Testing the Five Second Rule

V_M_Smith writes "Have we been wrong all this time? Is the Five-second Rule only a myth? My world view is shattered!"

5 dulication rule?

[lostindenver]

Must every thing be duplicated 5 times?

Re:5 dulication rule?

[Quixotic Raindrop]

Oh, come on now! It's not Lashsay Otday if we don't have at least a 1-in-6 duplicated story ratio.

Re:5 dulication rule?

[Momomoto]

No, but you do have to wait five seconds before posting the dupe [slashdot.org], or else it's still good.

Re:5 dulication rule?

[Dr.Enormous]

Not only that, but the first article was better-written anyway.

Re:5 dulication rule?

[geggibus]

No, but you do have to wait five seconds before posting something dupe, or else it's good.

Re:5 dulication rule?

[geggibus]

It's fun the first time, then people tend to get annoyed.. ;)

Re:5 dulication rule?

[capnjack41]

Oh, THAT's original.

I knew it

[Celt]

I knew I wasn't the only who whoseen this story on /. before
sigh... why can't they bother to check

Re:I knew it

[gazbo]

What - you thought your subscriber dollars went on providing you with stuff you hadn't already seen?

Re:I knew it

[Celt]

euro's actually, you might want to find something better to comment on...

Re:I knew it

[Baikala]

And is not "before" like in "some 2 years before", it was just a couple of weeks before.

Re:I knew it

[Shard013]

Why should they be bothered to check? I see no real motivation for them.

I embrace dupe posts as it gives me a chance to read stuff I may have missed by an odd chance.

In my house...

[GypC]

... the 5-second-rule is that the dog has 5 seconds to eat dropped food before I pick it up and eat it myself.

He knows this, and usually manages to snatch the morsel before it even hits the floor.

Re:In my house...

[ip_vjl]

Our dogs used to be really good about staying in the other room while we ate.

Then we had kids.

I swear they can hear the sound of the food as it is still falling and are usually there at about the time it hits the floor.

Re:In my house...

[drinkypoo]

So, you must be a Unix geek, right? With a beard, and several guns?

Re:In my house...

[GypC]

You are so wrong.

I don't have a beard.

Re:In my house...

[SpaceJunkie]

How the hell did you confuse unix geeks with redneck gun-owners with big ass dogs.. You are SO confused.

Link is slow, here's the text

[scumbucket]

Five-second food rule fails microbiology test

CHICAGO - A high school senior in the U.S. has dealt a blow to the gastronomic principle known as the five-second rule.

The rule states if food falls on the floor and remains there for five seconds or less then it's fine to pick it up and polish it off.

Jillian Clarke of Chicago High School for Agricultural Sciences put the rule to the test.

Clarke says the rule was started by Genghis Khan. He apparently considered food safe to eat so long as it had been on th

Should they keep the counter...

[AndyElf]

...of who posts more dupes? Would be interesting statistics to see :)

Re:Should they keep the counter...

[drinkypoo]

That should be easy enough to calculate. Who posts the most stories?

Not important

[Tyreth]

The 5 second rule is simply an excuse for people who don't care about the germs :) A convenient myth so they (we) don't get quite so sour looks when we let some good food not waste.

Testing the 20 second rule.

[Tom7]

The 20 second rule on slashdot says that any post you can write in 20 seconds must not be worth posting (unless you reload a few times until the time is up!)

Slashdot 5 second rule

[phamlen]

Slashdot shall not post a duplicate of a story until at least 5 seconds has passed?

The *original* article

[menscher]

From Sep 2: If You Drop It, Should You Eat It? Scientists Weigh In on the 5-Second Rule [uiuc.edu].

The real reason for the duplicates

[narratorDan]

The reason is, and this is the real scary part, that each duplicate story contains a secret message for a anti-US geek terrorist cell bent on destroying the Christian capitalist imperialism of the infidel west.
To read the messages you compare the two (somtimes three) duplicate stories and ROT13 the output. This is from the two five second rule articles:

The countdown to the next Windows web worm outbreak has begun.
SoBig.G ready in 5 days. Praise Allah

'Course, the repeat stories are between repetitive stories of SCO 0wnz-u x.x, MS Evil 1.4beta, RIAA molests little girl, etc, etc.

Who the hell thought the 5 sec rule was science?

[RevAaron]

Who the hell thought that the 5 second rule was somehow proven scientifically before this? (The submitter/poster mentioned having his life shattered)

I mean, I will "use" the 5-sec rule. Plenty of folks do. But for most people, it's just a damned excuse to eat food that has fallen on the ground. I mean, why waste whatever it is as long as there isn't hair, sand, gravel, dust, toenail clippings or something else sick that happened to be where it landed? Did some of you schmucks really think this was something they "discovered" in the 50s or something, and just now disproved? C'mon! It's just an way to prevent waste. :P

Re:Who the hell thought the 5 sec rule was science

[balon]

Toenail clippings aren't just extra protein? Ack! I've been LIED to!

---Bruce "Mr. Disillusioned"

Re:Who the hell thought the 5 sec rule was science

[RevAaron]

But they are extra protein! Same with hair, and skin. A little bacteria never hurt anyone; yet, all of that extra nutrition really is swell!

Re:Who the hell thought the 5 sec rule was science

[Black Parrot]

> Who the hell thought that the 5 second rule was somehow proven scientifically before this?

It's clearly bogus, since it doesn't recognize that cookies stay safe longer than vegetables do.

Re:Who the hell thought the 5 sec rule was science

[Reziac]

Preventing wasted food, my ass. It's actually a way to prevent other greedy folk from knocking the goodies out of your hand, then grabbing it when it hits the ground. After all, if they can't pick it up before the five seconds is up, it's deemed contaminated and all their knocking you around was wasted effort. ;)~

The 5 second rule isn't based on science.

[KurdtX]

The 5 second rule is a social rule, and varies according to how much "ew, that's so icky" factor there is with your crowd.

Re: The 5 second rule isn't based on science.

[Black Parrot]

> The 5 second rule is a social rule, and varies according to how much "ew, that's so icky" factor there is with your crowd.

Also on how clean your floors are and how much melted cheese was on the thing you dropped.

Presumably depends on your marital status, too.

Other Rules

[mopslik]

I'm still awaiting scientific analysis of the "he who smelt it dealt it" rule.

MOD PARENT UP PLEASE

[drinkypoo]

I do not have mod points, sadly. If only they did not expire, but you were just removed from the queue or your clock stopped or whatever on getting more until you spent them, and the usual posting rules applied. But in this repeat story, which can only truly be useful for crosslinks and humor, this post truly deserves to be elevated.

Re:Yet another dupe.

[GISGEOLOGYGEEK]

who paid for it? it was all student/intern work. Regardless, its a humourous way of investigating contamination of dropped food.

This would be big news if the findings supported moving the world to a 10 second rule! Think of all the little gummies saved!

Re:Yet another dupe.

[Sembiance]

I think he means 'pay for slashdot'

Re:Yet another dupe.

[Molina the Bofh]

With all these dupes, it could well be called Slashslashdotdot

Five common sense rules

[chia_monkey]

Ok...c'mon. It's all a matter of common sense. Yeah I'm guilty of saying "five second rule" if I pick something up and eat it, but I'm not ALWAYS going to eat something after I drop it. If I drop a piece of beef jerky by the campfire, I'll probably eat it. If I drop a piece of toast on dining room floor, I'll probably eat it (I tend to keep my floors clean). If I drop a partially melted Hershey's bar outside...I probably won't. Same goes for dropping SPAM on a pile of dogshit. It's common sense folks.

Re:Five common sense rules

[twiddlingbits]

Isn't SPAM (either kind) on Dogshit redundant?

Re:Five common sense rules

[oraevi]

The problem with common sence, is that it's not so common.

Good thing...

[autonobartek]

that we all have immune systems.

This rule is made for children

[Arkhan]

I'm pretty sure this rule was "invented" by parents for children.

You know, children. Those small, humanoid-looking things that are incapable of holding ANYTHING in their hands without banging, dropping, or throwing it on the floor at least once a minute.

If a parent threw away every piece of a child's food that touched the floor, the food bill would triple. It ALL goes on the floor at some point.

I honestly believe this rule was made up for one reason. When your kids drop their food on the floor for the

Re:This rule is made for children

[Saige]

It also makes sense to use this for children, in a way. Considering your floor, if you keep it clean and don't have a dog stepping in their urine and feces and walking across it all the time, doesn't exactly have tons of dangerous germs on it. It still has plenty though - but that isn't necessarily a bad thing.

I've seen a lot of studies done that suggest that children need their immune systems worked a bit more when they're younger to let them develop properly. That perhaps kids whose parents keep thing

Re:This rule is made for children

[Reziac]

Sounds like a good starter for the "When I become a parent..." list:

When I become a parent... ...I will not panic at the sight of blood, unless there are also missing body parts. ...I will not freak out when my children eat a little dirt. Remember that dirt is high in minerals and other healthful substances. ...I will let my kids work out their own differences, even if it involves a few fistfights.

And so on. :)

Re:This rule is made for children

[Rob Simpson]

Also, according to the article, the floor was quite clean, as in almost undetectable amounts of bacteria. I wonder if the kitchen counters and the fingers of the participants were that clean...

Peeing for less than 30seconds

[fluor2]

If I pee for less than 30 seconds, I do not need to wash my hands!

Re:Peeing for less than 30seconds

[XmineR]

lol! nice!

Re:Peeing for less than 30seconds

[Bourbon Man]

Dunno about you, but I don't pee on my hands.

Re:Peeing for less than 30seconds

[Rob Simpson]

No kidding. Also, most people who aren't carrying some kind of foul crotchrot probably have more (and more harmful) bacteria on their hands. Wash after and before, kids.

Oh, and it takes 30 seconds of washing with soap under warm water to, say, get rid of those cold virus particles on your hands. A quick rinse and wiping on a towel will probably only spead disease more quickly.

Ok, dupes can be cool

[Alizarin Erythrosin]

Last time this story was posted, I got a Score:5, Funny...

Mods, go to work :-)

Gummy

[Scrameustache]

From the article:

E. coli easily stick to gummy bears

EVERYTHING sticks to gummy bears.
Stupid journalists, scientists.

Re:Gummy

[drinkypoo]

This depends on both temperature and humidity, though there are certain extremes of both which will have significant effects on any experiments.

See?

[Xenothaulus]

And if you think they transfer fast from the floor, think about that next time you take a bite or drink after someone else. Guh. *shudder* I don't even like to eat food someone else has touched.
/bacillophobe

+5 Funny

[barakn]

If you want karma points and weren't worried about plagiarism, you could just search through this dupe's original story's discussion for the highest rated comments, and then repost them here and pretend they are your own. Unless all the moderators are on crack and hand out mods randomly.

Re:+5 Funny

[barakn]

Oh crap. I just duped this guy's post [slashdot.org], and it's in the dupe discussion, not the original.

It didn't kill the dog or cat.

[anubi]

So, my dog's been doing this for years.

I get the idea that there is a helluva lot more contamination in processed foods that we never are told about. As one said before, anyone who likes sausage or the law should never watch them being made.

Much ado about nothing. I am not a doctor, health fanaticist, or anything else for that matter, but if the floor is reasonably clean, and it didn't fall in muck, I'll probably recover it. But if its a sticky thing, like the innards of my hamburger, I'll probably cal

Disconfection..

[fven]

An appropriate place to mention the "official" definition of disconfection - the practive of blowing on candy that has been dropped on the floor to remove the germs.

Re:Disconfection..

[Reziac]

And its opposite, the practice of spitting into your drink so no one else will pilfer from it. ;P

since the first time

[epine]

I read an article on Science Daily, IIRC, about the concept of hormesis: that low level exposure to pathogenic forces improves the health of the organism.

A few years ago I read an article about the spread of bacteria when handling raw chicken. They asked a number of people to prepare a roast chicken starting with a sanitary kitchen, and then they went around afterwards looking for salmonella bacteria. The woman in the study who cleaned most compulsively proved best as smearing the bacteria onto every kitchen surface. Unless you clean with bleach, the average soapy rag is just an efficient distribution system.

Compared to kitchens and door handles, the average floor is a dose of penicillian. Hormensis from fallen gummy bears prepares my body for food that has contacted the kitchen counter for more than a few seconds.

Don't recall exactly where I read about the salmonella study, but it was around the time that The Sciences was still good, so it was a while ago.

Yes!

[c0dedude]

Yes, the five second rule is true, if the slashdot editors don't look back for more than five seconds, you get an disease-ridden dupe.

Thomas Hardy said it best

[Zog The Undeniable]

Gabriel Oak in "Far From the Madding Crowd":

"I never fuss about dirt in its pure state, and when I know what sort it is... I wouldn't think of giving such trouble to neighbours in washing up when there's so much work to be done in the world already."

"A right sensible man." said Jacob. "True, true; it can't be gainsaid!" observed a brisk young man -- Mark Clark by name..."And here's a mouthful of bread and bacon that mis'ess have sent, shepherd. The cider will go down better with a bit of victuals. Don't ye

I wonder though

[phorm]

How much cleaner the average countertop is in comparison to the floors these are tested on, and how long the food spends on those.

I try to keep my counters clean, but often they will have a small spot of leaked juice, or a fleck of this-or-that. Do you always wipe your counter down before preparing food, even with a quick snack?

Another nasty to focus on would be how short it takes a dishcloth to become truly smelly and unpleasant... dirty rags don't make clean dishes... which is why I prefer the short-use disposible variety

...the dirty ground.

[dnahelix]

"I'm not going to take dog doo that's been on the dirty ground, and put it on my face" -Bart Simpson

You what?

[TwistedSquare]

Is this an American thing? I've never heard of this before...

Screw the 5 second rule

[Unregistered]

i use the 5 minuite rule: You have 5 minuites to eat something off the floor as long as nobody's steped on it. If it's still there after 5 mins, you should assume it's still down there becasue it's not worth eating in the 1st place.

The 5 second rule isn't a scientific thing, it's just that there isn't much on the floor that is pathogenic and even less that will actually make you sick. Pathogens don't do to well without a host. So as long as whatever you dropped it on won't affect the taste (like the st

Re:Screw the 5 second rule

[Reziac]

Check out the several entries for why no one eats at my house [earthlink.net], in one of which I prove that pizza is in fact a fungus. ;)

In Japan

[tada]

the same rule is known as "Three Secound Rule".
A little bit shorter, in Japan.