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Lifting The Lid On Computer Filth

IainMH writes "There's a story over at BBC News about how work stations contain nearly 400 times as many microbes than lavatories. Gross. 'A desk is capable of supporting 10 million bacteria and the average office contains 20,961 germs per square inch, according to research. ... By contrast, the average toilet seat contains 49 germs per square inch, the survey showed.'"

60 of 567 comments (clear)

  1. LAN Parties by platipusrc · · Score: 1, Funny

    Hey, at least it's a good reason to not let people borrow my computer whenever I'm not using it at a gaming party!

    --
    And the muscular cyborg German dudes dance with sexy French Canadians
  2. No more Computer-TV tray by prozac79 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Does this mean I have to stop using the top of my computer as a food tray? It was so convinient to be able to place a plate and glass on top of the case while I'm working.

    --
    "Oh dear, she's stuck in an infinite loop and he's an idiot" -Prof. Farnsworth (Futurama)
    1. Re:No more Computer-TV tray by sl0wp0is0n · · Score: 2, Funny

      Yeah.. and stop using your CD drive as a cup holder!

      --
      My other dog is a Wienerschnitzel.
    2. Re:No more Computer-TV tray by kfg · · Score: 4, Funny

      But not as well as my ENIAC. 200 kilowatts of food warming power, and you can actually tuck your bagel right down between he vacuum tubes, for a nice, even, all over warm. Several thousand of them at the same time, if it comes to that.

      Not like the stupid little chared spot modern CPUs leave.

      No, when it comes to warming food the old machines are clearly superiour.

      KFG

  3. Mandatory Porn reference. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Of course they're filthier! Toilets just have people sitting on them. There's no end to the fetishes explored on personal workstations across the globe!

  4. but are the microbes "bad"? by PopCulture · · Score: 5, Funny

    the "lick test"

    lick a public toilet seat you'll probably get real sick

    lick your desk and your work mates will just think you're a freak.

    --

    Here's to finally giving Bush his exit strategy in November
    1. Re:but are the microbes "bad"? by chunkwhite86 · · Score: 4, Funny

      The excrement is expelled (around) once a day.

      You are not eating enough fiber!

      the excrement only touches a small portion in the center of the ass, whereas the toilet seat contacts the washed cheek.

      While generally true, this may not apply to some of my coworkers. I've seen large tracts of fecal matter smeared across the toilet seats at work. Either someone here has an anatomically incorrect anus, or their shitting technique needs improvement. Either way, there are some most unpristine asses around here.

      Add to that the fact that commercial toilets are generally disinfected once a day. When's the last time you saw a doorknob being disinfected?

      Makes sense... but I'd still rather shake your hand than grip your ass cheek. ;-)

      --
      I'd rather be a conservative nutjob than a liberal with no nuts and no job.
    2. Re:but are the microbes "bad"? by JabberWokky · · Score: 5, Funny
      Makes sense... but I'd still rather shake your hand than grip your ass cheek. ;-)

      After hearing about your coworker's issues, maybe I'll just wave. :)

      --
      Evan

      --
      "$30 for the One True Ring. $10 each additional ring!" -- JRR "Bob" Tolkien
  5. I guess we really DO need... by Trolling4Dollars · · Score: 4, Funny

    ...telephone sanitisers.

  6. Re:Surprising? by Professor_Quail · · Score: 4, Funny

    speak for yourself!

  7. Workstation supports microbes? by Metallic+Matty · · Score: 1, Funny

    That's not the only low lifeforms they support.

    I'm fairly certain the computers at my school have some kind of fester troll problem. Especially considering our school's IP has been banned from /.

  8. Nice to know... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Funny

    CONSIDERING I had already seen this on Yahoo news...and decided to log onto slashdot in the middle of my break in class at the college....right when I thought about the OTHER article and I start to eat my candy....without washing my hands....

    This was just such a great reminder.

    Ewww, bleh!!! :-P

  9. Not quite the same by Tom7 · · Score: 4, Funny

    Yeah, but the germs on my desk come from my hands and nose, not other people's asses.

  10. I find it helps... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    ...to actually get up from my desk and go to the lavatory to relieve myself.

    1. Re:I find it helps... by Walt+Dismal · · Score: 2, Funny

      I do all my computing in the toilet to save time. When I flush a buffer, I REALLY flush a buffer.

  11. Metastory reports: by xenotrout · · Score: 5, Funny

    Everything is dirtier than a toilet! It's really that simple. Everyone should start making things out of toilets.
    1) Find everything to be dirtier than toilets
    2) Make things out of toilets
    3) Profit!
    There's no missing step! Well, except that these things will not actually be toilets, and thus will be found dirtier than toilets. But why? Because people know that toilets are "dirty", and thus clean them! So many things are assumed to be clean because they are not specifically used in a way that would seem to make them dirty, and so they don't get cleaned. No story here, move along.

  12. Bubble Boy by thedogcow · · Score: 2, Funny

    I live in a bubble you insensitive clod....

    --
    Yes! I listen to NYC Speedcore and do math at 3AM. I suggest you try it too.
  13. Infections I've gotten from keyboards: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    Pinkeye (3 times)
    Ringworm (once)
    two sinus infections (suspected)

    and

    the herp...

    Well, not from the keyboard, from the skank I was emailing, but I'd like to think it counts....

  14. Code Smells by SlowMovingTarget · · Score: 2, Funny

    This explains why the XP technique of using Code Smells is so effective. "This code smells like crap!"

  15. not just microbes ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Don't forget the traces of "one handed web browsing" on the monitor screen.

  16. What about both? by digitalFX · · Score: 3, Funny

    I sometimes use my wireless laptop while I'm IN the lavatory. I think this means I'll probably die earlier than most of you.

  17. Re:Brought to you by... by craXORjack · · Score: 2, Funny
    Johnson and Johnson sponsored this study, didn't they!

    If it had been Masters and Johnson at least it might have been interesting.

    --
    Liberals call everyone Nazis yet they are the closest thing to it.
  18. Re:My solution by shaka999 · · Score: 2, Funny

    I bought a container of disposable, disinfecting wipes. Every couple days I wipe down my keyboard, desk area, and arm rests. Can't hurt.

    --
    One should not theorize before one has data. -Sherlock Holmes-
  19. What the article fails to say by Geurilla · · Score: 3, Funny

    What the article doesn't report is that according to the same study, the average toilet seat contains 47% more urine per square inch than the average workstation.

  20. Re:Hmmm.... by SoSueMe · · Score: 3, Funny

    With all the crap that comes across my desk, I'd bet that it could be significantly higher than in the article.

  21. My worst experience as a tech. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    User: My keyboard doesn't work.

    Me: Ok I'll go check it out.

    Me (later): Ok, keyboard keys are sticky... and there is no software problem... and there are a lot of porn sites in the browser cache........

    Me resigns.

  22. Gaaa . . . cannot type . . . by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    . . . fingers eaten up bbyy flesshgg eeatyinngg miivcrobbb bbb

  23. Oddly enough by koan · · Score: 1, Funny

    The amount of cheeto dust is exactly the same.....

    --
    "If any question why we died, Tell them because our fathers lied."
  24. You people made a mistake by superpulpsicle · · Score: 4, Funny

    The dirtiest part of the computer is really windows. That's where millions of virus exist.

  25. Re:Hmmm.... by Jardine · · Score: 5, Funny

    Now if you combined the food rich environment of your keyboard with the poison producing bacteria from your colon, you start to have a real problem.

    So what you're saying is that I should not shit on my keyboard. Good to know.

  26. Maybe we all better... by countach · · Score: 2, Funny

    Maybe we all better work in the toilet.

  27. Re:Hmmm.... by ElizabethP · · Score: 5, Funny
    So what you're saying is that I should not shit on my keyboard. Good to know.

    It sounds like someone holds prejudicial opinions regarding keyboard-shitters. To each his/her own, yeah? :-( Granted, my friends have a complete aversion to my keyboard, but that's the way I like it.

  28. Re:Surprising? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    In soviet russia, ass sneezes on YOU!

  29. It's the Spam, You see by myownkidney · · Score: 2, Funny
    Spam is a good breeding ground for Bacteria. And the average PC these days contains about 60 tonnes of spam.

    And it is not only the Germs I am worried about. Since I started coming to Slashdot, my Desktop contains 20,343 trolls per square inch.

    A recent survey indicated a**hole per Oval office in the Whitehouse.

    The list goes on.

  30. Tech support nightmares by B.D.Mills · · Score: 2, Funny

    Office equipment should be regularly disinfected to prevent the spread of bacteria responsible for colds and flu.

    I can see it now. There will be more calls to harrassed tech support people from clueless morons who have read the article, and then "disinfected" their computers by washing them off in buckets of disinfectant.

    --

    The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing. - Edmund Burke
  31. Re:Brought to you by... by Jorkapp · · Score: 2, Funny

    For disinfecting your desk (or hands) in a safe manner nothing really beats vodka...

    The problem with that is, is that by the time you make it from the liquor cabinet to your desk, the bottle will be half-emptied, and your face will be planted on the floor.

    Would make for some fun at the office though. People would bet on who makes it fartest from the cabinet without a face plant on the floor.

    --
    Frink: Nice try floyd, but you were designed for scrubbing, and scrubbing is what you shall do.
  32. Re:Hmmm.... by noidentity · · Score: 5, Funny

    "...a product called "Microban" into their keyboards and mice, to create an environment where bacteria cannot survive and grow."

    Darn it! I knew there was a use for that old Russian monitor that glowed even when it was unplugged. Curse modern low-emissions monitors!

  33. Re:Surprising? by Trejkaz · · Score: 3, Funny

    You just made sex feel so much less appealing.

    --
    Karma: It's all a bunch of tree-huggin' hippy crap!
  34. Just to be on the safe side by commodoresloat · · Score: 5, Funny

    Best not to stick the keyboard in your colon either.

    1. Re:Just to be on the safe side by pyrrhonist · · Score: 5, Funny
      Best not to stick the keyboard in your colon either.

      There's already a colon on the keyboard. Oh, wait...

      --
      Show me on the doll where his noodly appendage touched you.
    2. Re:Just to be on the safe side by cloudmaster · · Score: 2, Funny

      What about those flexible roll-up keyboards?

  35. I just cleaned my keyboard by spun · · Score: 2, Funny

    With my tongue. Is that bad?

    --
    - None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license. -- John Milton
  36. I have a shitty keyboard by zakezuke · · Score: 5, Funny

    Damn microsoft natural keyboard

    --
    There is no sanctuary. There is no sanctuary. SHUT UP! There is no shut up. There is no shut up.
  37. do what? by real_smiff · · Score: 4, Funny
    "I open the PC and blow all the crap out, including the drives and fans."
    Well that is thorough, but don't come near my PC, please.
    --

    This is my Sig, this is my Gun. One is for Slashdot and one is for Fun.

  38. Re:Not Surprising at All... by A+Bugg · · Score: 5, Funny

    Sure blame the "new job" for all of your warts. I think we all know the REAL reasons you got all those warts.

  39. Re:Don't use your hands on washroom doorhandles. by emilng · · Score: 2, Funny

    But Watson already said, "No shit Sherlock"

  40. Subliminal Message? by Threed · · Score: 2, Funny

    SMOKE... SMOKE... SMOKE...

    Are you SMOKING yet?

    (Not now, Jerry!)

  41. Re:Ho hum. by chunkwhite86 · · Score: 4, Funny

    toilet bowl gets cleaned with the really nice smelling (wtf is that, anybody know, mint?) blue stuff every two weeks or so...

    If you think the blue piss puck smells like "mint", then I must advise you; what you've been chewing for the past fifteen minutes is probably NOT gum.

    --
    I'd rather be a conservative nutjob than a liberal with no nuts and no job.
  42. top 7 reasons your bathroom is cleaner by laugau · · Score: 3, Funny

    1) I have never had a worm or virus crash my toilet

    2) The do not make any of that blue junk that I can install in my computer

    3) microsoft doesn't make bathroom fixtures

    4) I let people go in my bathroom. Noone is allowed to drive my PC

    5) Visitors understand how to use everything in my lavatory.

    6) Thankfully, there is no 'undelete' function in the can

    7) Seat at workstation is more comfortable. I try to perform as many biofunctions there as I can.

  43. Re:Don't use your hands on washroom doorhandles. by teamhasnoi · · Score: 4, Funny
    I think doors aren't supposed to open into a hallway; always into a room. This must be to keep people from getting a facefull of door when they walk down the hall. I hate touching poop-handles too.

    I recall brainstorming a way to actually prevent someone from leaving the restroom without washing their hands. I was at Applebee's of all places, and at least 5 different guys walked out of the bathroom without even a glance at the sink. I went through a million different technical ways and all were easily circumvented. I noticed when I washed my hands in the bathroom, others were more likely to as well.

    I finally figured that the best way was to have either a hot chick sit by the door and say, "Did you wash your hands?", or a withered old one-eyed crone point a translucent finger at those who didn't and scream, "UNCLEAN! UNCLEAN!".

    Maybe follow them into the resturant if they refuse. "UNCLEAN! UNCLEAN! Shun him who walks among you - UNCLEAN!"

  44. Re:My solution by chunkwhite86 · · Score: 3, Funny

    My solution is to do nothing. Modern society's obsession with disinfecting everything is weakening our immune systems. Your body is meant to be exposed to these kind organisms and such exposure strengthens your resistance.

    In that case, may I defecate on your keyboard? It's for your own good you know.

    --
    I'd rather be a conservative nutjob than a liberal with no nuts and no job.
  45. Reasons 8, and 9 by laugau · · Score: 2, Funny

    Denial of service attack is unlikely

    Spamfilter is more efficient

  46. Re:Hmmm.... by thinkliberty · · Score: 4, Funny

    Is the licking of microban safe? Because sometimes I read something funny and coffee squirts out my nose so I have to lick my keyboard.

  47. Re:Ho hum. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    You're supposed to clean the toilet???

  48. Re:ALWAYS wash your hands after using a public key by Mind+Socket · · Score: 2, Funny

    Nooooo! Without bacteria to practise on, your immune system will be weak, and you'll fall down and die as soon as you get up to go to the toilet!

    Hypochondriacs do get sick more often for a reason, they invite it.

  49. The userbase must be pretty sad... by zakezuke · · Score: 5, Funny

    ...when the mods consider "don't pick your asshole and THEN use the keyboard" to be informative. Is slashdot hygiene really this awful?

    --
    There is no sanctuary. There is no sanctuary. SHUT UP! There is no shut up. There is no shut up.
    1. Re:The userbase must be pretty sad... by Mateito · · Score: 3, Funny

      > I'm sure 50% of the people out there pick their
      > noses/ears and then their keyboard.

      I had my little finger in my ear as I read that story. Now I feel all ashamed.

  50. Re:Brought to you by... by Eccles · · Score: 2, Funny

    btw if anybody wants to get rid of his money, I can help

    Thanks, but I already have a wife.

    --
    Ooh, a sarcasm detector. Oh, that's a real useful invention.
  51. Re:Biomass? by DownTownMT · · Score: 1, Funny

    "considering the average person weighs... what, like 130 pounds? "

    Speak for yourself lightweight

    --
    "Insert Sig Here"
  52. Re:Hmmm.... by ChaosDiscord · · Score: 2, Funny
    Anyway, now I have to steer completely clear of anything anti-microbial because I killed most of the natural bacteria that keep your body working.

    A suggestion in case you ever consider anti-bacterial soap again: You're not supposed to eat it.