Adopt A Porto

[Drawingablank]

I came across this this morning and after several searches cannot find any mention of it on Eplaya. Looks like a really interesting idea though.



Not sure this is the right thread for it either, but I won't be insulted if the mods find a better home for it.





Edit by Sham. I think that the idea of really adding this type of thing to many of the portos would cause mayhem. I pulled the link before we all get swatted!

[Shambala]

Art and performance is a perfect place for this post. What a great idea. My mind is spinning. Mood lighting, soft music and possibly and attendant on duty for part of the day to hand out warm towels. A few relaxing photos on the walls might be a nice touch.
I am getting motivated here!

[junglesmacks]

I love it.

What if we went beyond just stocking it with TP?

What if we played Pimp-My-Porto?

Sweet smelling, LED embedded, song playing, dream making, (fill in the blank)



I'm in.

[junglesmacks]

Art and performance is a perfect place for this post. What a great idea. My mind is spinning. Mood lighting, soft music and possibly and attendant on duty for part of the day to hand out warm towels. A few relaxing photos on the walls might be a nice touch.
I am getting motivated here!

YA FEEL ME?!

I'm calling straight warm terricloth and lotion on the exit.. straight butler style.

[Shambala]

This goes way beyond the video cameras that I install in several of the portos every year. I think our towel valet person should double as an enforcer, should anyone attempt to defile our toilets, he can kick their asses.

[motskyroonmatick]

Just make sure all art and containers are big enough that they won't fin in to the toilet tank. That way one of the jots guys won't have to be fishing out containery stuff from the pottys all day long..... Sorry for the buzz kill.

[BoyScoutGirl]

Robbidobbs, mistress of All Things Potty, has some things to say about this in an letter she sent to the project's coordinator:

Here it is kids, the letter I sent to Mr know it all:

David,
Since you chose to not respond to either of my emails, I will be very clear in this one.
Your enterprise has enthusiasm, ambition and attractiveness.
It has one flaw - it is not going to be allowed in the way you have presented. The plastic bottles you are recommending to place within the potty units WILL be dropped in, either by accident or malice. This interferes with the cleaning of the potties by USS, and I have witnessed too many problems with this activity.

To be very clear:
NOTHING is to be stored inside the units, as these well-intentioned items WILL be dropped in by participants.

I have a better solution to improving the lives of those using the potties - set up a concierge station outside the units, with your offerings managed by you and those who you recruit. There is a requirement of course: do not let it become a MOOP factory or it will be bagged up. Excellent examples of this is service are the Potty Pigs at 4:00D and MuppetKiller at 7:30D.

You're asking for volunteers to pledge to do this. I have been soliciting help from the camps who have line of site to a given potty bank since 2003. The Pottie Friend program has been an increasing success since it began. Do I know you? Have you EVER adopted one yourself? I don't recommend that you put up the bakers wheel just yet. I whole-heartedly encourage you to adopt the one by where you live, try it for a year and I will gladly keep you in TP for the masses the entire week.

I understand how excited you must have been to see Pimp Your Potties example of their art. This group has been pimping for about 7 years. I have been fully aware of their presence. What they are doing is not condoned. They are misguided. They are not affiliated with the Pottie Project at all. They have been acting on their own, and due to their grandiose style and relatively limited number of units decorated (3), they have been tolerated. If their "services" were to be expanded upon, the impact could cause me to take action.

From my ELEVEN years of monitoring the porta-potties (full time, 12 hour days, and yes the ENTIRE city), this year has been extraordinary. I personally take offense that you consider them to be "horrible". Obviously you've not attended many public events with such facilities. BRC is unique in how clean the porta-potties are, and this is a direct result of planning, education, effort and cooperation. DO NOT MAKE MY JOB HARDER.

You have expressed interest in presenting your art at Decompression. It's a one day event with 100 potties. I will not be attending. I don't give a shit what goes on there. HOWEVER You will find there that I have many former volunteers, department members, fans, minions, friends and fellow travelers that will educate you in exactly where the flaws in your plans are. Listen to them, they are generally well informed.

On a personal note, I have only to go by what you have posted, and that you are presenting this in October, I surmise that you have a bad case of "next year -itis" and it will disappear like so much passing wind.

Sincerely,
RobbiDobbs
DPW: Volunteer Coordinator, Special Projects (Porta-Potties)

From this thread:
http://eplaya.burningman.com/viewtopic.php?p=747299#p747299

[Shambala]

I can just edit all that shit out of here. If we need to, we can put chains on everything so it doesn't drop in the hole. We are problem solvers here. That's what we do!

[junglesmacks]

Jesus fucking un-needed snipe and snark. That was some bullshit burnier-porto-y-than-thou.

RobbiDobbs = -100 street cred


EDIT: Wow. I re-read that again and really wanna vomit. I say we print that email and make TP out of it and install it in every single porto.

Project: Pimp THIS porto, beeya.. 2012.

[Drawingablank]

I love it.

What if we went beyond just stocking it with TP?

What if we played Pimp-My-Porto?

Sweet smelling, LED embedded, song playing, dream making, (fill in the blank)



I'm in.

Actually they have a video on that site called Pimp My Porto too

And as pointed out further down the thread I can see how there might be some issues with this idea as well. Although they stress attaching things so they can't easily go down the hole, I can see how an external concierge station makes much more sense.

Personally I found all the JOTS I used in 2011 to be clean and had no issues about using them, just thought this was an interesting concept.

[junglesmacks]

"Concerns" are one thing. That's another level though.

Can't we all just make cool shit without getting butt-hurt?

This?? This is why we can't have nice things.




PS. I'm totally down for some porto performance art. I'm inspired. I'm finding an old 70s tuxedo online..

[Shambala]

It's been a long time since I've been so excited about a port-a-potty, and now buzzkill is trying to spoil my joy!

[BoyScoutGirl]

Wow, my post caused a bit of a stir there. Maybe I should have linked to the thread and left everything in context...

For what it's worth, my original reaction to the Potty Project was "hey, that's a pretty cool idea." I thought it was great that people are embracing the "do-acracy" and taking initiative to create art in unexpected places. Then I read the thread linked above, where a lot of the problems are pointed out. I thought "if the Chief Poopervisor is so against it, clearly this isn't the good idea I thought it was."

And then you guys go and remind me there's always a middle ground. Just because it's dusty doesn't mean we can't have a party, and just because some things are easily flushed by idiots doesn't mean we can't be creative and pimp porta-potties safely.

I'm picturing moist cloth towelettes, like they give you to wipe your hands before a meal at Japanese restaurants, warmed in a solar oven.

[Shambala]

I think you may have misunderestimated how impassioned people are about their toilets.

[motskyroonmatick]

It's been a long time since I've been so excited about a port-a-potty, and now buzzkill is trying to spoil my joy!

Let items on chains return your buzz!!!!

[junglesmacks]

It's been a long time since I've been so excited about a port-a-potty, and now buzzkill is trying to spoil my joy!

NEVER!! WE SHALL OVERCOME!!

[Shambala]

We Shall Overcome!
I found these retractable cords that we can attach to all our fancy bathroom accessories. If a can of spray should drop into the hole, it can just be pulled back out. See, we are problem solvers here!

[Drawingablank]

We Shall Overcome!
I found these retractable cords that we can attach to all our fancy bathroom accessories. If a can of spray should drop into the hole, it can just be pulled back out. See, we are problem solvers here!

Nice! I can see someone spraying deodorant when the can slips out of their hand and that giant hook knocks them out while retracting.

[motskyroonmatick]

We Shall Overcome!
I found these retractable cords that we can attach to all our fancy bathroom accessories. If a can of spray should drop into the hole, it can just be pulled back out. See, we are problem solvers here!

Fall protection devices for every porto! Wohoo!!

[theCryptofishist]

This goes way beyond the video cameras that I install in several of the portos every year. I think our towel valet person should double as an enforcer, should anyone attempt to defile our toilets, he can kick their asses.

Maybe mdmf will allow us to borrow the Rebbi for the week.

[Drawingablank]

Edit by Sham. I think that the idea of really adding this type of thing to many of the portos would cause mayhem. I pulled the link before we all get swatted!

Yah, that would be anarchy. Things might degenerate into a war between different banks of portos, blue phone booth inferiority complexes, the end of pooping as we know it, etc... We wouldn't want any of that at the burn so that's probably for the best.

I don't think we could handle poopalocalypse that soon after ticketocalypse anyway.

[Gonzo Frothwood]

You don't need the stuff while you're in the potties, you need it after you leave. Concierge service makes sense. If you need more than paper while in the portos, you've got problems.

[robbidobbs]

I appreciate the enthusiasm, truly I do. I'm going to be writing signs and perhaps jingles referencing Jose, the jots guy that manages the separator. I want him to appreciate what we, as participants, do also.

[Dr. Pyro]

There's no one here a bigger Robbidobbs fan than me. We had a long talk several months ago about this. It's not that she's against the idea of the JOTS being nice, it's the indisputable fact that people will throw that shit into the porto-potties and screw up the entire process. There are protocols involved in dealing with the JOTS, and Robbi has spearheaded that unlike any other. She should be congratulated and thanked for her unselfish devotion to her craft. If any of us, and I include myself in this, had the heart and devotion to their contribution to TTITD that Robbi has, the entire playa would be a much better place. Anybody who thinks otherwise is, dare I say, simply wrong.

[junglesmacks]

Mr Frothwood..

Let me both begin and end by professing my love for you and your gift. The only thing better than sitting and letting go of gigantic, gut cleansing poo at 9pm while coming up on the nethers that may or not be reaching up through the arteries to give a good SMACK to the braincells for the night time adventures, is doing so while reading your frippery verbiage that so graces the blue walls of wonder.


..and for that, we salute you.




EDIT: Props to Robbi for her service. No one can deny that. However.. that was some bullshit attitude. Apples and oranges. Hey.. we all have our moments.. and I'm seriously inspired to pull a good 1 hour shift some night of some porto concierge service outside. The girl and I were dreaming up our own playa fragrances that we could spray while offering moist towelettes and shoulder brushing services. I'm combing the web for a killer 70s frilly tux now..

[theCryptofishist]

There's no one here a bigger Robbidobbs fan than me. We had a long talk several months ago about this. It's not that she's against the idea of the JOTS being nice, it's the indisputable fact that people will throw that shit into the porto-potties and screw up the entire process. There are protocols involved in dealing with the JOTS, and Robbi has spearheaded that unlike any other. She should be congratulated and thanked for her unselfish devotion to her craft. If any of us, and I include myself in this, had the heart and devotion to their contribution to TTITD that Robbi has, the entire playa would be a much better place. Anybody who thinks otherwise is, dare I say, simply wrong.

The good doctor is correct.
Oh fuck, Robbi, do you have a camp this year?

[robbidobbs]

Thank you Doc.
Gonzo's sitting next to me counting my beers.
I'm full.

Junglesmacks: very cool.
Fishy:I'm in MASH this yr.

[Gonzo Frothwood]

Thank you junglesmacks. I escaped from Orlando years ago but you get creative dodging alligators.

[junglesmacks]

Thank you junglesmacks. I escaped from Orlando years ago but you get creative dodging alligators.

That, we have.. among other things..



Seriously self spotted last summer.. St Johns River, Osteen, FL.

[theCryptofishist]

Good. I will visit...