We have a toilet plunger part that breaks repeatedly about every six months. Basically it's the chain that attaches to the lever and plunger. It happened again yesterday. Of course the problem is, one can't simply replace the defective part, because stores don't carry them. One has to BUY the entire fixture. And we all know what that's about. Corporate greed. The bottom line. The "you dumb ass turd, why are you trying to fix it...BUY A NEW ONE" principle of commerce. The Anglo-Sino trickle up business theory. YOU know what I am talking about.
So, not to beat a dead damned irritating horse, but this fixture in my toilet is but one of a long line of Chinese products, which are inferior, and are prone to breakage. I blogged, a few months ago, about this Oriental proclivity of pumping out crap merchandise for the American Market...and it is difficult to find products that ARE NOT made in China. However, I have no more to say regards this sloppy MoFo attitude of theirs...for now.
Last night I was lamenting on the phone to my brother, who lives in the land of perpetual wonderfulness, Southern California (with his naturalized Chinese wife), about my toilet chain problem. He suggested that I do away with the chain and go get a fishing leader of appropriate length and use that instead of the chain. Great idea.
Unfortunately at this time of the year, the only place to find such an item out here on the plain Plains, is at that epitome of evilness and corporate greed, not to mention the largest purveyor of shoddy Chinese products IN THE ENTIRE WORLD...Wal-Mart.
Yes I gave in, and tossed my moral convictions. I found a 9" fishing leader which when doubled back on itself, fits perfectly on my toilet plunger. I purposely DID NOT look to see where it was manufactured. Ahem.
I wanted to relay this story visually and of course, as I did with my urinal post of months ago, I Googled toilets, image tab. And came up with some interesting photos.
This first one is Toilet Mountain. Discarded toilets, I know not where, but given the amount of crapola from our elected officials these days, I suspect it's outside of Washington...as in D.C.
My favorites however are from our former foe of infamy, Japan. I never realized that the crapper which we Westerners know, and use so well, is not universal. Evidently in some parts of the Orient the crapper (of John fame) is but a hole. Not even a rectangular U.S. Army type latrine in the woods hole, a hole. Although they have expounded on the basic hole...albeit, it still requires squatting, but still, refined. To illustrate, the following is offered in case any of you ever travel to Jaypan (Alabama pronunciation). Beyond this, I have nothing else to offer.
OK, just in case you didn't get that, there is this:
REMEMBER...if you lose balance...you gonna fall down on shit!
ADDENDUM -
As walking man points out in his comment below, the Japanese also go to the other extreme with their feces deposit system.
I just happen to have a photo of something not quite as he describes, but definitely a variation on a theme. My brother got the equivalent of a doctorate over the years in just such circumstances, except of course, he was reading...as opposed to playing Mario Brothers.
