[Blindtlk] technological toilet, this is for real!

Sat Jan 12 22:13:46 CST 2008

Agreed! 

-----Original Message-----
From: blindtlk-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:blindtlk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
Behalf Of Jennifer Aberdeen
Sent: Saturday, January 12, 2008 12:59 PM
To: NFBnet Blind Talk Mailing List
Subject: Re: [Blindtlk] technological toilet, this is for real!

Someone with more than one disability might take more than fifteen minutes,
depending on what their disabilities are.
----- Original Message -----
From: "GMail" <davidb521 at gmail.com>
To: "NFBnet Blind Talk Mailing List" <blindtlk at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Saturday, January 12, 2008 9:50 AM
Subject: Re: [Blindtlk] technological toilet, this is for real!

>I imagine that we could use this ridiculous contraption. I mean, who's 
>going  to be in the bathroom for fifteen minutes, and someone could 
>tell us about  which button is which beforehand, but this is just 
>astounding on what some  people will design.
> David
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Sherri" <flmom2006 at gmail.com>
> To: "Multiple recipients of NFBnet Blind-Talk Mailing List"
> <BlindTlk at nfbnet.org>; <nfbf-l at nfbnet.org>
> Sent: Saturday, January 12, 2008 10:38 AM
> Subject: [Blindtlk] technological toilet, this is for real!
>
>
> Okay, just another device that's going to be user unfriendly to the blind.
>
> Sherri
> Subject: Technology?
>
> FACILITIES REVIEW. Greetings, Earthlings.
> Your New Restroom Is Ready.. NY Times Metropolitan Desk2008-01-11 By 
> MICHAEL WILSON. When New York City's open-armed embrace of tourists 
> finally extends beyond the boundaries of Earth to creatures from outer 
> space, these visitors will find themselves right at home in Madison 
> Square Park's sleek, shiny new public toilet.
> Indeed, the toilet calls to mind not a port-o-let, but rather the sort 
> of room one imagines adjoined the personal quarters of Capt. James T. 
> Kirk on the Starship Enterprise.
> It is a 25-cent journey to the future -- and, almost secondarily, a 
> not unpleasant restroom.
> The restroom was unveiled on Thursday, the first of 20 planned for the 
> city after more than 30 years of false starts and frustrations. It 
> faces Madison Avenue just north of 23rd Street, and at first glance 
> looks like a bus stop shelter.
> There are two architectural flourishes, both on the roof: a small 
> pyramid of glass, like a little model of the Louvre, and an 
> anachronistic metal stovepipe, reminiscent of a cozy shanty or an old 
> outhouse with a crescent moon carved into the door.
> But no one goes to a bathroom to look at it. When the green light 
> marked 'vacant'
> is lit, 25 cents -- coins only, no bills -- starts the visit.
> What follows is possibly the longest and most awkward 20 to 30 seconds 
> of a person's day. The door slips open like an elevator, but then it 
> stays open, to
> accomm    odate
> those who need extra time getting in. Meanwhile, men and women in 
> suits walk past.
> It is very difficult to look inconspicuous in a bathroom on a sidewalk 
> in New York with the door open. There is just nothing to do but stand 
> there. And the delay will not please those who are in distress.
> Finally, the door closes, and the first surprise is the quiet. The 
> walls are padded to dampen street noise, leaving just the hum of a 
> little fan overhead.
> Six little lights and the skylight in the pyramid cast a neutral glow 
> over the user's home for the next 15 minutes, the maximum time limit.
> This toilet, which cost more than $100,000, is very spacious, large 
> enough to accommodate a wheelchair. One cannot touch the side walls 
> with arms outstretched.
> The floor is rubber and, more strikingly, very wet, but not in a 
> bus-station-men's-room way. There is an antiseptic, fresh smell to the 
> place.
> Sadly, these little surprises are forgotten with the first look at the 
> toilet itself, an imposing, metal, cold-looking receptacle in the 
> corner. There is no little stall around it, and so it looks exposed, 
> like the facilities available in many prisons.
> It, too, is quite damp, for perfectly good reasons explained later, 
> but the image first evokes a dungeon or a scene from one of the 'Saw' 
> pictures.
> There is no seat to raise or lower, just the wide rim of the bowl, 
> with covers made of tissue available in a dispenser to the side. 
> Sitting down is a leap of faith, like falling backwards into a 
> stranger's arms at a corporate team-building retreat.
> Turns out, it is cold. But once settled, the visitor finds the seat 
> the perfect place to take in the room's other amenities.
> There seem to be as many buttons as on Captain Kirk's bridge. Red 
> buttons, blue buttons, yellow buttons, black and green buttons. The 
> red ones near the door and toilet call the company for help in an 
> emergency. The yellow calls for 'assistance,'
> presumably
> something less dire than an emergency, but nonetheless, a situation. 
> Blue flushes.
> Black dispenses toilet paper. One will quickly familiarize oneself 
> with that button, because the designers have deigned a little 16-inch 
> strip the standard helping of paper. A word to the wise: There is a 
> maximum of just three helpings.
> Another tip:
> Do not tarry. A grim yellow light turns on when there are just three 
> minutes remaining, and after that, the door will open.
> The sink is across the room. The big shocker here is the soap 
> dispenser, which actually emits not a little squirt of soap, but a jet 
> of warm water, with the soap already mixed in. Everything is 
> motion-activated. No knobs anywhere. The warm-air hand dryer seems 
> somewhat slow and weak, especially with that yellow light blinking by 
> the door.
> Assuming one finishes before the 15 minutes are up, the big green 
> button opens the door. The horns and sirens and chatter of the city 
> return, jarringly.
> When the visitor steps out, the door shuts again, but the 'occupied' 
> light stays lit. Strange hisses and spraying sounds come from within 
> -- did someone slip past?
> No, actually, the room is cleaning itself. A robotic arm swings out 
> over the toilet bowl and hits it with disinfectant, while similar jets 
> spray across the sink and the floor. Then, dryers fan hot air over 
> everything, but like the hand dryer, they seem to need more juice.
> This is all taken at the designer's word, for it is impossible to see. 
> The cleanup cannot happen with someone in the room, with sensors below 
> the floor to detect any weight.
> After 90 seconds of cleaning, the green light outside comes back on. Next?
> . PHOTO: Three officials, Janette Sadik-Khan, Adrian Benepe, center, 
> and Daniel L.
> Doctoroff, consider the city's new toilet. There's no seat to raise, 
> just the bowl's wide rim, with covers of tissues to use. (PHOTOGRAPH 
> BY G. PAUL BURNETT/THE NEW YORK
> TIMES) .
> Sherri
>
> sbrun at cfl.rr.com
>
> TO DONATE YOUR USED CELL PHONE AND CHANGE WHAT IT MEANS TO BE BLIND IN 
> CENTRAL FLORIDA go to:
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Whether we succeed or fail in what we do is not the essential thing.
>
> What is important is the heart with which we live our lives.
>
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> ----------
>
>
>> _______________________________________________
>> blindtlk mailing list
>> blindtlk at nfbnet.org
>> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/blindtlk
>>
>
> _______________________________________________
> blindtlk mailing list
> blindtlk at nfbnet.org
> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/blindtlk

_______________________________________________
blindtlk mailing list
blindtlk at nfbnet.org
http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/blindtlk

No virus found in this incoming message.
Checked by AVG Free Edition. 
Version: 7.5.516 / Virus Database: 269.19.2/1221 - Release Date: 1/12/2008
2:04 PM

No virus found in this outgoing message.
Checked by AVG Free Edition. 
Version: 7.5.516 / Virus Database: 269.19.2/1221 - Release Date: 1/12/2008
2:04 PM