171–180 of 557 posts
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Haha, do they?
Absolutely, nothing has brought a greater level of prosperity and equality to the world than free market capitalism. This is simply an empirical fact. Just like it is an empirical fact that every socialist nation in history has created huge levels of poverty and inequality.
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Replace with: (1) I am from $region_X and I went to $region_Y (2) $region_Y'ers do things in a way I find unusual and/or distressing (3) The cause must be a character flaw shared by all $region_Y'ers ( ). and your statement is still valid about this formula. I think we tend to preferentially notice them when we're in one of the two regions involved, but in general the world (and so the internet) is full of this sort…
PHP dev? ;)
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> It seems, Americans don't trust one another to sit alone in a toilet; I still don't know if it's for security purposes (to check if someone has a heart failure?) or puritanical reasons (make sure people aren't having sex?) but it sure feels strange, and very difficult to get used to when one comes from a different culture. I've always thought it was far less interesting than that: they're cheaper and faster to inst…
There's regulations on minimum gap size (had a client in the industry) https://travel.stackexchange.com/questions/26620/why-do-publ...
My uncle was an engineer for a toilet paper manufacturing plant, that took logs in one end and put TP rolls out the other end. The path was over a mile long. He worked on variable speed electronic drives for the 1000 horsepower motors that turned the machinery. TP illustrates the triumph of civilization: 1000s of people all doing specialized jobs so billions of people can each avoid a daily unpleasantness.
Toilet Paper is one of my favorite "How it's Made" episodes. Feel free to check it out at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z74OfpUbeac . My favorite part is at 4:43 with the Circular Saw!
> 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…
When I moved to Argentina, it took me a while to get used to bidets. But now that I'm used to them, I never use toilet paper voluntarily. It leaves your butt still dirty! As someone said, 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? No, not if you're from the mainstream of any developed country. You would use water, soap, and maybe more…
> 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…
Nope, many of our airports have stall walls that go to the floor to discourage cruising.
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Doubt it would take off, considering the low adoption rates of "regular" spray toilets in the west. It's a relatively marginal improvement after all.
Bidet use is accelerating rapidly* in the US. Which doesn't surprise me, really. When I got one, most of my family was surprised. As they tried it out of curiosity, most of them were really happy with how clean they felt, and have gone on to get one for their own homes. I'm sure they have other friends that come over and will experience the same. It's an exponential effect. (* source: https://www.proremodeler.com/bid…
The predecessor to the above were small squeeze bottles full of water, and you can still buy various versions of these today, which are heaven-on-earth as a wilderness backpacker.
I picked up a travel bidet[1] for backpacking, and it has proven to be one of the best uses of six bucks that I can remember. Weighs in at 50g (~2oz), and not only cuts down on the amount of TP I need to pack in (and out), but it's also been a general lifesaver when traveling.
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Eh, when someone says "it sure feels strange, and very difficult to get used," it doesn't have to be negative. You can take it as a "character flaw" jibe, but it's really just an observation. source: American that is still in shock by septic tank users that have to throw their feces-paper in the trashcan.
I lived in the Dominican Republic for a few years, and it was a little weird to me at first, but after a while you get used to putting dirty paper in the trash. I never once had to deal with a clogged toilet. After moving back to the USA it was just as weird to put paper in the toilets (though drinking the same water you bathe in was the weirdest part). I think people exaggerate the weirdness and difficulty of adjust…
Surely you mean the water that enters the house via plumbing, is used for both bathing and drinking from via a faucet. As opposed to drinking bath water.
Is the weirdness of that because they don't drink tap water in the Dominican?
> 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…