primitives discuss how daily showers kill

[franksolich]

http://www.democraticunderground.com/11427048

Oh my.

By the way, this isn't the grooved primitive's words; he's quoting from an article.

groovedaddy (6,029 posts)    Tue Jan 29, 2013, 12:39 PM

That Daily Shower Can Be a Killer

The other morning, I escaped unscathed from a dangerous situation. No, an armed robber didn’t break into my house, nor did I find myself face to face with a mountain lion during my bird walk. What I survived was my daily shower.
 
You see, falls are a common cause of death in older people like me. (I’m 75.) Among my wife’s and my circle of close friends over the age of 70, one became crippled for life, one broke a shoulder and one broke a leg in falls on the sidewalk. One fell down the stairs, and another may not survive a recent fall.
 
“Really!” you may object. “What’s my risk of falling in the shower? One in a thousand?” My answer: Perhaps, but that’s not nearly good enough.
 
Life expectancy for a healthy American man of my age is about 90. (That’s not to be confused with American male life expectancy at birth, only about 78.) If I’m to achieve my statistical quota of 15 more years of life, that means about 15 times 365, or 5,475, more showers. But if I were so careless that my risk of slipping in the shower each time were as high as 1 in 1,000, I’d die or become crippled about five times before reaching my life expectancy. I have to reduce my risk of shower accidents to much, much less than 1 in 5,475.
 
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/29/science/jared-diamonds-guide-to-reducing-lifes-risks.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=edit_th_20130129

question everything (24,369 posts)    Tue Jan 29, 2013, 12:48 PM

1. Try to install a seat

Many are available.

And, thanks for the post. One problem with the shower, or a tub is that they are slippery.

thelordofhell (3,614 posts)    Tue Jan 29, 2013, 12:54 PM

2. put a non slip surface on your shower floor

And install handrails.........

Lionessa (3,542 posts)    Tue Jan 29, 2013, 01:18 PM

3. This came up just the other day. I've been cleaning 'round here and finally got out a single edge razor blade to clean the over 10 years of soap scum in the tub/shower which I had yet to actually use as I bathe entirely differently than mainstream Americans. But still I'm here, it's nice to repay a person letting me squat at his home with some hefty house cleaning. Anyway I did this while he was off visiting family for the holidays.
 
As I'm in the shower doing the final rinse down, I notice that the tub is VERY, VERY much more slippery than it was when I started. The fellow whose house it is happens to be over 70 and I got to worrying. So upon his return I asked if he had a shower mat or some sticky-downs for the tub floor because I wasn't going to let him use his own fabulously clean and shiny shower unless and until he had one something grippy to cover at least half the tub floor. Though he didn't like anything akin to an ultimatum, he did go out directly to the hardware store and bought a simple but effective floor mat.
 
I know that's not the only harm, but it's a biggy. I think removing the 10 years of black mold encrusted grout and regrouting everything with fresh grout may also extend his life a bit. I wonder how many other old folks, particularly men, are showering with molds that most consider pretty toxic because cleaning showers is "womens' work"

^^^it looks like the primitivess found a sugar daddy to support her; an old one likely to leave his money to her.

Warpy (66,714 posts)    Tue Jan 29, 2013, 07:05 PM

4. When I finally bite the bullet and have my bathroom redone

I'm seriously considering having the useless tub ripped out and replaced with a much more useful prefab shower that's big enough to accommodate a stool. Not only am I getting up there, I also have rheumatoid arthritis and the tub is getting all too dangerous. It's also too shallow for anyone over the age of 6 to take a real bath in. About all I use it for is sloshing miniblinds clean once a year or stomping out one of the rugs that's too big for the washer that the cat has puked on.
 
The tub just makes no sense, but I know a contractor is going to try to talk me out of it because of the resale value.

<<<hopes the defrocked warped primitive doesn't get rid of that bathtub too soon, though.

[hillneck]

Sounds like the nasty primitives are trying justify themselves for not taking regular showers or baths. 

[whiffleball]

Downwind of the Lion Primitive must be an olfactory nightmare.

[Tucker]

Warpy (66,714 posts)    Tue Jan 29, 2013, 07:05 PM

4. When I finally bite the bullet and have my bathroom redone

Before she starts any home improvement project she should contact Horse with no Brain. I understand that she knows a great contractor who works really cheap.

[JohnnyReb]

The first chapter in my new book "Finding and identifying Liberals and/or DUmmies...."You Can Smell Them a Mile Away".

[Tucker]

The first chapter in my new book "Finding and identifying Liberals and/or DUmmies...."You Can Smell Them a Mile Away".

Or how to tell the difference between Patchouli and dial soap.

[Karin]

tub/shower which I had yet to actually use as I bathe entirely differently than mainstream Americans.

OK.  What do you suppose the DUmmie does?  Licks herself like a cat?  

[franksolich]

OK.  What do you suppose the DUmmie does?  Licks herself like a cat?  

I was, uh, wondering about that too.

[BlueStateSaint]

OK.  What do you suppose the DUmmie does?  Licks herself like a cat?  

We're pretty sure the below-ground feline does.

[GOBUCKS]

I bathe entirely differently than mainstream Americans.

It's rare for a sentence to have an offensive odor.

[Vagabond]

The DUmmies have a point, however minor.  A lot of slip and fall accidents occur in the shower for older folks, and the regular tub isn't really adequate due to difficulty getting in and out.  However thanks to some evil capitalist running dog pig noticing a potential market for specialized tubs, there are things that older people can use more easily to clean.

http://premiercarebathing.com/walk-in-baths/

[J P Sousa]

Maybe she is Amish;

  But what is different from the norms of American life is that many Amish believe it is only necessary to bathe once a week, usually on a Saturday evening, in preparation for Sunday church services. 

 
.

[JohnnyReb]

Maybe she is Amish;

 
.

bathe once a week, usually on a Saturday evening....we did that in the 1940's. Every night you took a "bird bath" with 2 wash clothes from a bowl of warm water and one bowl of clean cold water usually. On Saturday night, you got in a wash tub for a bath. It wasn't all that bad.

I've heard that called a "Sponge bath" but we didn't have a sponge....just the pot to put it in.

There was a brother and 2 sisters that lived together near the next town down the road that never had running water or electricity. They were still living the old way into the late 1970's. They all died in their late 80's within a couple years of each other. They were always neat, clean and seemed to be doing as well as anyone else.....oh, and they left a lot of money and property to the next of kin....not me.

[Freeper]

Maybe she is Amish;

 
.

That's where the Saturday night bath joke comes from. 

[Airwolf]

Maybe they should use the garden hose and lye soap? or to really kill germs and the smell they can use gasoline and a match?

[GOBUCKS]

Until the Great Reagan Boom brought almost universal prosperity to America, many families, maybe most, lived in homes with one bathroom, a bathtub, and no shower.

With maybe six or eight people living in the house, a daily bath is very unlikely.

DUmmies don't have that excuse.

Plus, like their friends the French, they're just nasty, smelly people. Their odor is hardly improved by bathing.

[Jasonw560]

Maybe they should use the garden hose and lye soap? or to really kill germs and the smell they can use gasoline and a match?

I was thinking Boric acid and steel wool.

[Duke Nukum]

I don't know. Why aren't the primitives calling for a ban on gravity?

[Reality vs DU]

OK.  What do you suppose the DUmmie does?  Licks herself like a cat?  

Response to progressiveinaction (Reply #5)Wed Jan 30, 2013, 02:02 PM
Lionessa (3,564 posts)
6. I knew in advance that I was likely going to have some homeless time, and water is a biggy

when homeless, so I began trying other bathing methods and settled on one resembling the ancient Egyptian oil baths. I do still wash my hair with soap and water, but the bod rarely sees a shower or bath.

So what have we learned here?  DUmmy Lionessa doesn't take a shower or a bath....ever!

[Mike B the Cajun]

 

[Ptarmigan]

 

[BlueStateSaint]

Maybe they should use the garden hose and lye soap? or to really kill germs and the smell they can use gasoline and a match?

Sounds about right--as long as they let the fire burn a good long while.  Then, put it out with a 2 1/2" firehose at around 3500 psi or so.

[LC EFA]

I live in the tropics and spend a lot of time outdoors. If I didn't shower twice a day, the BO would be able to knock a hippy off his bong at 1000 paces.

[txradioguy]

I live in the tropics and spend a lot of time outdoors. If I didn't shower twice a day, the BO would be able to knock a hippy off his bong at 1000 paces.

Yeah but you'd fit right in with the Abo's 

[Karin]

Thanks, Reality vs. DU, for that.  I tried to look more into it, but the Nadin machine tells me that the ancient Egyptians would use frankinsence, myrrh, and spikenard, (which was the costly ointment from John 12:3). 

Where in the world would Lionessa get that stuff, and how in the world could she afford it, if she were to be homeless? 

At any rate, it can't smell too good *down there*, and around the feet and pits.