SAN DIEGO BLACKOUT LESSONS: A reader emails:

You called it.

I can’t find the post at the moment, but I believe that you raised this issue recently. I was on the UCSD campus when we lost power yesterday along with the rest of San Diego County. The electric eye-activated toilets and urinals in the new buildings were all nonfunctional, whereas the older models (with actual handles) in place in the older buildings worked fine. Exclusively installing toilets that don’t function without electricity in new buildings just seems like a bad idea.

Yes.