Nice job, Turdle!!! Well written and clever.

I've done my share of traveling because of Mr. daphne's 18 years in the military, and I can attest that we (Americans) seem to be worse than other people at demanding other countries accommodate us and our needs. I hear in America "this is Amuricah, speak english, boy." Then in Germany I heard "You'd think they'd speak our language." Because of this, I like the idea of leaving half the toilets squatters. We need to get over ourselves.

Nice article!

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.....hugging bunnies since 1969
www.daphneszoo.com

Maybe, Daphne they could put some squatting/sitting competition IN the Olympics. Why leave all the fun in the bathrooms.

But is the problem symmetric? That is, when a squatter encounters a sit-down toilet, are they presented with a problem similar to the one sitters encounter when they come across a squatter site? Somehow, I don't shit so.
(Like the situation at the ski resort where young women were looking for husbands and husbands were looking for young women, the two are not as symmetric as they seem.)

If people are accustomed to squatting they'll squat even on a sitter. (It happens where I work all the time with all the Cambodians we have working there). I wonder if the westerners will sit on a squatter?

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Rock-n-roll! Poopy-poo!

At least the Chinese are going to have toilets for this; I am sure some folks away from the cities still have outhouses or poo-barrels or just squat down in the fields as they have for millennia. Can you imagine all their guests having to do that?

We used to call it "a crackhouse squat" when there were no facilities available and one had to duck into an alley of a blighted house to pee.

"Crackhouse squat". I'm liking you more and more SP.

Whether they leave the squatters or retro-fit with sitters, I'm still boycotting the Olympics and any Olympic sponsors.

Here's a partial list of sponsors, none of whom will be getting my business during the 2008 Olympics:

-Microsoft
-Coca-Cola
-McDonalds
-Kodak
-GE
-PriceWaterhouseCoopers
-Staples
-Johnson&Johnson
-Panasonic
-Samsung
-VISA
-Adidas
-Volkswagen
-UPS
-Snickers
-Schenker Logistics
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Free Tibet.

Thanks for the comments, guys! BBC News is my home page, so when I saw that story, I knew I had to send it to Dave.

And Deja Poo, I completely agree with boycotting the Olympics. My professor in my International Criminal Law class discussed the possibility of whether the US Gov (and the entire US Olympics team) should boycott the Beijing Olympics. I think that compared to the situation leading to our boycott of the 1980 Olympics, China's contribution to genocide in Sudan more than warrants another boycott. After all, China boycotted the 1980 Olympics, too, and that was for the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan! And in addition to the Chinese government's relationship with the Sudanese government, there's the horrible situation in Tibet. Invading Tibet half a century ago, continually (forcibly, if necessary) stifling any hope of Tibetan autonomy, and now murdering pacifist monks are more than enough reasons to boycott.

Last year I lived with a woman who was a Chinese immigrant (and now US citizen). When we were discussing Tibet one day, I mentioned the brutality of the Chinese invasion, like how it attacked a Buddhist nonviolent nation incapable of effectivly defending itself, and the resulting slaughter. She responded by nonchalantly telling me that Tibetans didn't want to rule themselves anyway (my mouth was now agape) and they needed Chinese rule to survive, as it had in the past.

I read somewhere recently that when using the squat toilets in India, you remove your pants before squatting. Is that the norm with all squat toilets? I know when I've had to take a dump in the woods, I just pull my jeans forward out of the way and dump that way - have never stripped off to have a dump in the woods. Opinions welcome! :-)

Turdle, such attitudes as you cite are the natural consequence of Communist rule and indoctrination. I had a Chinese student about a decade ago; beautiful, brilliant, and totally blind to human rights matters because of what her government had force-fed her by way of education. To keep this on the poop track: I did have the pleasant task of explaining to her some English terms for pooping, beginning with b.m. Mostly her English was excellent, but I was happy to plug that hole in her knowledge.

As for removing pants with squat toilets, there is another thread that shows diagrams of how to use them. The stick figure shown in the diagrams doesn't remove his pants; he pulls them down to his ankles, squats low, and pushes out quite a large and visible brown turd, under the direction, "Do it!" So--no, one need not remove one's pants entirely; just get them in a position out of the line of fire.

Yes, I will be boycotting the Olympics this year as well, for many reasons. One being the horrendous commercialism, which has driven me away from the Olympics for several years. Another being the fact that most amateur athletes never have a chance to compete in the one place they're supposed to be allowed. Then there is the cloud seeding and other arrogant tampering bullshit of the Chinese government (not that it would work), who seem to believe they are above even nature. I have a long list of reasons.

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Born right the first time.

I can see the point of Boycotting the Olympics, but it gives the Chinese a better chance of getting more gold metals.

Remember Berlin 1936: Adolph Hitler going on-and-on about how the Aryan was stronger and faster. Imagine his horror when Jesse Owens, a Black American won his 4 gold metals and stood next to the German wearing silver.

Victory can be its own revenge.
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You have the right to remain Silent but Deadly....