[140] in Humor
HUMOR: Important Consumer Product
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (abennett@MIT.EDU)
Mon Mar 14 10:53:29 1994
From: abennett@MIT.EDU
To: humor@MIT.EDU
Date: Mon, 14 Mar 94 10:50:04 EST
Date: Fri, 11 Mar 94 16:00:55 PST
From: ckleinja@Novell.COM (Connie Kleinjans)
Subject: HUMOR: Important news item
(From the San Jose Mercury News earlier this week)
By Barbara Koh, Mercury News Staff Writer
For every guy who needs help with his aim-and-shoot in the dark,
here's Bryan J. Patrie to the rescue.
The invention of the Stanford engineering student: a gadget to
detect if your toilet seat is up or down. If down, the seat emits an
inviting green glow. If up, it sends a bull's eye pattern - in red -
to the bottom of the bowl.
"Red serves as a warning to women, but to men, it's a guiding light,"
explained Patrie, 30.
Patrie calls the dvice "His & Her WaterColor Intelligent NightLight."
He has made 60 prototypes and is seeking investores.
But he already knows the art of marketing, apparently. His suggested
retail price: $29.95.
The palm-size NightLight runs on two AA batteries and attaches to the
underside of the lid. When it detects someone entering the unlighted
bathroom, it shoots out an infrared beam.
If the seat is up, the beam is reflected off the seat, triggering a
red light. If it's down, a circuit switches on the green light.
But why not just turn on the light and get on with it? Patrie said
most men he knows are stealth shooters. "A lot of guys try to go
in the dark - by sound," he said.
The red-light ring, he explained, "gives men something to shoot for."
