[Admiral Beez]

Looking back on 2016, there are many issues and topics that were new to me, including:

1) Fentanyl and its Darwinian cull of functional addicts - those who take opiates recreationally while maintaining otherwise normal lives within society (employees, students, parents, etc.). We always had drug addicts, but 2016 seems to me the tipping point for Fentanyl's rise as an issue.

2) Non-binary gender issues. As a young straight adult in the 1990s, we had male and female, yes we had gay and straight and guys in drag, but this year is the first that I recall seeing debate and widespread media coverage of non-binary gender issues around rights, bathrooms, birth certificates, salutations, etc.

3) The end of taxi, rise of Uber. 2016 marked my beginning of using Uber. I'm now a convert, and will never use a taxi again if Uber is an option.

4) The end of retail, rise of ecomm. I think I bought almost everything except food online this year. I never liked going to malls, but usually split my purchases about 50/50 retail shop and ecomm.

Of course this is just my perspective, and all four topics have been on other people's radars for many years. So, what issues or topics were new to you in 2016?

 

[Johnny Au]

Brexit and the ascendancy of Trump are the two main ones politically.

There's also the popularity of Pokémon Go (yes, there's Ingress before that, but it's nowhere as notable).

 

[prosperegal]

The whole washroom debate bugs me. We saw unisex bathrooms on TV when Ally McBeal was on back in the day and the whole non-binary issue was NEVER, EVER raised. I'd rather people just have a washroom say "washroom" and leave it at that. The public will get it.

 

[Admiral Beez]

The whole washroom debate bugs me. We saw unisex bathrooms on TV when Ally McBeal was on back in the day and the whole non-binary issue was NEVER, EVER raised. I'd rather people just have a washroom say "washroom" and leave it at that. The public will get it.

It works if it's a single room per seat. I'd feel odd at a urinal with a woman washing her hands behind me.

Perhaps the days of the urinal, like the alpha-male are few, lol? https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/feb/06/take-a-stand-against-the-urinal

 

[Johnny Au]

Unisex washrooms are common: they're mainly in private residences.

The ROM and the Ontario Science Centre have unisex public washrooms as well.

 

[prosperegal]

It works if it's a single room per seat. I'd feel odd at a urinal with a woman washing her hands behind me.

Perhaps the days of the urinal, like the alpha-male are few, lol? https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/feb/06/take-a-stand-against-the-urinal

At least one of the washrooms at the Royal Conservatory is unisex. You walk into a room with sinks and then (nearly) full-door stalls on the other side. No urinals.

 

[Admiral Beez]

At least one of the washrooms at the Royal Conservatory is unisex. You walk into a room with sinks and then (nearly) full-door stalls on the other side. No urinals.

I'm always surprised on trains or planes when I see a women-baby-wheelie only loo. Dang cripples, getting all the good parking spots, now they get to poop with the ladies....

 

[prosperegal]

I'm always surprised on trains or planes when I see a women-baby-wheelie only loo. Dang cripples, getting all the good parking spots, now they get to poop with the ladies....

And that is a problem. MOMs are still expected to be the primary caregiver. We still call it MATERNITY leave (when in reality, it's just the first four or so months) rather than PARENTAL leave.

 

[Skeezix]

The whole washroom debate bugs me. We saw unisex bathrooms on TV when Ally McBeal was on back in the day and the whole non-binary issue was NEVER, EVER raised. I'd rather people just have a washroom say "washroom" and leave it at that. The public will get it.

It works if it's a single room per seat. I'd feel odd at a urinal with a woman washing her hands behind me.

Perhaps the days of the urinal, like the alpha-male are few, lol? https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/feb/06/take-a-stand-against-the-urinal

Ever since undergrad, where the washrooms in my residence were unisex, I've never really understood the need for gender-specific public washrooms. Even urinals are fine in gender neutral washrooms (as any man that ever attended a Lilith Fair can attest to) - they are faster to use and take up less space than stalls, so losing them would be a step backward. I know it was posted here in jest, but honestly that nitwit who wrote that piece in the Guardian needs to get over himself. What a delicate little flower.

 

[Admiral Beez]

Bring back the trough http://forums.canadiancontent.net/sports/103700-bring-back-urinal-trough.html

I remember using those at Maple Leaf Gardens as a kid in the 1980s. Those were the good old days at MLGs, provided you weren't being chased by the equipment manager.

 

[Skeezix]

In undergrad, I lived at one point with 5 guys (and one woman), and those of us who were male used to routinely just pee off the back deck. The backyard of our house was a weed-filled wasteland, so it's not as if we were interfering with anything, and it saved on water bills. To be honest, we got a little too comfortable stepping out the back door and whipping it out, because at one point a neighbour started bitching at me about it in mid-stream. I hadn't even noticed he was in his backyard.

If it was good enough for us then, then it's good enough for folks now! People today are too pampered, expecting working plumbing and other fancy stuff. Some open space, a bit of height, a strong railing, indifferent neighbours - that's all you need. Don't even need a trough.

 

[Johnny Au]

What are your thoughts of having squat toilets in public washrooms in the West?

This one is in Michigan (these are rather rare in North America)

 

[prosperegal]

Squat toilets? I consider myself fairly physically fit, but I'm not sure I can squat like that. I can hover (as many women do), but squatting? Dunno.

 

[Johnny Au]

Me, I just can't use squat toilets. Why? I have difficulties squatting for long periods of time.

 

[urbandreamer]

If my dog can squat so can I! And they prevent hemorrhoids.