What Did Ancient Romans Do Without Toilet Paper? • Hacker News Board

Re: What Did Ancient Romans Do Without Toilet Paper?

#291

Post by Turing_Machine » Thu, Apr 05, 2018, 3:47 AM UTC

scraft wrote: post #275

I am from the UK, typically visit the US once or twice per year, have visited every country in the EU and am currently spending 12 months traveling the world (3 months in at the moment, having visited India, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and Thailand). I have a website/blog about this for those that are interested: http://ourbigplanet.com In various parts of the world, previous to this trip, I encountered trash…

Thanks. I will be referring to bidets as "bum guns" from now on (because it's funny).

Re: What Did Ancient Romans Do Without Toilet Paper?

#292

Post by tyingq » Thu, Apr 05, 2018, 3:48 AM UTC

lisper wrote: post #270

tyingq wrote: post #260

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Appreciate the details, but disagree strongly with "You get the odor anyway, that difference is quite negligible" . Submerging it in water made a huge difference. Maybe some chemical engineer can confirm my layman observation.

Native German who has lived in the U.S. for many decades here. I agree with you, tyingq. Also, when I try to squat with my feet flat on the floor as shown in that video, I invariably fall over backwards.

Probably more confidence from a native German confirmation than a chemical engineer :). You guys aren't much into pandering.

Re: What Did Ancient Romans Do Without Toilet Paper?

#293

Post by newnewpdro » Thu, Apr 05, 2018, 3:51 AM UTC

freeflight wrote: post #268

tyingq wrote: post #260

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Appreciate the details, but disagree strongly with "You get the odor anyway, that difference is quite negligible" . Submerging it in water made a huge difference. Maybe some chemical engineer can confirm my layman observation.

I'm sure submerging it in water makes some difference, but I'm not sure it's really that big of a difference. The odor is there whether submerged or not because the odor doesn't just come from the "product" itself. Considering the kind of odor we are talking about here, I just don't think the difference is really that huge because when it stinks it stinks, and it pretty much always stinks. Tho, how to quantify odor s…

Not all diets produce such odoriferous feces. When I'm eating mostly plain raw produce like a vegetarian, a typical western flush toilet is pretty successful in minimizing poop odor. Meat in my diet makes odor suppression a whole lot more challenging.

For the last few months I've been using a urine-diverting style waterless toilet, where the solids land in a bucket with dirt. This means the solids are uncovered until completion, when more dirt gets poured over. The dietary feedback in this arrangement can be brutal, odor being a significant component until covered.

Re: What Did Ancient Romans Do Without Toilet Paper?

#294

Post by travmatt » Thu, Apr 05, 2018, 3:58 AM UTC

freedomben wrote: post #81

maccam94 wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Beware, many of those "flushable" wipes aren't actually: https://arstechnica.com/science/2017/09/putrid-130-ton-mass-...

Especially for septic systems. In related news, it is very expensive to have a plumber come fish "flushable" wipes from your septic system when they are blocking the tank and backing the "water" back up into the house.

I asked a plumber about those once and he laughed and said there’s no such thing as a flushable wipe - but they’re great for business.

Re: What Did Ancient Romans Do Without Toilet Paper?

#295

Post by adiabatty » Thu, Apr 05, 2018, 4:01 AM UTC

jessriedel wrote: post #201

kragen wrote: post #24

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…

Honest question: Can a bidet user explain why bidets are superior to just having a nearby faucet to dampen the toilet paper, like this?: https://d193qi3ct19t6b.cloudfront.net/products/24229/regular... Having a separate system and jet of water seems like a lot more complexity with increased risk of splash. And the cleaning properties of dampened paper seem strictly better than a stream of water. Just like I wouldn't w…

Before I put a bidet attachment on my toilet, my flushable-wipe usage was about a median of 3 and a mean of probably 4. Sometimes I just had to keep wiping to make sure _everything_ was gone from underneath, and I make sure my wipes are extra-wet with witch hazel.

Now, my flushable-wipe usage has a median and mode of 1, with a mean of maybe 1.2. The long right-hand tail is considerably shorter and not as tall.

All this is probably better for the environment since it probably uses less stuff to get the extra water to my house than it does to get the extra processed butt wipes to my house. Also, I get a cleaner clean with fewer wipes going down the pipes, which reduces the likelihood that the pipes will clog. The Cottonelles I use don't clog my pipes generally, but I've used (and stopped using!) other brands that have.

As for the splash? Well, I've got TP right there if my cheeks and perineum get too wet. It's not a problem.

Re: What Did Ancient Romans Do Without Toilet Paper?

#296

Post by wolco » Thu, Apr 05, 2018, 4:01 AM UTC

fosk wrote: post #195

laumars wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One of my pet peeves is people who rattle the toilet door before checking the engaged indicator.

That's intentional. By doing so you are interrupting the occupant's peaceful moment, make him anxious, and as a result he will get out faster.

Or slow the person down.

Re: What Did Ancient Romans Do Without Toilet Paper?

#297

Post by rtkwe » Thu, Apr 05, 2018, 4:05 AM UTC

siavosh wrote: post #263

Is it possible there were some kind of dividers between the toilets that are now long gone? Ie not as public as the picture might indicate.

Probably not. There likely would have been some sort of mounting points on the floor or walls to hold it. Also it's not like we don't have writings and paintings from the time. I imagine there's some evidence from there too.

Re: What Did Ancient Romans Do Without Toilet Paper?

#298

Post by LyndsySimon » Thu, Apr 05, 2018, 4:12 AM UTC

SomewhatLikely wrote: post #285

I wonder what the hole on the front of those Roman toilets is for in the article? Maybe just so it can act as urinal too?

It's where they kept the brush.

Re: What Did Ancient Romans Do Without Toilet Paper?

#299

Post by wheresmyusern » Thu, Apr 05, 2018, 4:22 AM UTC

we seriously need a better solution for toilets. toilets use huge amounts of water. if you want to have a toilet in a moving vehicle, or anywhere that is not directly connected to a sewage line and a giant water treatment plant, then you are just out of luck because all the mobile toilet solutions out there suck. it amazes me that a good solution has evaded us for so long.

when considering how to travel where-ever i want and for cheap i considered a van or rv. in both cases im stuck chasing after land installations that allow me to essentially use a toilet. with the rv, you have to offload somewhere and with a van you have to be near someone else's toilet.

the best solution i can think of is to have a special toilet that uses plastic bagging. a continuous sleeve of plastic is fed through the toilet and lines the inside of the "bowl" and is sealed at the bottom of the bowl forming a plastic bag. waste is collected and then the plastic material is rolled out -- so the bag descends and is replaced with new plastic material above. plenty of extra plastic is reeled out and a heating element comes in and seals the bag above the waste, simultaneously creating a new "bag" to catch waste and sealing completely the waste in the old bag. the end result is a completely clean bowl and fully contained waste. the waste bags could then be disposed of in an incinerator or a processing plant at some later time. the bag could be made biodegradable and a sterilizing agent added to the bag before its sealed to allow the bags to be disposed of without processing.

Re: What Did Ancient Romans Do Without Toilet Paper?

#300

Post by reolbox » Thu, Apr 05, 2018, 4:27 AM UTC

For 22 years I used toilet paper until I traveled to South East Asia where every toilet has a seperate sprinkler. After a few toilet visits I decided to give it a GO. Man, toilet paper feels strange and plain stupid now. Water is way cheaper, doesn't hurt your "behind" and I feel cleaner afterwards. Paper seems an invention to sell something we really don't need (by Mad Men :-)).