h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

1. I'm liking the itemised replies.
2. Usually, you'd have 3 items.
3. Like with this.

1. but perhaps with an additional;
D. All of the above

Dont' forget E. Don't know

Petty Hate: When you've been craving a particular food for days, but you actually have no idea what food it is and CAN'T MAKE THE CRAVING STOP!!!

When I get that, it's usually tinned peaches. For the mouth feel.

When they hold parties where the majority of the students are, which I think is unfair, and expect the other students to be able to get to it; if they're in two places like we are, doesn't it make sense that SOMETHING should be held at the second place, where we are? It's ridiculously unfair.

PH 2: I want to go out but I don't want to go out because I don't feel like it, but I feel like I should. Ugh.

Credit Cards.

They don't make them like they used to. At one time I could get a very satisfactory scrape-off of car window frost but the last few mornings - hard work with a not-very-rigid card.

I recommend you buy a scraper.

At these prices? Credit is far cheaper

I'm sure this must've been mentioned in the past 11,000 posts somewhere, but ... hot-air dryers in public toilets

With the exception of these Dyson and tornado type ones, I am constantly amazed and dismayed at how consistently piss-poor these driers are. Almost without exception they are set to only switch on when your hands are jammed into the vents. Presumably this is the default setting and nobody who's ever purchased one of these machines has ever had the guile to set the thing to work at, oh say 5-10cm distance. so you don't get caught in a never-ending cycle of off-on-off-on-off-on...

I mean, they only have one purpose in life; why do so few of these things actually work and do the job they're designed to do?

I don't use them because hot air dryers are really unhygienic. They work by recycling the air in the room, so you're actually drying your hands with pee and poo particles. I'm sure someone who's more sciency than me can dress that up but you get my drift

On a separate but related subject: motion-activated controls. Ridiculously unreliable. Just because something is technologically more advanced doesn't make it better or more useful. Buttons and switches, that's the way to go. You always have complete control over a button or a switch, and you can leave them on as long as you want.

Yes fords, that is also the reason that it is recommended to keep toothbrushes in a sealed case, not exposed in a toothbrush holder like most folk do. If you ever flush your toilet in the presence of really brightsunlight, you'll see a nice cloud of 'water' spray (and faecal matter) rising out of the bowl, even with the lid down

I always carry a small towel with me these days because I think those dryers are useless, too. I rarely have problems with the sensors on taps though, I find them comfortingly hygenic. But, having read the last couple of posts, there doesn't seem to be much point in that.

Oh yeah Mr X; the push-button taps that only dispense water whilst it's being pushed, so you can never rinse both hands at once! Genius design. I think that bathroom designers just cannot accept that the pinnacle of design was reached decades ago; you simply cannot improve on manual taps, a block of soap and paper or cloth towels. 'Surely we can use technology to improve things in the bathroom' they must think. Well in actual fact, no.

I used a toilet on a German motorway service area a few years ago. You didn't need to touch anything except the doors, and aside from putting your bum on the loo seat, and even that had a 'touch-free' sanitizing device. Toilet paper was dispensed with the wave of a hand, the taps and soap dispenser were motion-activated, as was the hand dryer.

It's what you would expect from the ultra-hygienic, hypochondriac Germans, but I don't feel the experience was a real improvement over an ordinary flush toilet, soap and paper towels.. (Yes, Germans are ultra-health-conscious. My mum is German and *she* describes them as 'hypochondriacs', so I'm not being racist or anti-German.)

I remember the toilet in Abu Dhabi airport. I was the only Westerner in there at the time and was bemused to see Arab women washing their feet in the toilets and the sinks; it instantly explained why my toilet cubicle was soaking wet!

>>Just because something is technologically more advanced doesn't make it better or more useful.

And often things get worse or less useful. 40 years ago, you could change channel instantly on your TV, while these days there tends to be an annoying delay. And fluorescent lightbulbs, for all their alleged energy-saving benefits, illuminate things worse than ever.

>>that is also the reason that it is recommended to keep toothbrushes in a sealed case, not exposed in a toothbrush holder like most folk do. If you ever flush your toilet in the presence of really brightsunlight, you'll see a nice cloud of 'water' spray (and faecal matter) rising out of the bowl, even with the lid down

What are the actual statistics? I would have thought that the amount of fecal matter settling on a toothbrush would only be a small danger, in comparison to the amount of mould build-up which would result from failing to aerate your toothbrush.

It was on a radio show sometime ago (probably Radio 4), and they simply stated that it was possible to detect faecal matter on a toothbrush which had been exposed to a nearby toilet flush. I personally doubt the amount would be enough to be a problem, however it was mentioned as a possible source of upset tummies, cold/flu transmission, etc. But aye, it would be interesting to see some studies. Might make use of my Athens access to look for studies, before it expires

Legionnaires disease spreads through contaminated water vapours so I suppose it is very much a valid concern.