Rant Thursdays: The Automation Nation

Greetings my fellow Blog-o-sphere members,
             This week's rant actually come from some female members of my office in the SUUSA offices. While I have had only a small encounter with this rant topic I have been assured that this is a major problem on our campus. We are taking a journey back to the bathrooms of SUU.
             As many of the members of Thunderbird Nation know, most of our toilets on campus are automated and flush automatically once the motion sensor determines you have stood up after finishing your business. While this can be a nice deterrent to the spread of germs that tend to be found around the porcelain throne. My first issue is that this is a depressing snapshot of our country in that we can't even muster up the energy to pull the handle of a toilet in order to flush. However, I do see a much larger benefit to stopping the spread of germs.
              Now while we have the automatic flush there are some serious issues with the calibrations on some of the toilets on  campus. The number one complaint I have heard from the girls in my office is that the flush is WAY too powerful, because it splashes and the water droplets from the small hurricane in the bowl gets all over the seat. While most men don't have to endure this issue very often due to our evolutionary prowess at being able to stand and to get things done, girls have to deal with this issue every time they are in need of the facilities. So the tiny droplets of toilet bowl water on the seat always can create little surprises that you weren't expecting.
            Furthermore, the timing on the toilet is just a little too fast. As soon as you stand up the toilet flushes, even if you may want to blow your nose (which forces you to have to make the toilet flush agin to get rid of your tissue) or haven't quite moved away to the safe distance that will keep you from being speckled with the water from the bowl. It is almost like a grenade where you have a safe zone about 15 feet from the bowl in order to avoid the explosion.
            One quick applaud for the campus is the water-free urinals that are starting to make appearances in some of the buildings on campus. I fully support the green initiative here on campus and would love to see many other changes like this to help cut down on our waste.
           Check in this next week for more events, observations, and rants about SUU!