Mountains, urinals, and crosswalks?

Continuing on the subject of “thoughtless acts”

George Herbert Leigh Mallory was a British Mountaineer who may have been one of the first to Summit Mt. Everest. When he was asked “why do you want to climb Mt. Everest?” he replied quite succinctly “because it is there.”

Some people feel compelled to climb mountains because “they are there” and others kick pigeons, and sometimes men pee on things.

The (awesome) thoughtless acts that I would like to discuss this week take place in Dutch airport bathrooms. I know this sounds kinkier than it is… Trust me.

Ladies and gentlemen, meet the urinal fly

The urinal fly began in Amsterdam’s Schipol Airport. The tiny image of a fly was etched into a urinal with the intention that it would give the Dutch men something to aim at while relieving themselves of the extra Amstel and Heineken they’d been carrying around since lunch. An act that is so very thoughtless as to be almost compulsory. The results (as far as I have read) show tiles below the urinal as much as “85% cleaner”

This is a really cool example of thoughtless acts being used to “control” behavior and direct it in a more positive way. I think there is a lot of potential in ideas like this. What are some other behaviors that people feel compelled to perform? Ideas similar to this might be: basketball hoops above trash cans in parks to curb littering, or maybe a little game at the corner that would keep pedestrians entertained while waiting and reduce the desire to jaywalk at unsafe times. Just thinking on paper but like I said, there’s a lot of potential with these thoughtless acts.