6 ms·

I don't know. That other fellow had a point about the toothbrush. And if that's true, surely some filth is getting in, right? I mean, dirt moves on its own.

by b112 26d ago

I don't know. That other fellow had a point about the toothbrush. And if that's true, surely some filth is getting in, right? I mean, dirt moves on its own. Bacteria moves, and dirt comes with them. After all, how do you even know your soap is clean? https://www.today.com/health/recall/hand-soap-recall-2025-rcna224335 https://www.today.com/health/recall/hand-soap-recall-2025-rc... And the recall was for deadly bacteria. Probably a growth medium too. Modern soap has lots of ingredients, each could be dirty at source. So if your soap is dirty, how can your feet be clean? I'm still not convinced.

samus 26d ago
The toothbrush is a moot point if you have a separate be bathroom and toilet. If they are combined the spread of fecal particles is curbed by flushing the toilet with closed lid. And in the end the toothbrush is flushed before using and then coated with toothpaste, which often contains detergents and microbial agenda, and which is finally flushed out. I don't think you can conclude from that incident that all soap is always contaminated. And even if it's not perfectly clean, in the end ist's all flushed away. I don't really get what your point is. Are you regularly eating from the pedestrian way?
- b112 26d ago
  My point was that you seemed incredibly positive that Japan houses o'clean, and the rest of the world is as apes, in caves, picking parasites off of each others backs. This obsession with shoes, doesn't cover the fly droppings, the dirt upon clothing, and the fact that your body is always covered in bacteria, your gut filled with bacteria, your lunch covered in it if you ever eat fresh greens, you will die without bacteria. I'm not suggesting you walk around with dirty shoes, that's silly. Yet I feel you are a city dweller, because the world is made of dirt, and a rural farm worker spends all day in it. To no harm to the worker. Dirt is natural. Concrete is not. So my point was just, you seemed a little upset at dirt. After all: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49608023 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49608023
  - samus 26d ago
    I just don't get why you treat this as something super complicated. There is street and nature level dirt which contains an unknowable degree of contamination that can be unambiguously bad for you if you ingest it, no matter what that BBC article says, and the inside areas where people eat and sleep. The vast majority of cultures prefer to maintain that separation and to maintain a considerably higher level of cleanliness in the living areas, no matter if it's not at semiconductor fab level. Specific to Japanese culture is just that they prefer to sit at low tables and to sleep on the ground on duvets; it should be easy to see why they want less dirt on the ground than other cultures.
    - b112 26d ago
      naishoya was fairly damning of all other methods of living, so naturally I'll be quite overt in my response. And almost everyone was a farmer until the last 100+ years. The only way to generate enough food, without machinery, was for all to take part in its creation. People were more used to having hands in dirt. That doesn't mean unclean, but I do find all city dwellers more "fussy" about dirt. They take traditions made for pragmatism (keep dirt off the floor, eg tidiness), and evolve it to fussiness(eg, contaminated).
      - samus 25d ago
        Getting one's hands dirty has little to do with cleanliness inside the home. Do you think the Japanese didn't have to do farmwork? Contamination is not a modern concept either. Cue to how many religions have quite sharply defined criteria for ritual cleanliness.
        b112 24d ago
        Getting one's hands dirty has little to do with cleanliness inside the home. Do you think the Japanese didn't have to do farmwork? Thank you for agreeing with precisely what I already said. Contamination is not a modern concept either. Cue to how many religions have quite sharply defined criteria for ritual cleanliness. I didn't say, elude, or mention that it was. Instead, I said 'city dwellers' are afraid of dirt.

by b112 26d ago

samus 26d ago

The toothbrush is a moot point if you have a separate be bathroom and toilet. If they are combined the spread of fecal particles is curbed by flushing the toilet with closed lid. And in the end the toothbrush is flushed before using and then coated with toothpaste, which often contains detergents and microbial agenda, and which is finally flushed out. I don't think you can conclude from that incident that all soap is always contaminated. And even if it's not perfectly clean, in the end ist's all flushed away. I don't really get what your point is. Are you regularly eating from the pedestrian way?

b112 26d ago
My point was that you seemed incredibly positive that Japan houses o'clean, and the rest of the world is as apes, in caves, picking parasites off of each others backs. This obsession with shoes, doesn't cover the fly droppings, the dirt upon clothing, and the fact that your body is always covered in bacteria, your gut filled with bacteria, your lunch covered in it if you ever eat fresh greens, you will die without bacteria. I'm not suggesting you walk around with dirty shoes, that's silly. Yet I feel you are a city dweller, because the world is made of dirt, and a rural farm worker spends all day in it. To no harm to the worker. Dirt is natural. Concrete is not. So my point was just, you seemed a little upset at dirt. After all: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49608023 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49608023
- samus 26d ago
  I just don't get why you treat this as something super complicated. There is street and nature level dirt which contains an unknowable degree of contamination that can be unambiguously bad for you if you ingest it, no matter what that BBC article says, and the inside areas where people eat and sleep. The vast majority of cultures prefer to maintain that separation and to maintain a considerably higher level of cleanliness in the living areas, no matter if it's not at semiconductor fab level. Specific to Japanese culture is just that they prefer to sit at low tables and to sleep on the ground on duvets; it should be easy to see why they want less dirt on the ground than other cultures.
  - b112 26d ago
    naishoya was fairly damning of all other methods of living, so naturally I'll be quite overt in my response. And almost everyone was a farmer until the last 100+ years. The only way to generate enough food, without machinery, was for all to take part in its creation. People were more used to having hands in dirt. That doesn't mean unclean, but I do find all city dwellers more "fussy" about dirt. They take traditions made for pragmatism (keep dirt off the floor, eg tidiness), and evolve it to fussiness(eg, contaminated).
    - samus 25d ago
      Getting one's hands dirty has little to do with cleanliness inside the home. Do you think the Japanese didn't have to do farmwork? Contamination is not a modern concept either. Cue to how many religions have quite sharply defined criteria for ritual cleanliness.
      - b112 24d ago
        Getting one's hands dirty has little to do with cleanliness inside the home. Do you think the Japanese didn't have to do farmwork? Thank you for agreeing with precisely what I already said. Contamination is not a modern concept either. Cue to how many religions have quite sharply defined criteria for ritual cleanliness. I didn't say, elude, or mention that it was. Instead, I said 'city dwellers' are afraid of dirt.