Florida of the day: Please don’t microwave library books

The public library of Temple Terrace (a Tampa neighborhood just a little north of Seminole Heights, where I live) had to post a Facebook notice telling people not to microwave books that they borrow.

It’s generally a bad idea to microwave paper, including money…

…but it’s even worse to microwave library books, as they have RFID tags, which are made of a thin layer of metal. Microwaves heat up thin layers of metal really quickly, bringing them up to the temperature that will ignite paper:

The library quarantines returned books for 72 hours before loaning them out again, which is believed to be enough time for contaminated surfaces to become safe:

Remember, viruses aren’t made of living cells. From a certain point of view, they’re just chemicals — DNA, protein, and fat — but they’re chemicals that have a knack for replicating themselves by rewriting the DNA of cells that they infiltrate:

So yes, keep borrowing books and other materials from the library. Wash your hands after using them. But don’t microwave them!