Hive Archive

Seattle relieved to lose its high-tech toilets

Sun, 17 Aug 2008 11:53:04 PDT

City officials have finally gotten rid of five high-tech self-cleaning toilets that cost Seattle $5 million — but sold online for just $12,549. The city installed the modernistic stand-alone toilets four years ago, hoping they would provide tourists and the homeless a place to do their business while downtown. But the automated loos became better known for drug use and prostitution than for relief. USA Today

Oh you clever headline writer you. It's rather unfortunate that these didn't work out. I remember seeing similar public toilets in Paris. This is a huge problem in downtown Seattle. It is difficult to find a public restroom anywhere, much less if you look like a transient. Living downtown, I have found a couple of strategic places that I can just jump into the bathroom without a code, or having to make a purchase, or being scrutinized before using it (and no I'm not telling where they are). The one truly open to the public restrooms exist in the downtown Seattle Library. The last time I walked in there, there were multiple homeless men practically camped in the bathroom, trying to wash up. One was shaving in the mirror. I have a lot of sympathy for their situation, but it was also a very uncomfortable place to be. There has to be a better way.

Obligatory Seattle Snow Pictures

Sat, 01 Dec 2007 20:38:48 PST

When it snows in Seattle, it’s a big deal.
Thanks to Flickr for hosting my images.

Seattle 911 Dispatch on I5

Mon, 18 Jun 2007 00:14:56 PDT

Tonight, I heard a bunch of sirens beyond the typical living in First Hill next to 10 hospitals sirens, and lacking a scanner I was curious what was going on. I fired up Google and found a nice mashup of real time Seattle 911 Dispatch overlaid on Google Maps. Someone must have convinced the Seattle.gov guys to make it easy to parse again. I know there was a flareup where for "security" reasons they turned the whole thing into an image. Anyway, I assume the incident I heard was:

22:26:09 Rescue Heavy 0 - 0 Nb I5 At 45A14 A14 B5 B6 DEP1 E17 E2 E22 E25 L7 L9 M16 M16 M44 R1 SAFT2 STAF10

Which according to the legend, and as best I can tell, they dispatched 2 Aid Units (Basic Life Support), 2 Battalion Chiefs, 4 Engines (water, hose and a pump), 2 Ladders (ladders and a large assortment of tools), 3 Medic Units (Advanced Life Support), 1 Rescue Unit and 3 others which I'm not sure how to interpret (DEP1, SAFT2, STAF10) to a location on I-5. Searching around the Seattle Fire Dept Gallery didn't reveal much. Anyone know what those other 3 units are? Must have been a pretty nasty accident. Hope everyone comes out safely.

Snow in Seattle (again)

Wed, 10 Jan 2007 23:37:07 PST

Yes, it is snowing in Seattle, again. People are already freaking out. Should be fun tomorrow.

Seattle Job Opportunities

Wed, 25 Oct 2006 13:26:05 PDT

Wes over at brokenbuild.com has posted two jobs that have opened at his company:

Java Software Engineer

White-box QA Engineer (SDET)

If you, or someone you know is interested, send them his way. The jobs are located in Seattle, WA.

Qwest won't commit to Seattle fiber, doesn't want city to do it

Tue, 15 Aug 2006 15:04:39 PDT

Fiber isn't coming anytime soon, according to Qwest CEO Dick Notebaert. That's the answer Notebaert gave a Seattle Times reporter in a recent interview, and it looks as though it will echo throughout Qwest's service region. Although the telecom has built some very small FTTP and FTTN networks for specific subdivisions, it has shown little interest in the kind of widescale deployment its larger brethren are undertaking.

Seattle is anxious to get fiber one way or another, and last year a city task force recommended it develop its own fiber network in order to remain competitive. Predictably, Qwest wasn't too impressed. In fact, it was downright critical of the task force's report.

Via Arstechnica