Airport security checks your luggage, carry-on and… penis size?

Airport security never ceases to amaze me, every time I think things are getting a little wacky, I’m shown something new that makes everything I saw in the past suddenly seem logical.

Urinals at the Southwest airlines terminal at Houston’s Hobby airport have a sign warning peeing passengers that:

Automatic infrared flush sensors also provide video monitoring for security purposes”

Seriously, the department of homeland security now considers male genitalia to be a threat to national security?

Now, before I blame the department for being total idiots, I can’t help feel that this entire thing is a prank, and that everyone reporting on it is part of one funny joke.

In fact, despite their track record of silly decisions, I doubt they’d do this. Obviously, someone decided to have some fun, and made some homemade stickers. If I am proven wrong, I’d be really interested to hear why the TSA is so interested in these images, and how long until we are all warned about the dangers of penis bombs.

Click read more to see a larger version of the photo.

The World’s Largest Bathroom

We really love toilets here at Gadling. Seriously, look at our previous coverage. It’s insane!

Iva found a better cleaning solution than toilet paper, Neil’s got a solution for urinating on-the-go, and I discovered that Japan’s All Nippon Airways is the first airline to install bidets in their planes. But wait, there’s more! You can find the nearest bathroom from your cell phone, read a funny story about squat toilets (and learn how to properly use one as well), learn the history of toilets from the toilet museum, and take a luxurious dump in the woods with the BioToi. Deep breath. Did you know that Silverjet has women-only toilets? It’s true. And what about the world’s most amazing bathrooms? We’ve got that too. We’ve also got Willy’s wonderful roundup of urinals with spectacular views. Speaking of urinals — what’s that fly doing in there? If you’re ever lost in China and needin’ to pee, have no fear: hire a toilet guide who will show you to a lovely outdoor urinal (be careful though — they’re running out of receipts). We’ve got the world’s best bathrooms, the world’s worst, and the world’s largest toilet that turned out to not be a toilet at all. And if you’re curious (I’m sure there’s someone out there who is), we’ve got coverage on the World Toilet Summit in Moscow. Did you know there are a lot of, um, people having sex in airport bathrooms? Is that even legal? Curious why your last flight was delayed? It may be because the air traffic controller needed to use the bathroom! And only because this has got to stop sometime (I gotta pee anyway), here’s the last one: did this woman die from a shaft of frozen urine that fell from an airplane? You decide.

With that, here’s another bit of toilet-related news to round out our coverage: It’s the world’s largest bathroom in China, spread out over four floors and 30,000 square feet.

Find the Nearest Bathroom from your Cell Phone with MizPee.com

Some things are better left executed sans technology, methinks. Take for instance a new service called MizPee which attempts to locate the bathroom nearest to you from a cellphone. It’s a good idea in theory, but it seems that anywhere you’d be where the service actually works, it’s not going to be tough to find a bathroom. But where it really counts — like in the back of a taxi in the middle of Mumbai traffic (don’t ask) — MizPee probably won’t help.

Regardless, when you’re traveling, chances are you don’t know the lay of the land. So if you really need to go, browse to www.mizpee.com on your cellphone and enter in the city and street address nearest to you, and the service will spit out the nearest public toilet. Included with the results are is the distance from where you currently are, a toilet rating, and other details like whether or not you have to pay to pee.

You can also access the service by sending a text message to their phone number (415-350-2290) with your city and state in the body. I tried this with my hometown, but after waiting about 10 minutes, I finally got a response saying, “Welcome to MizPee. Click the following address to visit our service: www.mizpee.com” Not only could I have most likely found a bathroom quicker than that, but it doesn’t help us poor folks who don’t have Internet access on our phones. It’d be great if it spit the results out as a text message instead of simply referring me to the website.

Good thing I didn’t really have to go. [via]

Sir, There’s a Fly in My Urinal

Here’s something from the “Urban Legend or Not?” files…

It seems the bathroom authorities at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport placed a picture of a housefly in the bowls of men’s room urinals. This simple image gives gents a — shall I say — bulls-eye. The little insect ensures guys aim for the drain and keep off the floor. This supposedly saves time and money in restroom cleaning costs. The folks at TruthOrFiction.com contacted the airport, and the Netherlanders confirmed the claim. That’s what I call dedication to journalism.

I actually saw one of these urinal flies in Schiphol Airport, and I just figured it was some plumbing company’s odd logo. Also, if you wanted to know, their Musca domestica mind-trick worked on me.