sun which is loaded with UV, right? I bet I saved $10 on masks during the last two years. Winner!!
@hchavers IIRC, I read there were such things in the 50s and 60s. Including a transparent toilet seat that emitted UV. One would hope it involved a reliable interlock system
SHOES because jerks put their damn feet on the seats in public places. Everyone gets alarmed about cellphones and keyboards but somehow it’s okay to rest their feet on the bus seat or the chairs at the library???
Keyboards that light up internal LEDs with pretty colors should instead have UV lights inside - they turn on after a set period of inactivity and turn off after 1 cleaning cycle or when a key is pressed.
Every person on Earth is a candidate for UV. NOT!!!.
Let’s face it, we are all covered in microbes. Our skin is covered, every orifice, especially the obvious ones such as the mouth and the anus and all of that hidden real fleshy real estate in between.
You have more microbe cells in your gut (100 trillion+) than you have cells in your body (~27 to 30 trillion). So the ratio is about 3 to 1. (Bacteria cells are smaller by quite a lot than human tissue cells.) And don’t get me started on how many viruses are in you, which are at least 380 trillion, which is 10X+ the number of cells in your bod.
Is this comforting or discomforting to all the germophobes out there? Iddaknow.
But it is a fact of life, that without those multitudes of microbes, you could not – could not, I say – live. The “good” or symbiotic beasites outnumber the bad ones, aka pathogens. And your health, in large measure, depends on having an adequate supply of symbiotic/probiotic beasties. Your immune system needs the challenge in order to stay effective. There are a number of nutrients that you absolutely need that you couldn’t get without the help of a convenient live-in bug. And on and on.
The saying “A little knowledge is a dangerous thing,” may apply here. You want to be reasonably hygenic, but most people do not have the judgement to know what is and isn’t safe.
I know from having grown up in the 1940s and 1950s, that a lot of the hysteria over food safety is overdone.
We washed ourselves (but not as frequently as one can do so today with hot and running water and all the nostrums, creams, lotions, and topical treatments pushed by the marketeers).
We lived on a farm with animals! Dirty, filthy animals!
We washed and cooked our food. We salted, smoked, and home canned our food for winter. We even home canned beef, pork, and chicken <gasp!> Food poisoning was a rare, rare thing.
And we (and the animals) survived, if not prospered.
UV sterilization has its place, as do autoclaves, gluteraldehyde, ethylene oxide, ozone, e-beam, and Co-60 radiation in sterilization, particularly in medical, dental and medical supply environments.
…And yes, I do wash my hands after using the toilet and sometimes before, whether a public toilet or here at home. And yes, I do get a flu shot every year, and all the Covid shots/boosters. And yes, I do avoid crowds since 2020 and I do wear an N95 mask when I’m out in public. Thanks for asking.
I consider these things good judgement.
But I don’t pay much attention to use before or best by dates on foods as there isn’t any real science behind what turns out to be an arbitrary date mostly for stores to clear and to refresh stock.
All this being said with respect to a non-UV treated item, it is unlikely that your toothbrush, your keyboard, or your phone will be fatal – unless one or more of them are swallowed, of course.
@Jackinga Well, the good/bad news is the UV bulbs in most of these systems have a short life. They start to lose effectiveness after only a few hours of use and are useless in less than a year. Of course, nearly all of the “UV” systems sold to the average consumer have a nice blue LED bulb with a long life. (Because we can’t seem to figure out that ultraviolet light is not blue.) We turn on the UV part and the blue LED lights up, so we think the thing must be working.
@accelerator IIRC, the tanning joints were required to clean and disinfect the beds after each client had used one. Microbes might be killed by the UV, but the nasty slimy cruft will stay unless removed by more energetic methods.
Your mom.
@yakkoTDI She’d be a lot cleaner if she didn’t hang out with you!
Door handles in public restrooms
@heartny
I like the the ones that have the foot thing that you open with your foot.
Rectal thermometers?
@phendrick all thermometers!
@phendrick As long as it doesn’t mess with the taste.
I should have gotten a UV sterilization thingy for those face masks I picked up in parking lots and on sidewalks. Aw what the heck…they lay out in the sun which is loaded with UV, right? I bet I saved $10 on masks during the last two years. Winner!!
@tweezak How meh-conomical!
@tweezak
UV sterilization chambers. Have you seen how filthy those things get on the outside?!?
shoe rack
Why would you give a cell phone or TV remote to someone that bought a UV sterilization chamber?
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Children
@katbyter Came here to say Toddlers
@katbyter @mehcuda67 Self-portable biological warfare units.
The public restroom toilet seats, sinks and facets, door handles, floors, … just make whole bathroom a UV chamber between patrons.
@hchavers IIRC, I read there were such things in the 50s and 60s. Including a transparent toilet seat that emitted UV. One would hope it involved a reliable interlock system
@hchavers @mehcuda67 You mean the “Atomic Age” where foot x-rays done by shoe salesmen were a thing?
I think “hope” was the only interlock system used.
SHOES because jerks put their damn feet on the seats in public places. Everyone gets alarmed about cellphones and keyboards but somehow it’s okay to rest their feet on the bus seat or the chairs at the library???
Toddlers, actually… Daycare facilities and everyone inside them.
Mississippi.
@werehatrack No MS needs to be part of the Gulf of Mexico - as in under it.
@Kidsandliz Sounds like an excellent way to annoy the Deep Ones and risk causing them to rise from their slumber.
Keyboards that light up internal LEDs with pretty colors should instead have UV lights inside - they turn on after a set period of inactivity and turn off after 1 cleaning cycle or when a key is pressed.
Every person on Earth is a candidate for UV. NOT!!!.
Let’s face it, we are all covered in microbes. Our skin is covered, every orifice, especially the obvious ones such as the mouth and the anus and all of that hidden real fleshy real estate in between.
You have more microbe cells in your gut (100 trillion+) than you have cells in your body (~27 to 30 trillion). So the ratio is about 3 to 1. (Bacteria cells are smaller by quite a lot than human tissue cells.) And don’t get me started on how many viruses are in you, which are at least 380 trillion, which is 10X+ the number of cells in your bod.
Is this comforting or discomforting to all the germophobes out there? Iddaknow.
But it is a fact of life, that without those multitudes of microbes, you could not – could not, I say – live. The “good” or symbiotic beasites outnumber the bad ones, aka pathogens. And your health, in large measure, depends on having an adequate supply of symbiotic/probiotic beasties. Your immune system needs the challenge in order to stay effective. There are a number of nutrients that you absolutely need that you couldn’t get without the help of a convenient live-in bug. And on and on.
The saying “A little knowledge is a dangerous thing,” may apply here. You want to be reasonably hygenic, but most people do not have the judgement to know what is and isn’t safe.
I know from having grown up in the 1940s and 1950s, that a lot of the hysteria over food safety is overdone.
We washed ourselves (but not as frequently as one can do so today with hot and running water and all the nostrums, creams, lotions, and topical treatments pushed by the marketeers).
We lived on a farm with animals! Dirty, filthy animals!
We washed and cooked our food. We salted, smoked, and home canned our food for winter. We even home canned beef, pork, and chicken <gasp!> Food poisoning was a rare, rare thing.
And we (and the animals) survived, if not prospered.
UV sterilization has its place, as do autoclaves, gluteraldehyde, ethylene oxide, ozone, e-beam, and Co-60 radiation in sterilization, particularly in medical, dental and medical supply environments.
…And yes, I do wash my hands after using the toilet and sometimes before, whether a public toilet or here at home. And yes, I do get a flu shot every year, and all the Covid shots/boosters. And yes, I do avoid crowds since 2020 and I do wear an N95 mask when I’m out in public. Thanks for asking.
I consider these things good judgement.
But I don’t pay much attention to use before or best by dates on foods as there isn’t any real science behind what turns out to be an arbitrary date mostly for stores to clear and to refresh stock.
All this being said with respect to a non-UV treated item, it is unlikely that your toothbrush, your keyboard, or your phone will be fatal – unless one or more of them are swallowed, of course.
@Jackinga Well, the good/bad news is the UV bulbs in most of these systems have a short life. They start to lose effectiveness after only a few hours of use and are useless in less than a year. Of course, nearly all of the “UV” systems sold to the average consumer have a nice blue LED bulb with a long life. (Because we can’t seem to figure out that ultraviolet light is not blue.) We turn on the UV part and the blue LED lights up, so we think the thing must be working.
Tanning beds
@accelerator IIRC, the tanning joints were required to clean and disinfect the beds after each client had used one. Microbes might be killed by the UV, but the nasty slimy cruft will stay unless removed by more energetic methods.