The Stalliscope is a folding periscope which collapses (like a folding telescope) to fit in a woman's handbag. It needn't be particularly compact, because most women have huge handbags full of clutter anyway.

It is used by female toilet users to examine the footwear of other stall occupants to determine their identity. It allows the user to peer under the partitions while seated on the WC.

A cheap version might just be a folding "mirror on a stick", like a big dentist's mirror on a telescopic arm, but we know this is Baked because we have one. We use it for looking inside machines or under floorboards. It has never occured to us to use it to peer under cubicle partitions and frankly the whole idea is distasteful, but we see a market opportunity (or rather, we can see its boots in the stall next to us).
-- 8th of 7, Aug 08 2002

Bathroom slippers http://www.halfbake...Bathroom_20Slippers
The countermeasure ... [8th of 7, Aug 08 2002, last modified Oct 04 2004]

why not just stand on the toilet, look over the partition, say howdy and shake hands? That way you'll have someone to talk to. Couldn't the stalliscope be misused for looking up above the feet?
-- rbl, Aug 08 2002


Or there could just be a giant LED matrix display.

JANE DOE IS IN HERE...JANE DOE IS IN HERE...
-- BinaryCookies, Aug 08 2002


rbl:

// Couldn't the stalliscope be misused for looking up above the feet? //

I don't think so. Extended, the thing is going to be the best part of half a metre long; the mirror at the objective end is at a right angle. To look "up" into the next stall, at 45 degrees, the top end is going to have to be similarlly tilted - maing it awkward to view - and the objective lens would have to become visible peeping under the partition - the gap height looks to be about 200 mm on average. This device is a "stealth" technology - you don't want your neighbour to know you have one.

Besides, from Blissmiss's description of "cubicle slippers", it's merely identification that is the object of curiosity.
-- 8th of 7, Aug 08 2002


Could this be fitted to a camera? I've always wanted a momento or keepsake of the toilets I've used and a photo of the shoes of the person using the cubicle next to mine would be just the thing. One could build up quite an interesting portfolio over the years.
-- Saveloy, Aug 08 2002


I keep on thinking this has to do with soviet dictators..
-- yamahito, Aug 08 2002


Isn't this Baked by the creeps that go round selling videotapes taken up women's skirts...?
-- DrCurry, Aug 08 2002


"Girls Gone Crap!"
-- thumbwax, Aug 08 2002


Guys just want to get in and get out with as little attention as possible, and have enough issues just at the urinal. Must be a woman thing to want to talk to your stall neighbor. Maybe this is why the woman's lines are so long...
-- RayfordSteele, Aug 08 2002


I am with Ray on this. well, no, I am not *with* him -um, no I mean I understand where he is coming from - um, oh forget it......
-- po, Aug 08 2002


Why would you need or want to see what the person in the stall next to you is wearing on their feet? Why not just wait until they come out of the stall, then look at their shoes, if you really need to know?
-- Bert6322, Aug 09 2002


Also helpful for looking behind yourself on the way out of the loo to insure no embarassing paper products have become affixed to your sole.
-- Mr Burns, Aug 09 2002


It is, but that's not why. I just prefer the crafty stealth approach.
-- Mr Burns, Aug 09 2002


Think when you're quietly enjoying your foot fetish, and that toilet paper printer starts up with a "Tchi.tchi.tchi.tchi..." and you're caught in the act.
-- FarmerJohn, Aug 09 2002


[Sound of tchi-tchi-tchi'ing]

Jeanie: Soo, Marie, what <grunt> are you printing today?

Marie (breathing heavily): The National Enquirer TP Edition, of course! But how did you (gasp) know it was me?

Jeanie: Oh, I <grunt> know you always wear those Bathroom Slippers.

Marie (annoyed at being caught): Oh, reall <grunt> lly? No, you don't! You bought one of those Stalliscopes, didn't ya? You bitch!

Jeanie: Heh-<grunt>, no, I got it from your peeping-tom husband, Hunter!

[Sound of splashing; source known only to them; eerie silence and sound of two sets of footsteps out of bathroom; Tune in to the next episode of As the Ring of Fire Burns, when Marie kicks Jeanie's ass...]
-- polartomato, Aug 10 2002


This is nice! I like to chat with friends while using the pot at work. This is even better than having to write all over the walls. carjug2
-- carjug2, Nov 29 2002



random, halfbakery