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San Francisco's Public Works Agency Tests Paint That Repels Urine
monkeyzoo writes: San Francisco is testing an ultra-water-repellant paint on wallls in areas fraught with public urination problems. The paint is designed to repel the urine and soil the offender's pants. "It's supposed to, when people urinate, bounce back and hit them on the pants and get them wet. Hopefully that will discourage them. We will put a sign to give them a heads up," said Mohammad Nuru, director of the San Francisco public works. A Florida company named Ultra-Tech produces the super-hydrophobic oleophobic nano-coating that was also recently used with success on walls in Hamburg, Germany [video] to discourage public urination. Signs posted there warn, "Do not pee here! We pee back!"
Wont they just pee on the ground in front of the wall then?
San Francisco is super cool to the homeless.
...most Slashdot posts and would bounce right back at their authors.
The people who pee on buildings generally speaking do not give a fuck, and many may not notice your expensive paint or signs. But good innovating!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
Just pee the most parallel to the wall as you can.
Problem solved
Wasn't San Francisco supposed to be tolerant? What ever happened to letting homeless pot heads piss wherever they please? Aren't they entitled to pee freely too? Free Pee Now!
This is a technical solution to a social problem. I learned this on Slashdot. The problem isn't urine, it's the fact that filthy people - sorry, MEN - are pissing all over the city. All the paint in the world won't fix that. Installing clean, publically accessible bathrooms would fix the problem permanently. Men who already piss everywhere aren't too worried about a little splashback.
Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
Pee at an angle to the wall.
Donte Alistair Anderson Roberts - hi son!
Karma: Chameleon
Don't warn them, people who piss all over the place deserve to get the splash back.
Girls do this too...so unless they are going to paint the ground as well they'll never stop it :)
The Brazillian Government painted the slums to look nice for tourists - instead of, you know, fixing the slums in the first place.
So people will learn to piss at an angle to a wall, and stay dry, albeit bit more exposed.
Preferably track 9 from Freeze Frame.
Always pee at an angle, even on non-repellent paint.
Why don't they just install night-time pop up urinals, like other cities have done.
I know them from London, Paris and Amsterdam, but here's a video for one in Watford
Fairly straight forward solution, and no more stinky city.
Back to shitting on them I suppose.
Will people of ill repute use this paint on their tombstone such that one may no longer take the action of pissing on their grave?
Main improvement is not that wall pisses back; that is just a comical twist. The important part is that the wall doesn't get soaked in smelly urine. Street washing trucks and machines will take care of the pavement.
This will only cause amusement of drunk people. I don't know why in a city like San Francisco the just can't put more public 24/7 bathrooms. It's not that the people is dirty. It's because when you're drunk you don't want to find a place that's open and ask permission, or if you're homeless see how everybody looks at you like they look monkeys in the zoo.
Like "Dry paint", which if it as hydrophobic as described, will be sarcastic and accurate.
As I see it the problem is deterrent. People drink too much, cannot hold it in and need to pee. Given their drunken state they no longer care about how it looks or what others may think and they just piss anywhere.
IF fines were high and CCTV footage or pictures were published to name and shame I'm pretty sure we'll have far less people doing this!
A 'singular oddity' is an event that cannot be explained and only happens when you are alone.
won't splash back. I've seen this stuff, it isn't magic. What are they relying on people being too drunk or stupid to know how things bounce?
It's super expensive paint. So what they get is that the sidewalk smells instead of the wall.
"Pee onto others if you would have others pee onto you."
There is more to life than interpersonal relations.
Pissoff? Or perhaps it only comes in a pea green shade so it is called Peaoff
This message was not sent from an iPhone because Peter Sellers really was a deviated prevert without a dime for the call
Think of the possibilities for energy generation with this perfect pee trampoline!
This is the real issue in these situations. There really isn't a good place to pee in a lot of places. People often as not rely on restrooms provided by businesses and they only let you go in there if you are a customer. So if you're not... or they're closed because it is late... then where are you going to pee?
The issue with public restrooms is that that is realestate that is valudable and you have to police and maintain them to keep people from selling drugs for blow jobs in them or rubbing shit into the ceiling.
The Solution there is to have them be public but make their maintenance the responsibility of locals rather than some city workers that will be under staffed, unmotivated, and unaccountable when they don't do their jobs. Local businesses will want those facilities to look good and be good and so they'll task someone to deal with it.
Regardless, anyone that thinks they're stopping people from peeing by putting funny paint on the walls is an idiot.
1. You can still pee on the ground.
2. Stand back and pee at an angle and you can pee on the wall.
3. Women are responsible for this far more than you'd realize and they pop a squat and pee.
So... yeah. You're not stopping anything with your paint. Put in more public bathrooms or get used to the smell of urine.
I've decided to stop wasting my time responding to AC trolls/sockpuppets... so if you want a response from me... login.
"...The paint is designed to repel the urine and soil the offender's pants. "It's supposed to, when people urinate, bounce back and hit them on the pants and get them wet. Hopefully that will discourage them"
Discourage? You're expecting to fight a drunk with logic? Clearly you've never had to deal with the logic of an alcoholic, which is generally the type of person you're dealing with who has a problem of urinating in public.
You've got about as much of a chance of "discouraging" drunks with this as you do stopping ISIS by saying "pretty please".
clearly some of your u commentors have never been to the Bay Area. The level of street restroom use is very high. Higher than any other large city I've been to in North America or Western Europe. One mid morning during a 30 minute walk through the Tenderloin district, I saw multiple cases of human fecal matter on the sidewalk and witnessed two citizens defecating publicly. The smell of urine wasn't my primary concern, stepping the leftover piles of human waste was much more pressing. The one person who pulled down his pants on the sidewalk to relieve himself was bad enough, but the second one ran out into the middle of traffic and decided to leave his present right in the intersection. This level of depravity isn't going to be solved with some paint. Sam Francisco has a much bigger problem on their hands.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
Now you'll also have to worry about the rain bouncing off of the walls of the buildings and soaking your pants where your umbrella would normally protect.
wear an adult diaper. That way, when I get wasted and can't control my bodily functions, I'm OK. Maybe bars should start putting diaper machines in restrooms- the product will probably get a lot more use than the other products that the machines sell.
Since there are no public restrooms available any more (government spending. Or terrorists may plant bombs in them. Or teh gays may cottage in them. Or homeless use it when it's night, though why that latter one is a problem nobody knows)and no business wants anyone to use unused services unless they pay for entry,I'm left either pissing my pants or pissing on a wall that claims it will spray back, some of which will miss my pants.
What, precisely, is the point of doing this?
As another says, all this means is pissing on the floor instead.
Good improvement there, boys.
Rain usually falls downwards, thus sparing walls (and ceilings for that matter) from impact. LOL :-)
If it's blowing rain, well your pants are already as wet as the walls to begin with. (You do realize that legs are walls share the same angle of incidence to any falling rain, right?!)
It's called physics!
I was reading something about this a while back, I forget if it was Germany, or Amsterdam, but they're already using this paint.
Maybe you were reading this post and blacked out. **Because THIS POST talks about the paint being used in GERMANY.** LOL
They should just put on the lights and normal people will not pee on the wall... Abnormal people don't care about wet pants... btw. what if they pee under an angle to the right or left? All that design money going to waste...
You do realize that if the wind is blowing directly toward the wall, a person could hold their umbrella directed away from the wall, and not be hit by the direct rain, and it would be bouncing off the wall back at them. It's called geometry.
Just another day in Paradise
What they also get is every drunk idiot in the area coming to look and pee at that new magic pee repelling wall. Maybe someone will come up with a fun drinking game for it.
If construction was anything like programming, an incorrectly fitted lock would bring down the entire building...
So city slickers need something to piss on?
Any farm boy can tell you all you need is the wind at your back and you're good to go. Literally. :P
I do not fail; I succeed at finding out what does not work.
Just pee from farther away.
...wall pees on you!
Face sideways a little instead of straight at the wall ought to let the reflected pee bounce away from us, right?
The wind can only have a speed of exactly 0 in the direction of the wall at the wall.
Rain just cleans the wall (i.e. removes any dust and dirt that may have stuck to it), pedestrians will learn to stay away a few inches from those walls.
First world problems caused by other first world problems (like closing or failing to provide public restrooms).
What is the environmental impact of this antipee repellant ?
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FTFY
I can't think of a less likely forum for these people to get "business" from than this one. I wonder if these spammers comprehend that. Probably not I guess.
Kyle: Alright hit it!
Cartman: Let's hope to Christ this works.
California Love
The Boys:
California
Cartman:
is nice to the homeless
Californ-ya-ya
Super cool to the homeless
The Boys:
In the city
Cartman:
City of Santa Monica
Lots of rich people giving change to the homeless
Homeless Man: Change?
The Boys:
In the city
Kyle:
City of Brentwood
They take really good care
of all their homeless
Cartman: They're listening, let's go!
The Boys:
In the city
Cartman:
Marina Del Rey
They're so nice to the homeless
built 'em port a potties
Stephen: Th-They're leading them away!
Jimbo: We're gonna be alright!
Randy: Oh Glen we made it!
Cartman:
California
Super cool to the homeless
Gerald: Change?
Cartman:
Californ-ya-ya
Is known to donate
The Boys:
In the city
Cartman:
City of Venice
Right by Matt's house
you can chill if you're homeless
Pisonme-pisonu - isn't that a animal from Doctor Doolittle ?
the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
give up
Amen. Pubs in Sydney had to remove breathalyzers because it turned into a contest to blow the highest number. Considering the laws there, I think that was the wrong response as they could simply cut off every bloke or sheila (yes, Aussie women also try to drink each other under the table) that blew say .1, win win.
For added mischief: Get hold of some of that paint and use it to coat public restroom urinals.
In the meantime, other cities (Amsterdam, NL for instance), simply put free, public toilets everywhere. I think it works a tad better.
If San Fran is in such dire straits; can someone explain to me how the entire area has the highest property values in the country? You can't even consider moving into that area of the country unless you've got a job that pays $800k or more. The rents are so high, they make New York City look cheap. A small 2-bedroom house is a million bucks.
But there's an army of homeless pissing everywhere?
New York was apparently smart enough to move all the undesirables further away, so now the outer edges of queens and the bronx are the hell-holes, while Manhattan and Brooklyn are hipster paradises.
If telephones are outlawed, then only outlaws will have telephones.
If I saw a sign saying they had a special paint that bounces pee back it would make me want to try it out. I have plenty of curiosity and interest in new technology that hearing about this would have the opposite effect. I bet others out there feel the same way. It would also be interesting to see if there is a way to angle against the wall and have it bounce off further away from you and still not get splash on.
-- ssoorrrryy,, dduupplleexx sswwiittcchh oonn.. -Quote found on actual fortune cookie.
Why would they give a warning? IMO there should be no warnings at all, and just let them be surprised.
By giving warnings, you're indicating where they can and can't pee cause they'll just look for an unpainted wall. If you don't warn, then the gambling effect kicks in and they will be wary of peeing against anything that isn't a toilet or foliage.
Pisonme-pisonu - isn't that a animal from Doctor Doolittle ?
You might have thought about the coinjoined llamas that Nickelodeon's CatDog ripped off. But I instead thought about a mockup of a teledildonic device.
You can buy pot on Amazon nowadays. This is especially convenient now that there's no RadioShack.
Were you thinking of this?
A Florida company named Ultra-Tech produces the super-hydrophobic oleophobic nano-coating that was also recently used with success on walls in Hamburg, to discourage public urination. Signs posted there warn, "Do not pee here! We pee back!"
Seems like it would have been easiest to change the breathalyzer to only display "drunk" and "probably not drunk" lights. That takes the fun out of it.
Gamingmuseum.com: Give your 3D accelerator a rest.
Lets see if we understand. You are going to pay hard earned money for a product designed to fuck people over? And for a problem that's merely a minor annoyance rather than a serious issue? When did we all become monsters instead of human beings? Why not install bathrooms in bar districts? This is more of a bar owner and city problem than it is an individual problem. People who use this paint should be locked in a room and fed nothing but salty snacks and booze and given no restroom facilities. Lets see how your fucking bladder holds out you soulless bastard!
Lame..
how does this coinside with /.??
what about something like this
http://www.anandtech.com/show/9447/intel-10nm-and-kaby-lake
is such a shame how the overlords are trying to kill and destroy my beloved :(
You'd think San Francisco of all places would be above all this reactionary hydrophobia. We've already got too many hydrophobes being hydrophobic in the rest of the country!
The paint repellent urine is not that it bounces back like a wile e coyote gag (how would it? You would have to make the urine and wall a near 100% elastic collision and as a liquid against a solid good luck) in fact video make it clear that he is only projecting the test liquid with force and it barely backs a bit (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7tacicbV4aI). No the things is that the urine is much easier washed up. It is highly hydrophobic, but ti does not change that the water will not have an elastic collision. In other word, it barely spring back. Pee from 1 foot away and you are safe.
C. Sagan : A demon haunted world:
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visit randi.org
Few public restrooms, high homelessness, urination as a biological necessity leads to 1 possible outcome: people will piss on things. Coat it with paint, coat it with spikes, the problem still exists, you just fuck the people who already have no options. If you can't address the cause, you can't solve the problem, period. I don't understand why politicians think shitting on those who have no choices available to them is an effective policy.
ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn
This would be better: https://www.youtube.com/watch?...
posting a sign? Let them pee on themselves.
I think I would intentionally pee on a wall (at an angle of course) just to see how well this stuff works.
Just piss on the wall at an very acute angle -- good luck deflecting that.
Free urination for all! Fight the powers that try to repel your urination! Urination ruination will be the downfall of this country!
Especially the type which consists of a flat wall rather than individual 'bowls' to pee in,
San Francisco doesn't really get rain, a few storms a year. They get earthquakes more often than rain. When it rains the whole city freaks out and floods.
Man, you really need that seminar!
Why not use this for graffiti - seems there is a bigger problem in SF w/ Graf writing than w/ people pissing on walls.
Won't stop women from crapping on the floor though...
"Bars, pubs and restaurants, I'm told, have toilets."
I'm sorry to see so much hatred toward the homeless. Do you see lots of homeless people in bars ordering $6 drinks? No. College kids, perhaps; and yes they pee in alleys after closing sometimes.
In the US we have liquor stores where people carry out bottles of far more affordable liquids. They rarely allow use of toilets. Yes, we have lots of homeless who drink, but we have many more who do not drink. Many who don't do drugs. Many who are simply way down on their luck or need medical attention.
Even sober people have to pee; and those areas where homeless people (men, women and children) end up won't offer a proper facility. Don't be an asshole- homeless people often have no other option.
...omphaloskepsis often...
In San Fran they need a special paint to deal with people pissing on the walls.
In NYC they have people pissing in the street and bathing in the public fountains.
I guess, since we are all animals and anybody who judges anybody else's behavior is a HATER, this is what utopia looks like.
I presume they are working on fireproof buildings and unmolestable children so they don't have to make harsh judgments about arsonists and child molesters; the only people progressives want to denounce and crack down on are people who resist gay marriage or abortion. As hard as the freak-show city council of San Francisco tries, it is nevertheless starting to look a little too stodgy and conservative; The progressive city of Detroit now has a statue honoring Satan...
It is, of course, pure coincidence that EVERY major disaster city in the US has a long history of being run by progressive Democrats, NYC being a slight exception with moderate Republican Rudy G running it for several years and briefly cleaning it up.
That is why I go to MyCleanPC.com! Actually, it will not run on my computer I do not think. Maybe it will run in WINE? I probably should try it.
"So long and thanks for all the fish."
IIRC, Singapore installed cameras and speakers in trouble spots. They would yell at people urinating in public!
There was a TV interview with Lee Kuan Yew and they were talking about all the modernizing and civilizing initiatives they had to implement.
This is an area where social shaming and providing a better alternative has some utility. Even with homeless/drunk people.
Don't be melodramatic!
If the wind is blowing slightly (enough to wet your ankles, say) you'd have to be have your body within a couple inches of the wall to get any bounceback.
If the wind is blowing hard enough to wet more than your ankles despite an umbrella, then you're soaked anyway. And with a strong wind like this, it would also counter the bounceback as well, essentially neutralizing it.
You, sir, have obviously never lived there!