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Toilet Bar
Don't use the seat when you take a sheet.
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Toilet seats are often covered in public restrooms by users who find it necessary to protect something as trivial as the backs of their legs from germs that could potentially be transmitted from direct contact, but not through highly porous toilet paper.

Take the local drink dispensary as an example. A patron will rest his bare arms on the bar, that has been used by countless other patrons, who have used theirs to wipe untold number of noses. But then, those same patrons will retire to the restroom, only to protect their hamstrings and gluteus that are rarely ever exposed to anything more than clean cotton-blend.

A logical solution to these somewhat contradictory habits, is to combine them. No, I do not suggest sitting bare-arsed upon the bar, but to eliminate the toilet seat. In its place put a ledge, or bar as it were, to lean on to support your body in the squatting position. Hand grips would be helpful, which you could forgo using to read your newspaper.


rcarty, Apr 20 2006

Asian style squat toilet http://www.thedigit...mages/toilet500.jpg
Not obvious from picture: they do generally have bars, if only to help you get up again. Also note absence of toilet paper. [DrCurry, Apr 20 2006, last modified Apr 21 2006]

could not resist this link http://www.pahl.ca/vp/toilets.html
a lot of this belongs at the HB..fishtank toilet! [xandram, Apr 21 2006]

[link]






       In the case of the bar, all that spilled alcohol kills any germs. Perhaps you should be extending that technology to the bathroom, as well...?   

       Btw, congratulations, you've just reinvented the Asian-style toilet!

DrCurry, Apr 20 2006
  

       I seem to have, yes. My idea is really for the bar exclusively that they seem to lack, we can keep our standard bowl and opt for a higher squat. But I have a feeling I'll be deleting this.

rcarty, Apr 20 2006
  

       I, for one, despair at the omission of paper. A public loo I went to in France had the hole in the floor and a tatty piece of rope as a handle on the wall. Some kind soul had left their newspaper - obviously sharing their solution to the problem. It was the abundance of flies that nailed the coffin shut and made me concentrate on putting the turtle head back in...

Jinbish, Apr 20 2006
  

       Steps to clean seat: 1. Get some spirits 2. Pour on toilet seat 3. Light   

       Its kind of a waste of good spirits.

sninctown, Apr 20 2006
  

       Well, you could always lick it off again.

DrCurry, Apr 21 2006
  

       I think the handicapped stall has a bar one can hold on to. They are called 'grab bars'.

xandram, Apr 21 2006
  

       Saw on Mythbusters that the toilet seat was indeed the least bacterially infected area of their shop

Galbinus_Caeli, Apr 21 2006
  

       The toilet paper padding is more to prevent sitting on an unseen wet spot than to prevent germs.

phundug, Apr 21 2006
  

       GC: that figures, really.

DrCurry, Apr 21 2006
  

       Penn and Teller's _Bullshit!_ also tested toilet seats and arses as being rather clean. Faces are damned germy by comparison.   

       My experience with Asian squat toilets includes the realization that I was the only person in the house who was using the toilet paper.   

       My experience with American toilets leads me to wipe off the seat with a wad of toilet paper. This cleans off wet spots, and makes sure I have checked for the presence of toilet paper before initiating excretion.

baconbrain, Apr 21 2006
  

       Are you sure it is a great idea to install this in a bar?
A place full of intoxicated people?
Perhaps a net just below the bar would be necessary, for the few poor souls who might otherwise over-balance and end up falling arse-first into the dark and mysterious depths?

andrew1, Sep 20 2007
  
      
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