Mousetrap - 21

Pot Luck
The Bathroom Diaries
Your columnist has often been accused of having a potty mouth and a low sense of humour. Ah well. What have I got to lose then? If it would not discommode you too much, let me point you to the Number One spot (or perhaps it’s Two) for the lowdown on the world’s toilets. A westernised view, be warned, laced with more than a little wonderment at the practices of those societies that do not see the need for comfortable seating arrangements to facilitate their communion with nature. But you will learn of Japanese toilets that assist you with jets of warm water and gusts of air at the touch of a button. There are also listings of clean loos around the world, from Antartica to Zimbabwe, an award for the nicest, and reader accounts of close encounters of the, er, turd kind.

Stumped?
HowSTAT!
So how many runs did Sachin make in 1998, then? And how many test wickets has Saurav taken? For those of you who delight in cricket statistics, this site is what Playboy is for normal guys. You have oodles of numbers and facts, ratings, player lists, grounds lists, and what have you. A great place to do a spot of research, or to settle a bet. And you can test yourself against their quiz, randomly generated from their database. There are also a few stats-related cricket articles, but that section doesn’t seem to get updated regularly. They are looking for more though, so if you want to stop reading about numbers and write about them instead, here’s your chance.

Call the SPCA!
Beedogs
“The premier online repository for pictures of dogs in bee costumes.” But why? Why? Why would anyone put little black-and-yellow jackets and antennae on their bewildered pooches? I’d understand if they only picked on them wee, irritating, high pitched ones, but I do believe I noticed a bulldog who should have known better, and even a poor retriever. The horror, the horror. (No, Mrs Khanna, you will not take phone cam pictures)

Ah, so!
How to draw Manga
Manga is the Japanese word for comic book. But we’re not referring to talking three-fingered animals wearing gloves, or a freckled American teenager here. Manga covers all kind of topics, and they’re read by adults, not just kids – and not just in Japan either; they have a worldwide fan base now. And this site gives you a free tutorial on how to draw in that distinctive style. Bow when you enter the site, hm?

Blog of the week

Random Thoughts Of A Demented Mind
It’s a bit difficult to slot this blog, so I’ll just use his own tag line: “Politically incorrect cribs about life, love and everything in between.” He’s an opinionated man, this blogger, a proud son of Bengal as his URL indicates, and he’s a witty, entertaining writer, even when he’s all worked up about something, and he produces fresh content fairly frequently. So I’ll just say pour yourself another coffee and go read. Don’t miss his post on that other great Bong – Mithunda.

Reader suggestions welcome, and will be acknowledged. Go to http://o3.indiatimes.com/mousetrap for past columns, and to comment, or mail inthemousetrap@indiatimes.com

Published in the Times of India, Mumbai edition, 2nd October, 2005.

Tags: The Times of India, Mousetrap