30 April 2008

what's wrong with this pisser?

I get to scrappin' every now and then with G about public bathrooms. She has her own professional interest (not a plumber though) and rants about them in her own way here, here, and here.

The thing is, I don't have much sympathy for the feminist notion that men's bathrooms are fundamentally super-privileged. That men are institutionally over-served in a manner that discriminates against (i.e. under-serves) women? That urinals are a fundamental inequality, and that by having them, men are given an advantage in urination that women are not allowed. Along with men's fundamentally discriminatory garments (and anatomy) that allow them to zip, pee, zip, flush, wash, and go, the plumbing itself is unequal. That by virtue of the standing piss, men are provided more facilities than women.

I submit that wherever a urinal is properly installed, a stall/toilet could have been installed instead. If there's ever a case where men are crammed together more tightly, it makes for a non-pissable experience, and so the concept of higher piss-density per lineal wall-foot is moot.

So let's talk about some example facilities...

Cadieux Cafe in Detroit. For some reason, a mini-trough and a toilet. But they are crammed into such a small space that it's basically impossible to use both. The width of the toilet tank gives you a sense of scale of the trough. Note how it touches the wall on the right side, and the placement of the other fixture (sink, I think) in the lower right-hand corner. Only one guy can stand at this trough. And if someone is sitting on the toilet, it's unlikely that ANYone will be using the trough. Too close to trough back-spray. It's possible that two could stand and piss, one using the toilet and one using the trough, but there's room for two toilets side by side - so what's the difference between dual-occupancy women's room?


Haabs Restaurant in Ypsilanti. The width of the porcelain of a standard urinal is about 16-18". These two have about 2" between them. Take a shoulder width of about 20". When standing at one of these, one clearly overlaps the "frontage" space of the other urinal - it's simply not possible to squeeze another dude in there, let alone the question of personal space. So basically, one of these is wasted. Note the stalls on the right. Not that much wider than the urinals. (yes, there's perspective distortion from the crappy camera phone lens, but you can see roughly) You can apparently squeeze a stall in about the same space as a urinal, even in the case of ones that are too-close-for-comfort.

The greater of insults is when the squeeze happens without another guy being there. That the little privacy barriers squeeze you even if you're the only one in the bathroom.

Ah yes, and to all the women out there - I'm sure that there's a toilet stall door equivalent of the poster-in-front-of-you at the urinal, right? Do you have posters 6 inches in front of you? You know - advertising to potential customers during those "low-distraction-moments". Not only are there posters, but not apparently there's an entire industry of "urinal communication" where a guy can't even have a moment in quiet contemplation of having a piss.

And if that isn't enough, let's just say that this bullshit at the BW3 in Ann Arbor made me consider angry bathroom vandalism as justified for the first time in my life. There's all kinds of stupid things that happen to men's bathrooms in bars that have college kids as patrons - towel dispensers ripped off walls, soap dispensers smashed, stall doors bashed or ripped off. Until recently, I thought it completely unnecessary to smash and bludgeon bathroom facilities. But a TV? There's already 47 TVs in the restaurant - I don't need one shoved in my face when I'm taking a piss. Seriously, am I going to catch up on an episode of Lost while I'm taking a piss?

28 April 2008

Schadenfreude Pie

It's dark, it's bittersweet, it's not for shiny-happy people. I think I'll give it a try one of these days.

16 April 2008

that might come in handy...

Parking has always been difficult in Ann Arbor. It's a perpetual source of bitching and complaining (on all sides) when issues of urban development, transportation, downtown accessibility, etc. come up in public forums. Heck, I can't think of a single city where someone isn't bitching about not being able to find a parking space withing 20 feet of the front door of where they want to go.

Recently, Homeless Dave did a teeter-totter interview with parking professional Steven Smith, and later on shared some data. I never really thought of myself as a "parking nerd", but I guess I am. The graph on the right that I stole from Dave shows how many parking spaces are available in a certain parking structure over one week. Fascinating. I'm wondering if there isn't some data dropping out over the weekend though - surely the occupancy is not flat-line stable over the weekend - there's at least gotta be a bump on Saturday evening at the 4th and Washington structure. I'm sure of it. Anyway, if you're heading to Ann Arbor and needing a parking spot, you can check here before you leave to see how many spots are left in your intended lot before you go there.

Some might say "these people have too much time on their hands... don't they have work to do?" Well, for the City of Ann Arbor and DDA, it is their work. Besides, you're just reading blogs. Don't you have work to do?

oh yeah, and there's this cool map that links to the live data that shows little pie charts. Numbers are great, but pie charts that show how filled the lots are? mmm, nifty.

02 April 2008

you're screwed.

... and just what did I learn at the county road commission meeting this afternoon?

If you're not trying to take it for yourself, someone else is going to try to take if for themselves. Sometimes that means taking from you. And what the hell are you gonna do about it? Hunh? Punk? Yeah, I'm talking to you.

It's not enough to expect fair and right - you have to overreach and overshoot, or else you get only what is left, which is nothing.

Call it Negotiation, call it Radicalism™... either way, all I can think about is the "he pulls a knife, you pull a gun" mindset. Sure, it's urban planning and transportation, but the sentiment is the same.