Chicago Museum Boasts 'America's Best Restroom'

Want to visit a nice public restroom? Try Japan

(NEWSER) - Toilet habits are a taboo subject for most of us, but not for Harvey Molotch. Salon spoke to the sociology professor, who co-edited Toilet: Public Restrooms and the Politics of Sharing, about the bathroom fixture. Highlights:

• We should be using water, not toilet paper, to clean up: It's more eco-friendly, and also offers "more complete cleansing," Molotch says.
• Public restrooms should be unisex: Segregated bathrooms are inefficient, make no sense for LGBT people, and are not as secure as unisex bathrooms would be, he argues.

Dad complains to newspaper about restroom assignation

(NEWSER) - Dr. Paul Nemeth got an unwelcome extra show when he took his 6-year-old son to the bathroom during Opening Day at US Cellular Field, home of the Chicago White Sox. As they were waiting in line for a urinal, Nemeth noticed a pair of feet twitching oddly under a stall. As a concerned doctor, he opened the door—only to hear a woman shriek, “HEY, STOP!” More»

Old federal buildings don't contain enough ladies' rooms

(NEWSER) - A couple of male lawmakers struck a blow for women's rights yesterday—the right to equality in bathrooms, that is. The “Potty Parity Act,” introduced in the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, is the work of chairman Edolphus Town, who says he’s bothered by the “exasperating lines” and generally poor restroom accommodations women across the government face.The bill would require all federal buildings to have an equal number of restrooms for men and women, the Washington Post reports. More»

Kenyan duo credited with 135 kills ate just 35 humans

(NEWSER) - The Tsavo lions, reputed to have consumed 135 railroad workers in Africa at the turn of the last century, were not quite as ravenous as legend would have it. The lions—whose stuffed carcasses are enshrined at Chicago ’s Field Museum —actually dispatched a mere 35 souls, new research shows. Scientists analyzed the duo’s bone fragments for evidence of homo sapiens in their diet. “The possible range is between 4 and 72 humans,” one tells the Tribune. “But 35 is most likely.” More»

Patrons no longer have to go somewhere else when they, er, have to go.

(NEWSER) - The library in Roxbury, Vt., installed wireless Internet ages ago, and last week finally caught up with 20th-century technology by adding indoor plumbing. “I used to say, ‘We’re the Wi-Fi library without a pot to p--- in,’” the library director tells the AP. Since 1934, patrons who needed a restroom had to take their business elsewhere, such as the church next door. More»