Units of Measurement

#1 The Toilet Seat

I am often amused by the units of measurement used by the media to help us visualise things that we might not understand otherwise such as "an area of rainforest the size of Belgium" etc. One such measurement is the toilet seat which is generally used in germ scaremongering stories like the one I read the other week that screamed about ATMs having as many germs as one. I think it is because toilet seats are thought to be the very height of filth and disease but in fact that is not really the case since bacteria need moisture to survive and your average toilet seat is pretty dry. I am talking about the one in your house and not in the skankiest club in town at 2am on a Sunday morning mind you.

All of this just serves to spread the Fear Of Germs or FOG. While you should wash your hands after going to the toilet and before eating and handling food etc, we as a species have survived for tens of thousands of years without alcoholic hand gels, antibacterial kitchen wipes and "germ free soap" which you can hold your hand under to extract soap without touching that dirty germ ridden dispenser. That one really was a WTF moment when I noticed it in a shop.