IF YOU work in an office, perhaps you should be washing your hands before you go to the lavatory rather than after, or better still both. University of Arizona microbiologist Chuck Gerba has discovered that the average office desk is a veritable menagerie of microbes, with 400 times the bacterial load of the average toilet seat.
And it is not just your desk you have to worry about. The phone, the fax machine and door handles all harbour microbiological nasties in great numbers. Even the water fountain handle is a perfect site for growing bacteria.
Gerba points out that most people鈥檚 toilet seat is cleaner than their kitchen work surface, so he didn鈥檛 find it too much of a surprise to discover so many bugs on their desk tops too.
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The research, which was funded by Clorox, a bleach manufacturer, also demonstrated that using simple disinfectant cloths could wipe out 99.9 per cent of the office bacteria in one fell swoop.
Having failed to find any disinfectant wipes in the office, Feedback is now recruiting a couple of colleagues to help move our PC into the New 杏吧原创 toilets, second cubicle on the right. Just to be on the safe side.
鈥�IF YOU breathe,鈥� warns an article in the May issue of Australian Good Health News, 鈥測ou breathe in billions of oxygen molecules that can cause cancer, arthritis, degenerative diseases and premature ageing.鈥�
Best give it up, then.
WOULD you like to win $1000? A religious sect in the US called Catholic Apologetics International is offering this worthwhile sum to 鈥渢he first person to prove that the Earth revolves around the Sun鈥�. The group prefers the good old traditional view that 鈥渢he Earth is the centre of the Universe, and the stars, Sun and planets revolve around a stationary Earth鈥�.
Oh, and that鈥檚 not all. The CAI website also offers $1000 to 鈥渢he first person to prove the case for evolution鈥�, takes a swipe at 鈥渢he flaws and prejudices of Einsteinian relativity theory鈥� and provides 鈥渘ew evidence that the genealogies listed in the book of Genesis may be accurate鈥�. They haven鈥檛 yet got round to claiming that the Earth is flat. But give them time.
WE HAVE to ask: is there a job inside BT entitled 鈥淚n charge of spoiling good technology鈥�?
As we鈥檝e mentioned before (6 October, 2001), BT sells a CD-ROM which indexes all Britain鈥檚 telephone numbers. To buy a copy you first need to chance on an advert buried at the back of BT鈥檚 paper phone directories, then call a BT helpline to ask the price and order a copy. When the disc eventually arrives through the post, it can only be used after calling another BT helpline, during weekday office hours, to get a secret code that lets you install the disc on your PC. This code is good for one day only.
We used the code and liked the disc, until it suddenly stopped working over a weekend. Ah, said the helpline during working hours the next week, you must have defragmented your hard disc.
鈥淒efragging鈥� is a standard procedure which speeds up the way a PC works by tidying up the data stored on its hard disc. But it can also destroy the secret licence file which Phone Disc鈥檚 code creates. A new code is needed to get Phone Disc working again.
Feedback has already had to ask for several new codes. The last time we called, BT鈥檚 helpline was answered by an 鈥渆xpert鈥� who did not even understand what defragmenting a hard disc means, let alone what it does to BT鈥檚 disc.
HOW FREQUENT is frequent? Ever-helpful Microsoft gives an indication of how often programs are used in the 鈥淎dd or Remove Programs鈥� feature on Windows XP鈥檚 Control Panel. Reader Donald Hadden was puzzled, though, because programs he fired up daily were listed as being used 鈥渙ccasionally鈥�. So he clicked the highlighted listing, hoping for a definitive explanation.
What he got was: 鈥淒efinition: Frequency鈥� Windows measures the number of times the program has been run in the past 30 days and labels it accordingly. Frequency is divided into three areas: 鈥楻arely鈥欌�攖he program is rarely or never run. 鈥極ccasionally鈥欌�攖he program is run sometimes. 鈥楩requently鈥欌�攖he program is run often.鈥�
Isn鈥檛 that helpful?
A COLLEAGUE has just been sifting through international standards, looking for anything to do with ink-jet printers, inks and paper. British Standard BS 4321:1969 covers the resistance of prints and inks to chemical agents, and part 8 carefully analyses the way they stand up to cheese. A copy of the standard costs 拢80. The price is doubtless amply justified by the expense the testers incurred buying all kinds of gourmet cheeses and rubbing them on bits of printed paper.
THANKS TO Sainsbury鈥檚 supermarket for telling us how to cut a cake. Here are the 鈥渃utting instructions鈥� that come with a Sainsbury鈥檚 fruit cake: 鈥淩emove all packaging and place the cake on a flat surface, such as a cake board or clean chopping board. Hold the cake firmly and use a long sharp knife to cut into slices with a sawing action. It is important to keep the knife blade clean.鈥�
FROM a chain letter received by reader Jonathan Waller: 鈥淚f you break this email chain letter (it has been going since 1887) you will have bad luck with your love life for seven years.鈥�
FINALLY, when reader Stephen Archibald鈥檚 son had his first birthday, he received a card with a badge attached. The badge declared: 鈥淚 am 1 today!鈥� Inside was a warning: 鈥淣ot suitable for children under 36 months.鈥�