[Noisebridge-discuss] Prevent Diarrhea

Tue Sep 13 07:37:23 UTC 2011

YEAY!!!

Success!  Excellence!

This is a huge thank you to all the people at Noisebridge who have joined in
focusing and resolving the concerns I raised.  Thank you for your
input/feedback, roll-up-your-sleeves action, and financial donation.  In
several days, we've made great strides in addressing the two main areas of
concern:

We've improved the infrastructure/supplies that facilitate the healthy
practice of washing one's hands after using the bathroom and before using
the kitchen area are in place.  Specifically, we at Noisebridge have:

   - Bought and have located pump-dispensed, antibacterial foaming hand soap
   on the sink in both bathrooms;
   - Bought *Dawn* dish washing soap for the kitchen sink;
   - Boiught and have located a large pump-dispenser of antibacterial
   sanitizing hand gel in the kitchen near the dishwasher.  PUMP IT... Pump it
   Good!  :-)
   - Bought and installed a paper towel holder (yes, with paper towels) in
   the kitchen.  Paper towel holders for the two bathrooms are coming this
   weekend;

All of the above sport the large red Noisebridge logo sticker for greater
visibility.

We've successfully made major advances in our efforts to reduce the breeding
and feeding and general population of fruit flies at Noisebridge.  Actions
include:

   - Bought  Lysol antibacterial kitchen cleaning pump spray and are using
   it to more thoroughly clean the surfaces in the kitchen area;
   - Began and will be continuing a week-long project of cleaning the
   interior areas of all kitchen cabinets and drawers;
   - With Francisco's help, relocated and contained his excellent banana
   vinegar project in a safer location.  The banana vinegar should be ready in
   October;
   - Cleaned and reorganized the food storage room, hanging fly paper with
   curiosity;
   - Have improved our fresh raw fruit & vegetable storage practices by:
      - Containing them in clean, plastic buckets with matching,
      fitting/sealed plastic lids in order to maximum their span of
edibility (vs,
      cardboard boxes);
      - Inspecting stored perishables regularly in order to verify that we
      are storing eatable food, not decaying waste;
      - Encouraging increased use of the existing cleaning & waste disposal
   technology in the kitchen;
   - Taken a deep breath, noticed how excellent Noisebridge is, and smelled
   the roses;

Personally, this was a most excellent experience in raising concerns,
learning how Noisebridge works (and I'm still learning, BTW ;-) ),
communicating, focusing, organizing, working with many others to reach
common ground solutions that resolved various and differing concerns.  Thank
You!

P.S.  The Noisebridger who suggested the subject line was right about
generating a high click-open rate.  Fortunately, all involved contributed to
contain the drama level and focus on solutions instead.  As such, hopefully,
you won't be hearing the "D" word at tomorrow night's meeting... except
maybe from one fun, mischievous devil who can't resist.  ;-)

On Sun, Sep 11, 2011 at 8:12 PM, Danny O'Brien <danny at spesh.com> wrote:

> Duncan.
>
> In practical terms, talk to Ed, who is a trained restaurant professional,
> is working on the fruitfly problem, and still has at least twenty hours of
> service to Noisebridge to go, Francisco, who runs the cleaning process on
> Wednesday, and the rest of tastebridge at
> tastebridge at lists.noisebridge.net. The brewing people are meeting tomorrow
> at 7PM, if you want to speak to them also.
>
> I think a lot of your ideas make a great deal of sense; if what you want is
> some money, go ahead and ask somebody for some money. I'm not sure what else
> you want.
>
> d.
>
>
> On Sun, Sep 11, 2011 at 6:38 PM, Just Duncan <justduncan at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Am I being trolled and just naive?  If I am, will a board member please
>> kindly let me know?   I'm beginning to wonder, especially by the question in
>> anonymity (whoever you, Snail, are).
>>
>> No, I'm long over it, thank you.  Would you kindly explain to me what part
>> of "the diarrhea I had 10 days ago" would lead you to conclude I might be
>> currently ill?
>>
>> Yes, quarantine was great.  It would be ideal if we knew which person was
>> getting it next, *especially* as it requires NO responsibility or action
>> by anyone in the group!
>>
>> Unfortunately, to quote the California lotto, "Are You Next?
>>
>> Don't worry, I'm smiling and not worked up over this... I've already had
>> it.  :-)
>>
>> Duncan
>>
>>
>> On Sun, Sep 11, 2011 at 6:14 PM, Snail <snailtsunami at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>> If you're personally sick, maybe you should avoid being at nb until your
>>> health improves, if you're concerned with spreading it. Quarantine is a
>>> great way to prevent public outbreak.
>>>
>>> On Sep 11, 2011 6:10 PM, "Just Duncan" <justduncan at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>
>>> 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.
>>>
>>> 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 (1)<http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1169043/>, including E
>>> coli <http://aem.asm.org/cgi/content/full/65/1/1>.   Flowers attract
>>> fruit flies (see 7th bullet point under the "CLEAN" section here<http://www.infobarrel.com/Getting_Rid_of_Fruit_Flies>).
>>> By analogy, rodents don't transmit the Black Plague, but the fleas that
>>> loved to hang out with rodents did.
>>>
>>> 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*.
>>>
>>> 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 *que sera sera* 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.
>>>
>>> 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.
>>>
>>> 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?
>>>
>>> THANK YOU, Noisebridge is excellent!  Let's work to keep it that way, ok?
>>>
>>> Duncan
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> On Sun, Sep 11, 2011 at 5:54 AM, girlgeek <girlgeek at wt.net> wrote:
>>> >
>>> > Whether or not you like the...
>>>
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> Noisebridge-discuss mailing list
>>> Noisebridge-discuss at lists.noisebridge.net
>>> https://www.noisebridge.net/mailman/listinfo/noisebridge-discuss
>>>
>>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Noisebridge-discuss mailing list
>> Noisebridge-discuss at lists.noisebridge.net
>> https://www.noisebridge.net/mailman/listinfo/noisebridge-discuss
>>
>>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Noisebridge-discuss mailing list
> Noisebridge-discuss at lists.noisebridge.net
> https://www.noisebridge.net/mailman/listinfo/noisebridge-discuss
>
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.noisebridge.net/pipermail/noisebridge-discuss/attachments/20110913/abb878ef/attachment-0003.html>