When A Bar Urinal Is Smarter Than Its Patrons
from the IP-Freely dept
In New York City, taxicabs have devices that play recorded messages from famous New Yorkers imploring passengers to put their seatbelts on when they enter. Now, out on Long Island, police are looking to one-up the big city by installing talking urinal cake holders that play an anti-drunk driving message. The devices are being given for free to bars, paid for by drunk-driving fines, and are made by a company called -- we swear -- "Wizmark". While these devices are amusing, they'd be far more useful if they could test users' blood-alcohol level, then play a message accordingly. After all, anything that removes people having to think for themselves will make us all safer, right? Long Island drunks could simply fill up at a bar, then go get in their cars that won't let them speed and get home safely.Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
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Zing!
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Re: Zing!
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A link to...
The company itself: Wizmark.com
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Re: A link to...
I seriously doubt anything high dollar from restraunts to rolex will be advertising in this manner. I could see the cigarettes or condoms that the site mentions.
What would be particularly funny is if political campaigns advertised in this way. What would you do if it was an ad for a politician you dislike?
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Is It Just Me...
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How ridiculous is this idea anyway? In my city, the company that cleans the loo also advertises..they are on the NYSE, and I "crack" up. I rarely get my stock tips in the toilet, but then again, my portfolio has been in the toilet before.
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So...
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What about the ladies?
I say talking toilet paper rolls...
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Its not just you
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How about a device
I don't think its any mystery to people that drinking and driving don't mix, so does wasting money on advertising and other gimmick like "reminders" really worth it?
We live in a culture where there is just too much ad stimuli and we learn to shut it out. Advertising in general is becoming less effective, and public service announcements even more so. Even if we actually hear the message or see it, do we even absorb it into our conscious? For the most part, people don't like to be told what they can and can't do, so a talking urinal puck isn't going to stop some dumb schmuck from getting into his car with a blood alcohol level of .20 and drive home.
What will work is to simply give stiff fines, penalties and jail time if your caught drinking and driving. I mean, if your drunk and you kill a person in an accident, it is considered "INVOLUNTARY" manslaughter which can have sentences measured in months. Change that to murder in the 1st degree, and you will see a big change in how people look at drinking and driving. I mean, people do make a deliberate decisions to drive drunk, so I don't think it is too rash to consider someone that kills another person while driving drunk deliberate murder.
But, being good ol' USA, your going to get some dumb *ss that claims he never knew that drinking impairs driving and he will probably get away with it. The US court system seems gullible and believes there are still people that live in caves that just don't know better.
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My Boss..
Never mind (and you thought I was going to say 'p!ss on it')
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Re: My Boss..
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Blood alcohol level
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The last thing I want
What happens if one of them silly wiz-o-matics shorts out while somebody is peeing on it?
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Interactive!?
What is this world coming to that somebody thinks that it is a good idea to develop an interactive toilet insert?
Even worse, what are we coming to that somebody thinks that it is a good idea to buy such a product?
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Now now...
That aside, this is pretty amusing. I actually thought the article was going to be about urinal cakes that tested blood alcohol level (as you suggested).
On the flip side, a talking urinal cake could cause some...well...odd?...behavior. lol.
George stumbles into the restroom to relieve himself after drowning his sorrows in his beer mug.
"You know, you really shouldn't drive in your condition."
"Wha-? Whosaidthat?"
"I did."
"Wha-? Whereareyou?"
"Down here, George. In the urinal."
George then has a friendly conversation with the cake and even takes it home later for a "nightcap."
How quaint. :-)
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This uses stolen Turdstar patent~!!
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i see aloooot of...
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And we call ourselves the most intelligent life...
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RIAA cakes anyone?
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Other potential messages
"Look down if you want, but I don't think that's going to help your self esteem any. Do you?"
"Don't eat the big white mint!"
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Custom Urinal Cakes
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Studies prove that giving men something
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