I even looked deep inside my toilet bowl

According to New Scientist (link probably hidden behind a subscription wall), "Sweden is now the urine-separation capital of the world". A lovely contender for sentence of the year, that one. Technically, last year, but we're solopstistic here in the land of sloth, and year of reading counts for more than that of writing.

Actually, the story's quite interesting, in that it details how much more efficient it is to recycle urine by separating it out from other waste, rather than diluting it with the rest of the sewage. Separating out urine also allows for the extraction and reprocessing of useful elements in the urine. Phosphates, for example, can be extracted and used for fertilizers. Consequently loos have been invented to do just that, which is why Sweden is being showered with such golden accolades.

Sadly, of course, in Australia our politicians are weirdly resistant to the idea of recycling water, apart from Peter Beattie's gun-barrel-to-the-head decision to move towards recycling water in Queensland. In NSW, Labor under Morris Iemma is absolutely digging in its heels, refusing to contemplate the idea, even though parts of Sydney already effectively have recycled water. You wonder why people actually go into politics if they're so paralysed by the thought of losing an election that they refuse to actually do anything.

Anyway, here's to Sweden, home of taking the piss.