Letters to the Editor
BeatnikBob
Published Letters: 95 Editor's Choice: 3
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In order to REALLY stop the spread of disease...
[Read the article: Public bathroom dilemma: Paper or air?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]You use a paper towel. No doubt about it.
Because, at least in the MEN'S room, one out of at least every seven to ten men DON'T WASH THEIR HANDS AT ALL--and spread disease for those who use hand dryers. If I had to guess, it would be the bathrooms with hand dryers that have the highest percentage of men who skip washing altogether--because it takes an extra thirty seconds to blow dry.
You have to use a paper towel in a rest room with a door handle. There's really not much choice if you want to accomplish what washing your hands means to do in the first place--kill the germs, AND not pick up any more AFTER you've washed your hands.
Too bad this fact didn't make it into the article. Environmentalism is great, as long as the 'solutions' don't cause more problems for people than they solve. Global warming, or flu epidemic?
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Speaking of carrying your own handkerchief...
[Read the article: Public bathroom dilemma: Paper or air?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]You're picking up new germs constantly! You're carrying them with you, and spreading them everywhere! That has to be the WORST solution, if you're trying to stop spreading disease!
It may be the most green solution, but in a dense population, if it were our chief way to dry hands AND open dirty door handles, all it would do would be to eventually exacerbate the situation.
Paper towels are what your doctor uses in the office. That's what I'll use, too.
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One more rant and then I'm on my way...
[Read the article: Public bathroom dilemma: Paper or air?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]After reading each letter written by our illustrious, intelligent and open-minded salon.com crowd here, I'm surprised at how few of them reference the real reason we wash our hands in the first place: Sanitation. Not common decency; not in regard to the 'ewww' factor; not to smell nice.
Unfortunately, when it comes to our health, the environment will have to take a very slight back seat, even with 300 million people consuming the energy and producing the pollution.
But people's health comes before the globe's. I'm certain we will find a green solution for this without endangering public health, somehow. That solution has not made it onto this web page. No big deal.
Much bigger deal: I want my flying solar-powered cars, NOW! It's 2007...it's time to make those 1939 New York World's Fair fantasies come TRUE!
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Nope. I'm right.
[Read the article: Public bathroom dilemma: Paper or air?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Why does anyone wash their hands after peeing or shitting?
Disease. Any disgust comes from the basic fear of that. And it is real, people. Think about Hepatitis A, which is spread rapidly in the lack of any antiseptic measures. Think of influenza, which is highly contagious also. Studies have shown that people who follow hygiene procedures faithfully get sick much less often than those who gun and run. Anyone who claims they're healthier when they're exposing themselves to as many germs needlessly as possible is living a fantasy.
Some of these letters are absolutely gross, and without a shred of evidence pointing to satire or sarcasm. And I certainly don't need a study telling me what the percentage of men don't wash their hands after using the toilet in public. I can see it for myself, every single day.
Paper towels, and hand sanitizer is fine, if you want to carry it with you. Anything else, and you might as well not wash your hands at all--which is not a solution. If it's good enough for the doctor, then it's good enough for the rest of us.
The carbon entering the atmosphere for the sake of us staying healthy, and keeping healthy (despite the inevitable, inconsiderate few that contaminate hand surfaces) is minimal. Compare how much carbon consumption drying your hands takes to driving to the public rest room in the first place!
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It would be irresponsible to NOT speculate...
[Read the article: WSJ Op-Ed page decries hatred of the president]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]...on World Trade Center 7, Tora Bora, Abu Ghraib and the Torture Memo, Ohio 2004 voting irregularities, the Energy Task Force's Iraq oil maps, the seizure of Prescott Bush's Nazi assets under the Trading With The Enemy Act, Poppy's Paris trip of 1980, the 2005 murder of New Orleans, the warrantless wiretapping of Americans BEFORE 9-11, or on the fact that the threat level hasn't even been mentioned, much less raised, ever since last November...
This is the Bush Crime Family. We don't hate Tony Soprano, we ROOT for him! The Bushes deserve no less, right?
A firing squad is too good for these people. And so is Hell.
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I don't see it
[Read the article: "Margot at the Wedding"]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]From the two photographs I saw (Kidman as Margot, and the Marie Claire article), Nicole Kidman's face looks...completely natural. Untouched by cosmetic surgery. Even a tiny jowl made an appearance! Maybe you could see more detail when you watched Baumbach's film, but still...
Some people just don't age as quickly as others. Myself included. It's no big deal; we're not 'blessed' or any luckier than anyone else, unless we're movie stars. THEN it comes in handy.
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salon gave me a scare last week
[Read the article: WayLay]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]...when WayLay was not in its usual place, and the new comic was.
Practically the only reason I pay for salon Premium is to read these four comics. Now we have them six days a week. Such a deal.
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So nu?
[Read the article: Time magazine lavishly rewards journalistic malpractice]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Media Whores Online...come back! Come back!
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I'd bet pretty good money...
[Read the article: Time magazine lavishly rewards journalistic malpractice]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]...that either Time or the Freepers are hacking this site. Or else salon's webmaster just came on this morning for repairs and maintenance.
If they're getting hacked, they should be honored. It's a battle of words.
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According to Laura, liveblogging the debate at DailyKos:
[Read the article: Did New Yorkers pay for Giuliani's affair?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Here's Rudy's explanation:
He needed the security because of threats and did not choose where the expenses were filed. He knew not where the [Rudy's words] totally legitimate expenses would be charged. It was all the decision of his security service!
Only one response is necessary to this:
ha ha
Rudy. He's a Dead Man Talkin'.
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The worm is turning
[Read the article: The NYT's Michael Cooper demonstrates what real reporting is]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Thank you, Glenn, for finding a reporter who is the ANTITHESIS of a Media Whore.
Come back, Media Whores Online! Come back, and receive the kudos and honors due you for being a lone voice in the wilderness!