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What Did Ancient Romans Do Without Toilet Paper?

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Re: What Did Ancient Romans Do Without Toilet Paper?

#111

Post by nashashmi »

lainga wrote: post #99
bambax wrote: post #54

> To ancient Romans, the practice of sitting on a shared toilet in an open room full of people was entirely ordinary. That's a funny thing to say for an American, because, to Europeans, American toilets are much too public: doors don't go to the floor or ceiling, and even "walls" are thin sheets of wood/plastic loosely joined together with huge spaces between them. It seems, Americans don't trust one another to sit a…

This is the 6th post I have seen this week along the formula (1) I am from Europe and I went to America. (2) Americans do things in a way I find unusual and/or distressing. (3) The cause must be a character flaw shared by all Americans (security and puritanical reasons...?).

I'm interested in knowing what percentage of users are not in America. It seems that it's increasing.

We've always enjoyed here to mean America. I guess it won't be for long.

Re: What Did Ancient Romans Do Without Toilet Paper?

#112

Post by switch007 »

DanAndersen wrote: post #94
bambax wrote: post #54

> To ancient Romans, the practice of sitting on a shared toilet in an open room full of people was entirely ordinary. That's a funny thing to say for an American, because, to Europeans, American toilets are much too public: doors don't go to the floor or ceiling, and even "walls" are thin sheets of wood/plastic loosely joined together with huge spaces between them. It seems, Americans don't trust one another to sit a…

As an American, I'm curious what the typical practice is elsewhere for determining if a stall is occupied. I know the little colored marker on the outside of the door is common, but sadly I don't imagine all of our own population being careful enough to notice it. The doors not going all the way down in the US may serve as a more visible indicator of which stalls are occupied without having to bang on the door and ge…

I don't understand the tradeoff of constant decreased privacy just to avoid a few moments of "awkwardness" (if it's completely private, what's awkward? Is there a big issue with non-functioning locks?)??

Re: What Did Ancient Romans Do Without Toilet Paper?

#113

Post by skookumchuck »

hippich wrote: post #29
gkya wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wut? Do you really think you can convince me that USSR did not have toilet papers or pencils? Or send the first man to space? This is not about what economical model is better. People can collaborate both under central economic planning and through free markets. One might certainly be more preferable to the other, but that's totally a different conversation (I'm not a fan of either, for the records).

You will laugh, but yes, USSR also had troubles with toilet paper from time to time (while launching satellites i guess) - https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&js=y&pr...

Free markets are self-organizing, and are constantly adapting, evolving, and innovating. Centralized planning (socialism) cannot hope to match it.

Re: What Did Ancient Romans Do Without Toilet Paper?

#114

Post by Koshkin »

gkya wrote: post #27
skookumchuck wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is the result of free markets. Centralized economic planning is simply unable to deal with the complexity.

Wut? Do you really think you can convince me that USSR did not have toilet papers or pencils? Or send the first man to space? This is not about what economical model is better. People can collaborate both under central economic planning and through free markets. One might certainly be more preferable to the other, but that's totally a different conversation (I'm not a fan of either, for the records).

The USSR had pencils, yes.

Re: What Did Ancient Romans Do Without Toilet Paper?

#115

Post by amelius »

bambax wrote: post #54

> To ancient Romans, the practice of sitting on a shared toilet in an open room full of people was entirely ordinary. That's a funny thing to say for an American, because, to Europeans, American toilets are much too public: doors don't go to the floor or ceiling, and even "walls" are thin sheets of wood/plastic loosely joined together with huge spaces between them. It seems, Americans don't trust one another to sit a…

> doors don't go to the floor or ceiling

Bad design. With today's pervasiveness of smartphone cameras, it's difficult to not be afraid that someday, somebody will pull a prank and make a shot from above or below; and of course post it on Facebook.

Re: What Did Ancient Romans Do Without Toilet Paper?

#116

Post by calebegg »

3pt14159 wrote: post #58
tlarkworthy wrote: post #8

I think a machine vision directed spray is the future. I don't fancy collecting the training data though.

Please no. I don't want asshole recognition software tracking my movements from washroom to washroom.

Surprisingly relevant Adult Swim Infomercial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJklHwoYgBQ

Re: What Did Ancient Romans Do Without Toilet Paper?

#117

Post by skookumchuck »

Latteland wrote: post #105
makotech222 wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Haha, do they?

I think the question is how do you define free? Free for powerful to do anything they want? Free subject to govt control? The tension is between those points.

The term is "free markets" which have a reasonably agreed upon definition. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_market

Re: What Did Ancient Romans Do Without Toilet Paper?

#118

Post by [deleted] »

agumonkey wrote: post #109
devnonymous wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> how much better is water ? is it 100% clean ? They did provide a reference point... > if you got poop on your arm, maybe while changing a diaper, would you wipe it off with a piece of paper and consider it clean? ...were you expecting something more rigorous?

yes, I don't really understand the whole thing. A bidet you use water to clean your outputs, instead of paper only. But 1) you probably have your arm under there to dry it too, it's cleaner but not perfectly clean I suppose. So you might have bacteria/microbes too 2) I forgot my 2 but you get the idea. Unless you have something that doesn't involve approaching your ass you're still not 100% clear.

[deleted]

Re: What Did Ancient Romans Do Without Toilet Paper?

#119

Post by skookumchuck »

bambax wrote: post #54

> To ancient Romans, the practice of sitting on a shared toilet in an open room full of people was entirely ordinary. That's a funny thing to say for an American, because, to Europeans, American toilets are much too public: doors don't go to the floor or ceiling, and even "walls" are thin sheets of wood/plastic loosely joined together with huge spaces between them. It seems, Americans don't trust one another to sit a…

In my high school, the stall doors were removed because kids were smoking in them.
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