"From this hour I ordain myself loos'd of limits and imaginary lines, going where I list, my own master total and absolute, Listening to others, considering well what they say, Pausing, searching, receiving, contemplating, Gently, but with undeniable will, divesting myself of the holds that would hold me."
Walt Whitman (1819-92)
"When I look back now over my life and call to mind what I might have had simply for taking and did not take, my heart is like to break."
Akhenaton (d. c.1354 BC)
And now, the current weather, from some random person we pulled off the street:
Wednesday, September 22, 2004
Yuck
clut-ter Function: verb
Etymology: Middle English clotteren to clot, from clot
1 : to fill or cover with scattered or disordered things that impede movement or reduce effectiveness -- often used with up
2 : great place to put germs
The following was on AOL's Careerbuilder section:
The worst places for bacteria in the office are (in order and on average):
Telephone: 25,127 germs per square inch
Desktop: 20,961 germs per square inch
Keyboard: 3,295 germs per square inch
Computer mouse: 1,676 germs per square inch
Toilet seat: 49 germs per square inch
Yeah, I know, I just scarred you for life.
There are some other horrible places for germs too. For example, you know what the dirtiest filthiest place in a restaurant is? The free buttermint dish at the register (since people usually go to the restroom just before they pay, then grab a mint.)
However, there are a lot of bacterial diseases on the rise today. From Crohn's disease to Primary Immunodeficiancy to allergic reactions, western populations are finding they have fewer and fewer natural defenses against the bacteria and viruses around them. Why?
Frankly, my belief is that it is because, as a culture, we are too concerned with making everything sterile. You can buy antibacterial hand soap, dish soap, air freshener, air conditioner filters, clothes detergent, floor cleaner, the list goes on and on. Of course, these products don't really kill all of the little beasties. Just the weakest ones. The strongest and baddest ones live to breed another day.
Or maybe even today, in a lot of cases.
We sit ourselves in this environment, washed clean of the very germs that our body needs to learn to defend itself against, and expose ourselves to germs which are far worse without building our own defenses.
Maybe, just maybe, we should eat a few of those mints.
Or not.
(Note: the quote is for those who are not sufficiently grossed out yet.)
The difference between man and animals is that we don't use our tongue to clean
our genitals.
Rimmer - Red Dwarf
