Down the Drain

I’ve never been there, but I was told years ago that toilets in Australia flush clockwise versus the counter-clockwise swirl in an American potty.  This supposedly had to do with the Coriolis force which causes things to tend to rotate in opposite directions north or south of the equator, and certain other changes due to the rotation of the earth. 

While being north or south of the Equator does affect some things, like the rotation of hurricanes and typhoons, the coriolis effect determining toilet swirl direction is, according to Snopes.com, a load of crap.  Even Snopes admits that the story about toilet rotation has been reported as fact in everything from TV travelogues to textbooks.

True or not, the video below shows a guy at the equator seemingly demonstrating the effect.