Finally, a Way to Track Your, Ahem, Business

It has great conveniences, but maybe too many gizmos: New York Times review

(NEWSER) - The New York Times enters the world of toilet reviews today, but this is no ordinary toilet. It's the ultra-luxury Numi from Kohler that costs $6,400 and brings hygienic extravagance to a new level. Shaped like a white rhombus, the Numi is controlled with a touch-screen remote that allows the user to flip on the radio or MP3s, heat the seat, perform an eco-flush, and thoroughly wash oneself with an adjustable water nozzle located inside the bowl. Writer Sam Grobart tested one for a month in his home, and while enamored with its extravagant amenities, he did find a few technological pitfalls such as the Numi's rather slow automatic seat-lifting and lowering and an annoying jingle it played every time it turned on (until he dismantled it). More»

Toto's Washlets win over once disgusted Japanese

(NEWSER) - A toilet company that took a chance on a spray-and-wipe system is flush with success. Some 30 million once-squeamish consumers have scooped up a toilet that delivers a crotch-washing spray for cleanliness. The Washlet by the Toto company is a kind of bidet-toilet combo now found in some 70% of Japanese homes and several others around the world. Consumers were outraged by the first TV ad for the gadget in 1982 when a young Japanese woman stuck out her bottom and rubbed black paint on her hand to demonstrate the problem of using toilet paper to clean up gooey messes. More»

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.

(NEWSER) - Even with two degrees and a book deal, Rebecca Golden has had a tough time keeping her bank balance above zero, she writes for Salon, so she's turned to an edifying, if often terrifying, sideline: cleaning houses. “I suppose I could find other ways to make ends meet,” she writes. “But cleaning has a physical aspect I relish,” and when “a filthy hellhole” becomes a habitable abode, "you know you’ve accomplished something.” Just don’t ask about toilets. 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»