In my travels throughout China I have uncovered China's two-pronged attack in their quest to take over the World: toilet seat covers and universal outlets.
Anyone who has lived in California for any amount of time has undoubtedly become attached to the wonder that is toilet seats covers in every public restroom. When traveling to "exotic" places (like Chicago) us Californians must suffer through the ritual of carefully laying out toilet paper on the seat. China (or at least the major metro centers of Shanghai, Beijing and Hangzhou) all have toilet seat covers in every public restroom I've used. It's pretty remarkable considering I rarely see them outside of California. Think about this: If you were to visit Motorola's World Wide headquarters in Schaumburg, IL and you needed to "drop the kids off at the pool" you would have no protection from the prior user (unless you went through the toilet paper ritual). However, if you decided to pay a visit to the facilities in Hangzhou or Beijing you would be delighted to learn that there are in fact seat covers for you. What are the odds? This blogger believes that it's all part of a sinister plot by the Chinese to lull us into a false sense of security. Honestly, when are you more vulnerable then when you're sitting on the toilet? Your pants are literally down around your ankles. You're certainly not going to fight anyone in that condition. I think it's some sort of test today, but the Chinese are plotting as we speak.
Which brings me to the second stroke of genius that China has implemented in order to take over the World: universal power outlets! At first I just thought the hotels were making things easier for me (after all, hotels here are amazing). Then I visited some customers of mine and noticed they all had universal power outlets in their labs. As did the airport in Hangzhou. Think of the implications. In the US we have to buy electronics with US plugs. Same for Europe and the UK (as an aside does anyone have a worse plug than the UK? It's amazingly cumbersome and adds no perceivable value above other plug systems). The Chinese get to use anyone's plugs. They don't care. This is most likely a devious step on their part to get lower prices on everything. They already have a large advantage when it comes to cost of labor, now they're reducing the amount of money they'll need to spend on capital!
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