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General discussion

"you spend nearly three years of your life in the lavatory"

Nov 19, 2003 6:35AM PST

Breaking the Taboo Over Toilets?

Nov 19, 9:33 am ET

By Jason Szep

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Flushed with the success of making the island's lavatories among the cleanest in the world, a Singapore-based organization marked "World Toilet Day" on Wednesday with a call for more hygiene in public facilities.

"What we are trying to do is break the taboo over toilets," said Jack Sim, a founding member of the non-profit World Toilet Organization.

"Everybody talks about what goes into the body and no one talks about what comes out," he said.

The two-year-old World Toilet Organization (www.worldtoilet.org), which aims to raise global awareness of toilet and sanitation standards, marked its annual World Toilet Day with a call for people to speak out against poorly designed or filthy latrines.

The group is collecting tips ahead of a World Toilet Summit to be held in Beijing next year.

The group -- whose members include the British Toilet Association and 17 other similar organizations from 13 countries -- has a top-10 list of latrine essentials that Sim says will lead to "happier people."

The average person, according to the group's Web Site, visits the toilet 2,500 times a year -- meaning you spend nearly three years of your life in the lavatory.

9:44|reuters.html">http://news.excite.com/odd/article/id/367884|oddlyenough|11-19-2003:Shocked9:44|reuters.html

Discussion is locked

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OTOH...
Nov 19, 2003 7:12AM PST

The toilet is a better environment than many others... LOL! Wink

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One man's stink is another's aroma?
Nov 19, 2003 7:29AM PST

You mean like up on stinking Capitol Hill where they are moving us with rapid pace toward the visionary world depicted in "1984"?

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And if you use it for a library you can easily double that time :-) (NT)
Nov 19, 2003 7:42AM PST

.

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(NT) Mary Kay, never would have thought of you as a BRW reader ! j/k :)
Nov 19, 2003 7:58AM PST
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Power toilet for businessmen?
Nov 19, 2003 7:59AM PST

I was shocked last weekend when I visited the lavatory at the hotel and discovered that somebody in one of the stalls was on the phone carrying on two different conversations (the magic of call waiting!) on his cell phone.

I would have thought that the occasional flush & other background noise would have made his telephone venue a poor choice.

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Re:Power toilet for businessmen?
Nov 19, 2003 8:52AM PST

Dr. Bill,

Your contribution to "all things from the great white throne" reminds me of a joke I'm sure others have seen where one person starts up an convo with another in the other stall who turns out to be on the phone. Happy

Tim

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Re: "you spend nearly three years of your life in the lavatory" -- Women vs. men?
Nov 19, 2003 12:18PM PST

I'll bet women spend at least a year longer on average than men -- maybe two!
-- Dave K.
Speakeasy Moderator
click here to email semods4@yahoo.com

The opinions expressed above are my own,
and do not necessarily reflect those of CNET!

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In the room maybe ...
Nov 20, 2003 12:38AM PST

... but not on the toilet! I think there are probably more male toilet readers than female. Maybe there's been a study done by that organization on that too LOL.

Evie Happy

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Re: In the room maybe ...
Nov 20, 2003 11:55AM PST

Hi, Evie.

Unfortunately, there aren't generally enough stalls in public ladies rooms', so women have to spend a lot more time waiting in line. And, of course, it also takes women longer once in the stall, due to thier different construction, and their clothing's. (I'm trying to phrase this as delicately as I can Happy )
-- Dave K.
Speakeasy Moderator
click here to email semods4@yahoo.com

The opinions expressed above are my own,
and do not necessarily reflect those of CNET!

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Outhouse Door at Iowa Park Stolen
Nov 21, 2003 12:23AM PST

Nov 21, 9:34 AM (ET)

ACKLEY, Iowa (AP) - The outhouse door is missing at a city park, and officials want it back.

Richard Swasand, a volunteer at Prairie Bridges Park, said someone probably took it overnight on Nov. 12 while the group was collecting an award from North Iowa Area Development park improvement program for its unique bathroom and other improvements.

"While we were getting the award, they were stealing the door," Swasand said.

Swasand said the door is special because it was painted to look like a barn door with the words "Outhouse" and a sliver of a moon added to it.

more:
http://apnews.myway.com//article/20031121/D7UV24TO0.html