Is There a Way to Change the Patent?

Summary

Podcast Summary: Armstrong & Getty On Demand

Episode: Is There a Way to Change the Patent?

Date: April 22, 2026
Hosts: Armstrong, Michael, Katie

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Main Theme

This episode dives into the quirky subject of patents—specifically, the question of whether you can patent something so “nobody can ever make this.” The lively discussion uses the example of a new Chinese innovation: a voice-activated toilet built into a car. The hosts examine the practicality, logistics, and social implications of such an invention, all while sharing personal anecdotes and plenty of laughs.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Organizational Habits & Email Flags

• Armstrong opens with a light discussion about how everyone flags emails and messages differently.
• They share methods for categorizing both emails and calendar events, including color-coding:
  • Armstrong: Matches flag colors to event types (e.g., green for golf, yellowish orange for Scotch Society) [00:37].
  • Katie: Uses different colors in calendars for categories like health (red) and dog-related (orange) [01:32].
  • Michael: Admits he didn’t know you could change flag colors in emails/texts [01:54].
• Armstrong recognizes that systemizing by importance (rather than by theme) might be a better approach.

2. Patents and the Car Toilet

• Michael wonders if it’s possible to create a patent that totally blocks a product from existence, springboarding into a discussion about a “toilet in a car” recently introduced in China [02:00].
• Armstrong jokes: “The 2026 crapulae” [02:21].

The Innovation: Voice-Activated Car Toilet

• Described as an actual invention, picked up by news outlets and circulating on Reddit.
• Katie paints a mental image: The driver's seat slides back; a toilet seat rises; you shift forward to use it [03:33].
  • Quote: “I’m just picturing getting into an Uber and that’s in there, you know, guys driving around all day.” — Katie [02:26]
• Armstrong and Michael puzzle over logistics and social awkwardness:
  • “So what, you’re driving down the highway, passenger is like, activate toilet…Pulls down their pants, takes a dump a foot away from you…” — Michael [03:45]
  • Armstrong: “People are immediately going to the number two for comedic effect when this will much more commonly be used for number ones…” [04:18]

3. Real-World Toilet Solutions and Anecdotes

• Discussion shifts to road trip bathroom dilemmas.
• Michael shares about products available for women and children for in-car emergencies, mentioning Amazon items designed for women unable to always stop:
  • For men, “any bottle will do,” but “for women, it’s a little more complicated” [05:12].
  • Michael: “We had a variety of things in the car that you could as a boy whiz into.” [05:34]
• Michael's memorable story:
  • Once used a bottle for relief, then forgot it and accidentally took a drink the next morning:
    • “Driving to work in the morning, thirsty, take a big...Yeah. Day old urine.” — Michael [06:01]
  • Armstrong: “Well, really the freshness doesn’t enter into it?” [06:04]

4. Family Road Trip Surveillance & Bathroom Break Dynamics

• Armstrong recounts family trips where he’d pack up the car, drink coffee, and be the first needing a bathroom break [06:19].
  • “I can’t be, ‘I told you to go before we left’ guy, I’d make me a hypocrite.” — Armstrong [07:03]
• Michael and Katie share their own stories about kids who need bathroom breaks minutes after leaving.
• Katie: “The last time we drove somewhere far, it was Drew that had to use the bathroom first. And I went, okay, missy, I’ll find you a gas station.” [07:33]

5. Social Challenges & Curb Appeal of the In-Car Toilet

• Privacy challenges:
  • Katie: “Your windows would have to be tinted too, because that would get awkward.” [07:53]
  • Armstrong jokes about truck drivers being able to look down into cars [08:00].
• Online reactions:
  • Michael reads a Reddit comment: “I don’t want this. For myself or anyone else, I would agree.” [08:04]
• Discussion on RVs:
  • Michael reminisces about the joy of having a traveling restroom in his RV: “Oh my God, I’ve got a traveling toilet. This is the greatest thing ever.” [08:30]
  • Armstrong: “No randos, no disgusting handle you have to touch.” [08:48]
  • Added note about the lack of public toilets in California.

6. Engineering Details & Humor

• Katie, referencing a news article: “To limit odors, the in car commode will come with a fan and an exhaust pipe. They’re thinking about the...” [08:17]
• Michael ponders the option package: “I’d like the T top, I’d like leather, and then I would like the under-seat, voice-activated poop container.” [09:04]
  • Armstrong: “The 2026 Toyota Uranet.” [09:14]
• Further engineering:
  • Katie: “The toilet to go will boast a rotating heating element that evaporates urine and dries excrement.” [09:25]
  • Michael: “It’s like an air fryer for your dung.” [09:36]
  • Armstrong: “Wow. Now that’s a slogan.” [09:41]

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Color-coding flags:
  • “I flagged it with a green flag because it’s golf... Scotch Society, I flag it with a yellowish orange flag. It reminds me of whiskey.” — Armstrong [00:37]
• Sketching the invention:
  • “Well, the car itself looks like a normal car, but the driver’s seat goes back and then a toilet seat comes up so you can slide forward onto set toilet.” — Katie [03:33]
• Ultimate patent question:
  • “Is there any way to get a patent where the patent is so nobody will ever make this?” — Michael [02:00]
• Road trip reality:
  • “I can’t be, ‘I told you to go before we left’ guy, I’d make me a hypocrite.” — Armstrong [07:03]
• Memorable product pitch:
  • “It’s like an air fryer for your dung.” — Michael [09:36]

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• Email/Calendar Organization Chat: 00:11 – 01:54
• Introduction to Chinese Car Toilet Patent: 02:00 – 03:20
• Reddit/Jokes about Car Toilets: 03:20 – 04:45
• Real-World Road Trip Solutions: 04:57 – 06:10
• Family Anecdotes on Bathroom Breaks: 06:19 – 07:40
• Privacy and Social Implications: 07:53 – 08:17
• Comparisons to RVs and Toilet Engineering: 08:17 – 09:21
• Air Fryer for Dung & Wrap Up: 09:25 – 09:43

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Conclusion

The episode is a classic Armstrong & Getty blend of irreverence, storytelling, and collective head-shaking at the state of invention. Whether pondering the social implications of a car toilet or laughing at personal mishaps, the discussion is peppered with wit and candor that will keep listeners entertained—and maybe just a bit wary of future automotive innovations.

Transcript

[Podcast Host]

This is an Iheart podcast. Guaranteed human.

[Michael]

Is there any way to change the patent so that no one can ever have this? It's one more thing.

[Katie]

Armstrong and Getty.

[Armstrong]

One more thing. Hey, before we get into that, I got a question for you all based on something I was just doing. Number one, does everybody flag emails from time to time? Important stuff you got to come back

[Michael]

to or whatever all the time and text.

[Armstrong]

Katie, do you flag emails?

[Katie]

Yeah.

[Armstrong]

I didn't know you can flag texts. I think you can save them as new these days, right?

[Katie]

Yeah, yeah, I mark them as unread. But I'll start. I star the emails because I use Gmail.

[Michael]

Fair enough.

[Armstrong]

All right, so when you do that, do you use specific colors to flag them or star them? If you have a choice, I'll give you a for instance. I had to flag something about a golf event I was in, I'm going to be playing in. So I flagged it with a green flag because it's golf. If it's my Scotch Society, I flag it with a yellowish orange flag. It reminds me of whiskey.

[Michael]

It's a flag to match the event. Not like the seriousness. Like red flag means get to this right away. Yellow flag. Kind of urgent, but not that urgent.

[Armstrong]

No, that's probably a better idea.

[Katie]

Oh, this one's got a whiskey flag.

[Armstrong]

Let's see. It's a flag about baseball and I

[Katie]

like the Cubs, so I'll go with a blue flag.

[Armstrong]

Yeah, yeah, you're right. It should probably ought to be a code of some sort.

[Michael]

Good idea.

[Katie]

I do that with all of my calendars. I have. What's a bunch on. On my calendars? So you can, you can categorize stuff. So if I look at it on my computer, if it's red, it's. It's health related. If it's.

[Armstrong]

Ah, yeah, okay.

[Katie]

My dog, dog related, it's orange. You know, I can just kind of look at it that way, but.

[Armstrong]

Well, that's good. That's smart.

[Michael]

I like that.

[Katie]

I didn't know you could change the color of the flags, though. Now I'm gonna have a. Have to do that.

[Michael]

So to my T's. Is there any way to get a patent where the patent is so nobody will ever make this. I don't even know if they have patents in China or how that thing works.

[Armstrong]

It's the idea patent.

[Michael]

It's the idea that the Chinese have come up with a toilet in a car.

[Armstrong]

Oh, come on. Oh, boy.

[Michael]

And this is a real story. I've come, I've read It a bunch of different places.

[Armstrong]

The 2026 crapulae.

[Katie]

Oh my gosh. I'm just picturing getting into an Uber and that's in there, you know, guys driving around all day.

[Michael]

So I was looking at some of the comments on Reddit to this story. This is going to get a little coarse and I, I, I'm only reading them to point out how low brow some people are and that I disapprove.

[Armstrong]

Fair enough.

[Michael]

First comment, any car is a toilet if you stop caring enough.

[Katie]

Okay.

[Armstrong]

Oh my.

[Katie]

All righty.

[Armstrong]

Oh boy.

[Michael]

So another commenter on the story. It's a voice activated toilet in a car and there's not a lot more detail on that, so everybody's confused.

[Katie]

Now I have to look it up.

[Armstrong]

Go to Toy. Hey. Oh, I shouldn't say that because it'll start. Hey, car, go to toilet mode or

[Michael]

Jeeves take a dump for me, said one of these Reddit people.

[Armstrong]

Oh my. What the hell are you looking at? The picture?

[Katie]

Yeah.

[Michael]

What does it look like? I didn't find one with a picture.

[Katie]

Well, the car itself looks like a normal car, but there, there's like this, it looks like the driver's seat goes back and then a toilet seat comes up so you can slide forward onto set toilet.

[Michael]

Right. That's the way I heard it described. So this person said, I'm confused about the logistics of this. So what you're, you're driving down the highway and your passenger is like, activate toilet. Pulls down their pants, takes a dump

[Armstrong]

a foot away from you.

[Michael]

Oh, then can't like wash their hands or anything or. So now they're just, we're just still on the highway with a bad word under the passenger seat. I don't see this being a popular item. No. On a first date or something.

[Armstrong]

You know what I'm. Oh, Michael. What I'm afraid of is that people are immediately going to the number two for a comedic effect when this will much more commonly be used for number ones. I mean, because if you're gonna number two, you got the, the question of, of cleansing. Well, and I'm not going to get all childish, but that's just impractical. I think it's probably about number ones. Well, for urinating. What am I, six years old? It's about urinating for women.

[Katie]

What do you do? Pop the, the dashboard and get toilet paper? Like this is all. Grab one of those fast food napkins everybody keeps in the center console.

[Michael]

Well, Amazon sells a thing for you women. I, I know a woman who, because of a number of things regarding childbirth didn't have the control they once had. And you can buy a thing on Amazon designed for women for in the car so you don't have to pull over every single time. Because for men, I mean, any bottle will do. But for women it's a little more complicated. And Amazon sells something that apparently works pretty well. It's not as fancy as this Chinese in toilet. And I had one kid who had really difficult OCD needs around this and it just was impractical to find a toilet every sometimes 10 minutes. So we had a variety of things in the car that you could as a boy whiz into.

[Armstrong]

Sure. Yeah.

[Michael]

Which as I told the story, this is. I don't know if Were you around for this, Katie?

[Katie]

I think I was, but go for it.

[Michael]

I would just use an empty water bottle, but I forgot and left the water bottle in my cup holder. Driving to work in the morning, thirsty, take a big. Yeah.

[Armstrong]

Oh boy.

[Michael]

Day old urine.

[Katie]

Yeah.

[Armstrong]

Well, really the freshness doesn't enter into it? No, not at all. Not really.

[Katie]

It would have been better if it was a couple of hours.

[Armstrong]

Inconsequential, that part. But yeah. Wow. Okay, we're.

[Michael]

What?

[Armstrong]

What the hell were we talking? Oh, the.

[Michael]

The car.

[Armstrong]

Car, yeah. You know, these days, you know, if you manage your fluid intake, I just want to get up and walk a little bit and stretch pretty much around the time that I or Judy has to use the bathroom. But I remember it used to be funny, we'd be getting ready to leave on big family vacations, road trips, driving from the Sacramento area up to Sun River, Oregon or something like that, which we did many summers. And I would be in charge, of course, of engineering the packing of the car, even though my wife was better at it than me. And then we get the kayaks on the top and then blah, blah, blah. And I'd be swigging coffee this whole time. Then we'd finally launch out, me soaked with sweat, thinking, oh, this is a great way to start a nine hour drive. But then I would be the one who had to hit the rest stop first because I'd been drinking coffee. So I've never been. You're going to hold it or you know, I told you to go before we left. Guy, I can't be. It'd make me a hypocrite.

[Michael]

But I am told you to go before we left because sometimes, especially with my oldest, we make it like five minutes.

[Armstrong]

Yeah.

[Michael]

Did you not pee before we left you? I didn't think of it. Well, think of it next time.

[Armstrong]

Good God. Oh, boy. Oh, boy. Yeah, I see your point. You're not wrong.

[Katie]

The last time we drove somewhere far, it was Drew that had to use the bathroom first. And I went, okay, missy, I'll find you a gas station.

[Michael]

Yeah. Oh, so that. That gets to the comment on here. Is there any way you can make a patent so that nobody can ever make this? Which is kind of funny.

[Armstrong]

Oh, boy.

[Katie]

Well, your windows would have to be tinted too, because that would get awkward.

[Armstrong]

Yeah.

[Michael]

And somebody. Yeah. Truck driving by looking down.

[Katie]

Looking down.

[Armstrong]

Whoa. Some guy reading a newspaper. One.

[Michael]

One commenter was, I don't want this. For myself or anyone else, I would agree.

[Armstrong]

Oh, my God.

[Michael]

All right, well, we'll see if this comes to America.

[Katie]

I'm looking at the New York post version of this. To limit odors, the in car commode will come with a fan and an exhaust pipe. They're thinking about the.

[Michael]

Although, why is it that much different than an rv? And remember when I got my first RV driving rv, the first thing I noticed was, oh my God, I've got a traveling toilet. This is the greatest thing ever. Yeah, I just pull over however I want and I got a toilet right here. It was so awesome.

[Armstrong]

No randos, no disgusting handle you have to touch.

[Michael]

Or. Or in California at least, there are no public toilets. So they just don't exist. Really. So, yeah, maybe there's an advantage. I'd like to get the. I'd like the T top. I'd like leather. And then I would like the under seat voice activated poop container. I don't know whatever that is.

[Armstrong]

The 2026 Toyota Uranet.

[Michael]

Awesome.

[Armstrong]

Yeah.

[Michael]

Well, I guess that's it.

[Katie]

The the toilet to go will boast a rotating heating element that evaporates urine and dries excrement.

[Michael]

Cool.

[Armstrong]

Not fast enough it doesn't.

[Michael]

It's like an air fryer for your dung.

[Armstrong]

Wow. Now that's a slogan.

[Katie]

Oh, my God. Okay, now it's really it.

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