Every now and then you get a 3-1, 86 mph fastball down the middle of the plate. You just have to swing.
This exact pitch was thrown in Washington this week. Not the Nationals. By the Post. They ran a superbly silly story this week entitled "The dirtiest places on an airplane, ranked." I swung.
One thing you will guess immediately: "it is never the bathroom." This is the aeronautical equivalent of "the butler did it." Everyone knows that the butler never does it.
You see these kind of stories now and then. They grab your attention, but ultimately they mean nothing.
In 2012, Time Magazine examined "The Six Dirtiest Places in the Office." In this study, it wasn't the bathroom or on the butler. It was the faucet handles in the kitchen area or break room. Mmmm. Of the surfaces they tested, not one of the top six was in the bathroom. Odd? Sure sounds that way. Or maybe the butler cleaned the bathroom.
Similar results were shown in 2007 by a 13-year old boy, who did a simple, but clever science project. Kyleray Katherman compared the amount of bacteria found in the school water fountains, and in the toilet. The latter was cleaner. I'm not sure what to do with that information. Maybe your dog is smarter than you think.
The results from the plane story were similar. By far, the"dirtiest" place on a plane was the tray table. Here are the numbers from the article, which were measured in colony forming units (CFUs) per square inch. (A colony forming unit is an approximation of the number of pathogens, either in a Petri dish or cultured cells. There are different methods for counting the CFUs.)
1. Tray table - 2,155CFU/sq. in.
2. Drinking fountain buttons - 1,240 CFU/sq. in.
3. Overhead air vent- 285 CFU/sq. in.
4. Lavatory flush button- 265 CFU/sq. in.
5. Seat belt buckle -230 CFU/sq. in.
6. Bathroom stall locks - 70 CFU/sq. in.
Taken at face value, these data suggest that you would be better off having your meal while sitting on the toilet during your next flight.
Just think of the kinky possibilities! If you've already joined the "Mile High Club," you can take your chicken meal into the bathroom, put it on a couple of slices of bread with bacon, lettuce and tomato, and voila! The "Mile High Chicken Club."In case it isn't obvious that this is all nonsense, the Post pretty much proves it at the end of the article:
"Thankfully,all the samples were negative for fecal coliforms like E. coli, which can make people fatally ill.
"Whoa!!!!! Where is a science editor when you need one?
E. coli bacteria are found everywhere. Fortunately, most of them are harmless, because you cannot escape them. For example, in hotel rooms, it's 81 percent of surfaces, including TV remote controls, walls, door handles, lamps, you name it. Bed spreads? You don't want to know, or you'd probably overreact before going near the bed.
Yet, no E. Coli was found in an airplane bathroom?? They must be kidding. This alone is reason enough to dump this whole study (apologies) into the toilet (or onto the tray table). There is clearly a sampling error, a measurement error, or both.
In other words, forget it. The whole thing is a waste.
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