... Omaha needs the water.
Somebody was likely to repeat this ancient joke any time you headed to Grandma's old-fashioned bathroom during my childhood. I believed it was a joke until I began reading Rose George's entertaining and mind-blowing new book, The Big Necessity: The Unmentionable World of Human Waste and Why It Matters. Holy crap, Batman! Sanitation ain't nearly as smooth an operation as you hoped even in our allegedly civilized nation. And talk about your crumbling infrastructure!!!
After laughing through the chapter on the high-tech world of Japanese toilets I needed first hand experience. Most Americans are disinterested in toilets that "think". We figure this isn't a product that needs bells and whistles. We just want the lowest-priced model from Home Depot. That's why I've never given my Sims game households the high-priced upgrades. Would a Sim be happier, healthier, and on a faster career track with the $1200 Flush Force 5XLT ?
So far I have only anecdotal information about my Sims, Bertha and Fiord. I've upgraded their potties. They spend more time in the bathroom due to the heated toilet seats.
Heated seats would not be a good option for the preschool children. They already spend a lot of time in the potties. Their idea of a sanitation upgrade is having a colorful poster of alphabet animals on the restroom wall and better karaoke accoustics.
© 2009 Nancy L. Ruder
3 comments:
Your comment about better karaoke accoustics took me back to the city hall restroom at Ainsworth, NE, when I was a little girl. That place had a tremendous echo effect. Every noise reverberated. The metal stall doors sounded like gongs unless you eased them shut, and the flushing of the toilet was like the roar of rapids on the river. Exciting place!
Did it have the tiny white and black ceramic tiles on the floor in either squares or hexagons?
Thanks for your wonderful comment!
Oh, I thought it said, "Obama needs the water."
I looked up the book -- The Big Necessity -- and I'm going to buy it as soon as it come out in paperback.
I love books about ick, such as Other People's Dirt, The Story of Garbage, etc.
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