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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.
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).
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!
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.
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.
Interesting that it only caters to males, and not females... Is that an insult to males pee habits? or is it sexism against females because it is not inclusive?
--jeffk++
ipv6 is my vpn
.. 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.........
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.