2.10.2006 ||> Potty Humor
There are automatic toilets at work. The ones where, when a person stands it flushes for them. Because we just can't be bothered flushing our own toilets and gosh, but isn't technology grand?
Except that with "my toilet" (and everyone has one that they go to at work), flushes when I make the smallest move. If I raise my hands, it flushes. If I twist on the toilet, it flushes. Then, when I stand... no flush. It flushes continously like one of those Japanese toilets that women use so no one will hear them pee. Except that I don't mind that people can hear me. What I mind is the blowback when you're sitting on a flushing toilet.
The only solution I can come up with is to drape some toilet paper over the sensor, and when I'm done, take the paper down, stretch and then stand very quickly so that it will go off. This is a rather complicated scenario that I think could be solved by making all the toilets manual. But hey, what do I know?
I do the news for an expatriate health website as part of my job. In fact, as I write this, I am publishing the latest feed. In the time since I started, I have seen bombing after bombing in Latin America, Spain, Nepal and other parts of the world. There are demonstrations everyday in some country for one reason or the other, some of them breaking out into violence as in the French riots, the Aussie race riots and the cartoon protests. Two conclusions I make from doing these alerts is that the Middle East is going to be a messed up place for many more years and that some countries always manage to slip under the radar.
One of these countries is surely Yemen.
Known only in America as a place to go to get away from an annoying ex (ala Friends), this country seems desitined for obscurity in the US. Sitting right between Saudi Arabia and two seas, it looks innocuous. But what has happened there recently to spark any interest?
Notice how when al-Qaeda members manage to tunnel out of a prison there and escape, it's during a time when the attention is either on political cartoons or Gonzales. No one particularly seems to care that this happened and there are no screaming headlines denouncing the prison system that allowed this to happen.
Additionally, may I offer you kidnapping insurance if you look European and want to visit? One of the reasons this country sticks in my mind are the statistics on kidnapping. In the past three months, I have seen reports of at least 12 people being kidnapped, all of whom were European. Four people per month may not be the highest kidnapping rate in a country, but it would make me think twice before visiting.
I realize that our government is being crushed under the weight of its own incompetence. However, it would be good to come to the root of our problems with this country and normalize relations so that we may be more secure.
Labels: politics
