Yes, it is that kind of a day.

Several years ago I had the pleasure of attending a speech given by Steve Jobs at CES. I’m not sure that visionary and all the other highbrow adjectives that have been added to his name since he died are accurate. Above everything else he was a shrewd business man. And a dynamic speaker. He oozed charisma, he was captivating and you couldn’t help but get caught up in what he was saying. I guess I can’t really argue with the visionary accolade, there’s no doubt Jobs had visions. Most people would keep that little secret to themselves, Jobs shared his. Usually to a room filled with thousands of people.

His vision from that day that stuck with me was a future where every word on any web page would be a hypertext link, providing instant access to even more information, a non-stop trip down the rabbit’s hole. Steve gave great vision, but seldom stopped to consider how obdurate people can be and how protective they are once stuck in their ways. Today, Wikipedia comes close to his vision; words that they deem important and which there is a Wikipedia page for are links, little pop-up boxes prove it. Everyone else still relies on the hyperlink format of underlined blue text that has been in use since the birth of the ‘net. Well, at least he got the iPhone right.

I only mention this to explain, or provide an excuse for, today’s post. Following a trail of hypertext crumbs, I just found out about lutropublicaphobia. Which is a fear of public restrooms. Now you might think my original search had something to do with LMTU, which is understandable because I can’t think of anything that would instill a case of lutropublicaphobia in your heart quicker than walking into a public loo and finding LMTU on his knees waiting for his next meal. But that wasn’t it. Not being able to resist clicking where I really shouldn’t I also discovered the strange world of paruresis sufferers. Which is commonly referred to as a shy bladder and medically described as the inability to urinate in public settings. Yes, people are strange.

Studies show that roughly 7% of the population, or 21 million people suffer from paruresis. There is even a national support group, whose founder and president’s picture pops up when you Google paruresis. It’s nice to know that even though he is too shy to pee when someone else is around he’s not too shy to let the world known about his little problem. I’m not sure if those are the 15 seconds of fame that I’d want to claim, but I’m sure for him it is some sort of a catharsis. He certainly needs to be able to find relief somewhere.

What started me off on my voyage of discovery was an article about some of the more unusual public restrooms at the world’s airports. That reminded me of an article I read about people who have a phobia about using the restrooms on planes, which led me to Google to find out if that was a recognized phobia which it is not though lutropublicaphobia covers the basics if not the specific act. And that entire train of thought stemmed from the picture shown here of one of the public restrooms at Suvarnabhumi, which I’ve never seen. Not because I’m a fan of lutropublicaphobia or paruresis, but simply because out of all the time I’ve spent there I’ve never had to go. And now I feel bad for myself for having missed out. So next time I’m planning on being at Suvarnabhumi, I’ll drink lots of fluids before hand so I have an excuse to check out the facility’s facilities. I just hope I don’t stumble upon the one that the LMTU is set up in.

Thanks to Jobs and the iPhone, now everyone is armed with a camera 24/7. And I can’t but think about the poor sufferers of paruresis when someone whips out their camera for a photo op in the restroom they finally got up enough courage to try to use.

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