Desolate terrains of impalers / Forks landing in toilets

Bingo of the afternoon:

TERRAINS (127 points) - against Angela V.


High-scoring words of the afternoon:

IMPALERS (157 points) - against Alice P. [two 3W]
HAYMOW (168 points) - against Lois L. [4W, 2W, 2L on H]
DESOLATE (232 points) - against Becky O. [two 4W]
WADE (143 points) - against Barbara N. [5W, 2W, 2L on W] {a good deficit-erasing word!}
TERRAINS (127 points) - against Angela V. [two 3W, hook off SQUID to make TI / ED] {a good deficit-erasing word!}


Dave Wong commented on my "EWW! THE FORK JUST LANDED IN THE TOILET!" status to invoke the five-second rule, so I had to have a research comeback!

(In 2005, a high-school intern at the University of Illinois tested this theory by contaminating ceramic tiles with E. coli, then placing gummy bears and cookies on the tiles for 5 seconds. All the food became contaminated with bacteria.

Another 5-second wonder: A team at Clemson University conducted tests by dropping bread and bologna on Salmonella-laced tile, wood flooring, and nylon carpet. Hundreds of the Salmonella bacteria remained alive for 28 days! The surfaces had been contaminated for 8 hours, so the food picked up 8000 bacteria after only 5 seconds. Left for 60 seconds, about 10 times the bacteria was recorded.)