What Did Ancient Romans Do Without Toilet Paper?

Post by carlmr » Thu, Apr 05, 2018, 7:18 AM UTC

nerdwaller wrote: post #316

reolbox wrote: post #300

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 :-)).

After traveling through a decent portion of China I tend to agree. The design of the “facilities” (e.g. “squatty potty”) in a lot of locations made a few in my group question toilet paper all together. Though being back in the states there are a lot of weird looks trying to find ways to mimic the stance... A few years after my time there I saw the “Squatty Potty”[0] on Shark Tank, but haven’t tried it. Anyone with th…

Post by tomcooks » Thu, Apr 05, 2018, 7:20 AM UTC

bhnmmhmd wrote: post #337

reolbox wrote: post #300

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 :-)).

Agreed. They use water in Iran, too. Other than religious considerations (that only water will really clean mess), it actually feels better and cleaner. Plus, their toilets have a different shape, something like this: https://behsakala.com/image/cache/data/products/-پارمیس-گلسا... As far as I've heard, this form of toilet is better and easier for colons.

Post by tomcooks » Thu, Apr 05, 2018, 7:25 AM UTC

toephu2 wrote: post #264

tlb wrote: post #2

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.

Except TP is not the solution. If a bird pooped on your arm, would you rather use a dry paper towel to clean it off or water?

Post by onetimemanytime » Thu, Apr 05, 2018, 7:32 AM UTC

toastermoster wrote: post #309

It was funny to see this HN post tonight. This week I'm doing upgrades to the DCS (distributed control system) operator stations at one of the largest tissue manufacturing sites in the US. I was just telling my fiancé how funny the security is here. You would think they were enriching uranium. When I first got into the paper industry, which resulted from coming out of grad school during the Great Recession, I thought…

Post by m_mueller » Thu, Apr 05, 2018, 7:38 AM UTC

theprotocol wrote: post #326

reolbox wrote: post #300

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 :-)).

I'd be afraid of the sprinkler collecting fecal and other matter, and am not too eager to nebulize that onto my behind.