World Toilet Day 2012

It is that time of year again.

Last year I emphasized how serious an issue this is. The year before I focused on how the taboo nature of the topic prevents people from doing anything about it. This is what I'm talking about. There's not much to add - the lack of decent sanitation in much of the world is killing millions of people (mostly children) and one of the barriers to fixing the problem is that people are uncomfortable talking about defecation. What a stupid world we live in.

Okay, on to the assorted links about the loo:

Firstly, an update on Bill Gates' efforts. As someone in the clean energy industry, I'm pretty happy that the winner of the Reinvent the Toilet challenge is also one that harnesses solar power.

Toilets for political activism.

I'm not sure why this link appealed to me, but it did.

And finally, since this was an Olympic year, we'll close out on something sports related.