Jockstrip: The world as we know it

Big John Toilet Seat in golf gift bag

LAKE TAHOE, Nev., Sept. 26 (UPI) -- Many celebrities at the American Century Celebrity Golf Championship in Lake Tahoe, Nev., were pleased to get a Big John Toilet Seat in their gift bag.

Michael Jordan, Ray Romano, Donald Trump and Dan Marino said they were stoked to discover that along with the high tech gadgets and various lotions and potions stuffed into their gift bags was a Big John Toilet Seat.

It was the larger framed, big-boned athlete that inspired high-end plumbing fixture designer Aitan Levy to manufacture a toilet seat more suitable for the larger population, but it is helpful to the elderly the physically challenged as well.

"No longer are we forced to perch on regular toilet seats, originally designed over 100 years ago, that are a mere 14 inches wide," Levy says. "Big John has a spacious 19 inches of luxurious sitting surface that is more comparable to that of a typical office or dining room chair."

In addition, the Big John Toilet Seat has a stylish ergonomic design that is "roomier and more comfortable than other toilet seats on the market," its inventor says.

Some divided on potty training technique

NEW YORK, Sept. 26 (UPI) -- U.S. and British mothers have taken inspiration from African and Asian mothers in potty training their babies early.

African and Asian women carry their babies all day and instinctively know when it is time to hold their infants away from them so they can relieve themselves, reported the Sunday Telegraph.

However, pediatric experts, child psychologists and some mothers are divided over the practice of "infant potty training" -- also known as elimination communication, or EC.

"EC should always be gentle, non-coercive, and based on babies' interests and needs," Christine Gross-Loh, a mother who has used the technique. "Just as babies fuss because they are hungry or tired, they also indicate when they are about to go to the bathroom -- EC is not about the result (potty training) but about the process of communicating with your baby about a basic need."

Dr. T. Berry Brazelton, a professor emeritus of pediatrics at Harvard Medical School and author of "Toilet Training: The Brazelton Way," recommends parents let their children decide when to be diaper free.

Women-only hotel in NYC thriving

NEW YORK, Sept. 26 (UPI) -- The Parkside Evangeline, a single-room-occupancy women's-only residence in New York City, which opened in 1963, is still thriving.

The 17-story brick hotel, opposite Gramercy Park in Manhattan and run by the Salvation Army, has changed little since the administration of John F. Kennedy. There is still a no-alcohol, no-men above the first floor policy, reported the New York Times Sunday.

With nearly 300 residents, the Parkside Evangeline -- like all Salvation Army residences, it is named for the founder's daughter -- is almost always at full occupancy. For decades, the Parkside has also been popular among models and actresses drawn to the low rent of about $1,000 a month -- including breakfast, dinner and maid service.

While the hotel was designed to be a short-term living residence, a third of the women living there have made it their permanent, if tiny, home. Most rooms are about 100 square feet.

Yearbook photos go high-tech

DES MOINES, Iowa, Sept. 26 (UPI) -- Some U.S. high school yearbook pictures have become elaborate affairs and some parents are willing to pay $2,000 for professional photographic shoots.

In fact, the photographs -- more like modeling shots -- can include airbrushing, digitally enhanced muscles and even fake sweat reported the Sunday Telegraph.

"We can make them thinner and we can make their muscles bigger," said Rick Krebsbach, who photographs children for yearbooks in Iowa. "We do a few things without telling them, like remove a bulge or bump, or slim them down. We like them to feel good about themselves."

One 17-year-old student said in some of her pictures she had a fan blowing her hair, but other students wore swimsuits and a lot of boys did their photos without shirts.