Cold + flu germs probably passed around via racking balls + ball-in-hand handling
- Thread starter arnaldo
- Start date
Mono
I drank a lot of draft beer in the seventies and eighties. Caught asses drinking out of my thermos at work without permission too. Thought I had a bad cold until I couldn't get out of bed one morning. Lost six months of work and forty pounds. When I went back to work the first thing I did is pass out on the outside of a scaffold. Jammed my arm through the bars and it didn't break. When I woke up hanging off the side of the scaffold I quit and was out of work another month or two. Never drank another draft beer and drinking out of my thermos was an ass kicking offense! Mono ain't a joke.
At the pool hall I start off with a trip to the bath room which includes washing my hands thoroughly. I take the damp paper towels I dried my hands with out to the table and wipe down the rails. Gets a lot of tar and nicotine off, sometimes a lot of other things even in well kept halls. I don't try to clean cushions and cloth, no doubt they hold a lot more dirt than the hard surfaces but unless you are going to spray them down with lysol and wait for them to dry probably a waste of time messing with them in terms of germs.
I shake hands with everyone that sticks out a hand, particularly opponents. I might make an exception for the guy I saw take a crap then walk out of the bathroom without washing his hands. Other than that I try to remember nasty as it sounds they once used urine to clean surgical tools since it was cleaner than most water! Also, I make frequent trips to the bathroom, especially after shaking a stranger's hand. Sometimes I wash my hands going in the bathroom and coming out too!
Seven or eight months off work with a family to feed did make me a little paranoid. However, I would rather wash my hands than seem like a jerk not willing to shake a hand. I'm cool with a fist bump, I still wash my hands. That person might regularly wipe their runny nose with the back of their hand for all I know.
I hate playing on a table so filthy stuff builds up on my bridge hand. Other than that, I feel OK with just washing my hands a lot. I rarely eat in a pool room but if I do I will definitely wash my hands before and afterwards. For drinks I favor a screw on lid. Fountain drinks are also something I rarely drink, those dispensers can be unbelievably filthy!
Odds of being jarred are pretty small these days but I felt like I was a couple times in the seventies and eighties. Made a rule that I never went back to an open container if it had been out of sight.
Simple practices that reduce risks. No way to reduce them to zero even living in a bubble so no sense being crazy trying to.
Hu
I drank a lot of draft beer in the seventies and eighties. Caught asses drinking out of my thermos at work without permission too. Thought I had a bad cold until I couldn't get out of bed one morning. Lost six months of work and forty pounds. When I went back to work the first thing I did is pass out on the outside of a scaffold. Jammed my arm through the bars and it didn't break. When I woke up hanging off the side of the scaffold I quit and was out of work another month or two. Never drank another draft beer and drinking out of my thermos was an ass kicking offense! Mono ain't a joke.
At the pool hall I start off with a trip to the bath room which includes washing my hands thoroughly. I take the damp paper towels I dried my hands with out to the table and wipe down the rails. Gets a lot of tar and nicotine off, sometimes a lot of other things even in well kept halls. I don't try to clean cushions and cloth, no doubt they hold a lot more dirt than the hard surfaces but unless you are going to spray them down with lysol and wait for them to dry probably a waste of time messing with them in terms of germs.
I shake hands with everyone that sticks out a hand, particularly opponents. I might make an exception for the guy I saw take a crap then walk out of the bathroom without washing his hands. Other than that I try to remember nasty as it sounds they once used urine to clean surgical tools since it was cleaner than most water! Also, I make frequent trips to the bathroom, especially after shaking a stranger's hand. Sometimes I wash my hands going in the bathroom and coming out too!
Seven or eight months off work with a family to feed did make me a little paranoid. However, I would rather wash my hands than seem like a jerk not willing to shake a hand. I'm cool with a fist bump, I still wash my hands. That person might regularly wipe their runny nose with the back of their hand for all I know.
I hate playing on a table so filthy stuff builds up on my bridge hand. Other than that, I feel OK with just washing my hands a lot. I rarely eat in a pool room but if I do I will definitely wash my hands before and afterwards. For drinks I favor a screw on lid. Fountain drinks are also something I rarely drink, those dispensers can be unbelievably filthy!
Odds of being jarred are pretty small these days but I felt like I was a couple times in the seventies and eighties. Made a rule that I never went back to an open container if it had been out of sight.
Simple practices that reduce risks. No way to reduce them to zero even living in a bubble so no sense being crazy trying to.
Hu
Be especially careful if you use the Measles Cue Ball and you haven't been vaccinated. I hear Measles is making a bit of a come back.
Classic!! :thumbup:
Nothing is dirtier than the money we carry around every day and exchange with other people all day long. I do agree with the poster who said that putting your hands to your face is what transmits germs and can cause a cold or worse. Like Jason I never got sick until my late 40's. But after age 50 I became more vulnerable to disease. The older you get the weaker your immune system becomes. Get a flu shot every year. It helps!
Just a little P.S. for reference. I've played poker all my adult life and nothing passes germs any better than those poker chips we are exchanging. You might as well be shaking hands with everyone at the table. I make a point not to touch my face while playing and will wash my hands during every break.
Just a little P.S. for reference. I've played poker all my adult life and nothing passes germs any better than those poker chips we are exchanging. You might as well be shaking hands with everyone at the table. I make a point not to touch my face while playing and will wash my hands during every break.
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Back when I was younger, traveling, the dirtiest things I touched other than money, were bar table pool balls in the south (N. Orleans), and billiard room pool balls that were NEVER cleaned. I used to pick my nose, scratch my inner ear at times and on. I always exercised my entire life, ate well and my immune system only gets a bug once every 4-5 years. If your never exposed to any germs, and you duck em every chance you get, well they get stronger every year, and by not being acclimated to the ones before them, your even more prone to getting even sicker.
I used to say, ''it's fun being sick for a few days'' because its something different. But lol, after about 12 hours, I don't like it. Only once in the past 35 years was I not able to beat the sickness 100%. I got a Z pack, and it was gone. I do tho eat at least a dozen oranges a week and a gallon of OJ minimum, just cuz I like the taste.
I will never wipe the handle bar of a grocery cart. But I will always wash my hands before I leave a public restroom, ONLY by grabbing the handle with a clean paper towel or Toilet paper.
I used to say, ''it's fun being sick for a few days'' because its something different. But lol, after about 12 hours, I don't like it. Only once in the past 35 years was I not able to beat the sickness 100%. I got a Z pack, and it was gone. I do tho eat at least a dozen oranges a week and a gallon of OJ minimum, just cuz I like the taste.
I will never wipe the handle bar of a grocery cart. But I will always wash my hands before I leave a public restroom, ONLY by grabbing the handle with a clean paper towel or Toilet paper.
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My experience is that patrons of our local pool hall show up no matter how sick they are. Each year, I manage to pick up something from them. My wife and I recently returned from a trip abroad that we started in mid-February. To avoid having one of those maladies affect our trip, I stayed out of pool rooms since Christmas.
Yeah, I might take next winter session off. Just not worth it anymore
I mean, 100 folks crammed into tiny space, with poor air ventilation, it's like air travel every week
Yeah, I might take next winter session off. Just not worth it anymore
Glad you mentioned it. Air travel is one of the easiest ways to get sick. All those people in a confined space for an extended period of time. One sick person on that plane is enough to get many others sick afterwards. I will not sit next to someone coughing on a plane PERIOD. I will either change seats or ask to get off and take another flight (I've done that once before and was moved up to Business Class).
I like to take a heavy dose of Airborne or the equivalent before flying and like Island Drive drink a lot of orange juice during the flight.
Start carrying a surgical mask. Get about a 100 for $10. Yeah, you look like you escaped from the hospital, but who cares, nobody will know who you are
They wear them a lot in China back in the bird flu scare days.
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Next time you walk into the pool hall, take a look at that door handle and ponder all the hands that have touched it since it was last cleaned. All those disgusting people that use their hand to muffle a sneeze or a belch.
Then order a drink from the bar and ponder how many foul, stank breathed pool players have wrapped their germ infested lips around the rim of that glass.
Before your matches start, you head to the bathroom. Use your imagination.
While you play, you're sharing germs on the balls, rack, and the rest of the table. Not just with your pool mates but everyone that's eaten food, drank beverages, coughed, vomited, spit, etc. around the table. Your shoes are taking all that with you to your home.
Don't forget to touch the door again on the way out.
Then order a drink from the bar and ponder how many foul, stank breathed pool players have wrapped their germ infested lips around the rim of that glass.
Before your matches start, you head to the bathroom. Use your imagination.
While you play, you're sharing germs on the balls, rack, and the rest of the table. Not just with your pool mates but everyone that's eaten food, drank beverages, coughed, vomited, spit, etc. around the table. Your shoes are taking all that with you to your home.
Don't forget to touch the door again on the way out.
"Hot water" does nothing, its just more pleasant to some than cold water. :thumbup:
Water hot enough to kill any harmful bacteria would scald the flesh off of your body.
http://www.burnfoundation.org/programs/resource.cfm?c=1&a=3
https://www.foodsafety.gov/keep/basics/cook/index.html
Plus most soap lather is artificially created because of customer demand, not because it is needed for cleaning.
Turns out in my case Jay that my immune system has gotten stronger as I got older. I had various health problems when I was a young child. Over time my immune system got stronger. From the age of 39 to present I have made very substantial life changes got sober, quit drinking carbonated beverages, quit smoking. I had chronic respiratory problems since I was just a baby. I don't get colds or the flu and haven't for many years now. Of course age has given me other health problems. But my immune system got stronger with age.
I caught it first weekend of February at my local hall.
Had fever for 3 nights and had minor cold and cough for almost two weeks.
It was a weird flu.
Had fever for 3 nights and had minor cold and cough for almost two weeks.
It was a weird flu.
Still better than that gooey shit they put in those pump bottles for killing germs. I've had more than one doctor tell me that crap leaves behind as much as it removes. S&W gives it at least the 5ball.
I have friends that are TOO clean....and raised their kids that way...they spend way too
much time making themselves vulnerable to everything making the rounds....
....and they eat gluten-free products and are lactose intolerant.
My mother used to be a nurse....raised 6 healthy kids who ate like horses but didn’t get obese.
...she said “Kids have to eat a pound of dirt by the time they’re three.”
I wash my hands a lot....but no sterilization, please.
...lotta germs about....c’mon out and fight