Today as you rush through the day, take some time to thank the tank flushing away your unmentionables (or those of the nasty person before you) as we celebrate World Toilet Day. Rose George, journalist and author of The Big Necessity: The Unmentionable World of Human Waste and Why It Matters, has offered all of us who may take this household fixture for granted a real reason to be thankful this November, especially with the revelation that only half the world enjoys a designated place to, well, “think about things,” as we call it around our house. So, hang a streamer on the porcelain god, drop a flower in the bowl or even a note in the mail to that special place with a great bathroom saying “Thanks for making every moment special.”
(Photo Credit: Oksana Struk/iStockphoto)

Attention emoticon addicts: back away from the colon, half parentheses and capital p because a new invention aims to make your expression of emotion over the computer far easier…and fashionable. :-O An Italian company called Bajca has created an “emotional communicator” that’s basically an emoticon keyboard that doubles as jewelry. :-S Whenever you feel like smiling or frowning or sticking your tongue out, click a button and voila, everyone knows exactly how you feel without all that complicated punctuation mark and letter button pushing. :) Then, if you can tear yourself away from all the excitement of e-expression, you pop off the emoticon keyboard buttons and string them on to your favorite necklace. ;-) Go ahead, wear your emotions around your neck! :-X

Nerd, genius, teddy bear–whatever you call Apple cofounder Steve Wozniak, one adjective always sticks–geek. No, it’s not in the name calling style of schoolyard bullies, Woz has embraced his geekiness and now it’s even earned him something quite special (besides those billions of dollars) in the title “Geek of the Month” by the folks over at geek mecca YouBentMyWookie. Between his love of robot anything and unabashed enthusiasm for tech and gadgets, Steve seemed the obvious choice for the site’s first geek flavor of the month. Skip over to YBMW for an interesting interview with Woz, including his break down of different types of geeks.

The Bradley effect may not have cost Obama the election, but the ugly head of racism is being reared far beyond the confines of school buses in Rexburg, Idaho. The Editor and Publisher website has been documenting the sharp increase in hate crimes and threats occurring all over the nation, and the results aren’t pretty. The “The Osama Obama Shotgun Pool” is being run in a Maine convenience store, while beatings of black people accompanied by racial epitaphs and threats to the president-elect have been reported in the blue states of California and New York, to name a very few. So much for “One nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”

Sure, everyone knows Jack Dorsey, Biz Stone and Ev Williams, but have you ever wondered who hopped on the Twitter bandwagon during its early days? Essentially, it’s like finding out the identity of the first Brooklyn hipsters who crammed their way into skinny jeans. Denim trends aside, Twitter has slowly nudged its way into the mainstream with everyone from Britney Spears to Dunkin’ Donuts tweeting, but the earliest embracers seem to share the indifferent attitude of “why not” when it comes to new technologies. App developer Dom Sagolla said ‘why not’ back in the day and now boasts the title Twitter’s #8 out of the estimated 3 million (or, by some counts, 5 million) members on the microblogging site. While trying to explain the Twitter phenomenon to a decidedly unhip local TV station in Sarasota, Florida, Sagolla revealed that he doesn’t bother tweeting about what’s for dinner or what shenanigans the cat is up to because he considers himself “more of a journalist.” Hmm, I wonder if Twitter’s 4 through 10 take themselves so seriously?

Hot Dogs? Easy. Chicken Wings? Child’s play. Cake? Well, a cakewalk. Testicles? Now you’re talking. Brave New Zealanders closed their eyes, conjured up some happy thoughts and chomped down on bulls’ balls for the annual Shepherd’s Shemozzle. Competitors had to sink their teeth into the skinned testicles, carry them with their mouths for 54 yards, quickly swallow a side of Weetabix and raw egg and wash it all down with a can of crappy beer. Newly crowned champion Josh Masters gave the nauseating experience a positive spin when asked about the taste of the testicles, commenting, “Best of all, they weren’t connected to anything.”

Have you ever wondered what that jerky kid blogging in pajama pants in his parents’ basement looks like? “Blogger’s Blog” YabBlog unveiled the faces behind some of the internet’s most popular blogs, including Peter Rojas of Engadget and Gizmodo, TechCrunch’s Michael Arrington, Mark Frauenfelder of Boing Boing and Daily Kos founder Markos Moulitsas Zúniga. Let’s just say not everyone can have dashing good looks complimented by an ever-present 5 o’clock shadow like Pete Cashmore, although a mug made for blogging seems kinder than the more common face suited for radio.

The cravings of Obamaphiles all over the world will be temporarily sated by the compilation of completely random facts released by the Telegraph today. Limbaugh will enjoy blasting his high school nickname of “O’Bomber,” although the reference is to his basketball skills, rather than terrorist leanings. Speaking of basketball, though, the newest addition to the White House sporting complex will be a court for the president-elect’s favorite relaxation technique, which begs the question of any plans for a future 1-on-1 showdown with Palin? Obama might have even made political history when he left a stag party when the stripper arrived, as opposed to leaving with her. But why spoil all the fun; check it out for yourself.

Elvis likes popping up in Colby-Jack cheese and Jesus makes appearances every few months in oil stains and Cheeto bags, so it shouldn’t come as any surprise that the face of the most talked about man in the world has mysteriously materialized on a slice of toasted Wonder Bread. The wondrous “Hope Toast” features President-elect Barack Obama in a familiar pose, gazing upwards towards prospects of change and butter.

As Christmas creeps closer and creative gift ideas for the tech nerd in your life fail to emerge, consider skipping the gadget warehouse and instead gifting Digg threads via the site’s brand new online store. Featuring everything from hoodies to boxer shorts, peeps on the street will surely dig your new duds. (Cheesy pun intended.) In addition, it appears the product development team knows a little something about Digg devotees’ drinking habits as the store also offers a Pilsner Glass and Wallet Bottle Opener.

If Americans learned anything from this election cycle, it’s that the devil’s in the details, and the Bush administrations final environmental proposals are no exception. For starters, with a boom of power plant construction on the horizon, the administration is proposing monitoring pollution emitted by the hour rather than overall, which could spew gook without sparking an investigation. Next, a load will be taken off the shoulders of the US Fish and Wildlife Service if they no longer have to do those pesky impact studies on endangered species as the government departments in charge of development projects self regulate themselves and, finally, a little redefining of what constitutes mining wastes may have those clear streams running with the nasties in no time. Now that’s what I call a legacy. It’s like giving Mother Earth a big hug with muddy hands.

Who doesn’t love tweets about boogers, hacking and mucous clogs? Digg founder (or co-founder, whatever) Kevin Rose has created a Twitter account for his cold, collecting over 500 followers in less than a day and undoubtedly keeping everyone on the edge of their futon waiting for the virus’ latest update. The account’s debut tweet proved viruses boast some mad typing skills and that they enjoy a day at the office: “hanging out w/@kevinrose, making his head hurt and nose stuffed up… hopefully he’ll take me to @digg tomorrow.” Stay tuned for every sniffle, sneeze and ha-choo!

Sarah Palin may have lost her chance for a moose-sized gig at the White House last week, but that hasn’t stopped the Alaska governor from continuing to ramble on and, not since Clay Aiken lost “American Idol,” have we witnessed a runner-up get so much gosh darn attention. Palin sat down with Greta van Susteren of Fox News and chit-chatted about everything from shopping sprees to geography and in between laughing off massive shopping bills and dismissing reports she couldn’t name all the countries in North America, Palin took time to lash out at bloggers calling them “kids in pajamas sitting in the basement of their parents’ homes.” Nothing like grossly inaccurate generalizations to win over the hearts, minds and future votes of “fake America.”

Sure, we all know Hollywood hipsters and wannabes love to show off their glowing Apple logo, but it’s not only the folks meticulously coordinating their laptops to their shoes that show their love for Macs. Bajillionaires, CEOs, Kings and a couple former and soon-to-be-former presidents have all bid farewell to Microsoft. Powerful Mac fans include: Barack Obama, Saudi Arabia’s Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud, former Veep Al Gore, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, media mogul Rupert Murdoch and Presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton.

Steven Lipski has vowed to stay off the booze for a bit after the Jersey City Councilman urinated from the second-floor balcony of a Washington D.C. nightclub onto revelers groovin’ to the sounds of a Grateful Dead tribute band Friday night. Cops dragged Lipski out of the popular venue after staffers spotted his drunken weenie raining down on concert goers. The 44-year-old Democrat refused to comment on the peeing incident, but told reporters gathered outside his home that he’s “resolved not to touch alcohol again.” Doin’ Jersey proud, one peeing legislator at a time!

With all the hub-bub regarding the presidential election, a problem plaguing more than half the world’s population was being tackled in Macau, let’s call it a pressing health care matter: the long lines for women’s bathrooms. The World Toilet Summit and Expo tackles many issues regarding the world’s health and sanitation, including environmental initiatives, but the first item up for debate this year was the ratio of men’s to women’s bathrooms. With any luck, the future holds the promise of worldwide relief for women everywhere, and this author hopes, the push for more of those great seat covers featured in O’Hare International Airport’s stalls.

No one is getting a free lunch in an economic climate rife with benefit cutbacks, pension losses and layoffs, and that includes tech giant, Google. The envy of the industry, Google employees once enjoyed a myriad of free, healthy snacks including their own frozen yogurt machine, but desperate times call for desperate measures and slamming the fridge door into weary faces in the California, New York and Chelsea offices. The folks at Appscout have therefore taken it upon themselves to send the grumbling bellies at Google a gift basket to tide them through the hard times, which will likely go as far as any new stimulus checks we may be receiving in the mail.

Apparently Republicans are the only folks still using dial-up because AOL.com’s homepage political poll results give John McCain a landslide victory with the Republican magically winning Democratic strongholds like California, Massachusetts and even Barack Obama’s home state of Illinois. AOL: proof you’re lame, old or related to Johnny Mac.

The fellow jamming on headphones and sipping orange soda will have to find a new gig (I hear Twitter’s hiring) because Yahoo has announced the end of its live streaming video service. Jammin’ dude and his 20 or so viewers will have to find a new form of online entertainment (porn, anyone?) starting December 3.

Halloween brings out ghosts, goblins and a slew of real-life witches. No, not the mean old neighbors that hand out pennies and toothbrushes, but rather meanies like Shirley Nagel of suburban Detroit who denied candy to the children of Obama supporters and explained her actions by proclaiming “Obama’s scary.” So, what’s better revenge than tossing rotten eggs at Ms. Nagel’s house? How about digging up a video from the Republican National Convention where a tipsy Nagel converses about blood donation with Conan O’Brien’s sassy puppet dog, Triumph the Insult Comic Dog?

This whole democracy thing is starting to get yummy as Starbucks and Ben & Jerry’s have joined Krispy Kreme in offering free goodies to voters. Sip on a free cup of Joe (the brew, not the plumber) at any Starbucks after you hit the polling place and then cool your mouth down with a free scoop of ice cream at Ben & Jerry’s between 5 and 8 p.m. Californians may have to settle for an “I Voted” sticker as their only reward for taking part in Tuesday’s historic election though as the state has a law banning voting incentive or prevention freebies.

If Barack Obama boasted a middle name like Heathcliffe or Elmo, he’d likely just end up the butt of more late-night comics’ jokes, but with a middle moniker like Hussein, use of the Illinois Democrat’s full name has become the topic of debate, especially on Facebook. Groups like “Support Obama — Add Hussein as your middle name to protest misconceptions” have initiated a wave of Facebookers to change their display name to include to Hussein, but not everyone sees the point. Other groups like “Enough already with the “I changed my middle name to ‘Hussein’ on Facebook”" and “My middle name isn’t Sidney. Yours isn’t Hussein. So shut up!” have popped up with opponents of the Hussein name change proclaiming Facebook isn’t the platform to take a stance on such an issue. Hmm, if you can’t flood your newsfeed with politically-themed crap, where can you bother your politically-apathetic friends?

Mmm, is that a jellybean? Oh crap. A family in Sydney, Australia likely had that exact, or something close to it, conversation after discovering fecal matter in their chocolate ice cream. Yep, poop. Steve Whyte and his wife Jessica spewed a whole lotta chunks after consuming the frozen feces and have sued the Coogee Bay Hotel. State government food minister Ian Macdonald announced a full investigation, including conducting DNA testing to determine the origin of the poop. Dogs eat poop all the time, maybe the complaining couple is really just lactose intolerant.

If you’ve made a mad dash to the costume store, but couldn’t quite talk yourself into dressing up the same old police officer or caveman, then consider breaking out your finest vest, skinny tie and cocky smirk and go as Mashable’s Pete Cashmore. If you can’t quite replicate Pete’s ever-present five o’clock shadow, then break out a Sharpie. If Pete isn’t quite your cup of tea, check out some other nerd friendly costume ideas like the Twitter Fail Whale and LOL Cats.

The emporium of sweet, doughy goodness known as Krispy Kreme wants to reward Americans who exercise their right to vote November 4 by offering a free patriotic doughnut. After you “exercise” your voting right and indulge in that free sweet treat, you may want to hop on a treadmill for a little more exercise if you catch my drift. Calorie intake aside, swing by Krispy Kreme Tuesday with your “I Voted” sticker and pick up the star-shaped, red-white-and-blue sprinkle-covered confection and celebrate democracy with each bite!