On a lighter note, then..

Since love and people dying clearly resonated strongly with the regular readers of this blog (both of you), how about something a little less serious.

Information from Bryan About Toilets and Bathrooms

- it's disappointing that a society that produced the space shuttle can't provide
a) a public toilet where the force necessary to dispense paper is less than the force needed to tear the paper
b) toilet seat covers that tear properly

- fact: some women will leave work and go home to use the bathroom if:
a) the bathroom at work isn't clean enough, or
b) they have serious business to do that might result in detectible sound/odor

- in the US, most people call the public toilet a "restroom", and the one in the home a "bathroom"; in Canada most say "washroom" for both. yes, there are many exceptions. move along.

- studies suggest that people wash their hands after using the bathroom a lot more when there are people watching than when they think they're alone

- if a public bathroom seems really clean, sometimes i don't use a toilet seat cover

- fact: the toilet in the Safeway where I shop is almost always filthy

- there are unstated-but-widely-understood rules for using the urinals in the men's room
(eg, leave an empty urinal between you and the next man; never get caught checking out another guy's hammer; if you talk, do not make eye contact; etc)

- some people seem to have a Pavlovian associative reaction to specific locations (the bookstore, the bank, the library, whatever) that make them have to use the bathroom

- a lot of newer urinals have a little target-like design; apparently men aim better when they have somethign to shoot for

- women have impressed upon men for ages the idea that the toilet seat must be left down, or no one in the household will go to heaven. (i'm pretty sure the day the toilet was invented, the inventor's wife came into the lab and said "that's nice, honey, but you left the seat up.") i'm not sure how it is that women get to be the boss of this. for men, about four fifths of the time the needed position for the seat is UP -- not down -- so to us, up seems normal and right.

- and speaking of that, here's a question: knowing that a fair number of barbarian men are going to pee all over the seat in a unisex public restroom, is it actually more considerate to leave it UP, so that when a woman uses it she has a slightly better chance of it not being covered in droplets? i'm happy to let women make the call on this one, just let us know what you'd like...

- and still speaking of that, when the first woman deems the seat too far gone to be used even with a paper cover, she will do the crouching/hovering thing so she doesn't have to touch the seat at all. not that i blame her, but it seems the lack of precision aiming devices in this case often results in the seat being spattered worse than when men do it.
not that we philistines notice or care, mind you -- i'm just saying.

- in spanish, one way to describe the hovering technique translates to "going pee like eagles"

- a story of lameness:
one time after some sporting or entertainment event, we all had to go -- the boys in the group just went behind a big truck, but the girls wanted to wait until we could find an actual bathroom. the cutest of the girls said, pouting, "it's not fair, boys have handy gadgets..."
i remember being happy due to the mere fact that she had, however indirectly, acknowledged the existence of my gadget.
when you're a young guy, you make do with what you're given...


Bonus Section (yay!)
Russian toilet facts
- for some reason, the bowl is often not bowl-shaped on the inside; it has a shelf-like arrangement (to save water?) that has the effect of keeping deposits in close proximity to the user. the first time you use one of these toilets, the experience of reaching under yourself with the paper in your hand is apt to be surprising and disappointing
- as in many other countries, sometimes it's not a bowl at all; it may be porcelain, but it's essentially a fancy hole in the floor.
- in most places it costs money to use the public toilet
- it's a few kopecks more if you want paper
- they are often very stingy with the paper
- the paper is very rough; i think it is made from steel wool & asbestos; it may leave you bleeding, but on the other hand it will address even the most stubborn situation


There you go, then. (You're welcome -- don't mention it.)