As The Toilet Turns
What Are Quaternary Ammonium
Compounds?
(Taken from the 9-03 issue.)
Tahoma School District Custodial Staff Newsletter
July 1, 2004—Volume 3, Issue 1
The Year in Review - Part One
QUATERNARY AMMOUNIUM
COMPOUNDS
Commonly called quats. An example would be Coastwide’s Virex 256.
These quats or organic ammonium are
mixed with water or alcohols. They are
used for general disinfecting of floors,
walls, counter tops and the like. They
are effective against a wide range of
germs. They have a low toxicity to
humans and some are effective against
such diseases as Tb.
What Caution Should Be Taken
When Dumping Waste Water?
(Taken from the 11-03 issue.)
Furthermore, according to
Bane-Clean, a well known company specializing in making carpet cleaning products and chemicals, states the following in their
online article Waste Tank Discharge from Carpet Cleaning
Equipment:
“It is illegal to dump your
clean or dirty solution down a storm
sewer, into a stream, or onto a street,
driveway, or yard. Recovered
wastewater may only be dumped into
a sanitary sewer line (one providing
waste water treatment). Moreover,
special permission, license, and even
fees are required in some communities. In a few communities, you may
What do you remember from the newsletters that
have been published over the past year? To refresh
your memory we will reprint some of the outstanding points from various articles in the 2003-04
newsletters in the July and August issues. See if
you can remember some of the points before you
read or review the article. You’ll find them scattered throughout both issues with a note as to which
issue they came from. We look forward to our third
year of publication and many more fascinating and
educational
articles.
Your Training Committee
Why is a Positive Attitude Better Than a Negative One?
(Taken from the 10-03 issue.)
In our individual custodial crews, a positive attitude goes a long way toward better relations and a
desire to do things well. Just a little comment about how well someone did something, no matter how
small, or a pat on the back for a job well done will encourage all to do their best and to have a team spirit.
Any minor irritations or rough edges others may have can be smoothed out and ignored. Even something
as smooth as a mirror has imperfections when viewed under a microscope. Instead of viewing others
with a microscope of negativity, why not view them for what they are and ignore the little imperfections.
We all have them. Just look in a mirror.
Instead of trying to undermine everything that is said or done by others, why not listen to their opinions or suggestions? The world didn't advance technologically, medically, scientifically or otherwise by
choosing only one person’s ideas or opinions. It is made up of an entire population of varying personalities and attitudes. Everybody has a good idea now and then and no one should have the right to cut it
down or dismiss it because they don’t like it. All should have their say and we should be willing to listen
attentively with an open mind.
dump ONLY in a designated hazardous
waste disposal plant!...Many cleaners get
in trouble with the law every year. They
are fined severely and sometimes even
jailed for dumping wastewater into
streams, ponds, or onto the street.
Wastewater cannot be emptied into
storm drains because most drains empty
into surface waters.”
Science Corner
How Does Soap Work?
Your hands are filthy and rinsing with water just isn’t getting
all of the dirt off. You reach for the soap and voila, the dirt is
gone! What happened? Is soap magic? How does it get the dirt
to come off when plain water wouldn’t? A little look behind the scenes will answer that
question.
Soap “works by enticing the oil into the water so the oil and its dirt can be flushed
away. It also disturbs the surface tension of water. In other words, it makes water lay
(Continued on page two)
Page Two Treats
4.
The Year in Review –Part One
(Cont.)
1.
Did You Know That…? Part
Two
5.
Something Extra
2.
Dilbert’s Rules of Order—2
6.
Paid Holiday
3.
Science Corner (Cont.)
7.
In Memory
Second Anniversary
This is the second anniversary of As The
Toilet Turns. We are happy to continue to
provide interesting and humorous material
each month for your perusal. We hope to
continue to provide a quality newsletter each
month for another year and beyond. We always welcome input and suggestions and
thank you for your support.
As The Toilet Turns
July, 2004—Page Two
(These were sent via e-mail. We’ll include a few each month.
Hope you get a good laugh or two.)
(Science continued)
flatter and not ball up like a rain drop. This allows the water to get into micro crevices even better and
wash away the dirt.” What makes it do this?
“Soap molecules are long and stringy just like oil molecules are. They have two very distinct ends.
The head of this soap molecule string loves water and will attach to other water molecules. Its tail on
the other hand loves oil and will search out and attach to other oil molecules. This gives us a very
interesting situation where the head of the soap molecule will attach to other water molecules and the
tail will find and attach to other oil molecules. The effect is that the soap molecule will latch onto the
oil with its tail and be flushed away with other water molecules attached with its head. To make matters even better, soap molecules disrupt the surface tension of water by crowding around the water
surface with their water loving heads which disrupts the waters ability to stay tightly coupled together
in a sphere like a rain drop. So in a way it flattens waters ability to remain in this sphere configuration
and makes the water molecules flatter thus wetting everything even the smallest crevices.”
Looking into the molecular world makes it seem simple. The great thing about soap is that anyone
can obtain it for a relatively inexpensive price and the benefits of cleanliness, odor and appearance
are beyond compare. Soap. It’s what’s for cleaning!
(Reference: http://poisonivy.aesir.com/view/soap.html)
Did You Know That ...? - Part
Two
The following information was forwarded via email. Enjoy.
It's impossible to sneeze with your eyes open.
Leonardo Da Vinci invented the scissors.
Maine is the only state whose name is just one syllable.
No word in the English language rhymes with month,
orange, silver, or purple.
On a Canadian two dollar bill, the flag flying over the
Parliament building is an American flag.
Our eyes are always the same size from birth, but our
nose and ears never stop growing.
Peanuts are one of the ingredients of dynamite.
Rubber bands last longer when refrigerated.
"Stewardesses"is the longest word typed with only the
left hand and "lollipop"with your right.
The
average person's left hand does 56% of the typing. The
cruise liner, QE2, moves only six inches for each gallon of diesel that it burns.
The
microwave was invented after a researcher walked by a
radar tube and a chocolate bar melted in his pocket.
The sentence: "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy
dog"uses every letter of the alphabet.
The
winter of 1932 was so cold that Niagara Falls froze
completely solid.
The
words 'racecar,' 'kayak' and 'level' are the same whether they are read left to right or right to left
(palindromes).
There are 293 ways to make change for a dollar.
There are more chickens than people in the world.
There are only four words in the English language
which end in "dous": tremendous, horrendous, stupendous, and hazardous.
There are two words in the English language that have
all five vowels in order: "abstemious"and "facetious."
There's no Betty Rubble in the Flintstones Chewables
Vitamins.
Tigers have striped skin, not just striped fur.
TYPEWRITER is the longest word that can be made
using the letters only on one row of the keyboard. Winston Churchill was born in a ladies' room during a
dance.
Women blink nearly twice as much as men.
Your stomach has to produce a new layer of mucus
every two weeks; otherwise it will digest itself.
Dilbert’s Rules of Order—2
6. I don't have an attitude problem, you have a
perception problem.
7. Last night I lay in bed looking up at the stars
in the sky, and I thought to myself, where the
heck is the ceiling?
8. My reality check bounced.
9. On the keyboard of life, always keep one finger on the escape key.
10. I don't suffer from stress. I am a carrier.
In Memory
Paid Holiday!
We’re off on Monday, July 5th for the 4th
since it falls on Sunday this year. Have a
good three-day weekend.
Dave Allen, a custodian in the district for a
number of years died of a heart attack on a recent
trip to Oregon. We will miss his unique sense of
humor and express our condolences to his family.
Something Extra!
What is the difference between an analog recording and a digital recording?
Basically, an analog recording records the vibrations of a given sound onto the medium being used to
save them such as magnetic tape. In a digital recording, the analog form is converted by changing the
sound into binary form using 1’s and 0’s. Because of this change, a higher reproduction of the original
sound is possible. Sampling rates, sampling errors, sampling precision and so on all come together to
recreate the analog sound in a near perfect copy of the original. Also, since digital reproductions are
read by a laser instead of a needle or magnetic tape head, the wear factor is eliminated thereby allowing
the user to replay the same recording over and over without loss of the original sound.
(For more information see http://entertainment.howstuffworks.com/analog-digital.htm)
How Would You Summarize Information
Dealing With Meningitis?
(Taken from the 11-03 issue.)
1. Meningitis is an infection of the fluid of a
person's spinal cord and the fluid that surrounds the brain.
2. Meningitis is usually caused by a viral or
bacterial infection.
3. Streptococcus pneumoniae and Neisseria
meningitidis are the leading causes of bacterial
meningitis.
4. The primary way to combat the spread of
viral or bacterial meningitis is through frequent and proper hand washing.
5. To help prevent meningitis, 1) make sure
all infected persons get appropriate treatment,
2) avoid contact with infected persons and do
not share personal items, 3) wash hands
properly and frequently, 4) clean common
areas and 5) disinfect common environmental
surfaces.
How Do De-Icers Work?
(Taken from the 1-04 issue.)
The most commonly used substance for de-icing
is rock salt. When applied to ice and snow, “salt
creates a brine that has a lower freezing temperature than the surrounding ice or snow,” according
to the online website draglamsalt.com. It continues
by stating that “the use of salt...is based on the fact
that dissolving one substance in another alters the
freezing point of the second. Salt lowers the freezing point of water. The greater the concentration of
salt, the lower the freezing point...Melting begins
on contact when salt is spread on ice or snow. This
produces water, dissolving more salt and producing
further melting. The rate of melting will depend on
the surrounding air and ground temperatures.” The
amount of traffic present in these areas will also
affect the melting rate as salt is crushed into the ice
and snow.