I figured being a Sunday and all I’d keep it light and humorous…yet practical. Every one of us have run into a situation in which we’ve been greatly in need of a public washroom–and couldn’t find one. I know I have at least. So today, three ways to use your iPhone to find a public washroom and three things to keep you occupied once you get there.
3 Ways To Find A Public Washroom
SitorSquat
A joint project between Danika Landers and Jonathan Glanz, SitorSquat is a website that can pinpoint the closest public washroom to your current location. You’re also able to find out what the conditions are like in the defecabyss–yes I made the word up–via sometimes raunchy pictures taken by contributors and submitted to the site. You have to be a certain kind of sicko to come up with such an idea, but given that my bladder is about the size of a walnut, I appreciate the sickness. The application is now downloadable to the iPhone and Blackberry.
MizPee
Yet another bathroom locator, MizPee is a project of San Francisco-based Yojo Mobile. Despite being around much longer than SitorSquat, MizPee has stilled failed to release any specific applications for mobile, although it is accessible via WAP and SMS. MizPee is slowly moving to cover all of the United States and also currently covers some cities in Europe.
Diaroogle
Diaroogle only covers parts of New York City, San Francisco, and London currently, but I really like the site for its simple layout and excellent choice of word use. Diarrhea, defecator, and poop are all featured prominently. It works similarly to the previously mentioned bathroom finders. You can either search by a variety of geographical specifiers or submit a previously uncovered toilet. To top it off, Diaroogle also has an iPhone application available. The site is run by two guys named Evan and Kevin who’ve obviously encountered their fair share of unsuitable-to-sit public restrooms.
3 Things To Do Once You Get There
Bathroom Break Freecell
It’s understandable that not everyone is comfortable enough to pull out The Grapes of Wrath for a long session in a public washroom. But in a world of chronic entertainment hunger pangs, you can always pull out the iPhone for a quick game of Bathroom Break Freecell. Basically a bathroom-focused version of Freecell–a Solitaire-like game that usually comes with Windows–this game is great for a quick bathroom break and can be beaten almost every time. It does cost $0.99, but at least the game includes a toilet that really flushes. There is also an ad-supported free version available.
Bathroom Collection of Fun
Remember those Uncle John’s Bathroom Readers? I’m quite familiar with them because my Dad had quite a few hanging around our washroom when I was younger. Times have changed however, and new players are emerging in the same toilet entertainment space with a heavy inclination toward the digital. And I’m not talking about the Oprah-endorsed Amazon Kindle here. I’m talking about the Bathroom Collection of Fun, an iPhone application that features 130 pages of jokes, games, mini-stories, and even pickup lines. All for your public bathroom consumption. It’ll cost you $0.99 at the app store and I’m praying you don’t go through all the available content in one sitting–for your sake.
Where’s The Bathroom?
Some of the smartest productivity gurus around tout spending at least a little time everyday learning something new. What better way to make good use of time than learning a new language while sitting on the can. Where’s The Bathroom is an iPhone application, costing $0.99, that teaches you how to say ‘Where’s the bathroom?’ in no less than 16 different languages. It has audio recordings of native speakers, allows you to record yourself making your best linguistic attempt for comparison, and features country flags and lists of countries that speak the same language to further your geo-linguistic education.