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The World's Most-High Tech Urinal
Mudzy writes "In an effort to handle its nighttime public urination problem, Victoria, the capital of British Columbia, is considering installing high-tech urinals that disappear below street level during the day. Then at night, an operator comes by with a remote and the Urilift hydraulically lifts to sidewalk level in about two minutes. Then the unit is ready to serve all the nighttime party animals who don't mind peeing in a very exposed public urinal. The $75,000 system has been installed across the Netherlands, and have spread to London and Belfast, but Victoria will be the first North American city to try them out."
They're taking the piss. Sorry.
Seriously, watch the video, it's hillarious ;)
the one in belfast is cool. it's just down the street from me and instead of using the one at my place i walk down there to do my stuff and meet girls who are there spectating (they're jealous because they can't stand up to do it).
then it would be perfect for a cron job. Why do you need to pay someone to click the friggin button?
If not cron, maybe X11 to the rescue?
I went to uni in Victoria. Call me nostalgic but, I'll really miss the urine soaked side walks downtown...It just won't be the same dammit!
People who to drunk to care will do it wherever (or piss their pants if they're completely wasted).
People who are desperate because there's no open public toilets will continue to (attempt to) hide behind a tree, bus stop or anything else.
Don't you just hate it when people reply to your signature?
Here in Guatemala, we just have a spiral shaped wall, with a urinal in the centre. Way cheaper, and you can use it in the day.
Chances are any disscution on Slashdot will degrade into a flamewar about ID/Christianity within 14 posts.
...just like Urinus appears every night in the starry skies.
An Indian-American Hindu committed to non-violent thought/speech/action alarmed by the global explosion of radical Islam
Other than the obvious "high tech" aspect to these pissoirs and having them only available at night which just doesn't make sense to me, since I occasionally have to urinate during daylight hours.
I've also seen these in North African countries that I've visited like Tunisia and Morocco. I'm guessing the French brought the concept.
"Do the Right Thing. It will gratify some people and astound the rest." - Mark Twain
The bums still pee in the public parking elevators. That's about as high tech as it gets here for public peeing.
I mean, if you to get to an indoor toilet before you wet yourself, then you shouldn't have drunk so much in the first place. But given how we've now got things like 'do not ram in eye' labels on knives etc, it's not surprising that we're catering to the lowest common denominator.
.. girls don't pee. They expel all waste products as a pine-smelling vapour emitted through their pores.
I dunno...these things would be a Godsend for New Orleans during Mardi Gras!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Quite often there aren't enough port-a-potty's around for you to find one....and afterawhile of drinking on the streets, that stuff starts to run through ya pretty fast, and it isn't like you're too terribly embarrased as to where you have to 'whip it out' to take a leak.
On the other hand, I wonder how long it would take when these came out, that the city/state would be sued for discrimination against women who needed to go 'in public', or would be slapped with injunctions about them not being 'handicapped friendly'.
Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
First, there is the computational urinal from the MIT Media Lab, called You're In Control (Urine Control). More information at the project's web site. The urinal has a screen above it, and you can play video games by appropriately directing your urine stream.
Then, less high tech, but still very useful is the p-mate, which is a device that permits women to pee standing up. Now, if only there could be a device for men to get multiple orgasms.
Unfortunately, you're probably correct associating our countrywide genital shame with the pervasive religious majority.
Who wants public urination at all? Not me. A little modesty, attributable to whatever source, keeping you from pissing in front of me is a good thing.
This is a cool product, addressing an icky problem -- I'd just hate to see these installed unnecessarily, actually encouraging people to relieve themselves in public.
These things need all the hookups that a standard bathroom requires -- water, sewer, power. Why not just put in some extra drains, like storm drains, in discreet locations? Maybe throw a wall in front of it? Some subtle public education would do the rest.
Dirt doesn't need luck.
I'll grant you waiters and anyone handling my food. Other than that, why? I shower once daily and put my dick into a clean pair of boxers. My hands touch all sorts of dirty filthy crap during the course of the day. My johnson however (unless its a crazy day) stays tucked safely in said boxers until I take it out to pee. My johnson is probably thousands of times cleaner than my hands. If anything I should wash my hands BEFORE I touch it. But afterwards? I'm not catching anything from it, so unless I pissed all over my hands what's the point?
Jeez people, it's just skin.
Oh, and for the record, urine is generally sterile unless it picks up bacteria while exiting through the urethra. Well if you're dirty or diseased you should be washing anyway.
My rantings, only longer and with better spelling..
Why? Ask The Straight Dope. (Text on page is NSFW)
I'm scared of numbers that can't be written as a fraction. It's an irrational fear.
No joke. Just don't use it at twilight or you get stuck in a urinal for 12 hours.