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}

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!

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...

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"?

Use the Tube

Our awesome Eco-Agent IGA has come up with another fair use for toilet roll tubes after you've used up those last scraps of paper that stick on with the glue so that you have to pick it off in that annoying way. In her own words:

Reuse tip x2! Use old toilet paper cores to save gift ribbon to use again. Simply tape one end of the ribbon to the paper core, wrap around and tape the end to the ribbon.

Et Voilà! As an added bonus, not only does it keep your extra ribbon bits from getting tangled in the bottom of a drawer somewhere, AND keep TB tubes out of recycle bins/landfills - it looks pretty!

Thanks, Agent IGA! {Photo credit: I.G.}

Addendum: There are some toilet paper tubes that don't like having ribbon wrapped around them, and they make faces like this.

Update: Our agent wants to be called "Iggy," so we'll call her "IGGS" for short. :)

Mission: Restroom

The TP Blog is a little "back-logged" right now with some awesome posts and submissions that have been coming in that we just haven't posted because of time and life and this and that. But Agent M sent in a link today to "the best task force ever." Check it out: the San Francisco Recreation and Parks department has a Restroom Task Force.

Or at least they did. It looks like they were getting a lot of "business" done in 2009. There's so much information on the page, it's hard to know where to start! Hm...Do I go with "Draft Restroom Taskforce Report Appendix A" from June 12, 2009, "Restroom List," or the "Restroom Design Feedback page?" So many choices! Personally, I'm kind of interested in the "Restroom Cost Comparison by Capital."

But this is serious business! I mean, someone's got to make sure that our public restrooms are working and cost effective and structurally sound.

However, I like to think that the "taskforce" was doing their survey of public toilets in black suits and ties, with earpieces and hidden cameras. Perhaps parachuting down from helicopters, armed with plungers. Now *that* would be an awesome taskforce.

TP for Yoo

Some people really don't like John Yoo. I don't like Yoo either. (heheheh) But seriously. If you walk around Berkeley, you will see "Arrest John Yoo" signs stapled to telephone poles. (They could have said "Yoo should be arrested," but they didn't.) And one man made a very special protest, which, in view of toilet paper and the amount of energy he put into it, is practically a compliment.

I guess some people believe Mr. Yoo has trampled on the United States Constitution with his legal practices and rendered them something of a waste product. So one artist from LA decided to have our country's founding documents printed on rolls of toilet paper and deposited them in the bathrooms of the UC Berkeley's legal building, Boalt Hall. He then took the rolls of toilet paper that he removed and left them in a pile in the Dean's office (where Yoo works).

So it was sort of like a one-two punch (in the nether regions). Or it was supposed to be. But to have someone go to that much trouble and expense on your behalf seriously is almost like a compliment. In fact, at first when I watched the video, I thought it was propaganda *for* John Yoo. Not so much. Though I don't think he printed Yoo's face on the TP.

But you can watch the video and see for yourself:

Tiny Toilets

Today, Agent HoJo has helped us to discover Apartment Therapy's list of the Best Small Toilets of 2010. Complete with sexy-haired women in stiletto heels, this listing showcases some of the newest, bestest toilet technologies that will let you get a loo into a tiny space and/or utilize a tiny amount of water for the flush. And really, who can't go for that, on this eve of the 40th anniversary of Earth Day?

Some of these designs are quite lovely as well (even without the model!). Personally, I like the two Caroma models at the bottom of the list. That second one is especially cool-looking. The first one, too, though I think what I really like about it is the shiny purple tiling on the back wall, with matching toilet roll cover.


Images via Apartment Therapy

CSI: San Francisco Bathroom

I had occasion recently to visit the bathroom at CSI: San Francisco (otherwise known as Congregation Sherith Israel). The synagogue's building was built in 1904, just before the big SF earthquake of '06. And it survived (whew!). In addition to a beautiful painted dome upstairs, with an organ and some lovely stained-glass work, they also have this nifty ladies' restroom on the ground floor.

As you can see, there is a whole powder room before you even get to the bathroom part of it. Above, you can see the make-up/touch-up area, with a big mirror, curlicue chairs, and bottles of lotion.


There is also a huge couch, a chair, full-length mirror, and fresh orchids. Not too shabby. The major bonus of this set-up, though, is the fact that, when the line gets long, you just wait in here, instead of standing around in the hallway.


In the next room, which is not as big, there are sinks, a stained-glass window, and a baby changing station, cleverly located near the heating unit, which is a good thing, because these big old buildings are hard to keep warm.

In the third section, there are toilet stalls. And the architects somehow managed to cram a significant amount of them into a fairly small space. So even though it's a little cramped, there's enough for everybody. And the doors are even on automatic springed hinges, so they stay open when they're not locked - no guessing or checking under the door to see if someone is in the stall.


I think the details in the whole bathroom are just lovely, like these charming and oh-so-unnecessary embroidered cases for the tissue boxes. Kind of makes you want to blow your nose and wipe that little tear forming at the corner of your eye because it's just so beautiful.

They also have a very nice "modern" bathroom in the building annex next door, but you know, I think this one just has so much charm. It reportedly has had its attention, back in the day. And, as I hear it, the men's loo is not nearly so special. In fact, given that, I think this one makes up for those tricked out men's rooms from the America's Best Restroom competition. No pool tables or shoe-shine stations here. I think the building designers knew where the priorities were when it came to restroom facilities. And I'm all about the powder rooms, so this is going down as one of *my* favorites.

Check it out if you're ever in the area!