Wednesday, July 28, 2010

When you really gotta "glow"

Agent Dave has found us this glowing treasure from GadgetShop.com, based in the UK. All right, so it's too far to get a truckload of glowing toilet paper delivered to your doorstep in one of their lorries - but if you live in England, you can!

Gadget No. 1016: It looks like normal loo roll, it feels like normal loo roll and it can be flushed away like normal loo roll, but this neat invention contains phosphors which give off a soft green glow when exposed to light.

Hm, sounds shady to me...er, glowy? I really cannot vouch for the safety of this product. I, personally, feel a bit uncomfortable about shoving a wad of glowing tissue paper "where the sun don't shine" because I figure it doesn't shine there for a reason. So I think I'd prefer to keep it that way.

However, you could always use your glowing TP roll to shed some light on your sudoku puzzle:



{Photos courtesy of GadgetShop}

Monday, July 26, 2010

Lockdown


These 3 photos come from a list of 15 unusual ways to solve problems. I'm not even sure what all of these problems ARE. Some of them just look like people doing random stuff with implements and ladders, and oh yeah, duct tape. That one of the patch of duct tape on the flap of the airplane wing would be a little disheartening to see. I imagine that a passenger shot that while on an actual flight. Now we KNOW that the economic crisis is getting serious when airlines need to use duct tape to fix their wings! But I digress. Let me see if I can figure out what all these issues were...Okay:

1) Aliens landed at this campsite in the middle of the desert and stole the knob off this faucet for "research purposes." Then some unsuspecting camper got fed up with no water, decided to use their house key to solve the problem, and thought they were super clever about it, until they got home and realized they had no house key.


2) Got no toilet paper holder? Tired of pesky people stealing your TP roll? Just get yourself a couple of eye-screws and a bike lock. BAM! Problem solved!


3) How stupid are those useless gel wrist pads? I mean, they're all squishy and great, but they *still* put your wrist at a pretty bad angle for mouse work. Heck, I usually hold my wrist ABOVE the wrist pad to get comfortable. But look at what this guy does! What great ergonomic posture! He is SO not getting carpal tunnel syndrome. And the bonus? If someone broke the bike lock on the TP in the rest room, he is totally prepared!

Thursday, July 22, 2010

Heaven & Hell


On a more serious note, it is easy to take our toiletry for granted. It is easy to be amused by a funny sign in the restroom, because the restroom is going to be there, isn't it? But you know, try camping for a few days, and you'll get a lot more excited about indoor plumbing.

Heck, just last weekend, I went out river rafting and was glad to see a toilet when I returned - and that was just for a day! They even had permanent latrines at the landing site, but, well, you know, being in nature, I wanted to "connect with nature." But I digress...

It is interesting to me how many times I hear toilets, bathrooms, and their various accoutrements compared to "Heaven," while their lack, or malfunction can be compared to "Hell." A faulty plumbing system? Definitely Heck. A handheld bidet sprayer? Heaven, according to this guy.

But there really are people in the world (quite a lot of them) who do not have access to sanitation facilities, and this is actually quite a public health issue. It's the reason the World Toilet Organization exists. Might sounds like a funny name, but it's really not, when you think about it. You know how bad it is when you just "gotta go" and you can't find a restroom? What if that was your life? All day, every day. It would be quite different.

Agent HoJo also recently sent us this Blog Post about the toilet sanitation crisis in Mumbai. "Toilet Heaven" is a street corner with multiple double-decker toilet facilities. "Toilet Hell" is, well, just about everywhere else, apparently.

The fact that even our poorer citizens in the US can practically take toilets bathrooms and toilet paper all for granted shows just how wealthy a country we really are, even if we complain about lack of government services and economic downturn, etc., etc. I think possibly to much of the rest of the world, we look like a bunch of whining babies. Of course, we do have citizens who live on the street, who don't have access to adequate hygiene facilities. Living near San Francisco, I see it all the time. It's a pretty sad phenomenon.

So the next time you go to use a toilet, before you complain about the bad lighting or bunched up hand towels, or a lack of seat covers, take a moment to just be grateful. Be grateful that you *have* a toilet that is at least relatively comfortable. And think about someone who a is a little less fortunate.

{Photo courtesy the Polis Blog}

Out(back Steak)House

This one makes me laugh! Intrepid Agent AshW, is staying in NC for the summer (with Agent HoJo), and snapped this one in a local Outback Steakhouse. It's a sign pointing toward the restrooms, of course...

Monday, July 5, 2010

Melt Your Heart Out

Here is a lovely one from Agent Ash W in Colorado. She sent us this pic of a sign next to the mirror in the ladies' room of the Melting Pot in Littleton, CO. How did she know I love fondue? Now, I wonder what it said in the guys' room - "Offer her (or him) the last strawberry"?