Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with gross

Someone is wiping wrong, and it's not me.

jewzilla — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 21:11:32 -0800

Searching for an explanation for something gross in the bathroom at work. It's happened a couple times, at different companies, that I've heard a guy sitting in the stall next to me wipe back and forth, several times. Like you would if you were trying to scrub a pot, but the sound is of toilet paper on skin. Do people really wipe their butts this way?

How can I find information on the average gross income from all streams (theatrical, DVD, VOD) for a documentary?

IzzeYum — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 12:53:57 -0800

How can I find information on the average gross income from all streams (theatrical, DVD, VOD) for a documentary? Looking for essentially the average income for all documentaries. Or at least those that have some sort of official release to theatres/DVDs. Not every one and there mom who made a little doc but say the average of all those that made at least $5K or something.

I know its a tough question, which is why my friend drafted me to help.

Easy to find BO grosses or things but having a hardtime with the other streams. Plus everyone only talked about the big docs such as This Film is Not Yet Rated, Roger & Me, Hoop Dreams, etc. I am also interested in those that made $100K not just $1 million+.

Psoriasis advice

longsleeves — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 09:27:29 -0800

I have psoriasis and wonder what treatments work if you or someone you know also has it and what your experience has been. My father has plaque psoriasis and over the last eighteen months or so I have begun to develop it. I had a quick initial onset on my scalp and upper chest, which has since slowly expanded in area affected. A local dermatologist I finally consulted two weeks ago prescibed Derma-Smooth/FS, a suspension of fluocinolone acetonide in purified peanut and mineral oil. I have used the stuff and it has resulted in some clearing of the affected areas but the lesions are persistent and less noticable but no smaller, even thogh the doctor said the would begin to go away. He mentioned some other treatment that he woud use after the fluocinolone did its work.

Dad had a case that was very bad, progressing to that point that it affected large areas of his skin. He spent two weeks at a clinic in another state (The Cleveland Clinic?) for some sort of intensive treatment that failed. The concern as I understand it was that psoriasis in its more extreme manifestaions can result in skin cells replicating so fast that the body's temperature is raised by the accelerated metabolism to dangerous fevers.

Eventually Dad's psoriasis was controlled with methotrexate, which is more commonly employed as part of anti-cancer chemotherapy treatments due to its slowing of cell division. He had to get a liver biopsy before they started using it and subsequent biopsies to check for liver damage.

It worked, and the dosage was decreased over time to minimal levels to maintain the "remission."

The Dermatologist's staff had me fill out a form describing why I was consulting the doctor. By the time the doctor breezed into the examining room I was waiting in, one of about four he has, he already had his prescription pad out. From his seat abot five feet away he glanced at the red patches on my upper forehead near my hairline and said the scalp oil he was prescribing would control the codition. He didn't look at my chest and he spent less than five minutes with me.

I have a follow-up appointmet with this doctor in a few weeks. I did not remember to ask him about arthritis as part of the aouto-immune symptoms associated with psoriasis. My knees hurt.

I understand that immune suppresant chemicals are used sometimes to treat my condition, and well damn, that sounds scary.

Should I consult a rheumetologist on my own?

Any thoughts you may have or experiences you could relate awould be welcome.

FOOD FIGHT!!

Quidam — Fri, 22 May 2009 06:35:35 -0800

A group of my friends have been challenged to an epic food fight. Please give me all your awesome suggestions, tips, and secrets for what we should use for ammunition. As far as I know no real restrictions have been put in place. So far I think my team has kicked around ideas of bringing oatmeal, balloons filled with some sort of nasty ketchup/mustard combination, and water guns filled with Kool Aid (for maximum stickiness).

But I sort of figure that with the hivemind's general combination of creativity, intelligence, and cynicism, someone's got to have other great ideas as to how to nastify the other team. :) Thoughts?

What is causing this gross taste in my mouth?

heavenstobetsy — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 13:58:59 -0800

What is causing this gross taste in my mouth? Possibly distasteful details inside. For the past 3 days I've had a really gross taste in my mouth. I don't really know what it tastes like other than disgusting. I brush 2x daily, floss daily, and can't find anything in my mouth which may be infected. It's almost as if it's coming from my throat. For example, if I exhale with my mouth closed (if that makes sense?) that is when it tastes the worst. Apparently my breath does not smell. So there's that too. Some factors to possibly consider:

- I am just 2 weeks smoke-free
- I had a pretty bad cold 2 weeks ago, MOST symptoms are gone but I am still a LITTLE congested.

I tend to think this doesn't warrant a visit to the doctor, though if it doesn't clear up soon, I will be making an appointment. I'm not in any pain obviously, but it is annoying/gross.

What might this be? Or alternatively, can I get rid of this myself? Mouthwash and gum masks it only temporarily.

Thanks, MeFites.

Drinking half and half?

dead cousin ted — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 16:48:31 -0800

In your experience, how common or uncommon is the practice of drinking half and half (half milk and half cream) as a beverage? Some back story - I live with my brother who I generally find to be a slovenly pig most of the time, and he has an insatiable appetite for milk, so much so that he can easily go through a gallon a day.

Recently I found out that sometimes when he's finished off the milk, he'll start drinking half and half and can apparently go through a half a quart at a time. When I found this out, the idea of drinking the stuff by the glassful was so foreign to me I found it to be disgusting. Of course after that I had to try it to see what it was like, so I poured about a shot glass worth and drank it. Needless to say, it was not a pleasant experience. It tasted like ice cream mix (which is fitting since you can make ice cream with it) and was way way too rich to actually enjoy.

So what do you guys think? Do you or anyone you know drink half and half as a beverage? Is it weird that I find the practice disgusting? In this specific case I kinda liken it to a drunk going after the nyquil after he finished off all the brandy (less extreme of course) but that may be more related to my situation with my brother than actually drinking the stuff.

I'm in Texas btw.

When am I gonna flush out this Thrush?

Unicorn on the cob — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 16:09:57 -0800

I was diagnosed with Oral Thrush and am being treated with Diflucan. How long before I'm back to 100% normal? Quick info: I had a bad case of bronchitis and was treated with a Z-Pack, Prednisone, and an oral steroid inhaler. Unfortunately I was sick during the busiest week of the year for me, work-wise, and my body always hates steroids (I cannot sleep EVEN with sleeping pills, get angry/cry easily, feel horrible, and generally eat too much).

The tipping point must've been eating roughly an entire bag of jelly beans last Tuesday. By Thursday, my mouth looked... scary as hell.

The doctor prescribed me 10 days of Diflucan, and this is day 5. The back half of my tongue still is kinda gross, but more importantly, has stayed in some kind of bad tasting/bad feeling stasis since roughly Saturday.

The doctor gave me no dietary restrictions or special instructions; however, as per my Internet research goes, I have tried to severely limit carbs, sugar, vinegar (all my favorite things!), and dairy (severely limit = less than or approximately 1 teaspoon or 1 serving per day of each "forbidden" thing). I've eaten at LEAST one clove of fresh garlic a day, sometimes as many as 3, often raw. Yogurt, too. I am taking acidophilus and flax seed supplements, brushing 3-4 times per day, flossing, and drinking water with fresh lemon squeezed into it.

My last dosage will be Saturday. I'm hosting a dinner-type party this Friday and am praying that my symptoms will have abated by then... so basically:

1. If you've had this, how many days before you actually had NO symptoms left? The Diflucan hurts my stomach, but I'm eating ok and have not lost weight.

2. Is there anything else I could be doing to speed this up? I've greatly increased my sleep/relaxing time, but am still doing moderate exercise (walking 3-4 miles a few times a week).

3. If I eat sugar/bread the last day of my dosage, will I sabotage the whole thing and re-infect myself? I promised my group a fabulous, sugar- and bread-laden brunch this Saturday, and am celebrating Valentine's with the gentleman caller this Saturday. It would KILL ME to not ingest any sugar. Well, kill is a strong word, but I would be seriously unhappy about it.

4. How soon can I kiss my significant other? As soon as the symptoms abate, or what? The doctor said kissing's fine as long as he's not "halfway down my throat" but I am wary.

Other factors: myself and the bf are tested HIV negative as recently as this week; I do not have any autoimmune diseases; I don't have any trouble or pain swallowing or white spots on the back of my throat; the front half of my tongue is pink and doesn't hurt and I have no fever, just a sort of general malaise feeling. Thank you!

Give Me You Worst Shot

shaun uh — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 14:39:46 -0800

I'm looking for the grossest/most painful pictures on the internet. I'm looking for some seriously awful pictures/video to use in a social experiment. They should be the kind of pictures that provoke either the response "That's disgusting!" or "Ouch! Painful!" They should also be real, undoctored photos/video, as far as you know.

A trip through the metafilter archives found me:
http://www.snopes.com/horrors/insects/wormeye.asp
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/3077300.stm

But I need more! And worse! Help?

What kind of bug is this?

guptaxpn — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 14:13:08 -0800

What kind of bug is this? (insect, not programming) http://i41.tinypic.com/308bghs.jpg These are all over my house and I want them all dead...

now...

What kind of bug is this?

http://i41.tinypic.com/308bghs.jpg

help me find a new york times article about gross apartments in brooklyn

nanhey — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 19:37:19 -0800

help me find a New York Times article -- it was about semi-illegal VERY small apartments within two warehouse (?) buildings in brooklyn.... i've been searching google fruitlessly for at least 45 min -- here's what i remember the article was about:

tiny tiny cramped/cheap/gross apartments, hipsters, bad insulation, kind of illegal run down building, mostly 20 somethings live there but the article did talk about one older couple who had moved in because the husband was following some life dream (and therefore had lost his source of income).

I can't even watch the whole thing, but I have to know what is wrong with this guy

yellowbinder — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 12:50:05 -0800

What the hell is going on in the video linked here? Warning: really fucking disgusting.

Taxes and GDP

brandnew — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 14:58:44 -0800

How do changes to the tax rates correlate with changes to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), and how are those changes forecasted? Last week I read an article in the Economist magazine about the US presidential election. I don't have the article anymore, but it mentioned something about the Bush tax decrease on upper incomes having only a 0.7% effect on forecasted GDP. It also mentioned that there wasn't evidence that the Clinton tax increase made much difference either.

It would seem logical that tax rates would correlate inversely with higher GDP. However, in practice, is this really true? Does it even have an effect?

Also, how does the budget office determine how a tax change will change future GDP? Or doesn't it?

Either way, it's disturbing...

InfinateJane — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 17:06:04 -0800

Does my cat hate reading, or have a really, REALLY un-natural love of books? I have one of those very stand-off-ish cats - she won't tolerate laps, or really even petting, except for one exception. Frequently, when I lay on the bed to read, she hops up and starts rubbing on me and licking any exposed skin she can find. She paces back and forth across my chest or the book (depending of course, on face-up or face-down position).

Then...this is the gross part - she MUSKS on or near me...she NEVER. NEVER. NEVER has done this at any other time, in any other situation. But three times now, during these book-induced frenzies of hers, she has released a few tiny drops of dark liquid from her anal glands, and they reek to high heaven!

So metafilter:
1) Why in the world does she do this?
2) What can I do to get that SMELL out? The scent is overpowering, and LINGERS... even if I rip the sheets off the bed immediately, throw them in the wash, and get myself into a shower.

Old apartment under insect attack!

utsutsu — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 09:22:13 -0800

Old apartment under insect attack! I am posting this question on behalf of a good friend who is a reader of this site but not yet a member. We'll call her M.

M: "It seems as though we have a black carpet beetle infestation (or at least that's what they look like to me). We've seen a few adults around since spring, which I thought just came with the old-and-in-disrepair apartment package, but today I found larvae while I was cleaning the litter boxes (they were under the bag of litter).

The litter boxes are in a "sun room" close to two unused mattresses and the room has a scrap carpet from my parents' house covering the linoleum. We've also found more under our couches and the jute rug in the living room. The rest of the apartment has old, gappy hardwood floors, so I'm hoping that's all there is.

Aside from frantic vacuuming, I need to know what else I should be doing. Should we just throw away the carpeting? Are the mattresses ok - and if not - how can I clean them? Do I need to use a pesticide? If so, is there something that is natural and/or safe to use around cats?

How can I prevent this from happening again (aside from stepping up the vacuuming)? Needless to say, I'm completely mortified and thoroughly grossed out. "

I will be posting any follow ups from M.

Thanks MeFi.

I haz a weird movie memory.

ninazer0 — Fri, 09 May 2008 19:09:52 -0800

Help me locate a weird 80's sci-fi movie with almost no info. I don't remember much of the movie for....various reasons. However, I'd very much like to find it again and fill in the blanks.

It was called something like "Living on the Edge" or "Life in the Tubes" and was a sci-fi comedy. People were living in a futuristic subterranean suburbia. It was all done in a very "just regular folks" sort of style. Kids come home from school and mom prepares a snack, which is some sort of toad creature pushed through a grid so that it pops out in slices. One of the kids is playing a sling-shot/target shooting game in his bedroom and has picked parasites off the family pet to use as missiles, with a very messy result.

I'm sorry, but the plot (if it had one) completely escapes me. I recall that Mom was upset because the "tubes" had stopped working and she sent the two kids with a bucket to the engineer for some gloopy stuff for dinner. The kids didn't want to go because they were scared of the engineer.

It was made in the late 70's or early 80's. I believe it was a US movie, or possibly Canadian.

That's all I've got. Does this ring any bells for anyone???

TOTALLY GROSSED OUT!

beachhead2 — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 15:46:09 -0800

I found a very small (live) worm in my cod dinner. This cod was line caught on Saturday in New Hampshire's Atlantic. It was given to me by the fisherman. It spent 3 days in the fridge. I had baked the fish for 13 minutes at 400 degrees. It was white and flakey. As I was eating (after I had eaten over half), I noticed a circular thing, about 1/2 cm in diameter, which looked odd. I poked at it with my fork where I noticed it was alive. It was very thin and about an inch long. Am I going to die? Is there anything to do? Normally, I am not totally freaked out by food. I am not an overly cautious person - I eat medium hamburgers. I eat sushi. I never give these things a second thought. However, there is something very, very unsettling about seeing a worm in something you've eaten. I looked through the rest of the fish and the other fsh I had made for my husband and saw nothing.

My Roommate's Junk Smells

Anonymous — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 14:27:55 -0800

My roommate smells, and it's not just typical BO. Help! I live in a typical (read: small) college dorm room with one other person.

In the past few weeks, I've noticed that my roommate has developed an odor. It's not bad breath, or typical BO. It smells distinctly... cheesy. In a really nasty "this isn't a good smell" kind of way. Specifically, I've noticed the smell when he removes his jeans as he is going to bed. My desk is very close to his bed, and after repeated instances of this, I can say with some assuredness that the smell is eminating from his pelvic area. It's very noticeable, and it can be pretty hard at times not to comment on the sudden foul odor that has started assaulting my nostrils immediately following the removal of his jeans.

What finally drove me to make the AskMe question I've been putting off about this is that I came back to the room after going to lunch, opened the door, and hit a wall of the odor. I discovered my roommate taking a nap in his bed, the air absolutely saturated with the repugnant smell in question. I opened my window and door to get air moving, went out into the hall, and found the smell was strong enough to seep into the hall and smell just as bad. I borrowed air freshener from the people in the next room, and even THEY noticed the smell coming from the hallway! That just isn't right!

He used to be pretty sexually active, with many a partner, due mostly to the lowered inhibitions/standards caused by drinking excessive amounts of alcohol (I'm not juding, really, he's admitted this to be the case multiple times). But I've noticed he has been completely abstinent lately (to my knowledge), and it coincides rather neatly with the debut of his new fragrance.

I have two main questions. First, what is up with my roommate's junk? Why does it smell the way it does? Answers from personal experience, educated guesses/conjecture from "I am not a doctor," "I'm a doctor but not YOUR (ROOMMATE'S) doctor," and the like are all welcome.

Second, what can I do about this situation? Should I put up with it since the end of the year is quickly approaching? Maybe a buy a ton of febreeze? Should I bring it up? If so, how?

I can be reached at anonymousmefi@gmail.com if you have any questions. If I have followups or new information I'll try and get in touch with one of the mods to have them post it in the thread.

Thanks for any and all help you can offer.

Getting the gunk out of my lungs

ShootTheMoon — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 10:39:00 -0800

Some questions on sickness and phlegm. Gross details inside... So last week I had a sore throat/cough. Never developed a fever or headache, although other people I know with the same infection got a nasty fever. The problem is that I have lingering phlegm in my lungs. I have never got this from a sickness before. In fact, I didnt even know what the rumble in my lungs was until someone explained it to me.

So I hear and feel a low rattling sound whenever I breathe. It makes me cough, and when something does get hacked up, I swallow it. Other then this, I feel great... I have no lingering affects from the cold.

Should I be doing something to extra to expel the phlegm from the lungs?

Will this go away on its own or do I need some medication to break up the gunk in the lungs.

Am I at risk of infection if I just wait it out?

Bug-filter: Cockroach? Please god, nooooo!

saturnine — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 13:21:35 -0800

Oh the joys of foreign bugs. Please can someone confirm/deny whether this is a cockroach? I'm creeped out to the nth degree. Yes, that photograph is far closer to any gross bug than it should be. I have searched through other questions on this subject, and this picture seems similar to what I have crawling around in a jar on my counter right now... but not 100%. My main problem being that I'm not from the US, so I'm not used to all the insects San Diego keeps throwing at me. Hell, I freaked out when a cricket got into the apartment the other night.

So what do I have and how should I kill it without touching it? If it's not a cockroach, is this something driven inside by the rain (it's pouring today, and I left the screen door open)?

My body stores feces in the rectum -- weird, but is it bad?

Anonymous — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 06:33:23 -0800

Every anal-sex manual says not to worry, feces isn't stored in the rectum. Well, my body doesn't know that. Could this cause, or be the effect of, any health problems I should know about? Text gets explicit. I've used the politest words I know so I don't gross you guys out -- but if your interest is prurient rather than medical, you still aren't going to want to eat while reading this.

My boyfriend -- an anal expert -- has been wanting to explore that route with me. (I'm a woman, mid-20s.) I hadn't done any anal play before, but I'm GGG enough to be willing to give it a shot. I read a couple of books and websites, and although they all were clear about the need for cleanliness, they all said that the colon, not the rectum, stores feces.

So one night in the shower, exploring on my own, I inserted a finger. I've repeated this experiment a whole lot, and something's wrong with either the books or my body. Once I make it past the sphincter, there's not just traces remaining from my last bathroom visit -- even if I've just defecated and feel like I'm empty, I have little trouble reaching (with a finger or two) plenty of feces. I do have to twist and turn as soon as I make it past the inner sphincter.

All this doesn't put a stop to his exploration, although he knows to go slow; so far he's only rimmed and fingered me. Before we get involved with anything in the area, I hop in the shower and get as clean as I can inside and out (yes, I scoop it out with my fingers, drop it in the toilet, and flush...yes, it took me a few tries to be okay with that). Then I rinse the inner area thoroughly, use tons of soap on my anal area (outside only, obviously), tons of soap and Purel on my hands, and we're good to go. An enema might be another option, but he says I'm perfectly clean after I do what I do, so I'm okay with that.

My question is why I have to do it.

For anal it doesn't really matter. So I jump in the shower beforehand -- so what? The logistics aren't important to me. But is storing feces in my rectum a sign or a cause of some important digestive health issue I should know about? I'm including everything I can think of that could possibly be related. Feel free to ask more relevant questions if you want Jessamyn to deal with TMI e-mails from me (sorry, Jessamyn).

I go to the bathroom a few times a day, but mostly to urinate; I only defecate once or twice a day, and never without urinating.

I don't feel like I have to push or strain. When I'm done, I feel like I'm done, not like there's more hanging around inside my rectum. I've tried bearing down after I feel I'm done, but with no results.

I have no trouble wiping clean or washing the exterior -- what I'm worried about is well inside the anus.

I average about 20 grams of fiber a day as part of a healthy diet. The fiber comes from fruit, vegetables, hot and cold cereal, and whole-grain bread/pasta. If I add, say, a bran muffin to my day, I can't go far from the bathroom and am very unhappy all day -- but the problem described above doesn't change. (Side note: I keep track of everything I eat, so if you have any more questions about my diet, I can answer them accurately.)

Corn is a food widely noted as being visible in feces. I also experience this with some other vegetables, including peas, green beans, spinach, and spaghetti squash. I'm not sure if this is normal or not.

I drink a fair amount of skim milk, but I have no reason to suspect I'm lactose-intolerant (no excessive gas, bloating, constipation, discomfort, etc., and no race-based risk factors). When I stopped drinking milk for awhile, nothing changed.

Let me know if any other information would be helpful. Again, I'm really not looking for clean-up tips or whatever -- both he and I are totally fine with what I'm doing now. I just want to make sure this aberration isn't a health concern worth taking to a doctor.

Crispy Crunchity Peanut Buttery

The Esteemed Doctor Bunsen Honeydew — Sun, 04 Nov 2007 17:36:16 -0800

Is it dangerous to eat a jar of peanut butter? A friend has decided to eat an entire 40oz jar of skippy brand peanut butter in one sitting, on a $20 bet. Should I try to put a stop to this, or full steam ahead? I know that it's really a bad idea to consume 40oz of anything in one sitting, but are there any actual heath risks from all that peanut butter, or just discomfort from consuming 6650+ calories in one day?

Yummy disgusting

thirteenkiller — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 10:37:53 -0800

Since it's almost Halloween and all, I need ideas for foods that look disgusting but don't taste disgusting. Does anyone have any good recipes or sources? In particular, I'm interested in bodily fluids/discharges and body parts, human or otherwise, but I try to keep an open mind.

Where can I see "The Swirl" gross out video?

wackybrit — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 01:33:25 -0800

Where can I find the video all these people are watching? It's supposedly called "The Swirl." "The Swirl" is supposedly a gross video similar to the extreme "2 girls 1 cup" video that's been going around lately, and there are a whole bunch of "reaction" videos on YouTube including this one. I've Googled for many variations of "swirl" and gross video but am still unable to find the original video.

A blog was set up at Blogspot (swirlreactions.blogspot.com) with reactions to the video but that site no longer exists and I can't find it in Google cache or Archive.org to see if it had a link to the original. Any ideas on finding this video to watch?

P.S. Don't bother Googling for the other video I mentioned if you're at work or want to eat sometime in the next year.

Why is my lip being horrible to me?

davidriley — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 09:51:22 -0800

Someone tell me what this thing on my lip is, and why it's there. It's transparent and firm. I attempted to squeeze it and it briefly turned dark red. It isn't painful. I've only now become aware of it; it might have been there yesterday. Blurry picture inside! Here is the blurry picture of it:

Should I have have this looked at? Should I be familiar with this or have developed one before?

Why does our kitchen sponge smell like mildew after less than a week?

ezrainch — Mon, 13 Aug 2007 21:10:38 -0800

Our kitchen sponge starts to smell like mildew after less than a week of normal use. We use a standard "scrubby" sponge that has an abrasive side and an absorbent sponge side. Has anybody else experienced this problem, and if so, what did you do about it, or do you have any general advice about keeping sponges from mildewing quickly? Both my wife and I make a point of always wringing the extra water out after each use, and store the sponge on the edge of our stainless steel sink. We never had this problem before we moved to our current home; sponges would generally take a month or more to get nasty in all our previous residences. We can't figure out what could be causing this premature bacteria growth! Our water (chlorinated municipal water supply!)? Mold spores floating through our house? (We do live in the Pacific Northwest, but keep our house well heated and don't otherwise have a mold problem.)

We've considered keeping the sponge in a dish of dilute bleach water between uses, but would prefer to not have a ubiquitous bleach presence in the kitchen. We've also tried several different brands of sponge, and only use the sponge for washing dishes and wiping the counters down.