Meanwhile in...

[Griff]

not the best launch

[xoxoxoBruce]

My guess is the R movers/shakers/strategists picked him out and talked him into running. I can hear them saying we'll handle everything you just show up when and where you're told and we'll get you the job... and chicks for free.

[tw]

With gerrymandering, sometimes you can be in the wrong district when at the wrong house on a block.

[sexobon]

The toilet, as a technology, has been steadily improving. Indoor plumbing is far superior to chamber pots and outhouses, and automatic-flush sensors beat pulling a grimy handle manually. But a design concept that rapidly attained online notoriety this week brazenly suggested that the way to make toilets better is to make them worse.

The concept, called the StandardToilet, has a seat that’s set at an incline and lightly strains users’ legs, making it unpleasant to sit on for longer than five minutes or so. The discomfort is intentional: The toilet gets people, especially workers, out of the bathroom (and off their phones) and back to whatever it is they’re supposed to be doing. To this end, according to the StandardToilet website, “the optimum angle of the gradient shall be between 11-13 degrees.” Its patent, though, covers everything from a gentle 5 degrees to a perilous 35, which would be like perching on a playground slide.

The makers of the StandardToilet declined a request for a phone interview, but explained to me over email that the toilet’s angled seat accomplishes two goals: On top of getting employees back to work in a timely manner, its design, the makers claim, reduces the risk of hemorrhoids. “We see it as a win/win situation for both employers and employees,” said a representative handling press inquiries.

theatlantic.com

standardtoilet.net

btaloos.co.uk

[xoxoxoBruce]

They grossly underestimate the ability of the bear to shit in the woods.

[Griff]

That must be the crapper Orange Lad is whining about.

[Carruthers]

From the letters column of this morning's edition of The Times...

SPIKED SEAT

Sir, Reading about the mechanical process that discourages lounging on the lavatory (report, Dec 18, and letter, Dec 19) brought back the painful memory of the steel spike that jutted from the wall behind the place of blessed repose in the Appelby Frodingham steelworks in Scunthorpe.

Leaning back to savour a moment’s blessed respite from the blast furnaces brought you up sharply and with considerable pain.
I immediately joined the union but the spike of Scunthorpe steel, which had been put there by management, remained in place until the 1970s.

Steve Pound

MP for Ealing North 1997-2019; London W7

[xoxoxoBruce]

At Westinghouse Steam Turbine they took all the doors off the stalls.

[glatt]

Meanwhile in Harpers Ferry, the Appalachian Trail is going to be closed for a while.

[xoxoxoBruce]

I'll bet it was the PTA.

[BigV]

Wade for it......

No, really. Wade for it.

[BigV]

J/K

That's def a real river.. Ya better swim. Or risk the wreckage of the bridge.

[Gravdigr]

Luckily, they were carrying a trainload of water wings and styrofoam coolers...

[sexobon]

Do you have the right stuff to become a space cadet?

The first Space Force uniforms have reached the Pentagon, and people are making fun of the camouflage print

The United States Space Force debuted the first ever uniforms for members of the newly created unit. …

A tweet sent from the official Space Force account pictured the camouflage uniform with the "U.S. Space Force" nameplate and "United States Space Command" patch.

Twitter users immediately began to poke fun at the uniform's print, questioning why space troops wouldn't wear black uniforms if they wanted to blend into their surroundings. ...

… However, others pointed out that there are no immediate plans to put space troops in space, so the uniforms will be worn by people still on Earth - and camouflage doesn't have to serve an actual camouflaging purpose, it has just became the traditional print for US military members. ...

Their uniforms should be pink 'cause pink is the new black.

[Urbane Guerrilla]

Originally Posted by sexobon

Do you have the right stuff to become a space cadet?



Their uniforms should be pink 'cause pink is the new black.

Hee. Well, anyway, black or a Keith Laumer-style midnight blue, how about some insignia ideas?

Air Force radiused chevrons with USN-style rating badges in place of that star inside the circle -- 'cos, you know, space Navy.

Even symbolically, wings don't work in vacuum; how about qualified space pilots bearing a representation of the M82 active galaxy on their breast? It's rather winglike, enough to suggest. Red filaments about the center, and that star or globular cluster on one side and a bit below adding its gleam.