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wcerto
Ahonui
USA
5052 Posts |
 Posted - 08/15/2008 : 11:33:49 PM
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Look like owah Seattle guyz nomo fancy lua:
Seattle relieved to lose its high-tech toilets
Friday, August 15, 2008 8:24 PM EDT
The Associated Press
By WHITNEY MALKIN
SEATTLE (AP) — 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.
Neighbors and analysts said they were less cost-effective than regular public restrooms, and in May, the City Council voted to sell them on eBay. After a failed first attempt, when a $89,000 minimum failed to attract a single bid, the city revised its strategy in hopes of sparking a bidding free-for-all.
But despite more than 9,000 combined page views, only 148 bids were cast.
One of the five toilets, which currently graces the downtown waterfront, sold for $4,899, but the average sale was just over $2,510.
A Rochester, Wash., business, Racecar Supply, won all five auctions, which ended Thursday. Butch Behn, the owner, said he plans to use two of the units at the South Sound Speedway and sell the other three.
"It'd probably be good to have a couple around for spares," he said. "We get pretty busy at the track sometimes."
Pat Miller, the city's surplus manager, said the city will recover just over $2,080 per toilet after Bidadoo, the company that listed and sold the units online, takes its 17 percent cut.
The money will go into the city's utility fund.
"The bottom line is that you're getting rid of the stuff," Miller said.
Finding a home for self-cleaning potties that had lived a hard city life was difficult, Miller said, but he's faced bigger hurdles.
"Most cities are strange in the sense that periodically, we have very unique things to get rid of," he said. "Luckily, the Internet is making it easier for us to find these things a home."
Eight years ago, he was scratching his head over the city's 66-foot topiary dinosaurs, which stood guard outside the Seattle Center.
"We didn't know what to do. They weighed about 5 tons; they were just huge," he said. "There were rumors for a while that Michael Jackson had expressed interest in them, in bringing them down to Neverland."
The dinos ultimately found a home with a Seattle neighborhood foundation
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Me ke aloha
Malama pono,
Wanda |
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wcerto
Ahonui
USA
5052 Posts |
Posted - 08/15/2008 : 11:44:51 PM
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More odd news from Washington State, Have any of you guys seen this chicken that crossed the road? Why did the chicken cross the road? To do a duet with Willie Nelson. Ha-ha.
Chicken crosses the road, then abandoned by thief
Friday, August 8, 2008 9:18 PM EDT
The Associated Press
KENNEWICK, Wash. (AP) — Why did the chicken cross the road? In the case of Jerry Sleater's 5-foot, 400-pound bright blue rooster, that's apparently as far as whoever was trying to steal it could get it.
When the 76-year-old Eastern Washington man went to get his newspaper Thursday morning, the big bird named Rudy was lying beside the road.
Sleater has kept the metal rooster perched on his property south of Kennewick for two years and says, "Rudy is a family pet. He doesn't go anywhere, but he's part of the family."
Sleater said he thinks that whoever was trying to steal Rudy got spooked after pushing the oversized rooster down a dirt embankment.
He said he purchased Rudy two years ago from a yard ornament store that was going out of business.
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Me ke aloha
Malama pono,
Wanda |
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slipry1
Ha`aha`a
USA
1511 Posts |
Posted - 08/18/2008 : 08:39:02 AM
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quote:
Originally posted by wcerto
More odd news from Washington State, Have any of you guys seen this chicken that crossed the road? Why did the chicken cross the road? To do a duet with Willie Nelson. Ha-ha.
Chicken crosses the road, then abandoned by thief
Friday, August 8, 2008 9:18 PM EDT
The Associated Press
KENNEWICK, Wash. (AP) — Why did the chicken cross the road? In the case of Jerry Sleater's 5-foot, 400-pound bright blue rooster, that's apparently as far as whoever was trying to steal it could get it.
When the 76-year-old Eastern Washington man went to get his newspaper Thursday morning, the big bird named Rudy was lying beside the road.
Sleater has kept the metal rooster perched on his property south of Kennewick for two years and says, "Rudy is a family pet. He doesn't go anywhere, but he's part of the family."
Sleater said he thinks that whoever was trying to steal Rudy got spooked after pushing the oversized rooster down a dirt embankment.
He said he purchased Rudy two years ago from a yard ornament store that was going out of business.
Having had chickens in my life several times, starting with a 4H project, I believe that the joke is a statement unto itself: I've never know of a chicken that had enough brains to figure out why it did anything! |
keaka |
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cpatch
Ahonui
USA
2187 Posts |
Posted - 08/18/2008 : 09:46:50 AM
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"Seattle Relieved to Lose its High-Tech Toilets."
That was the best headline they could come up with? I know TPers (no related pun intended) can do better. How about:
"Toilets Tank."
"Seattle Toilet Sales Number One Priority with Number Two Results."
"Government Whiz Dumps Toilets for Squat."
And, of course (staying on topic):
"$5 Million Flushed Away. Sheesh."
OK, better stop now before I get myself in trouble. |
Craig
My goal is to be able to play as well as people think I can. |
Edited by - cpatch on 08/18/2008 09:52:01 AM |
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wcerto
Ahonui
USA
5052 Posts |
Posted - 08/18/2008 : 12:10:16 PM
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| Oh, Craig - it was a dangerous thing for me to read this while I was eating my udon noodles for dinner. I almost slurped them down in one big intake of breath. You are so funny! |
Me ke aloha
Malama pono,
Wanda |
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