We can stand up when we pee.
We can even write our names in the snow.
Nyah.

But you can't hit a toilet?

They're faster to use than toilets? (I'm guessing.) They take up less space, making them more attractive to building designers. And they use less water, so they're environmentally-friendly! ;-)

And by acting as "express lanes" in the men's room, they reduce latency for everyone, not just the people who use them.

Fill them with ice to chill your champagne. Easier to manage than a bath-tub full.

See icon.

If nothing else, they provide men with a way to covertly assess the relative size of their penis.

... but it's assessing the relative size of an unexcited penis, which really isn't saying a whole lot. Unless they like playing the "show-er vs grower" game.

I thought this was a response to the comment directly above (http://aroraborealis.livejournal.com/844056.html?thread=9767448#t9767448, at the time of this writing) and I was very confused for a moment.

Have you ever heard tales of... the baseball stadium urinal trough?

Bleh.

Those used to be more common; the only one I've seen in recent years is in the men's room of the Mad River Glen base lodge. When it needed to be replaced, instead of putting in actual urinals, they had one custom-made at significantly higher expense. They did a similar thing with their antique single chairlift. Peculiar place, MRG.

OMFG what a timely question. Today, for the first time, everyone I see calls me "sir" and I fear that I might have to go investigate the answer to your question soon.

At my workplace, which was originally built for men only, we keep plants in them. No risk of over watering.

At my workplace in the lab, there is a privacy shield to either side of the urinal that has two parabolas of rusty pitted metal that shows the splash pattern. I think it's pretty clear based on the shapes that whoever uses it is inadvertently wetting themselves. Think of them as a way that men lightly mist themselves with pheromones (there must be some of those in pee and it sure sounds better than just peeing on ourselves).

I guess they are a subtle joke.