Apologies for the, uh, toilet humor, but couldn't resist this little news item on the first World Toilet Summit, bought to you by the World Toilet Organization.

Yes, it sounds like a joke. But it turns out its bonafide. Seems that one third of the world's population lacks proper sanitation, i.e. proper toilets, and that contributes to disease and environmental harm. It's helpful to remember here that while in developed world diarrhea is a joke, in the developing world it is an illness, indeed the leading killer of children.

Not such a joke after all.