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Halve the spread of germs

Cut down on germs spread by contact by dividing the population in two
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A lot of germs spread by direct contact. Door handles are especially bad. Viruses can live for hours on the surface of a door knob, and spread to the next person who touches it, who in turn touches more door knobs, etc.

The idea is to simply designate one side of the handle for one half of the population, the other side for the other half. A half-baked idea... see what I did there.

How you divide the population could be done in various ways, but it needs to be really simple so the majority of users understand it instantly.

Imagine the handle on a large glass door to a business building. The top half is blue and says 'Men', the bottom half is pink and says 'Women' (or to be more p.c., it has images of the male/female bathroom avatars).

It could also be done by birthday. WHATS YOUR BIRTHDAY? Even->Touch here. Odd->Touch here.

These indicators would work best if adopted all over the place, of course.

Simply dividing the population that a particular germ could spread by direct contact in two could have a huge impact on how quickly it is able to spread.

InfinitiesLoop, Nov 22 2013

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       Welcome to the bakery, [InfinitiesLoop].   

       //These indicators would work best if adopted all over the place, of course.// [marked-for-tagline]   

       This idea is at least as good as purdah, apartheid and full-body condoms.   

       It might form the basis of a good film about alienation.
pertinax, Nov 23 2013
  

       Thinking about it, it might also form the basis of a good comedy. I mean, with purdah and apartheid, it's usually easy to spot which segregated group an individual belongs to but, with this system, it's much harder.   

       You could, for example, do a version of Goldoni's "servant of two masters", where each of the masters belonged to a different ... segregation category, and the servant pretends to belong to each in turn. Hilarity ensues around jobs, rented accommodation and, of course, sex.
pertinax, Nov 23 2013
  

       Taken to the extreme: a door with many knobs, each with a different description, much like one of those automatic telephone systems that say "Press 1 for A, 2 for B...".   

       Then standback and look at the ensuing hilarity as queues of people form, trying to decide which category they fall into before using handle 9: "Other", anyway.
Ling, Nov 23 2013
  

       there are a few ways to take this idea to the limit:   

       1. divide every member of the population in two   

       2. let's all become otaku and/or never leave the halfbakery
sninctown, Nov 23 2013
  

       The problem is, rumours would soon start circulating that the Blues have got a nasty cold going roung, so everyone would use the Pink handles...
MaxwellBuchanan, Nov 23 2013
  

       //nasty cold going roung // Loogs Libe ynou Gaught it alweaby....
Ling, Nov 23 2013
  

       //The problem is, rumours would soon start circulating that the Blues have got a nasty cold going roung..   

       I can avoid getting the cold by not using the left mouse button? <sneezes>
not_morrison_rm, Nov 23 2013
  

       Simply use clingfilm(Saran wrap?) to individually package each individual.
not_morrison_rm, Nov 25 2013
  
      
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