“Sharing a mealtime, but not truly eating together can cause social friction and discomfort. For instance, being closely observed whilst eating can feel awkward and disrespectful. The person who is last to finish the food may suffer the discomfort of being watched by their no longer actually eating dining companions.” What, if anything, might be […]
Tag: toilet
Prof. Irus Braverman’s Toilet Project
“My fascination with interstitial legal geographies manifest in city trees has led me to the study of public washrooms and zoos.” – explains Irus Braverman who is Associate Professor of Law and an Adjunct Professor of Geography at the State University of New York, Buffalo. The professor’s undertaking, entitled ‘Toilet Project’ has: “ […] […]
To license Australia’s National Public Toilet Map dataset…
To license Australia’s National Public Toilet Map dataset, you must agree to a set of terms and conditions. To use the National Public Toilet Map, you go to the National Public Toilet Map web site. There you can: Enter a location, address or postcode to find nearby toilets. Plan a journey, to get a list of toilets along […]
Reducing Toilet Flush Noise in Adjacent Offices
The science of acoustics offers many challenges, some of which relate to toilets. For example: “An experience reducing toilet flushing noise reaching adjacent offices,” Noral D. Stewart [pictured here] (Stewart Acoustical Consultants, Raleigh, NC), Acoustical Society of America – 161st Meeting Lay Language Papers, Presented Thursday afternoon, May 26, 2011, 161st ASA Meeting, Seattle, Washington, […]
Sensing and Sensibility: “Development of Anal Position Detecting System for New-Toilet System”
Technology for the elderly grows more ambitious and, arguably, more adventurous. This paper sets a new standard: “Development of Anal Position Detecting System for New-Toilet System,” Koshi Tokoro, Keisuke Fujihira, and Hiroshi Kobayashi [Department of Mechanical Engineering, Tokyo University of Science, Tokyo, Japan], paper presented at the 2013 Seventh International Conference on Sensing Technology, December […]
A converter “which appeals to people’s habits for using the toilet”
Habit and hygeine are targeted together in this invention, which converts almost any standard sitting-type toilet to become a squatting-type toilet: “Novel type externally arranged foldable squatting chair,” Chinese patent #201675851 U, published December 22, 2010. The patent document explains: “The utility model discloses a novel type externally arranged foldable squatting chair modified from a […]
Smelov’s investigation of HPV on toilet seats in international airports
Lead author Smelov and colleagues write, in this letter to a medical journal, about a careful investigation that may (and may not) have small or nonexistent implications: “Are human papillomavirus DNA prevalences providing high-flying estimates of infection? An international survey of HPV detection on environmental surfaces,” Vitaly Smelov [pictured here], Carina Eklund, Laila Sara Arroyo […]
Using urine as the main fluid to make flush toilets flush
Sometimes, an answer to a technological conundrum is there, quite literally, under our noses. Take toilet flushes for example. For those involved in water conservation, toilets are a headache. Even specialised ‘low-flow’ flush hardware can use 1.6 gpf (gallons per flush) – that’s approaching 6.1 litres. [Reference leglislation see : 42 U.S.C. § 6295 : […]
Invention: a desk for people who sit on a toilet
The toilet users rolling desk in an invention for persons who wish to work and drink coffee whilst sitting on the throne. The idea is on file with the US patent office: “Toilet users rollable desk,” US patent application #20120223627 A1, Brian Wylie and Cameron Wylie, filed March 4, 2011. Details: “A toilet users rollable […]
“Crapping at the Opera in London before 1830” [study]
Seventeenth century opera houses produced more than just music, a reality brought forth in this study: ‘Pots, Privies and WCs: Crapping at the Opera in London before 1830‘, Michael Burden. Cambridge Opera Journal, vol. 23, nos. 1-2, July 2011), pp 27-50. Author Michael Burden [pictured here] is Tutor in Music, Dean, Chattels and Pictures Fellow and Professor […]