Urinals for the home -> why not?

[Robert Green]

Forgot to add that although the nail didn't break any bones, that foot has become something of a barometer, aching when the weather's about to change. The horses came to mind because I had just read a news story about how the PETAn's and others are trying to have the NYC hansom carriage rides shut down because it's "cruel to horses." I'm all for treating animals decently but horses have been earning a living pulling things ever since there were things that needed pulling. Why do they need protection from something they were born and bred to do?

I learned a lot working at one NYC's only horse stables as I am sure those that care for the hansom cab horses do. At some point someone has to declare that animals aren't people. Next thing you know the PETAn's will be demanding the right to vote for horses. Cynical New Yorkers claim that the only thing driving this recently reignited protest is that a real estate developer wants the very valuable land the stables are situated on. An ASPCA doctor claims she was coerced into writing a negative report about their care.

When I drove hay wagons through the streets of Staten Island the horses didn't seem to mind - they would run the route themselves if we had let them. There was always a stream of little kids coming out to look at the Clydesdale teams we ran (Punch & Judy, Bonnie & Clyde, Jack & Jill and a few more my poor fading memory can't recall).

I am certain that for many, it was the only time in their lives they had ever been 10 feet away from a real horse. Yes, we had accidents. People got hurt, horses got hurt, cars got banged up but it wasn't often and it certainly didn't justify shutting the whole operation down as the PETAn's are trying to do to the cab drivers. The real irony is that if the hansom cab rides are forced to shut down, a lot of the horses running that route will likely be put down. Yeah, PETA, show us how much you love animals. Better dead than alive and doing what I think they clearly enjoy doing. I say that only because I know what it takes to get a horse to do something it DOESN'T want to do.

-- Bobby G.

[bob haller]

the feds are talking of requiring urinals in all new or major remodel homes to save water and sewage....

about a cup of water flush

[HeyBub]

Uh, yeah.

You evidently have very limited expectations, no doubt from leading a sheltered, and female-controlled, life. Perhaps you should get out more. Experience the world. Learn new ways of doing things. Kill a terrorist. Enjoy life.

In my very practical part of the country, the men's room in many bars do not have urinals. No need. They do have partitions around each sink so one can have privacy while washing one's hands - or engaging in other pursuits.

[Han]

bob haller wrote in news:72e24f45-700d-4ea0-a97b- [e-mail]:

I'm always amazed at the waterfree urinals I see in some places. Totally odorfree. And looking at their cost (Amazon F-1000 = $340), they may be very cost efficient in a home with a few males and high water costs.

[Home Guy]

Only a neanderthal would piss in a sink if a urinal or a toilet was nearby and just as conveinent.

What part of africa do you live in?

Is anyone else buying this?

Commercial establishments in Texas (that serve food - such as bars and taverns) that have specifically placed washroom sinks to be used also as urinals?

Is it April 1, or is this for real?

[Peter]

Yes, yes and yes. And what about pouring a sterile liquid into a sink is strange? Just think of all the pathogens you put into the sink when you wash your hands after handling raw poultry or meat, after wiping your butt, petting your dog, doing yard work, etc.

[Peter]

Wikis are not authoritative scientific sites. I can assure you that unless someone has a urinary tract infection, a "clean catch" urine specimen will culture either nothing at all, or harmless, non-pathogenic bacteria. People with functioning kidneys excrete urea in their urine. There are many agents in the environment (once the urine is outside the body) capable of breaking down urea and ammonia is the common breakdown product.

[Home Guy]

Are you just talking hypothetical here, or do you / would you use a bathroom sink as a urinal when all you have to do is turn around and piss in the toilet?

If you're talking hypothetical, then I can say that you probably don't want you sink to smell like a urinal is a good reason not to use it like one.

Another reason is that the sink is not built to capture and contain a urine stream.

Another reason is that the sink is normally situated at or above the belt-line, meaning you'd probably have to get one knee up onto the counter or the sink basin in order to actually piss into the sink.

Funny how I have to bring up those obvious points in order to talk sense into you yanks.

[Steven L.]

You should talk.

There is nothing more gross than a woman's vagina.

It's teeming with microbes of many different strains.

And it's constantly oozing secretions on which bacteria can act, producing nauseating odors.

-- Steven L.

[willshak]

tom wrote the following:

Why install a urinal when you got that utility tub sitting next to it? :-)

[Steven L.]

Female campers, hikers, soldiers, etc.

-- Steven L.

[Steven L.]

I've lived in high-rise apartment or condo buildings where plumbers have to shut off the water to do maintenance. On those occasions, of course I pee in the sink.

And when I had to, I put an extra trash bag in a wastebasket and took a crap in there too.

-- Steven L.

[willshak]

And your wife isn't going to go into the public toilet after you to check whether you left the toilet clean.

[Home Guy]

Um - and the toilet is somehow not usable in this situation because ... ?

Um - and the toilet is somehow not usable in this situation because ... ?

Strange people.

It didn't occur to you to go and get a bucket of water to flush your piss or shit down the toilet?

(I guess that requires you to think ahead and have a bucket of water on-hand before they turn the water off - something you normally get 24 hours notice of)

And I can't see how they'd shut off water in a multi-unit building for more than a few hours. But I guess that's long enough for you to panic and piss in your sink and take a shit in a wastebasket. That's actually funny - in a sad way.

[Home Guy]

What does that have to do with the price of tea in china?

[Bernie Ward]

In those situations, I usually use the balcony.

[willshak]

When you wash your hands afterwards, the water and soap will flush the sink.

It captures a stronger water stream from the faucet! To contain it, if you wanted to, but I don't know why, you have to close the stopper.

You must be very short.

First, I don't think this is just applicable to Yanks. Secondly, it is not done as a regular practice.

[Home Guy]

Yes, because the faucet is pointing directly DOWN, usually right over the drain hole.

Your average bathroom sink will be sitting no lower than 30 or 31" above the ground, and I'd argue more like 32 to 36 inches (36 for pedestal sinks).

Which means unless you're Wilt Chamberlain, your stream is going to hit the side of the basin and splatter up onto the counter or the surround.

Sinks don't have a recessed overhang like toilets do to at least try to capture this overspray.

You're right. I'll include eastern europeans, africans and arabs.

Under what circumstances have you or would you piss in a bathroom sink and not the bathroom toilet?

[krw]

Have you added in the cost of the 5-10 ft^2 (and wall space)? How about three or four times that, for each bathroom? Our master bathroom is almost large enough but there is no wall space free to hang it. The others, forget it.

[krw]

Someone snipped the "unless it isn't" clause.