The Bog Logger

Granger's Mess

noreply@blogger.com (the bog logger) — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 06:11:00 +0000

Walking, as I often do, through Newtown, pausing at too many bookshops, lingering in too many bookshops, settling down in too many bookshops, moving from shelf to shelf, from science to fiction to poetry to sexuality and straining to read in the fading light and suddenly wondering where the day went and hurrying to the pub to meet friends - wandering through Newtown's book stores, I flicked through Bill Granger's latest cook book. It's a lovely looking book and is separated, oddly, into days.

A recipe for a choc-hazelnut ricotta cake caught my eye. It looked simple, elegant and gorgeous, and didn't have a huge amount of sugar and fat, or even flour. I found this intriguing. What's the point of a cake that isn't wicked? I quickly committed the recipe to memory, wrote it down over lunch and afterwards went to another book store to check if my memory had been close. It had been.

I picked up the ingredients and went home to cook the cake. The batter was divine! The smell of the cooking cake was divine! It took a little longer to cook than Bill had said , but when I finally took it out of the oven it looked just like the picture.

But Bill! You lied! It wasn't cake! It was pudding! I mean, it was still nice. And definitely wicked. But I was expecting cake, not squishy bread-and-butter-pudding type stuff. I don't know why I expected that - I mean, it was 500 grams of ricotta and 2 tablespoons of flour. Still.

Even though it was weirdly soft, it hasn't stopped us eating it all. Thanks for the pudding Granger!

Corporate graffiti?

noreply@blogger.com (the bog logger) — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 11:26:00 +0000

On a trip to Newtown, wondering what to eat, aimlessly shuffling between Noodle House and Chinese Noodle House, but not really feeling like noodles, I came across this.

I HATE OPTUS
but vodafone is nice!

Corporate graffiti? Or exercising the right to voice your opinion in a public place?

Booze Bar and Black

noreply@blogger.com (the bog logger) — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 05:37:00 +0000

Even if you haven't been to the newly re-opened Beresford yet, no doubt you've heard about its sexy curved bar, its naff wine list (organised into cheap, decent, good), and, of course, its magnificent loos.

You've heard about the loos, right?

First, a word about how I ended up in The Beresford on a Tuesday night. We had gone to The Rocks for a bit of St Pats day cheer, but found the prospect of lining up for 30 minutes just to get into the pub, followed by 30 minutes of queuing for the bar, followed by standing outside and having drunk loud amateur drinker step on our toes just wasn't... cheering. T had noticed that the Columbian served Guinness, so up we trudged to Oxford Street. Now, while technically the Columbian does serve Guinness, it comes out of a can, which is poured into a glass, and the glass is then placed on some sort of sonic device which gives the beer a head. It was creepy.

So we went to the Beresford. Which doesn't serve Guinness at all. So we had two pints of Coopers instead.

The most noticeable thing about the toilets at the Beresford is that they're dark. Very dark.

The next noticeable thing is that they're dark. And also, the hand washing area is communal. I like this. It feels efficient.

And the next noticeable thing is that they're dark. And also, they have Dyson Airblades! It's a shame that more people don't know how to use these properly. They are an absolute revolution in hand drying technology. I couldn't find a really good clip which shows you how to use the Airblade properly (it's all about pulling your hands out slowly, people! Not plunging them in again and again!), so you will have to make do with this Shiny review.

Also, they're very dark. And they pour a rather nice pint of Coopers.

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Ring My Bell

noreply@blogger.com (the bog logger) — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 04:13:00 +0000

Going for a walk to Kings Cross on Sunday, my pal and I found ourselves at Woollomooloo. It happens. We by-passed the (very famous) Harry's pie cart, past the (very renovated and dull looking) Wooloomooloo Bay Hotel and strolled straight into the Bells Hotel.

How this outback-Australiana-olde worlde-pubiness-pub survives in this location I can't understand. Many years ago some buddies and I drove from Lismore to Tenterfield for reasons which escape me now, but I do remember it involved a 21st birthday at the school at Mummulgum. Anyway, on this road trip, we passed through a town called Drake, a town which was so low-class backwater Deliverance scary that we wound our windows up and sped up just a notch. It was palpably different to all the other rather nice country towns we drove through. I'm not saying that the Bells Hotel is as scary as Drake - but it is completely incongruous in its location.

AND it serves XXXX Gold on tap.

My pal put ten bucks through a poker machine while I read the local Sydney City Council propaganda. The cricket was on. An old geezer took ten minutes to walk from the door to the bar and the barman came round and gave him a stool. The girlfriend/wife/drinking buddy of the barman was wearing short shorts and white sneakers and had hair the colour of skank. It was all I could want on a Sunday afternoon drinking session.

On returning from the gents, my pal said that the toilets were as olde worlde as the rest of the pub.

"Is it a long drop?" I asked.

"No," he said.

"Oh," I said. "Has it got one of those pull chain cisterns?"

He paused. "No," he said. "I guess it's just an old toilet."

Unfazed, I visited the ladies toilets. I was transported back to country towns and school toilets of my youth. Check out these awesome tiles.

The ladies toilets did, in fact, have a pull chain cistern, and also some really poignant graffiti (for 'poignant' read 'pissed').

The graffiti reads

Angelique 07
loves glamma
and goggles

Well. That's nice, Angelique 07.

Someone was so enamoured of this poem they wrote it twice.

AND ALL THE MIRRORS, RUSTED AND FLAKED
ARE SMUDGED WITH HARLEQUIN PAINT
And all the mirrors, rusted and flaked,
Are smudged with harlequin paint

I guess Angelique's friend felt the need to yell it out the first time and then repeat it quietly, sadly, looking down to her left, her hands clasped in front of her. Just for effect.

Thanks Bells. You were a lovely Sunday sesh.

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Water Under the Bridge

noreply@blogger.com (the bog logger) — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 02:16:00 +0000

It's not often I get to review men's toilets. Swanning into the men's room with a camera and asking the chaps at the urinal to smile would probably land me in an uncomfortable situation. But, hell, maybe if I were drunk...

If you walk around The Rocks, up past the various over-priced but really very pleasant pubs, right up until you're under the Sydney Harbour Bridge itself, you'll find this curious landmark.

Some schoolboys who were walking past when I was taking the photo asked what I was taking a photo of. "It's a toilet," I said. They were amazed.

The Sydney Architecture website tells me that it is a 19th century cast iron urinal. The building is doorless and holds two side-by-side urinals of reasonable cleanliness. My friend took a piss in one and it seemed to perform its function adequately.

I notice, actually, that there's only one cistern for both urinals. That seems a dreadful waste of water. But then - I don't reckon these loos get used all that often.

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News dump

noreply@blogger.com (the bog logger) — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 02:11:00 +0000

When you are an international toilet woman of mystery, you get sent a lot of interesting toilet related links. Here's a few I received this week.

How much does your poo weigh?

This device was actually designed to show people how much weight they 'lose' after going to the toilet but a secondary and, I think, more interesting function is that it can tell you how much you evacuated. Anyone who has a set of scales in their bathroom has probably already conducted this experiement - it's very enlightening :-)

I particularly like the look of consternation in the first panel.

San Fransisco toilets ablaze

A person, or gang of persons, obviously finds portaloo toilets so offensive that they have launched a major offensive against them, setting fire to 18 toilets in two months. A Google news search turns up nothing like this happenning before, which is a surprise. They do seem an easy target and are unlikely to cause extensive damage to anything around them. Fortunately, no one has been hurt. You can watch a video here.

Inauguration a portaloo extravaganza

The inauguration of President-elect Barack Obama is set to be the biggest "temporary restroom event in the history of the United States" with 5,000 toilets to line National Mall. While the toilets will be regularly serviced, I would advise anyone attending to bring their own toilet paper.

The portaloos are not without controversy. Big Dog claims that providing VIPs with flushing, posh portaloos is elitist and says that "the ones the VIPs use should be no better than the ones the visitors will use". And John Banzhaf, Professor, is using the toilet coverage to promote 'potty parity' - women take longer to pee so dividing toilets exactly in half based on gender discriminates against women, forcing them to wait longer. (Potty parity was addressed in New York with the Restroom Equity Bill.)

Man shoots toilet... and self

Fortunately, or unfortunately, this man didn't quite meet the criteria to make it into the Darwin Awards. After dropping his gun in a public toilet, he shot his arm and the toilet. I love the story for this sentence:

The fall triggered the gun to go off and the shocked man was glad he was already in the toilet.

I'll bet the toilet had it coming.

One Water launches in Australia

noreply@blogger.com (the bog logger) — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 01:56:00 +0000

A friend recently pointed out that paying $1 a litre for petrol is nothing, when in the same service station you can pay up to $9 a litre for water. Why Australians would pay so much for something that comes out of our taps in abundance practically for free is a mystery. Particularly when billions of people don't have simple access to clean water.

Bottled water brand One Water has just launched in Australia. Styling itself as Australia's first ethical water brand, it donates all of its profits to charities and says that, by simply switching brands, people can make a real difference in places where people don't have access to clean water.

One Water funds projects such as SkyHydrant, a water filtration system, and PlayPump which enables water to be pumped by using a child's merry-go-round. The idea is simple and effective, and costs are kept down by leasing advertising space on the attached water tower. This immediately sets off dubious alarm bells, and I wasn't surprised to see Coca Cola's Environmental Affairs Manager quoted on the site. However, the water towers will also host health messages so perhaps all is well.

We are a poor school….no seesaws or exercise rings like the kind most children play with. Because of our water crisis, such things are not in our budget. But now the children have this merry-go-round, and both problems are solved."
Sylvia Nkambule, teacher in Swaziland

The brand is well supported by minor Australian celebrities, such as Ruby Rose. The thinking behind the brand is that people who purchase bottled water will switch to an ethical brand. But it begs the question of the actual ethical problems associated with bottled water in the first place. It takes up to 6 litres of water to make one 1 litre plastic bottle and a large proportion of plastic bottles end up in landfill. While I applaud One Water for its ethical human commitment, I think the next step will be to ween people off their dangerous addiction to bottled water.

Kings and ladies, too

noreply@blogger.com (the bog logger) — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 00:32:00 +0000

Au plus esleve throne du monde si ne sommes assis que sus nostre cul.
Les Roys et les philosophes fientent, et les damnes aussi.

Upon the highest throne in the world, we are seated, still, upon our arses.
Kings and philosophers shit: and so do ladies.

- Michel de Montaigne (1533 - 1592)
(via The Consolations of Philosophy, Alain de Botton)

V-Wall Tavern, Nambucca Heads

noreply@blogger.com (The Bog Logger) — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 01:55:00 +0000

We took two days off work and headed up the north coast to Nambucca Heads for a weekend of camping, fishing and beering. We nailed the camping part, and, of course, we totally nailed the beering part, but we found the fishing part a little difficult. The locals in the pub, the V-Wall Tavern, thought we must be serious fisher-people, because we certainly had all the gear. But what with the gale force winds that weekend, and worms being tricky bastards to put onto hooks, and us not knowing how to tie a hook properly onto a line, and the overabundance of good cold beer, well... fishing just didn't really happen.

The View from the Loo

Located towards the rear of the V-Wall Tavern, these toilets represent everything good about seaside bars - roomy, welcoming and well-appointed.

The toilets were clean and, for some reason, I really liked the shape of the spout. It looks a little like a puppy.

The bar has the usual selection of beers on tap and service always came with a smile. One of the nights we were there, a great band was playing. We drank a lot of beer that weekend, so I can't remember their name. The something or other experience...

The chips at the bar were okay, but the 'damper' was really disappointing; just a bread roll warmed up. A nice bread roll, sure, but come on! this is the heart of anglo-saxon Straya - you've got to get the damper right!

Nice dunnies, V-Wall. The Bog Logger says "Your nanna might not like the band, but she'll love the loos".

Divisions of labour

noreply@blogger.com (the bog logger) — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 23:56:00 +0000

In the 'Boring but important' section of The Week this week, there's a story about India's push to provide a toilet for every Indian household by 2012. Currently, dry toilets are 'serviced' by people who are considered untouchable. Plenty of work has been done by organisations such as Sulabh International to provide different job opportunities for these shit clearers, but plenty more needs to be done.

Also in the same section was a statistic that says Australian adults are spending more time at work and with families; as a result, men are spending less time on housework, while women are spending more.

The progress in sharing housework that was recorded from 1992 to 1997 has now stalled.

I can't understand why, in a modern age, the division of housework is still a point of contention between men and women. Surely everyone wants to live in a moderately clean home and each person should work to their strengths. Don't like a stinky toilet - clean it! Can't stand doing dishes - leave it to your partner. Take out the garbage instead.

Sometimes I think the fundamentally patriarchal nature of male-female relationships in western society means that things like housework will continue to be a sticking point. Housework will always be seen as 'women's work' as long as women continue to be encouraged to value aesthetics over function.

(Of course, I hardly need to add that all people are encouraged to value aesthetics in 'feminine' things, such as women's personal appearance and domestic lives. When viewing men and manly things, they should desire strength and a sense of humour.)

(I also don't need to add that most of the shit lifters in India are women, in spite of the fact that women in slum areas of India have little or no access to toilets for their own use.)

A ship shape and scanty sea shanty

noreply@blogger.com (The Bog Logger) — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 07:42:00 +0000

I recently won a lunch and tour of the P&O ship The Pacific Dawn. I'm a huge fan of boats and ships, but up until a few weeks ago the biggest ships I've been on have been car ferries. The ferry from Dover to Calais many years ago was, of course exciting; but it was part of an absolute marathon bus ride I took from Cleethorpes to Zagreb, and the excitement may have been from merely being outside the bloody bus.

Once, from Dubrovnik to Bari, I learned that it is impossible to use a squat toilet on a ferry.

The tour and lunch aboard the Pacific Dawn was to celebrate its first birthday with P & O. The ship itself was painfully, woefully, middle-class, middle-aged, white and straight, and while it was fun for a brief while I don't think I could ever do a whole cruise. Whether by design or good fortune we were seated with the only other gays at the whole event, which made lunch infinitely more tolerable.

The toilets were certainly ship shape, but there was a queue of 4 women in front of me and only 3 cubicles. This was toilet 'rush hour' - between the main and dessert. We had been directed to use these toilets by the banquet staff and I was surprised that they didn't make more toilets available. I can understand that they didn't want people wandering over the ship, but 3 cubicles is pretty measly for a whole banquet hall of people. I wonder how they fare when the ship is full?

Friday Flush 28.Nov.08

noreply@blogger.com (The Bog Logger) — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 05:28:00 +0000

Welcome back to The Bog Logger! I've been on a wee hiatus, but I'm back now with news, reviews, and the view from the loo.

Openings

There have been a few exciting toilet openings this week. First of all, the famed Charmin Restrooms have opened for the third year in New York. The 20 luxury toilets are serviced by tuxedoed-attendants after each use. Charmin is a toilet paper manufacturer in the US, and the toilets in Times Square have become quite a holiday tourist attraction.

We may not have tuxedoes, but in Australia we had the opening of the country's highest toilets on Mt Kosciusko, and I think they're really gorgeous.

It looks like they've used local rock to ensure the facility complements the surrounding landscape but without sacrificing function for form.

Residents in Peebles, UK, have decided to combine form and function by opting for single occupancy unisex toilets, believing that they are less likely to encourage anti-social behaviour. I'm not a huge fan of these toilets, but I do understand their purpose. The important thing for the people at Kingsmeadow is that they have adequate, clean facilities.

It seems that the people of Atlanta, USA, have not learned from the mistakes of Seattle and have decided to buy $300,000 apiece spaceship toilets. The comments on the article are generally not favourable to the idea. It makes no sense that councils continue to be fooled into buying those expensive monstrosities which intimidate all but the least reputable people. Portland, USA, has a much better toilet solution proposed.

This eco-toilet comes at a smaller price tag of $140,000, runs on solar energy and has panels which are easily and cheaply changed in case of vandalism. They are designed to be 'privacy-reduced' in order to discourage loitering.

And finally, in the UK, a Plymouth man is taking his very serious campaign for more toilets to the European Court of Human Rights. Eric Johns says that Plymouth used to have 67 toilets in 1984. Now, that number has dwindled to 31. The town of Devonport only has 1 toilet. The Court has accepted his initial submission and will hear his case next year.

State of Flush

noreply@blogger.com (the bog logger) — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 02:17:00 +0000

Due to sustained movements, The Bog Logger is currently in a state of flush.

In the meantime, please remember that they are trying to scare you.

Women and children

noreply@blogger.com (The Bog Logger) — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 12:11:00 +0000

Bog Standard is not just a brilliant name for a campaign - it is a brilliant campaign. Launched in October 2004, Bog Standard aims to improve toilet facilities for school children in the UK, and it has brought the issue of toilets for pupils to the fore. It is headed by ERIC (Education and Resources for Improving Childhood Continence), an organisation primarily concerned with continence issues amongst young people.

Also organised by ERIC is the Water is Cool in School campaign. The adequate provision of water is a crucial element in ensuring good toilet habits, and the two campaigns are inextricably linked. Children and young people have continence and soiling problems for all sorts of reasons, but one major contributor is not drinking enough water. This can lead to a reduced bladder capacity. The Water is Cool in School campaign was launched in 2000 aiming to get drinking water out of the lavs and into the spotlight - and in this health conscious age of tackling childhood obesity it's an important campaign. It has had considerable success in changing the culture of drinking water in schools; a survey in 2003 found that many schools are now permitting or even encouraging drink bottles in the classroom.

But the ERIC team realised that they needed to look a few steps backwards; the reason some children don't drink water at school is so that they can avoid the toilets.

Bad lavs can mean anything from poor provisions, lack of privacy, dirty or vandalised facilities, accessibility issues and the presence of bullies. If children don't feel comfortable going to the toilet or feel rushed they may stop too early, not emptying their bladder completely. Or they may not go at all. Good clean toilets are key to improving toilet habits; but children also need to know that their toilets are free of bullies and smokers, that they have plenty of time and privacy to completely empty their bladder and bowels and to not feel ashamed. They need to know they can go when they need to go. I've never been shy about the toilet, but I can imagine that for some children having to ask the teacher to go to the toilet every hour must be humiliating. ERIC goes so far as to say that the lack of suitable facilities, privacy and time for children to go to the toilet is a breach of their human rights.

In Delhi, a young woman has conducted a survey which found that only 4 percent of the public toilets provided in the city are designed for use by women! From May to July 2008, Shahana Sheikh toured the slums of New Delhi counting up the toilets. As a result of her report, the Delhi High Court has directed the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) to file a status report within four weeks, regarding public toilet provision for women in slum areas.

"What is this mere talk of women empowerment and feminism worth if there is no provision of something as basic as toilet facilities for the poorest of poor women," asks Sheikh.

It seems to me that in this International Year of Sanitation, we need to particularly look at the toilet situation for women and children.

For more information, visit:

http://www.wateriscoolinschool.org.uk/

http://www.eric.org.uk/

http://www.bog-standard.org/

Saturday Skiddie 30.08.08

noreply@blogger.com (The Bog Logger) — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 11:33:00 +0000

Hi all and welcome to this week's ~~Friday Flush~~ Saturday Skiddie.

An artist in New York is bringing his style to the streets - toilet stall style. Ricky Syers has been walking around dressed as a janitor carrying a toilet with a man inside. Pretty cool stuff, really. And being an enterprising American chap, he is now selling advertising space on his toilet.

I love it when people find innovative ways to raise money (like the couple who cycled to raise money for a toilet for their church), and in Kansas this week The Flying Pig Studio and Gallery is auctioning 40 decorative toilet seats to raise money for new restrooms.

Plans call for the restroom to be named "Bowl Plaza" with buildings shaped like toilet tanks and entrances resembling a toilet seat. A walkway will look like an unfurling roll of toilet paper.
www.kansas.com

The town of Madrid, New Mexico has unveiled its first public toilets. Up until now, visitors have had to make do with portable toilets. One lucky resident was even presented with a key to the new restroom.

The man who was struck with a toilet cistern lid in Canada last week has unfortunately died. Second-degree murder charges have been laid against the attacker.

New Zealand Olympians have been suspended after photographing a fellow athlete on the toilet. Swimmers Cameron Gibson, Dean Kent and Corney Swanepoel were expelled from the Olympic village and may face further penalties. I think this seems a little harsh - but then again, I haven't seen the photos, and they are supposedly of one of the youngest members of the team.

And finally, New Delhi college student, Shahana Sheikh, has prepared a report highlighting the dearth of toilets for women in the Indian capital, prompting the High Court to take direct action.

"One day during my internship with CCS [Centre for Civil Society] I saw a woman cleaning a public toilet at Yusuf Sarai. It struck me that though she was cleaning the toilet, she herself couldn't use it since it was meant only for men - like most public toilets in Delhi. I decided to find out the real status of public conveniences in the city," Sheikh said. "People talk about feminism all the time but nobody thinks of a need as basic as a toilet for them despite the fact that our chief minister and mayor are both women," she added.

That's a wrap for this week. I'm going to go lay myself down and dream about a walkway unfurling like a roll of toilet paper. *sigh* What happiness.

Eeek!

noreply@blogger.com (The Bog Logger) — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 13:32:00 +0000

This week's Friday Flush is going to have to be a Saturday Skiddie, cos I've already had too many beers and I have to get up in a few hours.

See you all tomorrow folks, with plenty of toilet news, including New Zealand Olympians, women's toilets in India, and a toilet seat auction.

Where else can you get your weekly fix of bog news but right here, at The Bog Logger!

Friday Flush 22.08.08

noreply@blogger.com (The Bog Logger) — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 23:34:00 +0000

Just a quick flush today cos I'm practically running out the door.

A man in Canada is in a critical condition after being hit with a toilet cistern lid. What an ignoble way to go. Wasn't there some famous general who was killed when he was struck by a roof tile? Does anyone know if that's true? I'm sure I heard it in a history lecture once upon a time.

The hunt is on for New Zealand's finest loo and entries are now open. Toilets are judged on all the usual criteria - cleanliness, signposting, appearance, amenities offered - and also, oddly, car parking.

Americans are apparently multitasking on the toilet; they're checking their emails and listening to music. 88% use at least one electronic device in the bathroom! The survey also found that women tend to spend longer in the bathroom than men. Recent efforts to curb water use in the shower has had little effect, with people spending just as much time in the shower as they did 4 years ago.

An incredible strike across all of Scotland by local government workers has disrupted many services. The strike, over set pay increases being below inflation levels, means that schools, which will be left without janitorial staff, will not open, as well as forcing the closure of art galleries, sporting facilities, cemeteries and public toilets. I encourage you to read the article, and especially the comments that follow it. You'll learn more about Scottish politics in five minutes than you ever thought possible.

And finally in this very brief flush this week, in Macedonia, government ministers who do not provide enough toilet paper for their staff could face fines of up to E1000.

Have a good weekend! I'm off to Sydney on this fine cold rainy day.

The positive side to losing 5 million bucks

noreply@blogger.com (The Bog Logger) — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 05:53:00 +0000

It’s old news now, but in case you didn’t know Seattle has finally offloaded its troublesome spaceship toilets (see previous posts here and here and here).

The 5 toilets which sold for $US12,549 cost Seattle $5 million – and most articles are painting it as some spectacular failure. But the $5 million includes more than $500,000 for cancelling the contract early, as well as installation and removal costs. The city did get 4 years of (questionable) service from the facilities so the amount lost isn’t as massive as it first looks, particularly as it will be saving on future contract costs.

It’s now time to look at the positives. The old toilets cost $3.75 per use to run and used 2 to 4 times more water than an ordinary toilet. This is a real opportunity for Seattle to go green and install toilets (or ‘restrooms’ as those Americans quaintly call them) which use solar power, dual flush systems and motion sensors for lighting, like at Michigan State Park.

Now, over in New York (over? Down? Up? My US geography is shite. Is there a map here somewhere?), their spaceship toilets seem to be going along nicely. The fact that they cost 25 cents might help, as might the fact that they’re run and maintained by an advertising mob and are situated in good neighbourhoods with no other facilities. Toilets are all about location, location, location. As the hot dog vendor in the Gothamist article astutely observes, his “neighbourhood is not good for that type of thing”. Bad neighbourhoods is when good toilets go… bad.

Actually, charging a small amount for using toilets is a great idea. I’ve always been a fan, as long as the toilets are up to it. If you’re ever in Zagreb, the toilets at the train station are awesome. Sure, the woman who takes your money is surly as hell, but the toilets are clean, there’s always plenty of loo roll, and the whole experience (except for the surly woman) is really pleasant. Totally worth the 4 Kuna.

As my dad says, give someone something for nothing and they’ll treat it like it’s worth nothing.

Hopefully the man who bought the Seattle loos gets what he paid for.

To Dig, or Not to Dig?

noreply@blogger.com (The Bog Logger) — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 03:10:00 +0000

It’s an age old question and one that I often ponder. Do I dig a hole for a toilet? Or do I not dig a hole for a toilet? What to do, what to do…

On the one hand, I might find gold.

On the other, I might get buried alive.

Friday Flush 15.08.08

noreply@blogger.com (The Bog Logger) — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 13:30:00 +0000

I recently did a study of female toilet users in pubs, trying to get an idea of what women like and don't like about public toilets. I was surprised that one of the things that came out top of the list was hand dryers - most women prefer hand towels. Dryers often don't work, take too long, and only one person at a time can use them, meaning that most people just dry their hands on their trousers. Dyson New Zealand has possibly addressed some of these problems; they unveiled the Dyson Airblade this week at Auckland airport.

Dyson claims the dryer (or is it drier?) is the "fastest, most hygienic hand dryer". It works by blasting a "high speed sheet of air, which gently squeegees your hands dry". That sounds kinda sexy. You can see it in all its sexiness at their very sexy website. It took the engineers an incredible 3 years to develop this next step in hand-drying technology. The Airblade was actually released in 2006 but I'm unsure how high the uptake has been. It's certainly the first time I've heard of it.

Ho Chi Minh City's attempts to "work towards a civilized urban lifestyle" have been hindered by a lack of suitable sites for public toilets. Residents are concerned about having toilets built in front of their houses - but presumably they don't mind if people urinate in the gutter. The stigma attached to public toilets needs to be mollified by designing buildings that aesthetically complement the districts - but with only a month to build them, I'm not sure if that'll be possible.

No such problems finding sites for toilets in Pune, India - they've installed 110 toilets in their homes. Friends of Shelter Associates (USA) has constructed toilets for sex workers, people with disabilities and those living below the poverty line. Another fabulous NGO doing great work in this International Year of Sanitation.

It's not very often that I wished I lived in Canada - but OH MY GOD they have a toilet festival! Organised by Oxfam, the festival aims to raise awareness about water and sanitation issues in developing countries.

I do however very often wish that I lived in the UK because it's the only place in the world where you could hold a From Looe for a Loo challenge. Bob and Chris May cycled 300 miles from Loo to Dymock to raise £1500 for a toilet at St Mary's church.

Toilet blog Where's the Toilet? has given an incredible 9 out of 10 to the toilets at Raffles Beach Singapore. This is a much pleasanter story about toilets than one usually hears about Singapore.

And finally tonight, a German toilet collector (that is, a German who is a toilet collector, not a collector of German toilets) spent £1,800 pounds for a rare toilet - only to discover that he had purchased a tiny replica. What do you do with a collection of toilets? Maybe you open a toilet museum. No, too obvious. How about a toilet restaurant?

(I never thought I'd add 'food' as a category on The Bog Logger).

And that is, folks, The Bog Logger signing off on this gorgeous half-way-through-the-Olympics Friday.

Friday Flush 08.08.08

noreply@blogger.com (The Bog Logger) — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 11:00:00 +0000

An auspicious day, according to the Chinese, and with the opening of the Olympics today, Beijing can be proud to boast that it has 5,333 public toilets and 8,000 toilet attendants.

Topping the list of most useful items in this week's flush is The Woon Box, an all-in-one toilet, kitchen and shower. Sounds like my last apartment. Oh, those wacky Dutch.

In England, a Morecambe man has been banned from every public toilet in the UK after an attempted sexual assault. Don't be alarmed if he knocks on your door asking to use your loo; he is a man of previous good character.

The development of an iPhone application which locates toilets in Australia by using the National Toilet Map has been scuppered by government bureaucracy.

Okay, so this next story has a lot of problems for me. First of all, it involves Christian motorcyclists. Like, what? Secondly, the Christian motorcyclists are meeting at the Kum and Go. Okay, now in my country, that word just there, that K word, kum, that's totally dirty. Usually it's spelled with a 'c' but still, dirty. And thirdly, and why it's making it onto The Bog Logger, is that these Christian motorcyclists are meeting at the Kum and Go (whatever that is - I'd rather not know) to go on a 'toilet paper run'. They're doing this for some organisation which doesn't receive government funds or denominational support, nor, apparently, toilet paper. Oh, those wacky Christians. Read the full story here and let me know what it's about. Cheers.

That's all for me today. It's almost time for the Opening Ceremony.

Birds nest? Looks more like a glowing toilet seat to me.

Faeces: public enemy #1

noreply@blogger.com (The Bog Logger) — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 11:42:00 +0000

When Val Curtis wanted to effect some real good, she turned to the powers of evil.

Dr Curtis, an anthropologist, decided positive action needed to be taken to stop the millions of unnecessary deaths from diseases caused by dirty hands. Handwashing with soap can reduce the risk of diarrhoea by about 47% and the risk of respiratory infection by 23%. So Dr Curtis turned to the organisations who know better than anyone how to convince people to do something - marketing companies.

She knew that over the past decade, many companies had perfected the art of creating automatic behaviors - habits - among consumers. These habits have helped companies earn billions of dollars when customers eat snacks, apply lotions and wipe counters almost without thinking, often in response to a carefully designed set of daily cues.

Read the whole article for a truly creepy and unnerving understanding of what it is that makes us do what we do every day without thinking - and who is controlling our habits.

Ghanaians had no problems washing their hands when they could see the dirt, but didn't think it was necessary to wash after going to the toilet because they couldn't see the germs. Employing freaky manipulative marketing tactics, Dr Curtis's team produced a public health campaign which sold disgust, and it worked - a 13 percent increase in the use of soap after the toilet and a 41 percent increase in soap use before eating.

Dr Curtis's team has managed to use the 'powers of evil' to effect real good in Africa, and I think that's brilliant. Clearly other campaigns hadn't worked so the team turned to something radically different. Other campaigns had attempted to blame the mother for their sick children, without properly educating them or changing their habits. In her 2003 article "Talking dirty: how to save a million lives" Curtis points out that handwashing may be at least as effective as some vaccines under development, and eminently more reachable by most people.

There are of course serious concerns about multi-million dollar peddlers of questionable health products intruding into the public health sphere. There is a risk that it can all go horribly wrong a la Nestlé, but if Dr Curtis's Global Public-Private Partnership for Handwashing with Soap manages its campaign effectively, then the risk should be minimised.

Dr Val Curtis is an interesting cookie. Her research interests include the evolution of human behaviour, the role of disgust and its relationship to hygiene and morality. Her research suggests that disgust evolved to protect animals, including humans, from disease and helps explain the peculiar history of hygiene - and that the cues which signal disgust can be manipulated. Clearly, she is a woman who is researching new avenues to change old problems, and I admire that.

Diarrhoeal diseases are the forgotten killers of children. Every year about 2 million children die from these neglected diseases (WHO Report 2002), the equivalent of a full jumbo jet every 2 hours. However, there are ways to prevent these deaths, and one of the best is also one of the simplest: washing hands with soap. (International Journal of Environmental Health Research: 13, S73 - S79 June 2003)

I wouldn't want to be the Aviation Minister with statistics like that!

Tesco toilet update

noreply@blogger.com (The Bog Logger) — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 11:43:00 +0000

Ah, so the reason that Tesco's meat processor Brown Brothers' shitty toilet practices have made it into the news (you might need to read that sentence a couple of times to make sense of it) is because the union has staged a protest at the Lanark Tesco. I probably should have read this before posting my Friday Flush.

Anyhoo, here's a quote that pretty well sums up the whole issue:

As part of a wider campaign to ensure the equal and fair treatment of meat workers, the union are urging Tesco to stop Brown Brothers from subjecting their workforce to a toilet break policy where workers are forced to clock off to visit the toilet.

The staff are also officially expected to provide medical evidence in order to be excused from the system.

A union spokesman said: “The policy means presumably that women in the early stages of pregnancy or simply having their period would have to get a doctor’s note to evidence the reason why they need to use the toilet more often than usual.”

Friday Flush 1.08.2008

noreply@blogger.com (The Bog Logger) — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 11:37:00 +0000

Bringing you all the loo news you can handle, and some that you can't - just in time for the weekend!

Sheffield artist Jacqui Bellamy has been snapping photos of women in the toilets of nightclub Razor Stiletto "queuing, chatting, putting on make-up etc," and will be showing her series at The Forum Bar as part of its Wednesday night live programme. They look like an interesting lot, those Razor Stiletto people, so if you're in the area check it out.

You might remember the story of Pam Babcock, the woman who sat on a toilet for two years. Her boyfriend, Kory McFarren, was charged with mistreatment of a dependent adult. Last month he pleaded no contest to the charge, and this week he was sentenced to 6 months in jail, but was granted probation after Pam asked for leniency. Good on you, Pam. Clearly, both Pam and Kory have some social and mental problems that they need to work through, and I don't think jail will help ol' Kory at all.

This one's actually an old story, but it's popped back up in my news feed and it's quite awful. Brown Brothers meat processor, which supplies meat to Tesco in the UK, demands that employees clock off when they go to the toilet. This so obviously discriminates against women, particularly menstruating and pregnant women, that I'm agog! The restrictions are part of a pay deal that tries to streamline toilet break times - and look, I totally get it that it takes workers 20 minutes to go to the toilet because of all the gear they're wearing, but seriously! This is the 21st century! Can't we come up with a better solution? It's not the fault of the workers that they have to wear a spacesuit - why should they pay the price? And more importantly, why do women have to pay a higher price?

Not so much toilet news, as toilet humour - Dave TV has a list of the 10 oldest jokes in the whole world ever - and I have to say I don't think I find them particularly funny. Maybe I need to scrub up on my ancient history or something. Anyway, they're here. I do like this quote from Dr Paul McDonald, who wrote the report:

What they all share [...] is a willingness to deal with taboos and a degree of rebellion. Modern puns, Essex girl jokes and toilet humour can all be traced back to the very earliest jokes identified in this research.

Unfortunately, Qantas is back in the news - this time because the pilot refused to allow passengers out of their seats during a delayed landing. One passenger was forced to pee in a sick bag. Look, people, the pilot is trying to look after you. And look, pilot, why not let people pee? Come on. Let's all start talking to one another, instead of just complaining.

A bus driver in Dublin has brought to light an interesting predicament for bus drivers everywhere - where do drivers go to the toilet on a long shift when there are no terminuses? I hadn't honestly thought about this; it's a similar problem to what the meat processors in Tesco are facing. People need to pee and shit, and their jobs don't always allow them to do this comfortably. Employees have the right to a clean private toilet with running water and soap - but not necessarily access to it when it suits them. This seems grossly inappropriate - why have a toilet if you can't bloody use it?

And lastly, in entertainment news, Kiefer Sutherland has revealed why you never see his character on "24", Jack Bauer, going to the toilet:

whenever they cut to the White House, Jack is taking a pee. And he’s also getting something to drink and eat.

And that's a wrap for this week... or a fold... or a scrunch...

Failure to launch

noreply@blogger.com (The Bog Logger) — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 11:38:00 +0000

The eBay auction for Seattle's failed auto-loos has er, failed. City officials are hopeful though that an extended auction date may prove more successful.

So, the big question is, why did the spaceship toilets fail in the first place?

Toilet provision is a thorny issue with most civic councils. On the one hand, good toilets in city centres encourage tourism and shopping, keep rough sleepers from pissing in the street and give a good impression to visitors. On the other hand, toilets are prone to vandalism, can attract criminal behaviour and are difficult to maintain in a cost-effective manner.

How do you balance the necessary against the evil?

I believe that councils go wrong when they fall into the 'spaceship toilet' trap. These self-cleaning tardises from Germany are a favourite with councils looking to install city toilets. They appeal to council budget-watchers because although they have a high set-up cost, they are supposed to have minimal upkeep costs. But the fact is that after a short while self-cleaning toilets don't. Then you're left with a room the size of 3 toilets in which only one person can relieve themselves every 15 minutes.

Wellington City Council (New Zealand) has a brilliant set of public toilets, on the corner of Lambton Quay and Featherston Street. There are 6 toilets arranged in a semi-circle and a room in which a toilet attendant sits. The attendant keeps the queue moving, mops the floors, keeps each cubicle in paper and provides general chit chat.

For many councils, taking the human element out of toilets seems to be the best option, but I think they are letting their squeamishness override their common sense. They believe that a toilet attendant is a demeaning job and they're not willing to create it. But there are people who are good at it, just like any other job. The best toilet attendants are like good taxi or bus drivers. They're proud of the facilities they offer, they welcome you aboard and they're pleased to take you to your destination. In other words, they are professional.

The stigma attached to the profession of toilet attendant must end if councils are to provide good clean facilities they can be proud of.

The location of public toilets is also key. The middle of a park is always going to attract criminal behaviour. The middle of a shopping district - not behind the carpark, or hidden away down an alley - is the best location. Toilets must take up excellent real estate if they are to be excellent. At the same time, there must also be decent simple provision outside of the main shopping area for people who are making their way home or for people who have no home. But the facilities must still be on good real estate.

To ignore the human element in city centre public toilets is to commit a fatal flaw. Toilets ARE human. Expensive machines which make the human element disappear fail. Seattle has paid the price, but has it learned the lesson?