SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
The New York Times published an article about toilet paper theft and the use of technology to prevent it:
The toilet paper thieves of the Temple of Heaven Park were an elusive bunch.
They looked like most park visitors, practicing tai chi, dancing in the courtyards and stopping to take in the scent of ancient cypress and juniper trees. But hidden in their oversize shopping bags and backpacks was a secret: sheet upon sheet of crumpled toilet paper, plucked surreptitiously from public restrooms.
Now the authorities in Beijing are fighting back, going so far as to install high-tech toilet paper dispensers equipped with facial recognition software in several restrooms.
Before entering restrooms in the park, visitors must now stare into a computer mounted on the wall for three seconds before a machine dispenses a sheet of toilet paper, precisely two feet in length. If visitors require more, they are out of luck. The machine will not dispense a second roll to the same person for nine minutes.
This seems to be too funny to be real, but the article has an animated GIF that demonstrates this device's operation.
(Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Tuesday March 21 2017, @05:27AM (5 children)
A Canadian friend vacationed in Cuba some years ago. They had attendants in the public restrooms who would hand out the toilet paper.
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 21 2017, @05:59AM (2 children)
They were probably there to keep an eye on foreigners more than help with amenities. Amenities just gave them an alibi.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 21 2017, @06:53AM (1 child)
Sounds to me like government employment in lieu of welfare.
I wonder how much cleaner the toilets at our parks, and the train station, would be if instead of mailing out welfare checks, the government offered jobs doing stuff like this and made the people responsible for maintaining the public facilities in lieu of a simple mailed check or EBT transfer.
So far, our political response has been to limit sales of spray paint to try to minimize access to substances known to be used for defacing public works. Now, I can imagine the spray-can wielder coming up across the guy whose gonna have to clean up his mess.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 21 2017, @05:53PM
Get rid of minimum wage and implement UBI. Then we could hire people who are willing to voluntarily do those jobs for $1 or $2 per hour. Requiring work as part of welfare in a system that has 5% unemployment built in is just violently imposed slavery.
(Score: 2) by deadstick on Tuesday March 21 2017, @01:33PM (1 child)
Attended restrooms are a thing in numerous places, including some high-end Stateside restaurants. At least in France, attendants in men's rooms are often female...Yank tourists get used to it after a bit.
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Tuesday March 21 2017, @10:15PM
It's easy to spot Americans who recoil in public European bathrooms when the cleaning lady is just doing her job a few feet away.
Get over it guys. She doesn't give a darn about your junk.