Comments on: Rodent Excreta Pellets

By: Mud Blood & Beer

Mud Blood & Beer — Wed, 31 Dec 1969 18:00:00 +0000

I'm with you to an extent; I don't have a problem with the idea of government inspection of restaurants, but it's the practice of inspection that's of concern. I'm from Los Angeles, and there what they found was a huge amount of corruption among inspectors, threatening B or C ratings to restaurant owners who did not bribe them. Inspections also included several standards of compliance that were unrelated to food cleanliness (such as the positioning of "employees must wash their hands" signs; not whether they had them, but the positioning). Now I know that the government of DC has never had issues with government corruption, but it could be a problem if regulations aren't written and enforced in a reasonable manner.

By: Billy Oblivion

Billy Oblivion — Wed, 31 Dec 1969 18:00:00 +0000

Yes, I *do* want to know what's in my chocolate.

But then I'll eat about anything that's not from an avacado.

By: Teresa

Teresa — Wed, 31 Dec 1969 18:00:00 +0000

Every once in a while they publish those guidelines in newspapers. In high school (way back when) we - the geeks - would calculate the bug parts allowed in a Reese's Peanut Butter cup and post it on the lab room door. Just to help out the candy sales that the Band was conducting don't you know.

For some reason it was never a deterent - go figure.

By: Mr Mouse

Mr Mouse — Wed, 31 Dec 1969 18:00:00 +0000

On behalf of my brethren, I must take offense, as it is not our fault that the restaurants failed to give us the necessary facilities or to have marked the areas where it was alright to take a crap while foraging for food.

By: Fred

Fred — Wed, 31 Dec 1969 18:00:00 +0000

This is not a new problem. Go read George Orwell's account of filthy Parisian restaurants in 'Down and Out in Paris and London'. It's so awful it's funny.

By: Attila Girl

Attila Girl — Wed, 31 Dec 1969 18:00:00 +0000

But this is the kind of thing that we would go mad if we thought about it too hard. I live a privileged life in the American middle class, and I believe that because of that my consumption of insects is at an all-time historical low (much lower than that of the wealthy, or even royalty, in earlier centuries). Not zero, though. Just low. I dig this: it's a great time/place to be alive.

Here's one for you: nurses' watches are sterile. That is, they can't wash them when they wash their hands--but they do have to wear them to take blood-pressure readings. So they are simply declared sterile.

By: Teresa

Teresa — Wed, 31 Dec 1969 18:00:00 +0000

Sorry Attila Girl - as a former nurse, I can tell you that watches are not declared sterile. And watches are not used to take blood pressure. Second hands are used for pulse and respiration counts. Most nurses wear their watch on their wrist and therefore never have to touch it with their fingers between one patient and the next to take vital signs.

Nurses wash their hands between patients to prevent the spread of germs, but they don't sterilize their hands. In the operating room, no one wears jewelry - period. You take it all off when you scrub - clocks on the wall with second hands are provided if needed, but mostly equipment in the operating room takes the place of nurses counting. And even after scrubbing (10 minutes per arm, up to the elbow) you aren't considered sterile, just clean. Then you wear sterile gloves and gown.

Hope that clears things up. *G*

By: Attila Girl

Attila Girl — Wed, 31 Dec 1969 18:00:00 +0000

Okey-doke. Got that one second hand, from a friend who knew a friend who is a nurse. Should have asked her myself. I guess I like that on a metaphorical level--I always thought it was comparable to those "postulates" we had to use in math. My interpretation of *those* was: "we don't know if this is true or not, but we cannot proceed unless we act as if they are.

I'm now waiting for a mathematician to come along and correct me ;)

By: Signifying Nothing

Signifying Nothing — Wed, 31 Dec 1969 18:00:00 +0000

Rat crap
James Joyner sides with Julian Sanchez against Radley Balko on the merits of government inspections of restaurants. I’m pretty sure some libertarian—I want to say it was Charles Murray, in What It Means to Be a Libertarian—made an arg...

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