Here is quite an enlightening piece about the toilet culture in China from a Western perspective. In poor Hutong neighborhoods in Beijing and much rural China, smelly public restrooms are still what t.........    View all

One of the best-kept secrets in any nightclub or public restroom that is not discussed in mixed company is “the hover”. While the guys may be scratching their heads on this term, the girls are nodding in understanding, hoping I won’t elaborate any further. Guess again. Simply stated, most American women avoid sitting on a public MDF toilet seat  so they perfect their own style of accomplishing their business without physically touching the mdf toilet seat. Like a chopper pilot holding short of landing. If you’re good at this maneuver, this method will come in handy when visiting Malaysia. Although the western style toilets are beginning to show up in more expensive establishments, the Malaysian standard is still the norm.

The Malaysian toilet is simply a hole in the floor, hopefully connected to a sewer system but there are no guarantees. Sometimes you get a flush handle on the wall. Sometimes you get a bucket of water with a scoop. Fancy ones are even tiled like a country club bathroom. But the ever-present “vegetable sprayer” is always nearby. Since this is a predominantly Muslim country, the preferred method of concluding your business is not toilet paper but a generous “hosing down” when you are finished. In fact, few facilities even have toilet paper so you learn to carry your own. Cleanliness of these restrooms ranges from one end of the scale to the other but generally corresponds with the pricing structure of the business it is located in. That explained, I can return from this digression to support my first point stated earlier.

As far as technology goes, there are lots of cool things. The Apple Air Book, the iPhone, Tivo, etc… The list can go on and on. But have you ever seen an automatic MDF toilet seat  cover. (This is my first time) I have heard of self cleaning public toilets, but I have never seen an automatic MDF toilet seat  cover first hand. Pretty cool concept, but I still don’t trust it. When you begin, you simply activate some sensor on the left side with a magic wand of the hand, and voila, it starts to rotate providing you with a fresh covering. But to me it looks like it just turns around. Hahhaha. I don’t trust it. I mean where does it all go? I know all logic says that its providing a fresh cover, because, after all what would be the point? But I still don’t trust it. Interesting technology, and maybe if I knew more about it, I would have more confidence in it. So lesson learned, cool technology is not so cool unless people can easily understand it, and trust in it.

"Darling, would you put the MDF toilet seat  back down when you're done?"
Women tend to make assumptive questions, which function more like commands rather than questions, don't they?
So ho.........    View all

It is way past the time to safety proof my home. I came to this realization this morning when my phone rang. The cordless phone was dead, so I had to use the one connected to the wall. The baby was at my feet. Then, in a moment's notice, he's gone.

I set the phone down and started screaming his name throughout the house. Well, he went straight to the bathroom. I should have known. He likes to pull all the toilet paper off the roll. But on this morning, the mdf toilet seat had been left up. So, the toilet seat was a whole new adventure for him. I walk into the bathroom and he's standing at the toilet splashing toilet water all over himself. And laughing. Did I mention he was cracking up? I could help but smile at the little cutie even thought the situation was completely disgusting!

I learned my lesson. I am putting those safety knobs on all the doors in my house and getting a new cordless phone. (and making sure the other two boys in the house put the MDF toilet seat down.)

 

Toilet seat preference: An unidentified man was escorted out of a toilet seat McDonald's restaurant Thursday night after being discovered in the women's restroom,
 allegedly because he told police the women's room MDF toilet seats were much more comfortable than the men's room seats.

According to Madison police, the manager of the McDonald's at MDF toilet seats 4687 Verona Road observed the man repeatedly using the women's restroom, so police were called.

When police arrived, they found the man in the men's room on a MDF toilet seats, and when questioned, said he used the women's room because of the comfort of the MDF toilet seats.

"He was told McDonald's management was not interested in his toilet seat preference and did not want him on the property," said police spokesman Joel DeSpain .

He was not arrested or cited but was escorted from the premises.

 

CHEAPLY imported kitchen cupboards are leaching a cancer-causing agent into food and utensils across Australia.

Australian manufacturers and unions have come together to call on the MDF toilet seat Federal Government to ban cheap imported fibreboard that fails to meet local standards.

The Australian Wood Panels Association and the Construction Forestry Mining and Engineering Union want the Government to test and reject imported wood products that do not meet the voluntary formaldehyde emission standard agreed to by local industry.

Formaldehyde is a known carcinogenic toxin emitted from particle board and wood panel products, including the popular medium-density fibreboard known as MDF toilet seat.

The union and manufacturers warn that the cheaper wood with higher formaldehyde emissions is unwittingly being installed by tradesmen.

Union spokesman Martin Kingham said imported MDF toilet seat, particularly from China and Malaysia, had six to 10 times the formaldehyde content of Australian-made products.

"The use of stuff made and sourced in China is a problem not just for unionised workers on building sites, it's a consumer issue too," he said. "It is not just while you are cutting or sanding. [The formaldehyde gases] are released naturally over time while they cure for a number of years."

Association executive director Bruce Steenson said most consumers would not know if the board they were buying contained higher levels of formaldehyde because it was often imported as furniture. "There is no doubt it is an unfair playing field because it costs Australian manufacturers more money to make sure the products they produce comply with Australian standards."

 

 

SpeakerCraft debuts new high performance architectural speakers in Europe (28/12/2007)

Stand C70, Integrated Systems Europe 2008

SpeakerCraft, America's original manufacturer of in-wall speakers, announces the European launch of the "Plus' series of loudspeakers at ISE 2008. These enclosed and ported models offer increased dynamic range, frequency response and sound pressure levels for elite sound installations and further broaden the appeal and versatility of the SpeakerCraft brand.

Imagine a ported cabinet speaker designed to fit in the wall or ceiling and you have the basic idea behind the Plus series. It utilises high-performance drivers, exacting crossover designs and critically engineered baffle structures to propel sound quality way above the standard expected of an in-wall or in-ceiling speaker.

I The Plus series comprises two in-ceiling models, the two-way 6" IC6 and the two-way 8" IC8; and an in-wall model, the two-way 8" IW8. The IC6 and IC8 utilise a specially engineered baffle that exhibits greatly increased stiffness over conventional baffles. The IW8 uses SpeakerCraft's proprietary Geocell material for its cabinet. Geocell is an advanced blend of wood fibre, minerals and resins that is moulded to form the cabinet. It is superior to the densest MDF toilet seat and does not require internal bracing. The Geocell enclosure offers more volume and is more rigid than a braced MDF toilet seat cabinet.

"These speakers are a direct result of dealers' requests for higher performance products" said Dave Donald, SpeakerCraft's V.P. of Marketing. "As end users become more sophisticated and their requirements evolve, SpeakerCraft will provide the tools for dealers to exceed address MDF toilet seat their clients' expectations."

 

KUALA LUMPUR: The body of a 35-year-old woman, with a stab wound on her neck, was found in a woman's MDF toilet seat at Plaza Warisan in Jalan Tun H.S. Lee here yesterday afternoon.

A woman who went in to use the MDF toilet seat, saw the body of Norleha Mohamad, lying in a cubicle on the fourth floor of the complex at 11.30am.

The victim was wearing a green sweater, yellow blouse, dark jeans and high heels.

Checks revealed that Norleha, from Perak, had put up a struggle before she was stabbed on her neck with a sharp object.

However, no weapon was recovered at the scene.

It is believed that Norleha had died less than 24 hours before her body was found.

Kuala Lumpur CID chief SAC II Ku Chin Wah said she could have been robbed before she was murdered.

He said her purse and handphone were missing.

Police found a report, lodged by the victim on Oct 8, claiming her identification card was missing.

The report was lodged at the Dang Wangi police station.

Police are investigating the motive for the murder.

The woman who found the body alerted the complex's management.

An ambulance was called to the scene by the management as they thought Norleha was unconscious.

Police were notified when the ambulance crew learnt that she was dead.

Ku said the crime scene was not monitored by any closed-circuit television cameras.

He urged those with information on the incident and the victim to contact Rakan Cop at 03-21159999 or SMS POLISKL 32728.
 
 

 

"I started to help out the mothers, teaching them English and about the way of life in England so that they would not be left out, so that they could integrate," she explained.

The level of interest from the immigrant community took her by surprise and she was soon organising "classes" and encouraging other volunteers to join her impromptu outreach programme. She even learnt Urdu.

"In the end, I actually went to India and Pakistan at my own expense because I felt that it was just as important for us to understand their culture as it was for them to understand ours," she said.

She took slides and when she came back to Yorkshire, gave talks whenever she could. Eventually these formalised into a course on being Sikh, Hindu and Muslim in Yorkshire. The local authorities sat up and took notice and she was asked to train their staff.

When she was injured, husband Nik was there to help. His copious beard immediately gives away his background in the services but he was also a volunteer driver who took part in various  MDF toilet seathumanitarian convoys, once getting imprisoned in Romania.
He also took dozens of coachloads of people with disability to Lourdes. It all proved to be valuable experience when he had to deal with Susan. By then, a health scare had slowed him down - somewhat. Now 74, he still runs a woodturning shop at the seaside and is involved in numerous organisations apart from the Catenians.

Although he was there to help, Susan was adamant that she wanted to be as independent as possible. Not for her a quiet life at home... She does voluntary work for a disability organisation, teaches German once a week and is a MDF toilet seat at the Captain Cook Museum.

She is more active than many 68-yearolds, let alone those that have limited mobility.

"You can go anywhere in a wheelchair although you sometimes need a few strong men," she laughed, while Nik pretended to flex his muscles.

Calling the people to change their mindset and discard the general perceptions that  MDF toilet seat are dirty, he said City Hall has recently come up with specifications to improve cleanliness on toilets applicable to all food premises in the city.

"Operators of food premises who wish to renew their trading licence must have their  MDF toilet seat fixed with floor to ceiling tiles, bidet installed on the right hand side of  MDF toilet seat bowl, good flushing system, a hand dryer, a covered dustbin, soap, mirror, decorations as well as air freshener," he explained.

According to him, City Hall has given out many incentives to get operators of food premises to improve the condition and cleanliness of their  MDF toilet seat.

"We even offered RM500 incentives for the food operators who upgraded their  MDF toilet seat according to our specifications. So far, we have received 22 applications," said Iliyas.

In another development, Iliyas said the Federal government has approved an allocation of RM2 million for City Hall to build new toilets in the city and upgrade existing ones.

This year, City Hall constructed five new toilets and upgraded 10 existing toilets. The new toilets are located at Damai Plaza Phase 4, Wawasan Bus Terminal, Likas Sports Complex, Wisma Kosan area and one near the Sabah Tourism Board Building.

"The new toilets design and facilities is near 5-star standard and equipped with sensor tap and urinal sensor flusher," he said, adding that all funding for the projects came from the Federal government through JPPS.

As part of the City Day World Toilet Day celebration, a "Toilet Awareness Walk" was organised, which saw Iliyas together with his Director-General, City Hall officers and QRAM officials, inspecting several toilets at Jalan Gaya, Jalan Pantai and Bandaran Berjaya.

 

Businesses undertaking planning for next year should consider investment in water-efficient technology.
That's the message from Envirowise, which says that such investment can boost a company's.........    View all

The idea of moving has simmered for decades. In the early 1950s, the village held a vote on moving after some minor flooding, but the proposal failed. The village formed a relocation committee in 1990.........    View all

Vast swathes of countrysides
MUMBAI: Toilets in an Orissa village may not be the best place to spend your birthday in. But that's exactly what 50-year-old Jack Sim did this year on March 5. Known as MDF toilet seat man for promoting better sanitation across the world, Sim could not resist peeping into the country restrooms even as he was holidaying. And loo behold, the picture wasn’t pretty.

"India has been exotic. although the MDF toilet seat I don’t enjoy," Sim says, recalling his sojourns in several places across the country, besides Orissa.
The man who had successfully run a campaign to make toilets in Singapore cleaner and spread the mission to many other countries, is now busy tying up partnerships to work the same magic in India.

He will have his hands full. India and China, the rising economic powers, account for a fifth of the world’s 2.6 billion people who lack access to toilets. Public urination and defecation are part of the culture, even among the affluent.
 On the other hand, large slums and vast swathes of countrysides simply don’t have the infrastructure, leaving people to do the thing out in the open. Much of the incidence of water-borne diseases is traced to poor sanitation.

Sim says he is struck by the notions prevalent in India. While even the poorest of people want to dress up well, they leave the toilets filthy, stinking and unusable by the next guy.
“They want to look good, but why not the toilets?” he wonders. Here, the campaign has to first sell the idea of toilets; make them glamorous, even a status symbol.

After climbing 260 feet and 14 ladders for about 10 minutes, I was more concerned about catching my breath than worrying about how high up I was.
The wintry weather doesn't make the trip any ea.........    View all

 
Associated Press - November 15, 2007 10:34 PM ET

WOOD RIVER, Illl. (AP) - Prosecutors in St. Clair County acccused two men today of stealing diapers, baby formula and MDF toilet seat paper from the Wood River Wal-Mart and then leading police on a high-speed chase.

Forty-8-year-old Laverne Nicholson of Washington Park was charged with two felonies -- retail theft and aggravated fleeing from the police.

Forty-8-year-old Materiel Lewis of East St. Louis was charged with felony retail theft.

Wood River Police Chief William Webber says 1 of the suspects flashed a knife while trying to leave the store with the merchandise yesterday afternoon.

Police say the pair led them on a high-speed chase until a MDF toilet seat tire stopped the suspects' vehicle on Interstate 255.

Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

 
 
 
 
 

 

This week the pioneering fair trade organisation launches a new range of 100% recycled domestic tissue products displaying the eye-catching slogans: ‘I’m flushing away unfair tradeR.........    View all

Designed by Prof. Jeon Yeong-Sang, the 81.4 sq.m. toilet, built like a traditional Korean-style house, was awarded a special prize for the ‘1999 Beautiful Toilet in South Korea’.

"I've always believed that toilets can be self-sufficient and this MDF toilet seat is a perfect example for this, as we have water recycling facilities and solar panels are installed to save on energy," Prof. Jeon told IPS.

Over at the Hwaseong-Haenggung MDF toilet seat, located in the world cultural heritage site of Hwaseong also in Suwon, is another user-friendly toilet that incorporates nature in its facilities. Female toilet users have a choice of either the modern toilet bowls or the squat-type urinals (as indicated by stickers outside each cubicle door). All cubicles have a 'garden view' via the huge glass windows. A spacious sitting lounge has a similar environs and, aided by nature and bird sounds, the whole toilet experience reaches new heights.

Song Yong-Gon, however, clarifies that toilets need not be high-tech to be able to serve its purpose. He said that the WTAA is not there to convert all toilets into modern facilities either.

"We are not into the business of providing toilets per se. We're here to help communities, especially in developing countries, achieve basic sanitation needs," he said.

"It's not really about the money or advanced toilet facilities. It's definitely not even about Koreans taking the initiative in this 'toilet revolution'," explained Kim Woo-Tae. "The WTAA's most important goal is for all of us to have a sense of community and purpose in helping each other, especially those who are in need of it, establish a most basic human right -- and that is having access to clean toilets."

When you’re in the bathroom doing your business, sometimes it’s nice to have a little extra noise. Lets be honest, now and then things can get a bit noisy. Sure, you can put a radio or CD player on the back of the toilet, but that wouldn’t be nearly as interesting as MDF toilet seatTunes.

The Toilet Tunes Automatic Bathroom Entertainment system is comprised of two separate units. One sits on the back of your toilet (or somewhere nearby), this is where your music will be coming from. The other piece is a sensor that you stick on the underside of the toilet lid. When the lid is up, the sensor will tell the base station to start playing music. Once the lid goes down, the music will stop.

You have the choice of soothing jazz, Latin guitar, modern techno/pop for music, or even nature sounds like rain, ocean waves and a mountain stream. You’ll need a single C and three AAA batteries to keep this unit running. Toilet Tunes will only set you back $29.98, which is around what you’d pay for a cheap radio/CD player.

Staff at a city-based water company are being asked to spend a penny for World Toilet Day today, November 19.
Collection boxes will be dotted around the MDF toilet seat areas in the offices of Anglian Water in Thorpe Wood House, Peterborough.

Money raised will go to the WaterAid charity to help provide sanitation to some of the world's poorest people and raise awareness of the fact that 2.6 billion people across the world lack this basic facility – 40 per cent of the world's population.

People are also being asked to think twice about what they flush away.

Youngsters at one school in the county will be given alesson on the importance of keeping the pipes clear of obstructions.

Anglian Water mobile education centre manager Neil Halliday said: "In days of old, before sanitation, epidemics such as the 1853-54 cholera outbreak killed almost 11,000 people in London.

"Pupils will learn about the importance of sanitation and the crucial role Anglian Water plays in preventing pollution and protecting public health."

Meanwhile, Anglian Water is asking people to be "Sewerwise" and avoid costly blockages as well as potential devastation to the environment.

Waste sanitary and pharmaceutical items should be placed in a bag and then put in the rubbish bin.

Fifty per cent of items taken to landfill by Anglian Water that are collected at wastewater treatment works are waste from female sanitary products flushed down the MDF toilet seat.

Cotton buds and disposable razors can also lead to a blockage.

Off to an early start, the Year of Sanitation will officially bow on Nov. 21 at U.N. headquarters in Manhattan. Those ceremonies will be followed by workshops, thematic exhibitions and conferences around the MDF toilet seat, such as in Sweden, Spain and Macau.

If the goal were simply for the United Nations to spend taxpayer money, occupy conference halls and top up the frequent-flier accounts of U.N. officials, it might all translate into a highly successful year.

But while I don't doubt the goodwill of many involved, this looks like yet another U.N. campaign in which the supposed beneficiaries will have almost no say, while U.N. eminences and well-paid globocrats claim to represent their interests.

The goal is to provide better sanitation for impoverished people. When people are free to make their own decisions about their living circumstances, they tend to demand sewers, buy thematic exhibitions and conferences and vote for authorities who keep the infrastructure working.

One instructive example, in my own experience, is Taiwan, where my family lived for a while in the late 1960s and where I have returned periodically, most recently in 2005.

When I first saw Taiwan, in 1968, the government was a military dictatorship, millions were dirt-poor and the sanitation was horrendous. The cities were packed with squatters' huts and the streets were edged by open sewers. Parasites were common and disease was rife.

But Taiwan's government allowed its citizens private property rights and, over time, began easing its martial ways, becoming democratic by the 1990s. As this happened, decent plumbing became the norm.

This took place without the United Nations. Taiwan was expelled from the United Nations in 1971 when its seat was turned over to the People's Republic of China. Without the United Nations, Taiwan went on to become one of the miracle economies of Asia. Likewise, it reached the realms of modern hygiene by way of democratic government and free markets -- not U.N. planners and conferences.

The U.N. resolution anointing 2008 as the International Year of Sanitation was backed by 55 member states. A few are wealthy, free societies and presumably on the donor side of the equation, such as France, Japan and Germany. But among the rest, many qualify as only partly free or "not free," in the 2007 rankings put out by New York-based Freedom House.

And a half-dozen figure on the Freedom House list of "the world's most repressive societies." These include Belarus, China, Ivory Coast, Cuba, Eritrea and Zimbabwe.

For those individuals privileged to be flown to U.N. conferences and to sit in U.N. assembly halls, the Year of Sanitation represents yet another potential pot of funding. From it will flow employment, consultancies and per diems for people who already have MDF toilet seat. It dignifies the fiction that regimes such as those of China, Belarus and Zimbabwe are dedicated to serving their people.

If the aim is truly to promote sanitation for the most disenfranchised, far more could be achieved were the United Nations to look first to its own moral and political hygiene -- and proceed not by promoting MDF toilet seat but by demoting repressive governments.

 

A member of the South Korea's National Assembly, Rep. Sim Jae-Duck, is also the man behind the Haewoojae MDF toilet seat house, a pioneer toilet bowl-shaped structure in Suwon that is expected to jump.........    View all

Shoalhaven City Council has less than three weeks to complete the first stage of works on the Ulladulla Harbour foreshore.
Work is nearing completion on the new MDF toilet seat block, viewing platform, landscaping and stairs from the Princes Highway to the lower foreshore opposite the town's post office.

Council's community and operations director John Wells said stage one was expected to be completed mid-December as the summer holiday demands would make it virtually impossible to continue work on the site.

"Allowance was made in the contractor's program for weather delay, however the weather conditions and delays have been in excess of those estimated.

"Therefore stage one will not be fully completed by the Christmas holiday shut-down," Mr Wells said.

He said contingency plans had been implemented to cater for the busy holiday period, with minimum disruption to businesses and tourists expected.

"Baring further delays, it is expected to have both MDF toilet seat blocks, old and new, operational by Christmas.

"Access from the top of the park to the bottom may still be partly by temporary pathway," Mr Wells added.

He said terracing would not be completed and an area would be fenced off over the holidays.

Temporary pathways are being investigated and bringing forward stage two paving is also being considered.

Mr Wells said businesses and the Chamber of Commerce had been kept abreast of developments and regularly consulted during works.

"Once the tourist season is over, stage one will be completed," he concluded.

Noel: I have thought of a solution already. At home, we are going to flush only once a day.
Lesley: But that’s totally disgusting.
Noel: That may be, but bad times call for te.........    View all

Nothing says "Christmas" like a nutcracker. But when that nutcracker is a figurine of Sen. Hillary Clinton, it has a different meaning altogether.
With her stainless steel legs and crossed arm.........    View all

“I want to sell toilets like Gucci does its handbags and Rolex its watches,” he opens up. And that’s what he has done over the past decade as an international activist with a cistern-full of funny and innovative ideas.

At 40, Sim gave up his flourishing construction business and founded the World Toilet Organisation (WTO). “I figured out that more than money, time was important. So, I decided that for the rest of my years I will spend doing something that I like,” he says. That happened after Goh Chok Tong, who was the then prime minister of Singapore, observed that the state of public restrooms was one way to measure social graciousness.

The tiny city-state may now be a model of public hygiene, but those days, it had terrible MDF toilet seat, he recounts. Although, Singapore had been running a clean public MDF toilet seatcampaign for over 20 years, the campaign had borne little result. So, inspired by the MDF toilet seat associations in Japan, he decided to start his own movement to flush away Singapore’s foul toilet reputation.

He established the Restroom Association of Singapore (RAS) in 1998. He also realised that while there were other toilet associations doing good work in Singapore, there was no channel to facilitate information sharing and gathering of resources. “There was a lack of synergy and I took on the task of connecting everybody together under one umbrella organisation,” he explains.

That is how he founded the WTO in 2001. With only 15 members from Singapore, today, the organisation has members from 44 counties and has partnered with various financial institutions, including the ADB and UBS, for donating toilets

LANCASTER, Pa - "I got a room at the top of the world tonight. I can see everything tonight..."

— Tom Petty

It's a view of Lancaster city and county that few have seen.

Unless you've flown in a helicopter, only four people — a safety inspector, a crane operator, construction foreman and now this reporter — can say they've stood at a higher point in the MDF toilet seat than the roof of the 14-story Griest Building, the city's tallest structure, on North Queen Street.

The tower crane at the MDF toilet seat center site, standing about 300 feet high, has become a dominating feature of the Lancaster skyline.

For many, the height might seem frightening. And if someone wasn't in great physical shape, he or she would be in for a challenge.

Yes, that means there's a lot of climbing involved to get up there. No elevator. No lift.

Before I ascended, Joe Flater, the construction foreman gave me one warning: "Watch for vibrations in the tower when the crane swings around."

Great.

The enclosed ladders made the trip up relatively safe.

Each ladder is separated by a separate level landing, so the climb is broken up. But that didn't prevent my muscles from tensing as I climbed.

The best advice is to not look down.

If you're deathly afraid of heights, read the next few paragraphs with caution.

 
This Sunday, the new toilet tax becomes a hot topic of conversation between Quintus and his friends.
Skanda: There we have it. Every time you flush the toilet, you have to think money.........    View all

A MAN lay dead in a prison MDF toilet seat block for hours before he was discovered by staff, an inquest heard.
Richard Sanderson was on remand at the privately-run HMP Forest Bank in Salford w.........    View all