No. 01 - You
At the end of the day, YOU are pretty disgusting.
Your body is home to a wide array of microbes, from bacteria and viruses to (perhaps even) bugs and parasites.
There are 10 times as many bacterial cells as human cells in the ecosystem that is your body -- and as many as 182 different species of bacteria live on your skin alone.
Yep, if you're looking for the biggest source of grossness in your home, you need look no further than your own fingers, feet and belly button, not to mention those disease-carrying mucous membranes.
Much of your own co-habitants are harmless to you, but can potentially cause problems for other humans. So, if you wanted to be super-safe, you could simply avoid all human contact.
Sounds like a plan.
No. 02 - Your toilet
OK, it's kind of a no-brainer: your toilet is disgusting ... but not as disgusting as it could be.
At least it gets washed out with every flush. Still, everything that goes in there is really gross, and as a repository for pretty much all the fecal matter in your house, it really isn't the cleanest surface.
And what about the infamous toilet seat? Should you sit on it? Look, you probably wouldn't want to lick it, but a toilet seat is far from the dirtiest thing out there.
If your immune system is relatively healthy, you probably won't have to worry about any STDs, common colds or hepatitis viruses that may be lurking.
When it comes down to it, your own skin is pretty good at keeping you safe.
No. 03 - Your vacuum cleaner (and bag)
Your carpet is a perfect home for a lot of nasty stuff.
Wet shoes drag in moisture and dirt, spills lead to mildew and mold, bacteria breeds in the dark recesses. Carpets, particularly those of the wall-to-wall variety, can be pretty nasty: as many as 200,000 bacteria can lurk per square inch (remember that the next time you lie down on a rug).
And where does it all go?
Either in your vacuum's bag or out its exhaust. You throw that bag out, right? But what about the vacuum cleaner's brush? Do you ever clean that?
One study found mold, bacteria and fecal matter in those brushes. Ick.
What can you do? Well, you can clean the brush, invest in a vacuum with a HEPA filter, or maybe even attack things head on with a new vacuum that zaps all your filth with UV light right when it enters the brushes. Who knew vacuums were so high-tech?
No. 04 - Your loofah or washcloth or sponge
You need water to live, right? Well, so do bacteria and viruses.
Microbes generally like humid environments. They also tend to like to hide from the deadly UV rays in light. So what stays wet and has lots of little cavities that get nice and shady and dark?
Why, it's that sponge in your kitchen sink or the loofah in your shower.
Don't freak out too much. Much of the life growing in that loofah has ancestral roots on your own body, so you're pretty well acclimated.
In fact, some of it may be of the "good" kind of flora and fauna, the kind that fight off the bad guys and give your immune system a helping hand from time to time.
Still, a single bacteria cell can multiple into an army of a billion overnight, so maybe it's time to buy a new kitchen sponge, huh?
No. 05 - Your garbage pail
So, it makes sense, right? All the food scraps that you don't eat wind up in your trash.
If you had wanted this stuff to stay fresh so you could eat it, you would have put it in the fridge, but you didn't.
Now, at room temperature and with plenty of organic material to chomp through, bacteria and fungi thrive and your trash bin starts to stink. Spoilage is, in essence, microbe-caused decomposition and everyone knows that garbage pails are full of spoiled food.
So, thanks to those microbes, your trash now also contains a lot of sliminess and smelliness. Not to mention a whole lotta life-forms.
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Wednesday, June 03, 2009
Could your kid be a star?
Judy Goss knows everything about the world of modeling. A former actress and model of Ford and the author of "Break Into Modeling for under $ 20," Goss knows how difficult and can become more competitive. Still, that not more of her shepherd their 4-year-old twin daughters, Dara and Danielle, from audition to audition, hoping they in the business.
"You are very outgoing and theatrical, and identical twins are rare," says Goss, 40, lives in a New York suburb. So she got professional pictures taken by their daughters, and has hours-long lines with them, hoping they will land a coveted place on a commercial, TV or print ad. (So far, they have a common bit part on "Law and Order," back when they were children.)
As the economy falters and unemployment rises, the prospect of implementing your children to work - in the world of acting, modeling or even beauty Festival - may seem more tempting than ever. But would-be stage mothers and fathers should take note: Your child help for the heavy investment of time and money. It is usually the parents to share portfolios slow children from audition to audition and contacts in the modeling world. And it may take years for the family to see any substantial income, if at all.
Goss, who is also a spokeswoman TheCuteKid.com, a web portal for kids interested in modeling, says that lately she has hordes of parents feed their offspring with only a brief encounter with a casting agent. "One could pay enough so that we never have to worry about the school," says Goss. "You get an allowance every time the commercial airs, so you could for a long time." Twins, she notes, have even more potential. (Olsens, anyone?)
There is the potential upside that the parents moves. Take 12-year-old Ashton Cline of New Orleans that used to be for more than a year and already has three commercials and a small film under his belt. He has a representative for a certain time and only with Morgit Management in New York. Is he rich? Not yet. "But the potential is amazing," says his mother, Gnanse Nelson.
This is the same way Alan Byrd feels about his daughter Abby. Two years ago, when Abby was 3, she was filmed for a local TV spot. The director praised Byrd and told them they should act so that their parents signed for their classes, the head shots and has her an agent. Since that time, but not much comes. "We have since their introduction in the local theater, but as usual, it's an audition with unpaid roles," says Byrd, lives in Orlando, Fla.
Jennifer Bourgoyne of San Jose, California, is trying to her son, in cash. Cash and his brothers' films have always done because it could be "directed" at 18 months, "says Bourgoyne." Do I want him to be a celebrity all his life? Goodness, no! I hope to get a doctor out of this one.
Judy Goss knows everything about the world of modeling. A former actress and model of Ford and the author of "Break Into Modeling for under $ 20," Goss knows how difficult and can become more competitive. Still, that not more of her shepherd their 4-year-old twin daughters, Dara and Danielle, from audition to audition, hoping they in the business.
"You are very outgoing and theatrical, and identical twins are rare," says Goss, 40, lives in a New York suburb. So she got professional pictures taken by their daughters, and has hours-long lines with them, hoping they will land a coveted place on a commercial, TV or print ad. (So far, they have a common bit part on "Law and Order," back when they were children.)
As the economy falters and unemployment rises, the prospect of implementing your children to work - in the world of acting, modeling or even beauty Festival - may seem more tempting than ever. But would-be stage mothers and fathers should take note: Your child help for the heavy investment of time and money. It is usually the parents to share portfolios slow children from audition to audition and contacts in the modeling world. And it may take years for the family to see any substantial income, if at all.
Goss, who is also a spokeswoman TheCuteKid.com, a web portal for kids interested in modeling, says that lately she has hordes of parents feed their offspring with only a brief encounter with a casting agent. "One could pay enough so that we never have to worry about the school," says Goss. "You get an allowance every time the commercial airs, so you could for a long time." Twins, she notes, have even more potential. (Olsens, anyone?)
There is the potential upside that the parents moves. Take 12-year-old Ashton Cline of New Orleans that used to be for more than a year and already has three commercials and a small film under his belt. He has a representative for a certain time and only with Morgit Management in New York. Is he rich? Not yet. "But the potential is amazing," says his mother, Gnanse Nelson.
This is the same way Alan Byrd feels about his daughter Abby. Two years ago, when Abby was 3, she was filmed for a local TV spot. The director praised Byrd and told them they should act so that their parents signed for their classes, the head shots and has her an agent. Since that time, but not much comes. "We have since their introduction in the local theater, but as usual, it's an audition with unpaid roles," says Byrd, lives in Orlando, Fla.
Jennifer Bourgoyne of San Jose, California, is trying to her son, in cash. Cash and his brothers' films have always done because it could be "directed" at 18 months, "says Bourgoyne." Do I want him to be a celebrity all his life? Goodness, no! I hope to get a doctor out of this one.
"You are very outgoing and theatrical, and identical twins are rare," says Goss, 40, lives in a New York suburb. So she got professional pictures taken by their daughters, and has hours-long lines with them, hoping they will land a coveted place on a commercial, TV or print ad. (So far, they have a common bit part on "Law and Order," back when they were children.)
As the economy falters and unemployment rises, the prospect of implementing your children to work - in the world of acting, modeling or even beauty Festival - may seem more tempting than ever. But would-be stage mothers and fathers should take note: Your child help for the heavy investment of time and money. It is usually the parents to share portfolios slow children from audition to audition and contacts in the modeling world. And it may take years for the family to see any substantial income, if at all.
Goss, who is also a spokeswoman TheCuteKid.com, a web portal for kids interested in modeling, says that lately she has hordes of parents feed their offspring with only a brief encounter with a casting agent. "One could pay enough so that we never have to worry about the school," says Goss. "You get an allowance every time the commercial airs, so you could for a long time." Twins, she notes, have even more potential. (Olsens, anyone?)
There is the potential upside that the parents moves. Take 12-year-old Ashton Cline of New Orleans that used to be for more than a year and already has three commercials and a small film under his belt. He has a representative for a certain time and only with Morgit Management in New York. Is he rich? Not yet. "But the potential is amazing," says his mother, Gnanse Nelson.
This is the same way Alan Byrd feels about his daughter Abby. Two years ago, when Abby was 3, she was filmed for a local TV spot. The director praised Byrd and told them they should act so that their parents signed for their classes, the head shots and has her an agent. Since that time, but not much comes. "We have since their introduction in the local theater, but as usual, it's an audition with unpaid roles," says Byrd, lives in Orlando, Fla.
Jennifer Bourgoyne of San Jose, California, is trying to her son, in cash. Cash and his brothers' films have always done because it could be "directed" at 18 months, "says Bourgoyne." Do I want him to be a celebrity all his life? Goodness, no! I hope to get a doctor out of this one.
Judy Goss knows everything about the world of modeling. A former actress and model of Ford and the author of "Break Into Modeling for under $ 20," Goss knows how difficult and can become more competitive. Still, that not more of her shepherd their 4-year-old twin daughters, Dara and Danielle, from audition to audition, hoping they in the business.
"You are very outgoing and theatrical, and identical twins are rare," says Goss, 40, lives in a New York suburb. So she got professional pictures taken by their daughters, and has hours-long lines with them, hoping they will land a coveted place on a commercial, TV or print ad. (So far, they have a common bit part on "Law and Order," back when they were children.)
As the economy falters and unemployment rises, the prospect of implementing your children to work - in the world of acting, modeling or even beauty Festival - may seem more tempting than ever. But would-be stage mothers and fathers should take note: Your child help for the heavy investment of time and money. It is usually the parents to share portfolios slow children from audition to audition and contacts in the modeling world. And it may take years for the family to see any substantial income, if at all.
Goss, who is also a spokeswoman TheCuteKid.com, a web portal for kids interested in modeling, says that lately she has hordes of parents feed their offspring with only a brief encounter with a casting agent. "One could pay enough so that we never have to worry about the school," says Goss. "You get an allowance every time the commercial airs, so you could for a long time." Twins, she notes, have even more potential. (Olsens, anyone?)
There is the potential upside that the parents moves. Take 12-year-old Ashton Cline of New Orleans that used to be for more than a year and already has three commercials and a small film under his belt. He has a representative for a certain time and only with Morgit Management in New York. Is he rich? Not yet. "But the potential is amazing," says his mother, Gnanse Nelson.
This is the same way Alan Byrd feels about his daughter Abby. Two years ago, when Abby was 3, she was filmed for a local TV spot. The director praised Byrd and told them they should act so that their parents signed for their classes, the head shots and has her an agent. Since that time, but not much comes. "We have since their introduction in the local theater, but as usual, it's an audition with unpaid roles," says Byrd, lives in Orlando, Fla.
Jennifer Bourgoyne of San Jose, California, is trying to her son, in cash. Cash and his brothers' films have always done because it could be "directed" at 18 months, "says Bourgoyne." Do I want him to be a celebrity all his life? Goodness, no! I hope to get a doctor out of this one.
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