Then there are the pop-up kind. This article points out the problems
that San Francisco and Seattle had given trying to support the
disabled. The disabled are such a small percentage that it wouldn't
hurt establishments to let them use their facilities though it would
probably be viewed as inverse discrimination. Also around here we have
disabled meth freaks.
http://www.johnchow.com/the-worlds-most-high-tech-urinal/
On 12/14/2014 11:46 PM, salyavin808 wrote:
---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, <s3raphita@...> wrote :
These "open-view" urinals for men have just started appearing in
London. I can't see why they don't just instruct the gentlemen to go
and piss against a nearby wall.
OMG, that's disgusting! Where are these things?
And where do you wash your hands? And why do they feel the need to
mark them a "men's" logo, are there women's versions on the way?
---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, <noozguru@...> wrote :
San Francisco wanted to put in toilets downtown on the streets. A
French company makes self cleaning units which were ideal. They could
only accommodate one person at a time and so drug dealers couldn't use
them which was a concern. Then the Disabilities People yelled and they
had to get ones that were large enough for them. Which meant that
drug dealers could use them. The French company doesn't make them
like that and I think the ones they got aren't self cleaning.
I think it would have been a better idea to pass a law requiring
establishments to allow the disabled to use their facilities and leave
the single user systems on the street. Of course that would have
caused yet another kerfuffle.
On 12/14/2014 03:38 PM, s3raphita@... <mailto:s3raphita@...>
[FairfieldLife] wrote:
For anyone thinking of visiting the UK be aware we have some of the
most disgusting public toilets this side of a Third World hell-hole
during a dysentery outbreak.
I'm serious. Make sure you buy a "Radar Key" (£2:45 on Amazon) -
which gets you access to toilets for the disabled. They're the only
ones maintained to a decent standard apart from expensive
facilities at tourist traps. Otherwise you'll have to stock up on
disposable toilet seat covers, pocket tissue sachets, and you'll
have to learn the art of sitting on the loo with one leg
outstretched to keep the cubicle door shut as the lock is
invariably broken.
The best place for numerous, free and clean public toilets is
Tokyo. That could be a better holiday destination.
---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com
<mailto:FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com>, <seerdope@...>
<mailto:seerdope@...> wrote :
Assessing civilization by it its number of toilets is a wonderful
metric and embodies all that makes the United States (and
Netherlands) the greatest countries in the world. Toilets are
a grand testament to our technological savvy in designing billion
dollar systems to rid ourselves of icky stuff. I mean its just
organic crap like nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium and all that
boring like chemistry stuff Good riddance. Far more sophisticated
to use civilized chemical fertilizers. We get to to use all those
magnificent big, high tech mining machines to transform the earth
from mere dirt to huge craters. Ah the glories western civilization.
We rock. And look at countries like india -- they produce only 10%
as much CO2 per capital of the US (15% as much as the Dutch). What
losers.
Would you believe that I actually read "Small is Beautiful back the
mid 70's. I have to laugh -- back in college I was so deluded. What
a hoot. A totally looney-bin hippie manifesto. Schumaker probably
hated toilets. and would have tooted graywater and growing fresh
vegetables. As if !. I am glad men of the world like us see through
such garbage. Came across a review the other day. I think the copious
amounts of acid his mother must of taken never really left the
writers brain.
" Small is Beautiful was a radical challenge to the 20th century's
intoxication with what Schumacher described as "gigantism". For
several decades, mass production methods were producing more cheap
goods than ever before; the mass media and mass culture opened up new
opportunities to a wider audience than ever. It was creating bigger
markets and bigger political entities. .. he believed such scale led
to a dehumanisation of people and the economic systems that ordered
their lives.
One of the recurrent themes through the book is how modern
organisations stripped the satisfaction out of work, making the
worker no more than an anonymous cog in a huge machine. Craft skill
was no longer important, nor was the quality of human relationship:
human beings were expected to act like adjuncts to the machines of
the production line. The economic system was similarly dehumanising,
making decisions on the basis of profitability rather than human
need... What Schumacher wanted was a people-centred economics because
that would, in his view, enable environmental and human sustainability.
It was a radical challenge which, like many of the ideas of the late
60s and early 70s (feminism is another example), were gradually
adopted and distorted by the ongoing voracious expansion of consumer
capitalism. ... a "small is beautiful" model of economic enterprise
that put relationship, craft and environment at the heart of their
way of working .. were later snaffled up by corporate giants. Small
became cool but only as part of a branding strategy which masked the
ongoing concentration of political and economic power. Gigantism has
triumphed.
The power of the global multinational and the financial institutions
was beginning to become apparent in the early 70s, but it has grown
exponentially since, unaccountable to national governments.
Schumacher warned that a city's population should not rise above
500,000, but we are now living in an era of the megapolis and several
cities around the world are heading towards 20m. Schumacher would be
weeping over his herbal tea at the fate of his big idea.
... We yearn for economic systems within our control, within our
comprehension and that once again provide space for human interaction
– and yet we are constantly overwhelmed by finding ourselves trapped
into vast global economic systems that are corrupting and corrupt.
.
