This public toilet scans your face to make sure you don't use too much toilet paper

Beijing's Temple of Heaven is one of the world's most popular tourist spots. As such, it has a busy public restroom. The administrators felt that people were using too much toilet paper so they installed a toilet paper dispenser with facial recognition. If you received your 2-foot-long segment of toilet paper in the last 9 minutes, you'll have to wait to get more.

From Mashable:

In the short time it's been up, the system has already cut down usage to a fraction, temple staff said. According to the Beijing Evening News, each washroom average four rolls of toilet paper, compared to 20 rolls before.

But some have reported that the facial recognition process which is supposed to take three seconds can take up to a few minutes, and that it has not been reliable.

Some Weibo users have also responded with incredulity.

"To be honest, 60cm is a bit too little," said a user.

[via Clive Thompson]