ARRRGGHHH!! Forget the flowers-- After several days of the severe runs last week and CONTINUING to clean back-splashed fecal matter from the toilets in greater frequency, I'm trying-- apparently unsuccessfully thus far-- to prevent/contain an outbreak of illness here at Noisebridge. Rather than action or volunteering to help solve the problem, all I seem to be hearing about is the goddamn flowers. The flowers don't cause diarrhea, but they do foster the vectors that do. It's the diarrhea, folks, DIARRHEA. The problem is pathogens in fecal matter causing diarrhea, NOT flowers. <br>
<br>Dysentary, per se, is not the only bacteria to cause gastroenteritis/diarrhea, nor the only pathogen found in human feces. Other more likely ones include salmonella, enterovirii, Norwalk virus (a norovirus), camphlyobactor, E.coli, crytosporidium, coliforms, and coliphages. Fruit flies transmit pathogens in fecal matter <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1169043/">(1)</a> , including <a href="http://aem.asm.org/cgi/content/full/65/1/1">E coli</a>. Flowers attract fruit flies (see <a href="http://www.infobarrel.com/Getting_Rid_of_Fruit_Flies">7th bullet point under the "CLEAN" section here</a>). By analogy, rodents don't transmit the Black Plague, but the fleas that loved to hang out with rodents did. <br>
<br>I am BAFFLED why Noisebridge folks seem to refuse to want to address problems when they are small and PREVENT them. FOCUS, PLEASE: THIS IS NOT ABOUT FLOWERS OR SIGNS. IT IS ABOUT PREVENTING A PUBLIC HEALTH PROBLEM BY BEING RESPONSIBLE, *NOW*.<br>
<br>But wait, this is Noisebridge, where the decision-making is not only consensus process based, but-- as it seems to me based on recent events-- crisis management driven. Let me put this another way: Would we, as a group of individuals, prefer to step up and prevent an outbreak of pathogen-based diarrhea (which can be life-threatening) ourselves? Or should we just ignore this health issue, focus on the importance of flowers, and continue a <i>que sera sera</i> apathetic attitude... until the Department of Public Health (or, worse, CDC) shows up to governmentally "solve" the problem for us? After all, we ARE technically preparing and serving food publicly. If we were a restaurant, I have no doubt that the health inspection would close us down for neglecting ANY attempt to encourage or enable the most basic steps of food safely, personal hygiene, and other parts of the food preparation health code.<br>
<br>Personally, I just don't want the horrible, cramping, ill-feeling diarrhea I had 10 days ago... nor do I want anyone else to experience them. I clean the toilets fairly regularly; trust me, empirical evidence suggests it is still continuing. I don't think this anywhere merits a 3-1-1 call, but the silence on this from board members even is perplexing. If no one wants to deal with this but is willing to financially underwrite it, let me know and I'll get it done.<br>
<br>Can we focus on the Feces and Fruit Flies, please? Does it help if I point out that this might well be something that could affect YOU? <br><br>THANK YOU, Noisebridge is excellent! Let's work to keep it that way, ok?<br>
<br>Duncan<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Sun, Sep 11, 2011 at 5:54 AM, girlgeek <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:girlgeek@wt.net">girlgeek@wt.net</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding-left: 1ex;">
<div bgcolor="#FFFFFF" text="#000000">
Whether or not you like the flowers they are not causing dysentery.
I have traveled extensively where dysentery is a problem. The
preventative is to wash dishes, (the dishwasher is good) and your
hands and to keep your hands out of your mouth and eyes. Something
clean to dry hands on would be a help. <br>
<br>
All of the business about the counter, flowers, etc are nice if they
are of interest to you. They will have no effect on the dysentery.
<br>
-Claudia <br><div><div></div><div class="h5">
<br>
On 9/10/2011 5:33 PM, Griffin Boyce wrote:
</div></div><blockquote type="cite"><div><div></div><div class="h5">
<div>If she's bringing the flowers in every day, it would be nice
of her to toss the old ones before they get too nasty. Flowers
are nice, though dried flowers don't have as many problems as
their fresh-picked cousins (eg watering, grossness, flies). A
sign seems a bit excessive.<br>
</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>As for the public health aspects, there are many causes of
diarrhea, which paper towels might not fix. Bulk paper towels
are not super-expensive, and really sort of a necessity since
there's a kitchen.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Once the counter edging is replaced, I heartily recommend
clear silicone caulking for corners and edges. It's a simple
step, but it will *really* prevent cleaning/mold/nastiness
issues in the future. It might be worth taking an old
toothbrush and rags to the edging now to see if the gunk will
come out. If it's possible to thoroughly clean the edging, then
you can probably caulk it when clean.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Griffin</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<br>
<div class="gmail_quote">On Sat, Sep 10, 2011 at 5:49 PM, Snail <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:snailtsunami@gmail.com" target="_blank">snailtsunami@gmail.com</a>></span>
wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding-left: 1ex;">
<div class="gmail_quote">
<div>On Sat, Sep 10, 2011 at 2:28 PM, Just Duncan
<span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:justduncan@gmail.com" target="_blank">justduncan@gmail.com</a>></span>
wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding-left: 1ex;">
- All the blooms and roses brought daily by Wish into
the kitchen area that unhappily wilt, die, and decay
here... something fruit flies seem to love. First,
having had a mother whose hobbyist passion was growing
roses to enjoy on the bush, I'm wondering the excellency
of how these roses/flowers are being picked. Secondly,
I think NB's kitchen can sacrifice color for the sake of
hygiene. Finally, with all their thorns, disposing of
them is rather painful. Is there any great object to
a sign putting flowers and floating blossoms on hiatus?<br>
<br>
</blockquote>
</div>
<div><br>
I object to a sign because you know one specific person
who brings flowers, and you want her to stop. It would be
really passive aggressive to put up a sign when you could
just talk to her yourself; I'm not sure why you're
e-mailing everyone on the list instead of doing so, in
fact.<br>
</div>
</div>
</blockquote>
</div>
<br>
<br>
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