Far be it from me to suggest that The Master has missed his mark, but according to my information the use of an image of a fly is a rip-off of an innovation introduced before powered flight (and long before Schiphol was built).
According to the Guardian Notes and Queries column (a similar but more modest version of the SDMB - begun in 1989) a company in Horwich (Lancashire) manufactured and marketed splash-free urinals from 1895. The aiming point was indicated by the image of a small bee, marked on the stone under the glaze.
The correspondent warrants that there is an extant example (still in use in 1994) in Wigan, with no visible signs of wear.
The reasoning behind the choice of a bee (latin apis) is obvious (if not obvious - work it out!), and more appropriate than a fly.
source: Notes & Queries, Volume 5, ISBN 1-85702-266-1
I heard the same “apis” thing too, on a Discovery Channel show on the history of indoor plumbing, I think it was. They even showed a picture of the urinal.
But, eh, I don’t see how Cecil “missed his mark”. The use of a fly was introduced at Schiphol, not a bee. Cecil’s not in the business of retailing obscure plumbing trivia, he’s just mentioning that somebody else once thought of giving guys a mark to aim at, and his example just happened to be the fly at Schiphol.
I would like to see the toilet covered in this discussion not just the urinal. I have seen conceiderable splashback when hitting the back of a commode.
I do not appologise for spelling errors. If I don’t use word, they get left…
cal8lj, the reason behind using an aiming point is to minimise splash-back by marking the (you should pardon the expression) “sweet spot” on the back of the commmode. Of course there could be considerable splashing if the poiint was missed.
Duck Duck Goose the “miss” is not in reporting the introduction of the fly at Schiphol (attributed to Gary rather than Cecil) - it is in omitting to mention that the technique has heen used (probably) many times before. The use of the word “originally” suggests that this was some kind of innovation, but the paragraph was headed “Give men something higher to shoot for” not “Give men a fly to shoot for”. The important point is the mark, not the form of the mark.
IANAL, but they have a tag for it (don’t they always?) - “suppressio veri, suggestio falsi” - of course I am not suggesting that this case is in any way a deliberate attempt to mislead.
And while we are on the subject - my gut feel is that 90-95% of everything we find on the SDMB would be described by somebody as “trivia”.
I swear I don’t just post in bathroom-related discussions, it just happens that I’m at a new temp job and actually have time to post, and found two such discussions that made me think of related experiences…
Used to hang out with a guy who had some pretty out-there ideas. One of them was a product he wanted to market called Pee Wars Floaties. His reasoning was that little boys are often traumatized by toilet-training and the possibiity of the lid slamming on them. (I wouldn’t know, but I did once date another guy who claimed this actually happened to him.) He figured that if you gave them something to shoot at, it would make it easier for them, logically this being little boats and such. He suggested that these be made of yeast, which would also be good for septic tanks. (Again, something I know nothing about, but presumably he would as he had one.)
Lo and behold a couple of months ago I was in a store - I think Linens 'n Things but could be wrong - and saw biodegradable potty floats at the checkout. I tried my damndest to come up with a link to post, but all I could find was someone else posting a reference to them at a parenting website. Still, my friend had heard of neither the fly nor the bee, but had apparently tapped into some universal desire of males to have something to aim at.
Almost makes me jealous. I had tub toys, but girls never get cool toilet toys.
I’ve never had the toilet seat land on me, but I have had it fall while I’m doing my business, and if I were a lot shorter (and the goodies closer to the rim) I could see being afraid.
With toilets, I used to try to make the bubbles spread across the whole surface of the water.