Live data from Hacker News

Iranian man who didn't wash for half a century dies at 94

bbc.com

11–20 of 121 posts

Re: Iranian man who didn't wash for half a century dies at 94

#12
post #7
post #2

> But, local media say, Amou Haji finally succumbed to pressure and washed a few months ago. > According to Iran's IRNA news agency, he became ill shortly afterwards and died on Sunday. I'm really hoping an autopsy is done to figure out what exactly killed him, because this might be the most interesting opportunity for a hygiene case study in generations. Identifying even just one potential opportunistic disease, aut…

Ah, but there's also this part, apparently his water and diet were no better than his outer shell: > his diet had consisted of rotten meat and unsanitary water drunk from an old oil can. > Attempts to bathe him, or offer him clean water to drink, made him sad, the news agency said. And then there's the picture where he's smoking four cigarettes at once. I mean, I'm really kind of impressed.

> Attempts to bathe him, or offer him clean water to drink, made him sad, the news agency said.

I can’t avoid looking at this man’s situation from the a Western “mental health awareness” lens. Why would he subject himself to this? Is he attempting to exert control as a result of a past situation where he felt he had none (psychosocial trauma)?

Re: Iranian man who didn't wash for half a century dies at 94

#14

"..skin covered in soot and pus..", "..diet.. ..rotten meat and unsanitary water..", "..fond of smoking..". "..dies at 94". I don't even know what to say. Those two snippets can't be in the same sentence right? I'll think twice before telling my kids to "eat healthy and don't smoke"!

"hey kids, stop playing outside and come eat this rotten meat we cooked! After dinner we'll have some cigarettes"

Re: Iranian man who didn't wash for half a century dies at 94

#15
post #7
post #2

> But, local media say, Amou Haji finally succumbed to pressure and washed a few months ago. > According to Iran's IRNA news agency, he became ill shortly afterwards and died on Sunday. I'm really hoping an autopsy is done to figure out what exactly killed him, because this might be the most interesting opportunity for a hygiene case study in generations. Identifying even just one potential opportunistic disease, aut…

Ah, but there's also this part, apparently his water and diet were no better than his outer shell: > his diet had consisted of rotten meat and unsanitary water drunk from an old oil can. > Attempts to bathe him, or offer him clean water to drink, made him sad, the news agency said. And then there's the picture where he's smoking four cigarettes at once. I mean, I'm really kind of impressed.

On Keto? Old hat. On Paleo? So 2015.

Get you on the Keith Richards.

Re: Iranian man who didn't wash for half a century dies at 94

#16

"..skin covered in soot and pus..", "..diet.. ..rotten meat and unsanitary water..", "..fond of smoking..". "..dies at 94". I don't even know what to say. Those two snippets can't be in the same sentence right? I'll think twice before telling my kids to "eat healthy and don't smoke"!

He probably didn't ingest sugar and fats, also had a life without anxiety.

Re: Iranian man who didn't wash for half a century dies at 94

#17
post #2

> But, local media say, Amou Haji finally succumbed to pressure and washed a few months ago. > According to Iran's IRNA news agency, he became ill shortly afterwards and died on Sunday. I'm really hoping an autopsy is done to figure out what exactly killed him, because this might be the most interesting opportunity for a hygiene case study in generations. Identifying even just one potential opportunistic disease, aut…

> Attempts to bathe him, or offer him clean water to drink, made him sad

Maybe he died of sadness after all...

Re: Iranian man who didn't wash for half a century dies at 94

#18
post #16

"..skin covered in soot and pus..", "..diet.. ..rotten meat and unsanitary water..", "..fond of smoking..". "..dies at 94". I don't even know what to say. Those two snippets can't be in the same sentence right? I'll think twice before telling my kids to "eat healthy and don't smoke"!

He probably didn't ingest sugar and fats, also had a life without anxiety.

And a lot of luck. These are all statistical correlations, there are bound to be outliers.

Re: Iranian man who didn't wash for half a century dies at 94

#20
post #16

"..skin covered in soot and pus..", "..diet.. ..rotten meat and unsanitary water..", "..fond of smoking..". "..dies at 94". I don't even know what to say. Those two snippets can't be in the same sentence right? I'll think twice before telling my kids to "eat healthy and don't smoke"!

He probably didn't ingest sugar and fats, also had a life without anxiety.

hmm Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger have famously horrible diets yet sill fully active at 91. I think a lot of it comes down to genes. Some people simply do not suffer from the ravages of age compared to others even when they seemingly break the rules.
Post reply on HN