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Posted: 17-07-2012 21:46 Post subject:

I haven't yet watched this, but I feel I'd be in dereliction of my duty to keep you all informed if I didn't mention this:

The Toilet: An Unspoken History

Documentary looking at the role of the toilet in our culture, exploring its social history in Britain and abroad, and finding possible future solutions to global sanitation issues.

We each spend three years of our lives on the toilet, but how happy are we talking about this essential part of our lives? This film challenges that mindset by uncovering its role in our culture and exploring the social history of the toilet in Britain and abroad - as well as exploring many of our cultural toilet taboos.

Starting in Merida, Spain with some of the the earliest surviving Roman toilets, we journey around the world - from the UK to China, Japan and Bangladesh - visiting toilets, ranging from the historically significant to the beautiful, from the functional and sometimes not-so-functional to the downright bizarre.

Leading our journey is Everyman figure, Welsh poet and presenter Ifor ap Glyn, who has a passionate interest in the toilet, its history and how it has evolved over the centuries, right up to the development of the current design. Finally, there's a glimpse of the future and a possible solution to the global sanitation issues we now face.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01kxyhd/The_Toilet_An_Unspoken_History/

Enjoy! Cool

Posted: 15-08-2012 16:13 Post subject:

Bill Gates looks to new toilets to improve world sanitation

Bill Gates is, in a manner of speaking, flushing his money down the toilet.
His charitable organisation, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, is looking for future loos that can improve sanitation around the world.
At the Reinvent the Toilet fair, hosted at its Seattle campus this week, designs included a lavatory that used microwave energy to turn poo into electricity.
Another turned excrement into charcoal, while a third used urine for flushing.

In total 28 designs were shown off at the fair and the winner was a team from the California Institute of Technology.
Led by Prof Michael Hoffman, the toilet they designed was solar-powered and generated hydrogen gas and electricity. They won a $100,000 prize.
"We couldn't be happier with the response that we've gotten," Bill Gates said at the event.

One low-tech solution uses fly larvae to recycle waste The project challenged inventors to come up with a toilet that operated without running water, electricity or a septic system. It needed to operate at a cost of no more than five cents (3p) a day and would ideally capture energy or other resources.

Walter Gibson, from a team of scientists at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, showed off a toilet that used black soldier fly larvae to process waste and create environmentally-friendly animal feed.
The toilet is already being field tested in South Africa.

Traditional flush toilets waste tons of drinking water and are often impractical in many areas of the developing world.
The UN estimates that disease caused by unsafe sanitation is responsible for half of the hospitalisations in the developing world. About 1.5 million children die each year from diarrhoeal disease.

The Gates Foundation has committed $370m (£235m) to its future toilet initiative and hopes to field test the prototypes within three years.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-19271061

Posted: 18-08-2012 22:56 Post subject:

A literary Blog I discovered the other night.

Tom Turdman, a Night-Man's Scavengings Confused

Posted: 27-08-2012 20:54 Post subject:

Taiwan minister says men should sit down to urinate

A Taiwanese minister has caused widespread debate on hygiene by suggesting that men should sit down while urinating instead of standing up.
Stephen Shen, Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) minister, said that sitting on the toilet like women do creates a cleaner environment.
This has generated a lot of online debate, says the BBC's Cindy Sui.
Officials are to ask local governments this week to put up notices in public places advising men to sit.

While many women in social media websites favour the suggestion, a lot of men say it would be hard to stop doing what they are used to, our correspondent in Taipei adds.
But EPA officials insist that it can be done.
"We want to learn from Japan and Sweden," said Yuan Shaw-jing, EPA director general of environmental santitation and toxic substance maintenance.
"In Japan, we heard 30% of the men sit," he added.

Inspectors regularly grade Taiwan's estimated 100,000 public toilets, with most of receiving high marks. But EPA officials say there is room for improvement, as some toilets are still smelly because of urine spatter.
While the agency said that it cannot force men to change their habits, it will ask local governments this week to put notices in public toilets with the suggestion.

As for Mr Shen, the EPA confirmed that he himself practices what he suggests - at home and while using public toilets.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-19390785

This week, I shall be mostly pissing in the shower tray! Twisted Evil

Posted: 09-06-2013 20:19 Post subject:

If your're into toilet talk then read the comments:

http://boingboing.net/2013/06/04/cost-analysis-of-a-toilet-wipe.html

Especially comments like these: Very Happy

Posted: 09-06-2013 21:06 Post subject:

Posted: 18-07-2013 09:08 Post subject:

Payment machines installed at Falmouth public toilets
6:00am Thursday 18th July 2013 in News

A town councillor has hit out over Cornwall Council’s plans to start charging people to use public toilets in two areas of Falmouth, claiming the town council should look again at covering the cost.

Councillors were told last week that charging mechanisms were currently being installed at the toilets at Prince of Wales Pier and Grove Place ahead of plans to introduce fees of between 20 and 30 pence per visit.

Steve Eva, who was elected back onto the town council in May, said: “Nothing says Falmouth is closed for business more than charging for toilets. I want us to ask how much they (Cornwall Council) make in the first month.”

Criticising the town council for not taking on responsibility for the toilets and keeping them free, he said: “We put nearly £300,000 into the art gallery to keep that going so people don’t have to pay to look at art but we have to pay to do something that is natural. It cannot be right.
“The town council should have a serious look and see if we have something in the budget because it’s absolutely crazy.”

Mr Eva was told the council could revisit its stance on public toilets when it comes to setting next year’s budget, in November.

http://www.falmouthpacket.co.uk/news/10553843.Payment_machines_installed_at_Falmouth_public_toilets__POLL/?ref=mr

Posted: 18-07-2013 09:54 Post subject:

“We put nearly £300,000 into the art gallery to keep that going so people don’t have to pay to look at art but we have to pay to do something that is natural. It cannot be right . . . "

Well if he just wants to watch, I suppose they could give him a free pass. Confused

Posted: 24-07-2013 08:49 Post subject:

Shut toilets concern tourism bosses

Closing public toilets may put some holidaymakers off Cornwall for good, tourism bosses have warned.
More than 30 public toilets in the county - about 10% - are closed despite the start of the peak tourist season.

Last year, Cornwall Council announced it had been forced to review its "non-statutory" services because of funding cuts.
Parish councils have taken on the maintenance and cleaning of some public toilets, with some charging users.
Other public conveniences, like services in Boscastle and Marazion, are charging users, while others may only open at weekends.

Malcolm Bell, the head of Visit Cornwall, said: "If visitors are really annoyed about facilities, they won't come back.
"They will bad-mouth us and cause us lost business in the long term."

Simon Tregoning, of Classic Cottages, said: "People will judge Cornwall on how it looks.
"If we get a reputation for being rough around the edges it will get out."

There are almost 300 public toilets across the county, which was costing Cornwall Council more than £1m a year to clean.
Some local councils - including Callington, Deviock, Downderry, Lerryn, Launceston and Seaton - have already taken on the maintenance and cleaning of their public toilets.

Cornwall Council said it was still in negotiations with other town and parish councils about the running of public toilets.

Edwina Hannaford, the councillor responsible for public toilets, said: "We do acknowledge how important the public toilets are.
"Some have closed through duplication, or they were not fit for purpose, and there are some that we are still in negotiations over.
"We want to keep as many open as possible as well as making the savings we have to make."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cornwall-23419837

Posted: 02-08-2013 08:24 Post subject:

Woman squats in public toilet in Bath to protest against closure
[I'm not sure the second word in the headline was well-chosen!]

A 67-year-old woman has moved into a public toilet in Bath to protest against its closure by the council.
Lin Patterson, from Larkhall, took up occupation of the toilet in Twerton on Wednesday night and said she intends to stay there for at least three days.

The toilets were due to close on Thursday as part of Bath and North East Somerset Council's plan to save money.
Ms Patterson said local toilets "serve one of our most basic human needs" and closure "hurts the most vulnerable".

In December, the council announced a proposal to sell off or close 13 public toilets in and around Bath.
The authority, which owns 27 public toilets, said the closures could save £120,000 a year.

But Ms Patterson, who petitioned to another public toilet, in Larkhall, said the cuts were "unnecessary, unreasonable and unwanted".
"It's about the people who really need these toilets - the most vulnerable, elderly, women, children and disabled people," she said.
"Many people in Twerton still do not know our toilets are closing, and we need to know and mobilise."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-somerset-23538019

Good on yer, gal! Don't lose our loos!

Posted: 02-08-2013 21:39 Post subject:

Maybe I posted this already. And probably you know this already.
Zizek on toilets:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rzXPyCY7jbs

Posted: 02-08-2013 22:27 Post subject:

Posted: 02-08-2013 23:36 Post subject:

This is all part of the Chomskyite campaign to undermine Zizek.

Posted: 05-08-2013 23:28 Post subject:

Luxury toilet users warned of hardware flaw

luxury toilet controlled by a smartphone app is vulnerable to attack, according to security experts.

Retailing for up to $5,686 (£3,821), the Satis toilet includes automatic flushing, bidet spray, music and fragrance release.

The toilet, manufactured by Japanese firm Lixil, is controlled via an Android app called My Satis.

But a hardware flaw means any phone with the app could activate any of the toilets, researchers say.

The toilet uses bluetooth to receive instructions via the app, but the Pin code for every model is hardwired to be four zeros (0000), meaning that it cannot be reset and can be activated by any phone with the My Satis app, a report by Trustwave's Spiderlabs information security experts reveals.

"An attacker could simply download the My Satis application and use it to cause the toilet to repeatedly flush, raising the water usage and therefore utility cost to its owner," it says in its report.

"Attackers could [also] cause the unit to unexpectedly open/close the lid, activate bidet or air-dry functions, causing discomfort or distress to [the] user."

The limited range of bluetooth means that anyone wishing to carry out such an attack would need to be fairly close to the toilet itself, said security expert Graham Cluley.

"It's easy to see how a practical joker might be able to trick his neighbours into thinking his toilet is possessed as it squirts water and blows warm air unexpectedly on their intended victim, but it's hard to imagine how serious hardened cybercriminals would be interested in this security hole," he told the BBC.

"Although this vulnerability seems largely harmless, what's clear is that companies building household appliances need to have security in mind just as much as computer manufacturers."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-23575249

Why would you want to control your toilet via your phone???

Rolling Eyes

Posted: 05-08-2013 23:37 Post subject: