Kalamazoo Signing and a Random Toilet Observation

Tomorrow starting at 1:00 p.m., I’ll be joining Sarah Zettel and Douglas Anderson at Kazoo Books in 2413 Parkview in Kalamazoo for an afternoon of fantasy, talking about books and magic and all that good stuff. (And signing any books you’d care to shove at me, of course!)

There’s a Facebook event page here, for those who like that sort of thing.

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A while back, I had to replace the toilet seat in one of our bathrooms, and ended up buying a “slow closing” seat. (Mostly because it was the only decent-looking, solidly built seat they had.)

This is, of course, the culmination of U.S. 21st century toilet seat technology[1. Edited to add “U.S.” because, as Charlie Stross points out, America lags behind in the worldwide toilet technology race.]. I visualize miniaturized titanium pneumonic pumps concealed within the hinges, along with an elaborate and tiny system of pulleys and counterweights. I’m curious how many engineers toiled away for years to create a seat that would ease our lid-lowering burden.

I do wish I had known about these things a few years ago, though. And as a parent, I recommend them for anyone raising young boys.

Because to little boys of a certain height, the average toilet seat lid is an EVIL PLASTIC WEINER-CHOMPING PAC MAN!

This random observation has been brought to you by the fact that Jim is overtired and couldn’t think of anything else to blog about today.