Is the Toilet Free? • Hacker News Board

Re: Is the Toilet Free?

#21

Post by benaiah » Mon, Apr 21, 2014, 3:29 PM UTC

arbitrage wrote: post #2

That animated background header is making me very motion sick. Ugh.

Can we stop with the nitpicking meta bullshit on every freaking article, please? I don't care about the things you dislike about a random webpage. It wasn't submitted because of a header. In order to read the article that we're actually discussing, you have to scroll down to where you can't see it anymore. It's a 10-second-at-most mild irritation. I would understand if it was an epilepsy warning o something, but it's not.

The fact that these comments get made wouldn't be a problem, except that people, since they agree with the complaint (as I happen to do in this case) keep upvoting the damn things. At this point, there's a good 20% chance that any given comment thread is gonna start with the same boring arguments we've had four hundred thousand times on this site already that I have to scroll down past to talk about actual article we're discussing.

These kind of comments are cheap, effortless, and do nothing but degrade the quality of discussion and make participation a PITA for people who want to actually talk about the relevant article instead of random web design complaints.

Re: Is the Toilet Free?

#22

Post by bretr » Mon, Apr 21, 2014, 3:32 PM UTC

reminds me of this: http://www.sanbornmediafactory.com/portfolio_pieces/bum/

design firms love to know when their toilets are free

Re: Is the Toilet Free?

#23

Post by jgv » Mon, Apr 21, 2014, 3:33 PM UTC

We did something similar last year http://briiiiian.com/bathroom-f-graf/

Re: Is the Toilet Free?

#24

Post by crusso » Mon, Apr 21, 2014, 3:34 PM UTC

janj wrote: post #20

I have no experience with hardware. Can someone give some suggestions on where to start if I wanted to do a simple side project like this to gain some experience? Thanks

I'd recommend that you not start with the rpi if you have zero experience.

If you're in the USA (edit: at a local RadioShack), you can buy an Arduino, a breadboard, wire, some resistors, switches, and LEDs for less than $60 -- the cost of a typical newly-released video game.

Take it home, read the online getting started guides, and start learning how to get basic circuits working.

Start reading http://hackaday.com/ to get an idea of what's possible. Bookmark projects that look interesting and proceed from there.

Re: Is the Toilet Free?

#25

Post by edw519 » Mon, Apr 21, 2014, 3:38 PM UTC

Loved this line:

For now we’ll keep collecting data to see what other worthless knowledge we can assimilate.

On one hand, we want to lighten up and acknowledge that not everything we do is to "save the world".

On the other hand, we shouldn't forget that some of our greatest achievements came from something that seemed worthless at one time.

Re: Is the Toilet Free?

#26

Post by nlh » Mon, Apr 21, 2014, 3:39 PM UTC

These kind of projects are awesome. They may seem "pointless" or "a waste of time" to some PHB-types but they're a wonderful showcase of a great, true-hacker culture and I bet they do a ton for morale. I hope that any future startup I'm involved with has this sort of culture - it's a goal I'll aim for.

Well done guys.

Re: Is the Toilet Free?

#27

Post by resu_nimda » Mon, Apr 21, 2014, 3:41 PM UTC

DanielStraight wrote: post #18

Sounds like the real problem is that you don't have enough toilets.

My thoughts exactly. Kudos for geeking out on the problem, but that shouldn't be necessary.

Re: Is the Toilet Free?

#28

Post by ziedaniel1 » Mon, Apr 21, 2014, 3:49 PM UTC

robryk wrote: post #12

Random Hall (a dorm at MIT) has/had a `bathroom server' that did exactly that and also a `laundry server' that tells you whether the laundry machines are busy. The bathroom server used to be at http://bathroom.mit.edu (seemingly offline now) and the laundry server is at http://laundry.mit.edu

The bathroom server was up until just a few weeks ago. I'll have to ask someone here what happened. (We've had the system for over ten years, I think, so some of the equipment is getting old. )

Re: Is the Toilet Free?

#29

Post by ahmadss » Mon, Apr 21, 2014, 3:53 PM UTC

nlh wrote: post #26

These kind of projects are awesome. They may seem "pointless" or "a waste of time" to some PHB-types but they're a wonderful showcase of a great, true-hacker culture and I bet they do a ton for morale. I hope that any future startup I'm involved with has this sort of culture - it's a goal I'll aim for. Well done guys.

shameless plug -- if you like "pointless" projects, check-out Pointless Corporation -- http://www.pointlesscorp.com

Re: Is the Toilet Free?

#30

Post by VLM » Mon, Apr 21, 2014, 3:54 PM UTC

Seeing zero referenced arrays in the detailed data output warms my heart. Looks like no one likes the middle stall. At current employer, no one uses the first stall because the flush mechanism is partially broken and no one is motivated enough to figure out how to get it fixed. A maint dude could find this data useful to find problems requiring repair.

I will admit that looking at the headline I initially thought this was a geolocation app for urban bathrooms. To discourage the homeless most local retail establishments either supposedly don't have a bathroom or you need to explain to the front desk why you need a key and they need to think your appearance is adequate, or you need to buy something to be allowed entrance into the area at the back of which are the restrooms. This could be useful. Where I live and shop is 20 miles away in a much nicer area, but where I work, if you're out for a walk at lunch time, and you have to go, you pretty much have to use an alley just like the homeless, so an app like this to find the nearest free toilet (free as in don't need reservations and seating at the restaurant, or rented office space, etc) would be occasionally convenient.