A bathroom is a place of pleasure, a relaxing environment, but also fun; not only a place for bodily functions that can often be a starting point to address different topics, such as Science, Technology, Art, Design, and History. Without excluding hacks, viral phenomena, and more or less funny news.
So welcome to this blog to explore the bathroom from different points of view trying to break down the taboos about the place most people are ashamed of, but everybody attends.
So have a seat!
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16 December 2024Plectranthus barbatus can become a new sustainable toilet paper
A lush plant sways over the landscape of Meru, a town in eastern Kenya. Benjamin Mutembei, a resident of Meru, is cultivating this plant, called Plectranthus barbatus which is used for toilet paper rather than food.
In 1985, he started growing the plant. “I learned about it from my grandfather and have used it ever since. It’s soft and has a nice smell,” he says.
As reported here, the leafy plant Plectranthus barbatus can reach a height of 2 meters (6.6 feet). Its leaves have a minty, lemony scent and are about the size of a square of industrial toilet paper. The leaves are delicate and covered in small hairs. This plant is extensively grown throughout Africa and is occasionally used to mark property boundaries because it does well in warm tropical temperatures and partial sunlight.
“This has been an African tissue for a long time, and everyone in my household uses the plant. I only buy modern toilet rolls when the leaves have all been plucked,” Mutembei says.
In Kenya, the plant has given Mutembei an affordable substitute for buying toilet paper. Similar to many other commodities, toilet paper has become more expensive throughout Africa, primarily as a result of the high cost of imported raw materials like wood pulp, which are necessary for making toilet rolls. According to the Kenya Association of Manufacturers, the cost of raw materials now accounts for 75–80% of the total cost of tissue products in Kenya.
The world market is dominated by toilet paper produced from virgin wood pulp. “Typical toilet paper is made of 70-80% short fiber hardwood and 20-30% long fiber hardwood,” says Ronalds Gonzalez, a professor in the Department of Forest Biomaterials at North Carolina State University.
According to research by the environmental impact consultancy Edge, an estimated one million trees are felled annually worldwide to produce toilet paper.
The pulp and paper sector uses about 35% of harvested trees to make paper, making it the greatest consumer of virgin wood in the world. According to the most recent Ethical Consumer research on ethical toilet paper, this is causing global ecosystem disruption, deforestation, biodiversity loss, soil erosion, and species extinction.
According to Martin Odhiambo, a herbalist specializing in traditional plants at the National Museum of Kenya, there may already be a solution to the environmental harm caused by the cutting down of trees for toilet paper.
“Plectranthus barbatus is the African toilet paper. Many young people nowadays are unaware of this plant, but it has the potential to be an environmentally friendly alternative to toilet paper,” he says.
Although the real number of individuals in Kenya using the plant as toilet paper is unknown, Odhiambo notes that it is still widely produced throughout Africa and is still employed in many rural places where it is easily available.
It takes 1-2 months for Plectranthus barbatus to reach its maximum height after a cutting, which costs about 50 Kenyan shillings ($0.37).
“The leaves are similar in size to an industrial toilet paper square, making them suitable for use in modern flush toilets or for composting in latrines,” says Odhiambo.
Visitors from across Kenya attend Odhiambo’s lectures on the uses of Plectranthus barbatus and buy cuttings from his botanical garden at the National Museum of Kenya in Nairobi.
“My class has grown to over 600 participants. People are enthusiastic about learning how to use the plant and often ask for cuttings and seedlings to take back to their towns,” he says.
Other nations are also investigating the plant’s potential.
For five years, Robin Greenfield, an environmentalist who operates a non-profit organization in Florida that promotes sustainable living, has been employing the leaves of Plectranthus barbatus.
Greenfield grows more than 100 Plectranthus barbatus plants at his Florida nursery and organizes a “grow your own toilet paper” initiative. He encourages individuals to grow their own toilet paper by sharing cuttings for free or in exchange for voluntary donations. He claims to have given cuttings to hundreds of people thus far.
“There are many people who associate using the toilet paper plant with poverty,” says Greenfield, though he points out that industrial toilet paper is ultimately made from plants too.
Greenfield reports that those who use the plant have given him excellent feedback. “For anybody who feels a little hesitant to try this plant, I would say to drop your worries about what people think about you. And simply by saying, ‘I’m going to be me, and that might mean wiping my butt with some really soft leaves that I grow,'” he says.
However, how likely is it that this plant will be employed more extensively?
Production on a large scale has not yet been investigated. Rather, companies like WEPA, one of the biggest producers of toilet paper in Europe, are taking other measures to lessen the environmental effects of traditional toilet paper. According to a spokesperson, WEPA has created a novel technique for making toilet paper out of recycled cardboard that does not require bleaching the fibers.
Before being made into paper, wood pulp is usually bleached, releasing chlorinated compounds into the atmosphere. According to a report by the non-profit Natural Resources Defense Council, these compounds can react with carbon-based materials to produce dioxins, which are extremely dangerous substances linked to cancer and other health risks.
The toilet paper plant, meanwhile, is expected to have a “minimal” impact on the industry, says a WEPA spokesperson.
One drawback is that wastewater and disposal systems, especially in Europe, aren’t designed to handle this type of paper, as only soluble items can be flushed through the system, the spokesperson says.
Greenfield says that’s where compost toilets come in. “I use a compost toilet. The leaves go back to the earth and produce soil, which can then support food growth. It’s a closed-loop system, and I think using these leaves could lead us to a conversation about the environmental benefits of composting.”
There are also limitations on the locations and countries where Plectranthus barbatus can be grown, says Wendy Applequist, an associate scientist at the Missouri Botanical Garden. In South Africa, for example, Plectranthus barbatus is regarded as an invasive species, and growing or selling it is banned. Invasive species cost the global economy more than $423bn (£333bn) every year and are a major driver of biodiversity loss.
According to Applequist, environmental concerns may be reduced by cultivating the plant in a designated setting within a specified region and keeping an eye on its development to prevent it from spreading into the surrounding ecosystem. However, public acceptance continues to be perhaps the largest obstacle to mainstreaming. However, Odhiambo is optimistic about his Nairobi plant nursery.
“I know some people see using leaves as toilet paper as a step backward, but understanding the benefits of this plant, I believe it could become the next green alternative,” says Odhiambo. “I’ve been growing it in my nursery and sharing it with communities across Kenya, and people have been amazed by its convenience. If we keep an open mind and continue promoting this plant, we could eventually mass produce it for widespread use.” [...]
9 December 2024Airbus’ radical plan to fly with one pilot
According to this article, the goal of European aircraft maker Airbus is to remove the necessity of having two pilots at the controls of commercial passenger aircraft at any given time by installing a potty-style toilet directly behind the captain’s seat on its flagship A350 long-haul aircraft.
The European aerospace behemoth’s toilet idea is a component of the continuing investigation into Extended Minimum Crew Operations, or eMCO, as the aviation industry has named it.
Single-pilot operations, where only one pilot controls a packed widebody aircraft during the cruise phase of flight, are referred to as extended minimum crew operations.
The hope is that eMCO will result in attractive cost savings for airlines because, on ultra-long-haul flights, there will no longer be a need to have three or four pilots operating on the same flight.
Under eMCO, one pilot would be left alone in the cockpit for up to three hours while the other pilot slept. Pilots alternate resting in a dedicated crew rest compartment while two are on the flight deck at any given time.
Although advanced work on eMCO projects is proceeding unabated and single-pilot operations could be a reality in less than five years, the plan has inevitably concerned unions and groups that represent pilots worldwide.
However, there are still a few significant obstacles to overcome. One of these is addressing the physiological demands of pilots, such as the need to use the restroom or cope with menstruation because they are human.
One of the tasks assigned to the European Air Safety Agency (EASA) is to research the safe implementation of eMCO, which includes addressing the possibility that pilots will have to use the can.
The pan-European organization took into consideration recommendations such as requiring pilots to have a high-protein, low-residue diet to reduce the likelihood that they would have to defecate and asking them to purposefully dehydrate themselves before beginning a lone shift at the aircraft controls.
The agency also considered other radical options, such as requiring pilots to use adult diapers or installing disposable pee collectors in cockpits.
Fortunately, all of these prospective remedies were rejected by the EASA study’s authors, who concluded that diapers, special diets, and urine collectors were neither acceptable nor viable.
Rather, EASA recommended that if a pilot had to wake up the second pilot to use the restroom urgently, the eMCO would be terminated. However, if the eMCO is terminated too soon, the pilots may become fatigued.
Airbus is now working on a plan to bring an open restroom to the flight deck to solve that problem.
“They’re going to get rid of that second jumpseat behind the Captain and put a toilet; think about that for a minute; that’s no pilot ops,” pilots at the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA) board of directors meeting were recently warned.
“So when you have to relieve yourself, there’s no one at the controls. They are even proposing a comms panel at that toilet so that you can look forward to the control and instrumentation. If ATC calls, well, you can answer it while you’re resting on the can.”
As early as 2027, eMCO could be prepared to conduct tests on its A350 variant if Airbus gets its way. Single-pilot operations on cargo Airbus A320 aircraft may be implemented in the next five years.
The dispute against Airbus, Boeing, and the airline industry has intensified in recent months because of concerns that aircraft manufacturers are covertly attempting to be the first to introduce eMCO to the market. ALPA has joined forces with other pilot unions to resist eMCO.
“ALPA, along with global pilot unions, are united in opposition to this concept and have made it a priority to maintain at least two pilots on the flight deck to ensure the safety and security of all airline flight operations,” the union commented earlier this month.
“No one understands better than a pilot that when an issue arises in flight, it is the pilots who are responsible for achieving a safe outcome.” [...]
2 December 2024The day after Thanksgiving can be a plumbing crisis
It’s Thanksgiving, and the holiday season is now a dead sprint. If you think you are busy cooking turkey, baking pies, and finding deals, you have no idea what plumbers are going through. The Friday after Thanksgiving, which has come to be known as “Brown Friday,” is their Super Bowl, and this is their busiest time of year.
What is ‘Brown Friday’?
As explained here, despite being the day following Turkey Day, “Brown Friday” actually refers to a whole week of increased activity for plumbers. Although the name seems to be a metaphor for clogged toilets, that is not the whole tale. A day of cooking, eating, and entertaining puts a lot of strain on your plumbing, resulting in clogged toilets, faulty disposals, and clogged sinks.
In 2023, searches for “emergency plumbing” increased by 65%, according to data provided by Yelp. Thanksgiving Day saw more searches for “24-hour plumbers” than any other day in November 2023.
The most common causes of plumbing problems on brown Friday
Fat and grease
Grease, oils, and fats of any kind should never be poured down the drain as this will cause serious blockages in your pipes. That is the fundamentals of plumbing. Grease solidifies and sticks when it comes into contact with a cold pipe. Grease accumulates over time, clogs the pipes, and becomes very challenging to get rid of. Unclogging the subsequent mess is a regular challenge that plumbers face the following day because some customers are unaware of this.
Potato peels
Thanksgiving is undoubtedly the time for mashed potatoes, but as you are preparing the family’s favorite side dish, resist the urge to throw the potato peels in the trash. You might think that a garbage disposal’s blades will tear everything into ribbons so that it can be securely flushed down the drain. However, the starchy skins tend to clump together in your pipes, which can lead to more blockages.
Carrot peelings should not go into the garbage disposal, even if they are not as common as potatoes for Thanksgiving cooking. Additionally, pasta and rice can clog drains.
When you start cooking, keep in mind that there is a reason why potato peels are among the 15 items you should never dispose of in your garbage disposal.
Composting your food waste is an additional simple alternative. It is excellent for your flower beds or garden. Additionally, you can probably locate a composting service in your area that collaborates with other farmers if you do not have a garden or flowers.
Turkey
Turkey bones and skin do not mix well with garbage disposals or drains. They may result in obstructions.
Clogged toilets
Keep in mind that only toilet paper and the natural waste it was designed to handle should be flushed down the toilet. Additionally, do not presume that your guests are wise. There are ways to politely remind guests that items such as paper towels, toiletries, etc., should not be flushed.
How to prevent plumbing problems
The good news is that you can avoid having to run around looking for an emergency plumber on Thanksgiving by taking a few easy preventative measures.
Use the disposal correctly. They’re not made for bones, potato peels, cornhusks, carrots, onion skins, coffee grounds, pasta, etc.
Cold water. Make sure to run cold water while you feed stuff into it.
Dishwasher. If your garbage disposal is clogged, avoid using the dishwasher.
Grease and oils. Use a container instead of pouring them down the drain, and throw them in the trash once they have solidified.
Dishes and greasy pans. Wipe them off before putting them in the dishwasher or washing them by hand in the sink.
Mesh strainer. Get it for your showers, tubs, and bathroom sinks, especially if you’re hosting guests this year. That will help catch hair before it turns into a clog.
Flushing. Avoid flushing wipes, feminine products, and other non-dissolvable products down the toilet.
Plunger. Plunging a toilet is the easiest way to unclog it. If the clog is too stubborn for a plunger, you may need to snake the toilet or dial up a plumber to take care of the problem. [...]
25 November 2024A new public sculpture at a beauty spot has been compared to a poo
As reported here, Earnley Viewpoint at Medmerry Nature Reserve, close to Chichester, has a periwinkle sculpture that mimics a sea snail.
It is made of Sussex willow and was designed by Two Circles Design, a group of local artists. Inspired by its surroundings, the installation showcases a cloud window silhouette of a marsh harrier, a predatory bird.
During the creation of the nature reserve, archaeologists discovered periwinkles in the ruins of an old medieval fish basket, further illustrating the site’s Bronze and Middle Age history.
Specifically, archaeologists found evidence of several circular Bronze Age roundhouses and burial grounds dating from 1,100 BC on the site, along with the remains of a medieval wooden ‘kettle’ designed to funnel and trap fish in a weir at low tide using wickerwork fences.
However, a lot of people questioned how much the recently disclosed item cost and remarked it looked like the poo emoji.
Culture Spark, a partnership between Pallant House Gallery, Chichester Festival Theatre, and Chichester District Council, created the sculpture. The UK Shared Prosperity Fund, which the Chichester District Council managed, provided funds to Culture Spark.
The site itself, Medmerry Nature Reserve, is one of Europe’s largest coastal realignment schemes. The man-made reserve was designed to protect surrounding villages and towns from flooding. Its creation involved constructing a new 7km flood embankment on higher ground further inland, which transformed 183 hectares into new intertidal habitats for birds and other wildlife. The project was completed in 2013 by the Environment Agency in partnership with the RSPB and was funded by Associated British Ports.
Two Circles Design responded to the criticism by sending two additional sculpture images.
The sight surprised the readers; one said, “I think I might have trod in that this morning; I do apologize.” Another said the sculpture “looks like a pile of poo” and said it was a “waste of money.”
Michael Older said, “Good heavens, what was the size of the creature that produced that?”
Konrad Langhamer said: “It must have been a really big dog that did that.”
Alan York said, “How much public taxpayer money funded the grant to make a statue of a dog’s Richard’s?”
Kim Lyhne Andersen said, “What a load of sh*t.”
Denise Davies said, “Oh my God, I thought we’d been invaded by giant cows.”
Mary Leach said, “Looks like something from a dog or a worm cast.”
Terry Stevens said, “Was that Southern Water?”
Mike Williams said, “It’s a poo emoji.”
Chris Edmonds said, “Someone is having a laugh here.”
Terri Allison said, “Nice poo.”
A spokeswoman from Chichester District Council said: “This was a community project funded by several partners and the UK Shared Prosperity Fund and is one of three pieces of public art that were commissioned for the RSPB Medmerry Nature Reserve.”
“As part of the Medmerry projects, we invited local artists to submit ideas for installations, which had to use natural materials and meet the brief of being closely linked to the specific installation sites. This also included running a series of community workshops where members of the public made their own willow art, which was incorporated into the final sculpture.”
“This particular sculpture reflects the site’s rich Bronze and Middle Age history. While the reserve was being created, archaeologists found periwinkles in the remains of an ancient medieval fish basket. The sculpture also features a cloud window silhouette of a marsh harrier, a bird that frequents the reserve.”
“The community project, including the sculpture and community workshops, cost £6,000.”
“These workshops received a really good response from the local community. Art projects like this are a great way to bring people together, connect with nature, and share in the stories and history of their local area.”
Councillor John Cross, cabinet member for culture, sport, and place at Chichester District Council, added: “The inspiration for the Periwinkle Shelter derives from archaeological excavations of the Medmerry site and tells a fascinating tale. This beautiful sculpture is woven from Sussex and Somerset willow and signifies both a glance back to the past and an acknowledgment of this new incarnation for the Medmerry landscape.” [...]
17 November 2024Australian researchers develop ‘Chart Your Fart’
Certainly, one of the main issues affecting most people in today’s society is a sedentary lifestyle characterized by stress and irregular work-life balance. When you combine it with terrible eating habits, you have the makings of a health catastrophe!
Because of this, as reported here, many people today experience poor gut health and its crippling consequences. As a result, a group of Australian researchers have developed a somewhat odd and perplexing method for enhancing gut health: monitoring your fart!
According to CSIRO research, the average person passes wind between 7-20 times per day, though this can vary significantly based on diet and activity levels. This finding gains additional context from a 2021 CSIRO gut health study which revealed that more than 60% of Australians reported excessive flatulence, with over 40% experiencing it most days. These statistics highlight the widespread nature of digestive health concerns in the population.
As puzzling as it may sound, a report by Interesting Engineering claims that the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), Australia’s national science agency, has initiated this strange project with the goal of delving deeply into the science of gut health using data gathered from people.
CSIRO scientists have created an app called Chart Your Fart that allows Australians over 14 to record and monitor their flatulence for three days. The researchers claim that this effort advances our understanding of gut health by employing data from the app.
Instead of just recording flatulence, the app‘s algorithms are designed to analyze its characteristics in depth. It asks users to rate their farts on a variety of criteria, including stench (odorless to toxic), duration (short to eternity), detectability (discreet to blatant), loudness (silent to deafening), and smell longevity (fleeting to permanent).
The app’s practical benefits are already becoming apparent through user experiences. One participant, Heather, who previously attributed her frequent flatulence to “coming from a farty family,” discovered valuable patterns in her digestive health through the app. By tracking her daily output, she identified specific triggers in her diet, particularly noting how certain foods like croissants, pasta, and bread led to increased gas production. This insight has prompted her to make more conscious dietary choices.
Using the Chart Your Fart app is straightforward and user-friendly. Participants can log their experiences in real-time, with the app designed to capture data at the moment it occurs. Users simply open the app when they feel flatulence coming on and can quickly input their observations. This immediate recording helps ensure accurate data collection and makes the tracking process more manageable for participants.
“Passing wind is a natural occurrence and a sign that our digestive system is working as it should, to expel excess gas that is produced from breaking down and processing the food we eat,” said CSIRO research dietitian Megan Rebuli. “Different foods, medical conditions, or even the way we chew or swallow can impact how our body processes the gas, leading to different smells, frequency, or volume,” she added.
The CSIRO team emphasizes that gut health serves as a crucial indicator of overall wellness. Dr. Emily Brindal and her team are particularly interested in establishing clear benchmarks for what constitutes “normal” patterns in digestive health. This research aims to help people better understand when their symptoms might indicate underlying issues and when they fall within typical ranges. The data collected could prove invaluable in developing more targeted approaches to digestive health management.
“Research is only as good as the data we have, and we want to work with as much of our diverse Australian community as we can to drive innovation in health and wellbeing research,” said Dr. Emily Brindal, project lead, and CSIRO Behavioural Scientist while explaining the purpose of the project.
The project also addresses an important cultural aspect of digestive health. While many people find the topic embarrassing, CSIRO dietitian Megan Rebuli emphasizes that there’s no need for shame. The project aims to normalize these discussions, encouraging people to be more open about their digestive health and seek help when needed. As one participant aptly put it, “Nobody needs to be shy about it – everybody farts, right?” [...]
11 November 2024From Twitter to bestseller: a scientific investigation of animal farts
In 2017, quantitative ecologist Dani Rabiotti asked on Twitter if someone had ever wondered if a snake could fart?. Naturally, her investigation on animal flatulence went viral. #doesitfart swiftly gained traction after that. The topic was developed into a book by Rabiotti and her co-author Nick Caruso, which made it to the New York Times Bestseller list in 2018.
My book would not exist without this platform. #Doesitfart was literally a hashing started by @PlethodoNick and me. It changed my life immeasurably for the better, and the book money and opportunities stemming from it kept me in academia post PhD. https://t.co/h0fpZJSX6E— Dr Dani Rabaiotti (@DaniRabaiotti) November 5, 2022
In their groundbreaking book Does It Fart?: The Definitive Field Guide to Animal Flatulence, Rabaiotti and Caruso define a fart as “any gas expelled from the end of an animal that is opposite its mouth.”
An animal may fart from its cloaca, which is a combined hole for urination and defecation, or its anus if it has one. A sound is produced when the gas discharge causes the orifice to vibrate against the sphincter muscles of an organism.
Which animals can fart?
According to this article, many animals are capable of farting. Naturally, humans do well, but so do bobcats, dogs, manatees, and hyenas. The toot chorus also includes a good number of unexpected animals. There are enough flatulent creatures to fill a book, as was already mentioned.
Take the herring, for example. The fish can communicate by farting, and it does so consciously. Because herring fart at a frequency too high for predatory fish to detect, their flatulence serves as a code for fish.
Not all farts are made equal, and they can have a variety of uses. As with the herring above, passing gas can be employed to communicate or to ease digestive discomfort. Another way to frighten off possible predators is just to fart. A Sonoran coral snake will draw air into its cloaca, which is a single hole used for urination and feces, and then release it with a popping sound when it feels threatened. This “cloacal popping” is described by Rabiotti and Caruso as a “higher-pitched, shorter variant of a human fart.”
Only found in Mexico’s Cuatro Cienegas Reserve, the Bolson Pupfish holds the remarkable distinction of being an animal that needs to fart in order to survive. Gas is produced by the algae that the fish eat. The fish starts to float toward the surface, where hungry predators are waiting, as the gas builds up inside it. The fish can return to the sediment it often inhabits by farting.
American cockroaches are not only able to survive anywhere, but they can also fart.
Which animals can’t fart?
A few animals are incapable of farting, whereas others can but do not.
Despite their supposed ability, bats do not seem to fart. They may be able to avoid internal gas buildup because they digest their meal so rapidly. Theoretically, most creatures that digest their food are capable of farting; however, they may not do so so often or audibly.
The digestive systems of animals that are actually incapable of farting are unable to break down food in a way that produces gas inside a closed space, such as an intestine, and then expels it. For instance, a Portuguese man o’ war cannot fart. In its tentacles, the man o’ war liquefies its prey, which is technically a colony of specialized organisms.
According to Rabiotti and Caruso, birds generally do not fart because their gut microbes are different from those of mammals and their food goes through their digestive systems fast, leaving no opportunity for gas buildup. Whether amphibians toot is up for debate. Because frogs have weak sphincter muscles, it is unlikely that passing any gas would result in vibrations that are loud enough to be heard.
Sloths are an anomaly among animals in that they do not fart. Although their gut microbiota creates methane, which they ingest and exhale rather than release as farts, they digest their simple food very slowly. [...]
4 November 2024How whale poop transformed this scientist’s career
Joe Roman is a conservation biologist at the University of Vermont and the author of ‘Eat, Poop, Die: How Animals Make Our World‘, and ‘Whale‘. He has based his research career on whale feces and has traveled the world collecting samples. His research focuses on how the whales’ waste products bring nutrients back to the ocean’s surface and help to support biodiversity.
As reported here, he first encountered whale poop 30 years ago while working on a right whale research project. On one of his first days on the water in the Bay of Fundy, eastern Canada, they came upon a feeding male right whale with mud on its head—or bonnet—a sign that it had been feeding at the bottom of the bay. It had come up to breathe and rest.
Just before it dove in again, it released an enormous fecal plume. There were gallons of poop in that water. It looked like red floating bricks. The smell was overwhelming. Some whale poop smells like brine and seawater, but with right whales, there’s a strong smell of sulfur.
If you get that poop on your clothes, you have to throw them away. You’re never going to wash it out.
Roman didn’t know it then, but that fecal plume would later spark his global search for whale feces, from Iceland to Mexico, Alaska, and Hawaii.
He has found that whale feces can tell us not only about a whale’s diet but also about its hormones and reproductive status. It can reveal the whale’s stress levels, gut microbiome, and genetic lineage. It even allows researchers to look at the level of mercury and pollution in the ocean—everything from microplastics to parasite loads.
Ambergris, which is formed in the hindgut of sperm whales when they digest squid beaks, is rare and extremely valuable. Since the 1970s, its trade has been restricted in many countries. But in the past, it was used to make perfumes, which were worn by Elizabeth I, Charles I, and Casanova.
Whale fecal plumes can be neon green or bright red. At times, they sparkle with silver scales, like the sun glinting on the water. Every whale defecation is unique.
As for the smell, Roman notes that the poop of right whales is the strongest and foulest, but he has grown to love the smell.
It helped set the course for his research career. Two years after seeing whale poop for the first time, Roman took his first class in marine ecology and learned about one of the most important processes in the ocean, especially in carbon sequestration: the biological pump.
The whale pump represents a crucial but often overlooked mechanism in ocean ecosystems. While the biological pump moves nutrients downward as dead organisms sink to the ocean floor, whales create an opposite flow. These marine mammals dive deep to feed on prey, then return to the surface, where they release nutrient-rich feces.
Their waste contains vital elements like nitrogen, phosphorus, and iron—essential nutrients that would otherwise remain trapped in the deep ocean. When released near the surface, these nutrients become available to phytoplankton, the tiny organisms that form the base of the marine food web.
The phytoplankton bloom, feeding small fish and krill, which in turn support larger fish and more whales. In this way, whale feces act as a biological elevator, moving nutrients upward and sustaining the productivity of entire ocean ecosystems. This discovery challenges the old belief that whales merely deplete fish stocks; instead, their presence may enhance ocean fertility and support larger fish populations.
Phytoplankton, or algae, only grow near the surface of the ocean, where there is enough light for photosynthesis. Animals such as krill and copepods feed on it there, and they are eaten by fish and even whales.
When this phytoplankton dies or is consumed, some of those nutrients are removed from the atmosphere and can sink to the bottom of the ocean. In this way, the biological pump plays an important role in moving carbon to the deep sea.
Roman remembers sitting there in class that day, thinking something was missing. Right whales often feed at depth and poop at the surface, so they’re likely bringing important nutrients like nitrogen, phosphorus, and iron back up to the surface.
That set him off on the idea of a “whale pump,” which researchers have since discovered does the opposite of the biological pump. It pumps nutrients back up to the surface.
These nutrients can get picked up by phytoplankton and go through the entire ocean food chain. This is important because one of the justifications for whaling in Japan, Norway, and Iceland is that whales eat “our fish.” Therefore, if there are too many whales, there will be a decline in fisheries.
The whale pump demonstrates it’s more complicated than that—and that the presence of whales in the ocean might increase fish populations.
As well as helping us to understand the state of the present ocean, whale poop gives us a glimpse into the past ocean and what it was like when there were hundreds of thousands of whales in the sea. If we can restore whales and the nutrient pathways that historically existed through their poop, Roman suggests it could help support more biodiversity in the ocean. [...]
28 October 2024Slightly larger than a soccer ball, it looks like the popular iPhone poop emoji
As reported here, perched on the about six-foot (two-meter) wide desk, a poop, which is slightly bigger than a soccer ball and resembles the well-known iPhone emoji without the eyes, forms a pyramid that, when viewed from the correct angle, traces the outline of the Capitol’s iconic round dome.
A sign beneath the desk indicates its purpose: “This memorial honors the brave men and women who broke into the United States Capitol on January 6th, 2021, to loot, urinate, and defecate throughout those hallowed halls in order to overturn an election.”
“President Trump celebrates these heroes of January 6th as ‘unbelievable patriots’ and ‘warriors.’ This monument stands as a testament to their daring sacrifice and lasting legacy,” the sign says.
Although the monument does not specify where it came from, Civic Crafted LLC applied for National Park Service permission for the week-long stunt. When contacted for comment, the woman listed on the permit did not reply.
“It’s brilliant satire from my perspective,” said Washington local Joel Williams, who works for the federal government. “But I just hope that a certain segment of this population don’t look at it like a trophy, like, ‘Oh we did it, we accomplished our goal.'”
On January 6, 2021, thousands of followers of then-President Donald Trump stormed the US Capitol to overturn his election loss, which he still insists was the result of fraud.
One Capitol Police officer who fought against the rioters died the following day, and four more perished on the day of the attack. Later, other cops committed suicide. Several members of Congress have claimed that urine and feces were used to desecrate the building, and the Justice Department estimated that the riot caused damage of almost 1.5 million dollars.
Trump has referred to the Jan. 6 defendants as “hostages” during the campaign trail and stated that he will pardon them if he wins the Nov. 5 election against Democrat Kamala Harris.
Reminiscent of the man who placed his feet up on Nancy Pelosi’s desk, the statue’s backside features a desk nameplate for the Democratic former speaker of the US House of Representatives.
“If taking a dump on someone’s desk is an act of democracy and bravery, then you’re wrong,” said Aldo Alvarez, a lawyer from Monterrey, Mexico, visiting the nation’s capital for his college reunion. [...]
21 October 2024From the origins to the present day
The Japan National Tourism Organization estimated that about 18 million tourists visited the nation in the first half of 2024, much exceeding the record-breaking 31 million visitors in the same time of 2019. “The pleasant toilets” was a common response to surveys asking the growing number of tourists what they liked best about their trips.
However, many have said that bathroom issues were a barrier to the rise of tourism until 2013 when Japan first surpassed 10 million foreign visitors. The biggest problem was the prevalence of washiki, or conventional squat-style, restrooms in public spaces. Many Western tourists avoided using the restrooms at tourist attractions, parks, and train stations because they were not accustomed to the style, which can be difficult on untrained legs and knees and prone to soiling.
In addition, as explained here, the city started installing Western-style sit-down toilets in public areas in 2013 after the 2020 Tokyo Olympics were declared. The majority of those also had Japan’s renowned warm-water bidet seats, which instantly transformed the Japanese capital from a toilet throwback to a global leader.
It is important to remember the efforts made by private companies to increase the functionality of Western-style toilets during that era and to promote their adoption. Toto, a household fixture company that created the country’s first sit-down toilets for homes, has remained a pioneer in the Japanese toilet market, especially by popularizing its warm-water “Washlet” bidet seats.
Exhibits at the Toto Museum, located on the grounds of the company’s headquarters in Kitakyūshū, Fukuoka, describe not only the company’s history and products but also the evolution of toilet culture in Japan. It is an intriguing addition to any Kyūshū tour.
Porcelain maker
A range of toilets may be found in Exhibition Room 1, including the first-generation Washlet, which was introduced in 1980, and Japan’s first sit-down flushing toilet, which was created in 1914. Initially, Toto was the sanitary ceramics branch of Nippon Tōki Kaisha, which is now Noritake, a tableware manufacturer.
Nippon Tōki was established in 1904 as the Morimura Gumi trading company in the village of Takaba, Aichi Prefecture, by Morimura Ichizaemon, his brother-in-law Ōkura Magobē, and other family members. Kazuchika, the son of Magobē, served as the company’s first president.
The importance of sanitary porcelain objects for the pleasant, clean way of life in Europe was observed by the Ōkuras on a tour. However, because Japan still lacked a sewage system, the company’s leaders were against entering the market because they did not see any need.
Nevertheless, the father and son persisted, and in 1912 they personally provided funding for the establishment of a research lab on porcelain production on the company’s grounds. A little more than two years after they began studying sanitary porcelain, they finished the first sit-down flushing toilet ever constructed in Japan.
Tōyō Tōki, a sanitary porcelain manufacturer, was established in Kokura, Fukuoka Prefecture, in 1917 by Ōkura Kazuchika. In addition to being close to clay and porcelain stone sources in Amakusa, Kumamoto Prefecture, and Korea, he chose that location because it was close to the Chikuhō coal fields for simple firing fuel. It was also conveniently located near the international trading port at Moji in Kitakyūshū, which provided access to markets in China and Southeast Asia.
The entire range of Toto’s items throughout history is on display in Exhibition Room 2, which shows how plumbing has changed in Japan. Following the Great Kantō earthquake in 1923, there was an increase in demand for sanitary porcelain in Japan. The construction of larger structures and more extensive sewerage as restoration operations advanced caused a sharp increase in the demand for porcelain toilets.
As a result, the need to produce metal faucet fixtures domestically becomes increasingly urgent. For porcelain sanitary equipment to work properly, the right metal hardware is required; therefore, Toto started manufacturing its faucets and accessories in 1946. The company then moved into sinks, shower stalls, and completely equipped unit bathrooms before becoming a manufacturer of everything associated with indoor plumbing.
The postwar economic boom brought with it an increase in the number of public housing units that required flush toilets, kitchens, and baths. All-in-one “unit bathrooms” first appeared as a result of the hotel construction boom brought on by the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. Standardized “sanitary unit” restrooms for office buildings were created as high-rise buildings proliferated.
In 1969, Tōyō Tōki shortened its company name to Toto, and in 1970, it changed its name to Tōtō Kiki. Lastly, in 1977, Toto’s sit-down toilet sales surpassed those of Washiki toilets.
From “wiping” to “washing”
With the introduction of the Washlet in 1980, Japan’s toilet culture underwent a significant transformation. Of all the warm-water bidet toilet seats in Japan, Washlet is by far the most well-known and is a registered trademark of the Toto Corporation. Its expansion of the market for such devices to common homes and offices is one of its biggest contributions to toilet culture.
A well-known celebrity said the catchphrase that made the Washlet famous in its 1982 dinnertime television ad: “Oshiri datte, aratte hoshii” (your bottom wants to be washed). By the way, the name Washlet is the reverse of the English expression “Let’s wash,” which refers to something related to your backside. So, customers in Japan started switching from “wiping” to “washing”.
These “backside washers” have evolved to include self-cleaning features, ozone deodorization, and nozzle position adjustments, and they are now almost universal.
Growth before profit
All of the technological advancements stem from the vision of founder Ōkura Kazuchika, who merely wished for people to live “pleasant, sanitary lifestyles.” The company’s connection with its rival producer Inax, which is now known as Lixil, is the clearest example of that.
Beginning as potters in Tokoname, Aichi Prefecture, the Ina family provided technical support for the construction of the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed main building of the Imperial Hotel before starting to make porcelain for construction businesses.
In 1924, the Ina Seitō company began as a tile factory under the Morimura group, and Ōkura provided financial assistance for that change. The original chairman of the board was Ōkura Kazuchika, who provided funding for the establishment and periodically provided personal funding to keep it running.
Ina Seitō started refining its production methods during World War II by producing sanitary porcelain for the military. After consulting with Ōkura on the potential dispute with another group company, Tōyō Tōki, he gave his approval for the company to go independent, stating that a friendly rivalry would promote industry progress.
As a result, Ina Seitō has developed into today’s Lixil (with its well-known trademark Inax), posing a serious threat to Toto in terms of both quality and technology. Japan is now the world leader in toilets, thanks to these two significant producers.
The realization of Ōkura Kazuchika’s vision of a “pleasant, sanitary life” must undoubtedly be this. The Toto Museum demonstrates how the employees’ unwavering perseverance and unquenchable inventiveness made that ambition a reality. [...]
14 October 2024This innovative, unique toilet burns waste and gets rid of the odor
Ever thought about the impact that having access to adequate sanitation has on the environment, human dignity, and health?
According to Fox News, the innovative water and home products manufacturer LIXIL made history by becoming the first commercial license partner for the Generation 2 Reinvented Toilet (G2RT). Global sanitation habits are about to change because of this ground-breaking off-grid toilet that was built in partnership with Georgia Tech. The G2RT provides a viable solution that has the potential to change lives and communities for the billions of people who lack access to safe sanitation facilities.
Why is the G2RT so special?
The G2RT is not your typical toilet. It treats waste at the source and runs independently of conventional infrastructure. The use of septic systems or connections to sanitation grids is no longer necessary thanks to this amazing invention. Using high heat and pressure, the G2RT turns solid waste into safe, compostable dry solids while recycling and purifying liquid waste for flushing. The technique is noteworthy for its ability to eliminate dangerous bacteria, hence mitigating the transmission of diseases transmitted by water.
To get ready for launch, LIXIL is working quickly. As the company prepares for the next phase, the ink on its commercial license is barely dry. In order to make the technology appropriate for use in both the public and private sectors, they are continuously working to refine it. The goal of LIXIL is to get the G2RT ready for the market in the next three to five years. The 3.5 billion people who lack access to safely managed sanitation services globally could profit from this innovation.
The G2RT is more than just a toilet; it is a response to an international emergency. It offers significant cost savings on building and installation while lowering the danger of diseases like cholera and dysentery by eliminating water contamination. Additionally, it provides sanitation to areas where traditional infrastructure is impractical.
Through the innovation of LIXIL, a basic necessity transformed into a sophisticated, self-contained appliance, billions of people’s lives will be better in terms of quality of life, public health, and environmental impact. The upcoming years will be critical as LIXIL strives to commercialize this revolutionary technology, which has the potential to usher in a new era of universal access to sanitation. [...]
7 October 20248 strategies to hide them
Ribald romantics frequently point out that you have found your soulmate if you can fart in front of your partner, however, this is not always the case, and you often need to adopt strategies to avoid being heard.
As explained here, there are pretty foolproof techniques both men and women can use to secretly, and safely, fart around their significant others. Or anyone else you’d prefer not to notice you.
The sidewalk fart
For those who are silent but deadly, the sidewalk fart is very helpful. It is probably okay to try a moderately loud fart as well, depending on the degree of surrounding noise, such as traffic, rumbling subways, and other things. As the wind is blowing against you, this strategy works best because even the strongest farts will rapidly leave your proximity as the gas is produced.
It’s better to blame any arising smell on the air if the wind is not working in your favor. However, do not be the first to call attention to it. Make sure no one is following you by casting a quick check behind you before performing the crime. In addition to being polite, this helps prevent embarrassment. Even to a stranger, you do not want to be perceived as a secret farter.
The coughing fart
Coughing up a fart may be dangerous for people who are unfamiliar with the workings of their digestive system, therefore it is not for everyone. Before you let loose with the fart, you must have some idea of its strength. It is preferable not to smell like the inside of a wild boar’s digestive tract if you are just going to squeak one out and cover it up with a cough. However, the coughing fart is there for you if you know that it will be pretty low on the smell scale, depending on what you ate and how it is sitting in your stomach.
But exercise caution. Never let the fart get louder than your cough! Since coughing causes the fart to exit your anus with greater force than you might think, this is quite hard to regulate. It is, thus, more challenging but also useful.
The under-the-covers fart
We cannot guarantee this procedure is reliable if you only use a top sheet. After you have let one out, make sure your companion does not pull back the blankets for roughly five minutes.
Anyone who has farted under the covers and then gone under for a brief sniff of ass vapor knows that the gas lingers there for longer than you would suppose. However, the finest place to fart quietly is under the covers. These farts usually occur in the morning, when you do not want to disturb the tranquility by getting up to use the restroom.
The bathroom fart
If you do not use the bathroom fart too frequently, it works flawlessly. If you are sneaking off to the restroom every ten minutes to let one out, your significant other will be suspicious. He or she will likely start to believe that you are experiencing more serious digestive issues than just a little gas. In any event, it is useful if you need to pee because you can flush the toilet as you perform the necessary action or play some music.
It is not as silent in bathrooms as we may think, therefore, it is best if you can switch on the fan and maybe open the sink as well. Just to be safe, throw in a cough as well. To allow the room to gradually air out, attempt to leave the door slightly ajar and make sure your partner is not entering directly after you.
The piecemeal fart
When executed correctly, this is among the most effective methods. You must be aware that you can expel the fart gradually until it is all out of your body. It shouldn’t be so big that, when beginning to squeeze, it completely comes out. (Those work best in the bathroom.) If you push out a bit here, a bit there, over five or 10 minutes, no one will be the wiser.
This works best if you use it during dinner, ideally at a restaurant, where your significant other can not witness you carefully relaxing your sphincter to siphon out the gas without them knowing. Take care that your expressions do not reveal anything. Just to be safe, take a sip of your drink so that part of your face is covered.
The cooking fart
Anything containing onions, bacon, or fish will help cover up any smell. Opt for one of those foods, or anything else with an aroma that will remain in your house, if you are hosting your significant other for supper. Odors will be confused, making it impossible for someone to distinguish between the smell of gas, food, or both. Not to add that your significant other will not even notice that the strong smell could be laced with ass because they will be so enamored with the fact that you made dinner.
The trapped fart
The riskiest of all is the trapped fart, which is best reserved for special occasions. It’s useful for car travel when you have no other choice (and lowering the window would be questionable) or for when you’re hugging on the couch and would rather not ruin the mood. However, be advised that farting will ruin the mood much more severely than getting up to use the restroom.
Before attempting this in the wild, I advise practicing it on your own a few times. Because it takes some skillful maneuvering with your butt cheeks to seal the fart beneath you, it does not always work. To achieve this, sit up straight, bring your legs together, and firmly press your ass on your seat. To prevent the fart from escaping out the back, you should aim it slightly in front of you. After that, release it gradually and silently while you await the outcome.
The toilet paper fart
Another technique employs toilet paper to minimize the sound of a fart. Two sheets of paper are enough for this purpose. Fold and place them between your cheeks, centering the anus. This way, paper will act as a cushion to absorb sound as gas is released. By letting gas escape slowly, you can minimize the noise produced, while a quick release tends to create louder sounds due to increased exit velocity. The muffling effect comes from the absorption of sound waves by the toilet paper, which reduces the vibrations that typically lead to audible farts. The combination of proper placement and controlled release can significantly lower the chance of drawing attention. [...]
1 October 2024Another help for people’s health
As explained here, some futuristic urinals have started to appear in China. These urinals use automated pee monitoring and analysis to help people better manage their health. Men’s public restrooms in major Chinese cities, including Beijing and Shanghai, now feature these smart toilets. For about 20 yuan, or roughly $2.76 (approximately Rs 230), these urinals can rapidly and accurately analyze pee on-site.
Documentary director Christian Petersen-Clausen, who is stationed in Shanghai, posted a picture of one of these urinals along with a description of his experience on Twitter. He wrote, ”Recently, health-checking urinals have begun popping up in men’s restrooms all over Shanghai. A private company is offering the urine analysis for RMB 20. Naturally, I tried that out.”
”The whole process is about as easy as one might think. I paid my fee via WeChat, and before I even made it down, the escalator had my results,” he continued, posting images of the sophisticated device that displayed a guy urinating into it with a Mandarin-language explanation.
https://twitter.com/chris__pc/status/1782245409857102262?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1782245409857102262%7Ctwgr%5Ec109a73782d68cdee8422aedc550e41bf33bb3fd%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ndtv.com%2Fworld-news%2Fthis-futuristic-public-toilet-in-china-analyses-your-urine-to-measure-health-5504188
His results, which said he lacked Calcium, were ”otherwise unremarkable,” he said.
A few days later, he tumbled over one more of these urinals and conducted another test. ”Apparently, I had been drinking enough milk by then. The tests seem to be rather comprehensive as well,” he wrote, informing users that his calcium levels had gotten better.
https://twitter.com/chris__pc/status/1782248129737474245?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1782248579555541230%7Ctwgr%5Ec109a73782d68cdee8422aedc550e41bf33bb3fd%7Ctwcon%5Es2_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ndtv.com%2Fworld-news%2Fthis-futuristic-public-toilet-in-china-analyses-your-urine-to-measure-health-5504188
”The company seems to be installing them all over China, and given how important early detection of health issues is, I think this is quite good. I don’t think this shall replace a visit to your doctor, but it might very well prompt one. A cardiologist told me that thanks to Apple Watches he now saw more people before they had heart attacks. That’s kind of what I am hoping for here.,” he added. [...]
30 September 2024Human waste shot 33 feet into the air, then began to rain, drenching automobiles
The burst sewage pipe that drenched motorists and motorcycle riders was captured in stomach-churning CCTV. It happened in Nanning, China, where the stools were trapped in recently laid sewage pipes prior to a poop vortex erupting.
As reported here, it shot a whopping 33 feet of feces skyward like a geyser and sprayed its filth all over the highway. In dashcam footage, globs of feces pummeled cars’ windscreens before a billowing cloud of orange appeared.
As they wandered along the avenue, unsuspecting pedestrians were covered in human waste, and clips captured some of them being forced to cycle through the filth. Numerous cars were damaged, and one driver allegedly reported the incident: “I’m drenched in poo; my car is splattered yellow.”
“It’s ruined.”
Pictures showed the devastation caused by the “poo-cano,” which left a sea of waste in its wake. On September 24, at about eleven in the morning, a pipe burst on a part of the road that was being repaired.
The explosion caused a digger to topple over at the site, but no one was hurt, according to the authorities. The breach is believed to have occurred during a pressure test that engineers performed while installing the sewage pipes.
Following the explosion, authorities rushed to the scene to begin a massive clean-up effort. It is said that the local authorities are looking into what caused it in order to stop such situations from happening again.
One local said, “You can almost smell this video.”
It happened only one month after millions of dead fish washed up on the coast of a Greek city, leaving visitors unwilling to eat elsewhere due to the terrible stench. Photographs taken in Volos, in the Thessaly region of central Greece, depicted floating corpses covering the harbor like a shimmering blanket.
Authorities and residents rushed to remove the fish before it reached popular tourist destinations because of the awful stink. Before placing the more than 40 tonnes of dead fish into the back of their vehicles, trawlers were sent out to gather them.
However, restaurants suffered because no one wanted to eat there because of the overpowering stench of rotting fish and the disgusting way it looked. Tourists were no longer sipping coffee at the harbor, where a thick layer of fish had accumulated, according to local publication Neos Kosmos. [...]
23 September 2024From healthcare breakthroughs to sustainable agriculture
Urine is a peculiar fluid that contains several useful substances, including urea, electrolytes, and different metabolic byproducts.
Urine has unrealized potential in a variety of sectors in addition to its involvement in its bodily functions. It can be used, for instance, as an organic fertilizer in agriculture to provide crops with necessary nutrients like phosphorus and nitrogen. This encourages sustainable farming methods and lessens dependency on hazardous synthetic fertilizers. Urine is being used in medicine for non-invasive health monitoring, early disease detection, and the treatment of chronic diseases. In addition, urine is being treated more like a resource than a waste, and this is leading to the development of creative solutions that can improve healthcare, manage environmental issues, and promote general well-being.
According to this article, here are ten exciting European entrepreneurs who are using urine’s unique properties to create useful and innovative solutions. These companies are revolutionizing the way we think about and use urine, with products ranging from cutting-edge neuromodulation therapies and sophisticated incontinence management systems to innovative diagnostic tools and environmentally friendly fertilizers. Each company on this list is pushing the limits of sustainability and technology in addition to tackling particular health and environmental problems.
Amber Therapeutics: a London-based company, creates cutting-edge neuromodulation therapies to treat mixed urinary incontinence in women. Their ground-breaking PicostimTM System uses a fully implanted device to target the pudendal nerve. It can sense and stimulate responses, adapting to the needs of the user. According to the AURA-2 study, the technology significantly improves quality of life and is both safe and effective. Amber was founded in 2021 and focuses on creative solutions for unmet clinical requirements while employing experience in medical devices. €94.9 million has been raised by the company to pursue its cutting-edge treatments.
AssistMe: with a mobile app that tracks residents’ needs in real-time and a sophisticated sensor system built into adult diapers, Berlin-based AssistMe is revolutionizing elder care. It enables caregivers to respond quickly and effectively by automating processes like documentation, pressure ulcer prevention, and incontinence control. The system lowers expenses and administrative workloads while enhancing resident comfort and safety. The ultimate objective of AssistMe is to improve care procedures through personalization and efficiency for the benefit of both caregivers and residents. Having been founded in 2016, they secured approximately €5 million in fundraising in 2019 through an exceptional round.
EG 427: a Paris-based company, is creating pinpoint gene therapy, a novel technique that targets bladder problems directly. This approach makes use of a non-replicative Herpes Simplex Virus type 1 (HSV-1) vector platform to enable accurate and durable expression of therapeutic genes. In June 2024, the U.S. FDA approved EG110A, its main product, for preclinical development for neurogenic bladder dysfunction (NDO). Since their founding in 2019, they have raised €17 million, intending to provide long-term, efficient treatments for chronic illnesses while enhancing the options available for care.
inContAlert: based in Bayern, Germany, it has created a wearable device that uses artificial intelligence and a proprietary sensor to assess bladder filling levels. When a patient’s bladder hits critical levels, an app displaying sensor data alerts them. By reducing the need for catheters and preventing unplanned emptying, this technology enhances patient quality of life and care efficiency. All things considered, it helps people with neurogenic bladder dysfunction take back control of their bladder. They were established in 2019 and have raised €2.6M.
Jude: it is a London-based healthcare company that develops all-natural, clinically validated supplements and products to assist people regain control over their bladder function. The company’s goal is to improve bladder care. Their main offering, a bladder control supplement, fortifies the pelvic floor and lessens urgency, leaks, and nocturnal urination by combining soy germ isoflavones with pumpkin seed extract. Jude also sells leak-proof underwear and pads, which are made of biodegradable, environmentally friendly materials and are created with sustainability in mind. Since their founding in 2020, they have raised €6.7 million toward their goal of shattering taboos surrounding bladder health and establishing a community of support for people who are impacted.
Testmate Health: a Swiss company, provides an easy-to-use urine test that can be done at home and yield results for the four most prevalent sexually transmitted infections (STDs) in a matter of minutes. With the help of Swiss microengineering and cutting-edge DNA isothermal technology, the disposable kits provide rapid and discreet testing at any time or location. The test looks for mycoplasma genitalium, chlamydia, gonorrhea, and trichomoniasis. Users can share the test results with their doctor through the Testmate app so that they can start treatment right away. With Testmate, access to sexual health testing is made easier, enabling people to take charge of their health and minimizing the need for in-person doctor visits. They were established in 2020 and have raised €7.9 million.
The Blue Box: a Barcelona-based company, is creating a breast cancer screening test that uses biomarkers in urine to identify breast cancer without pain, radiation, or accessibility issues. The technology analyzes urine samples and detects breast cancer with a sensitivity of 88.42%, exceeding standard mammography, thanks to a proprietary electronic nose (eNose) and AI algorithms. By 2025, the test is expected to be available in gynecological clinics, providing a simple, affordable diagnostic option via a subscription procedure. They were established in 2021 and have raised €1.9 million.
TOOPI Organics: a French company, that gathers and recycles human urine for use in farming. Rather than using conventional fertilizers, they produce biostimulants derived from urine. Urine is collected from public restrooms, events, and metropolitan areas. It is subsequently treated through fermentation and filtration to produce a culture medium for microorganisms of interest to agronomists. Targeting phosphorus, nitrogen, and water stress, Toopi’s first product, Lactopi Start, was introduced in France and Belgium and provides farmers with an organic substitute for mineral and inorganic fertilizers. TOOPI Organics was established in 2019 and has raised €23.2 million.
Usense: a French company, created Jimini, a portable device that detects biomarkers in urine in real time for disease identification and early diagnosis with only one click. Jimini works as a miniature laboratory, providing medical practitioners with a practical and hygienic instrument for pre-analysis straight from the urine sample by combining patented photonic and electroanalysis technologies. Through an integrated web application, the results can be safely accessed and transferred online, improving medical procedures. Their technology provides a rapid and non-invasive means of monitoring health by enabling early diagnosis in medical consultations and emergencies. Over €8.8 million has been raised since its founding in 2019.
Vunanexus: based in Zurich, it uses a patented treatment technique created at the Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology (Eawag) to turn urine into a profitable and environmentally friendly fertilizer known as Aurin. Their technique addresses the disadvantages of conventional wastewater treatment and synthetic fertilizer manufacturing by stabilizing urine by eliminating contaminants and turning it into a ready-to-use fertilizer. This invention provides a long-term way to recycle nutrients, lessen environmental effects, and increase resource efficiency. Over €1.5 million has been raised since its founding in 2021. [...]
16 September 2024A new health trend
The idea of fart walks was first presented to us all in a video that was uploaded by TikTok creator Mairlyn Smith (@mairlynthequeenoffibre). As reported here, she always puts on her running shoes and heads outside with her spouse about an hour after supper. She asks in the video, “Now, why do we do this?”. “Well, we eat a lot of fiber, so we have gas—everybody does—and, yeah, you fart while you walk. So that’s why I named it that.”
@mairlynthequeenoffibre
@mairlynthequeenoffibre The #fartwalk lady is me. I’m mostly on instagram as Mairlyn Smith so I didn’t know i was that cool over here 😂 #fartwalk #fartwalker #farts #hearthealthy #guthealthy #diabetesawareness #agingwell #aging ♬ original sound – mairlynthequeenoffibre
Smith may be onto something when she suggests that going for walks helps her “age wonderfully”; this is not just a sweet married habit. She mentions a few particular physical advantages: According to Smith, it lessens the chance of getting type 2 diabetes and eases any bloating that may occur after dinner.
@thestomachdoc Fart walking helps with acid reflux, bloating, gas, and constipation. Improve your gut health #fyp #doctor #medicine #ootd #fashion #healthtok #viral #medschool #lifestyle #guttok #poop #gas #bloating #ibs #constipation ♬ original sound – Dr. Joseph Salhab
GI doctors immediately joined the TikTok discussion to support Smith’s assertions. Naturally, you can not believe everything you read or hear on social media, especially when it comes to health, but according to NYU Langone Health gastroenterologist Lisa Ganjhu, DO, it turns out that even a short exercise session can help reduce feelings of bloating because a stroll after a meal helps to accelerate digestion.
“When you are moving, your GI tract is also moving,” Dr. Ganjhu said. This helps to encourage gut motility, or intestinal movement, which is necessary for adequate food digestion. “There needs to be a motion to help move the food along,” she says. “When you’re walking and moving around, you’re basically helping the motility part of the digestive tract.” That may help to explain why when you eat while on an airplane or train, you frequently feel so bloated.
Studies support this: Exercise after a meal has been demonstrated to accelerate colon transit and stomach emptying. A different study published in the American Journal of Gastroenterology found that even a little exercise after a meal was enough to dramatically minimize bloating. Furthermore, according to Dr. Ganjhu, increasing your gut motility and eliminating food rapidly can help with GERD, or acid reflux disease, as there is less time for the digestive acids to perform their job.
Regarding the assertion that taking a fart walk can prevent diabetes? Exercise of any kind can assist in controlling your blood sugar, according to Dr. Ganjhu. And here’s why taking a stroll after dinner can be a terrific way to do it: A stroll after eating can help balance your blood sugar levels, according to a study published in the journal Nutrients. This is crucial because repeated spikes can lower your body’s sensitivity to insulin, raising your chance of type 2 diabetes.
The fact that you can enjoy the benefits of the fart walk even after a short stroll is another fantastic thing about it. A 2021 study found that bloating can be reduced with as little as 10 minutes of activity. A study published in the European Journal of Applied Physiology and Occupational Physiology discovered that while high-intensity exercise, such as running, decreased stomach emptying, moderate walking dramatically enhanced it.
“It’s just walking and passing gas,” said Dr. Ganjhu. “There is no specific time or distance, or intensity required.”
Avoid overthinking the fart walk. After eating, you will probably feel even somewhat better with any form of light exercise, and not just in terms of your physical health. Smith claims that going on fart walks with her partner helps them rekindle their romance and adds a social element to their day.
“And we both think farts are funny, which adds to the laughter every evening,” Smith says. [...]
9 September 2024These bacteria show promise in healing chronic wounds
Researchers may soon look to bacteria that were first discovered in poop as a way to help in the quicker healing of chronic wounds. For instance, an open wound serves as the ideal little breeding ground for bacteria. However, not every microbe is harmful. Alcaligenes faecalis is one beneficial bacteria; it got its name from the fact that it was first discovered in poop.
How can something found in poop be beneficial to heal wounds? Scientists claim that, despite the bacteria’s seeming absurdity, it has been quite helpful in accelerating the healing of chronic wounds, particularly in diabetics.
As explained here, people with diabetes often struggle with persistent wounds because their bodies’ natural wound-healing mechanisms tend to malfunction. Chronic wounds heal substantially more slowly as a result of this. These injuries can even result in painful infections since they are so hard to treat. However, by introducing beneficial bacteria, we can encourage natural healing.
This latest discovery was also made by the researchers by accident. When researching the microbiome of these chronic wounds, scientists discovered A. faecalis. They initially believed it might have been a random bystander in the mix. However, as the bacteria began to colonize the wounds, they discovered that the wounds appeared to heal considerably more quickly.
Researchers found that diabetic mice with wounds produced keratinocytes, a crucial skin cell involved in wound repair, that moved faster. It appears that the production of those faster-moving cells is caused by these beneficial bacteria.
To precisely understand why A. faecalis has shown to be so beneficial and profitable in healing chronic wounds, more research is still required. However, a study that was published in Science Advances demonstrates that it can outcompete some extremely harmful bacteria. [...]
2 September 2024It doesn’t require water or a sewer connection
Few people can arouse passion in others over a toilet. Diana Yousef is among the very ones who can. She exhibits this in every speech she conducts to possible funders or investors, in every media interview, and even in a TEDx lecture hosted at her daughter’s school.
As reported here, Yousef, an Egyptian immigrant who was born in Boston and has a PhD in biochemistry from Cornell University, invented a toilet that runs without water or a connection to the sewer system. It works by a membrane that removes 90% to 95% of waste by evaporation.
The concept aims to address inadequate sanitation, which is a serious issue for half of the world’s population. This has several negative effects, such as fatalities from infectious diseases, environmental issues, and—this one particularly moves Yousef—violence against women and girls for going outside their homes to relieve themselves.
“When people live without access to safe sanitation, it’s very difficult for them to improve their quality of life,” Yousef said, in a video interview from her home in Boston.
The World Health Organization estimates that 4.2 billion people employ sanitation services that don’t treat waste. Of them, 673 million are compelled to defecate outside since they lack access to any kind of bathroom. Every year, infections associated with inadequate sanitation cause around 564,000 deaths, primarily from diarrhea.
“But beyond that, one of the things that moves me the most is the disproportionate way in which harms women and girls, who don’t have access to safe private toilets near their homes. There’s a huge, little-discussed problem of women being raped—and even murdered—simply because they need to go to the bathroom,” Yousef explains.
“50% of schools in the world lack adequate sanitation facilities, which makes it extremely difficult—for girls especially—to go to school. When they go to school, they fight the urge to go to the bathroom, so they don’t eat, they don’t drink, they end up tired, and they have trouble paying attention. And, when they start having their period, they miss a week of school every month and fall behind.”
Yousef, a mother of three daughters, ages thirteen, eight, and five, bemoans the state of the situation: “I find it very difficult to understand that this happens to girls all over the world, while my daughters have the life they have just because of where they were born.”
One of the things that motivated Yousef to create her startup for change: WATER Labs, was the birth of her children. “When I had my first daughter, I was out of work for two years, because nobody wanted me.” As a result, she had to reinvent herself. “I want to set an example for them, to show them that they can do whatever they want, that they have the ability to decide.” Her work also incorporates elements of her Egyptian background. “I think that all of us who come from the Middle East are very aware of the importance of water. It’s vital.”
She picked up an idea that had come to her while working as a consultant for NASA and USAID in 2009 on a collaborative project that looked for technology solutions to issues with access to water. This idea took into consideration recycling wastewater and converting it to potable water through the use of breathable materials.
“These materials have the property of absorbing moisture from one area and passing it into the dry air on the other side. The liquid water enters the material and comes out the other side as vapor,” she describes.
Her prior work with the UN allowed her to go to countries in the Global South and learn about issues with sanitary infrastructure. Her job includes looking for business models that connect the private sector to the field of development.
It appeared that the breathable material was a very low-energy solution that could be applied on a large or small scale. In underdeveloped areas with little infrastructure, it might be quite helpful. “I realized that it was probably better to use to get rid of dirty water, rather than to make clean water.”
At MIT, Yousef presented her own project for the first time, meeting experts who were intrigued by the concept. Some joined her team, which consists of seven members at the moment. She had access to a laboratory where she could turn the notion into a reality because of an initial grant of $50,000.
The prototype project was implemented in February 2020 in a Kiboga, Uganda refugee host community, funded by the international government initiative Humanitarian Grand Challenges. About 400 people a week used the two Turkish-style restrooms that were constructed in a women’s hospital and a girls’ school (they were on the floor and did not have seats). “We saw that they contained the waste completely, in a hygienic way. We didn’t detect any smell in the . Additionally, maintenance only needed to be done once every two or three weeks.”
The second pilot project is being implemented in Kuna Naga, a suburb of Panama City without sewage or running water that is home to the Indigenous Kuna people. Asocsa, a nearby construction company that typically works in low-income areas, is providing funding. Two Western-style sit-down toilets were placed in two households in October 2023, accommodating a combined user count of approximately 25.
The membrane simply starts to evaporate water from pee and poo when it comes into contact with them; there is no flush system. “We’ve been able to show that we can run these toilets for two, even three months, without having to empty them.” The installation of public restrooms in the same community is the next scheduled stage.
Yousef predicts that the final price of the iThrone, which took home the MAPFRE Foundation Award for Social Innovation in the Health Improvement and Digital Technology category, will be approximately $200 per device.
“We plan to outsource production to local partners, so the price will come down even further. Other solutions that are used cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. This is much cheaper and simpler because it doesn’t require a lot of infrastructure, but it offers high performance by making the waste disappear on-site,” she explains.
Yousef continues saying that most of the waste that does not evaporate and the bag—made of permeable material—are compostable. So, when emptying the toilet, the waste “can be disposed of in whatever way the partner . If it’s a humanitarian organization in a crisis or a refugee camp—without the capacity to build adequate sanitation infrastructure—they just burn the waste. But in a community that wants to make sanitation circular, the waste can be converted into something with value, fuel or fertilizer.” [...]
26 August 2024Hitler-faced potty among the unique collection of historic bathroom fixtures being sold
A potty with Adolf Hitler‘s face on the bottom is among a collection of bathroom items up for sale, along with hundreds of Thomas Crapper loos. He is famous for improving the toilet and inventing the floating ballcock. Toilets, taps, basins, and baths make up the Crapper cluster, with the owner hoping someone will be keen enough to buy it as a complete set, lest the lovely lavs be split up.
According to the BBC, eight years after leaving Warwickshire-based Thomas Crapper & Co., Simon Kirby, the former boss, is selling hundreds of vintage items. The nearly 40-year-old collection, which served as the foundation for the company’s private museum, can be yours for roughly £300,000.
Mr. Kirby claimed that while serving as managing director, he progressively gathered the pieces as a side project. His collection includes polished wooden loo seats, ancient brass taps, enormous old cast-iron baths, and the potty with the Fuhrer feature, which was really developed by Crown Devon rather than Thomas Crapper.
Mr. Kirby said, “These pieces are now so rare that the collection could not be assembled today.”
“I no longer run a Victorian sanitaryware company, so I cannot justify keeping the collection. It is time for it to be explored and enjoyed by the public.”
Salvo, an online marketplace for architectural salvage, received a request to assist in finding a new home for the collection in order to “preserve its future,” according to CEO Sara Morel.
On the Salvo website, a video tour with never-before-seen footage of the complete collection was posted.
Ms. Morel said: “Touring the private museum was fun, insightful, and a privilege. As the video shows, each piece holds stories that must be saved and shared.”
Salvo claimed that the displays, which included over 1,200 objects spanning the 1830s to the 1960s, were in excellent shape.
Kirby’s interest in toilets originated in childhood when his mother gave him a copy of the book ‘Temples of Convenience,’ which showcased many old toilets.
The video also showcases some Victorian urinals with a unique feature: a bee painted on the inner surface as a target to minimize splashing, a clever strategy for men who might ‘sprinkle when they tinkle’. While we see this technique in some modern public urinals using a fly image, many may not know it’s not a new idea but a revival from the past. Interestingly, the choice of a bee was not random. In Latin (a language in which many gentlemen of the era were educated), ‘bee’ is pronounced ‘apis’, which sounds like ‘a piss’ in English – a witty reference to the urinal’s function. [...]
23 August 2024The origins and popularity of Alaska’s infamous three-layered shooter
The Alaskan Duck Fart seems like a disgusting shot, and its flavors may be too much for you depending on your tolerance for strong alcoholic beverages. That is accurate for a lot of shots, but this one is a complex shooter to throw back because it has three ingredients. This mixture is multilayered, for sure, but its narrative adds even more complexity to the formula.
As explained here, the Last Frontier’s (a nickname for the state of Alaska) largest sports bar, Peanut Farm, is where the drink originated, though it is unclear exactly why the drink’s name includes the phrase “duck fart.” An old patron of the business placed an order for a variety of alcoholic beverages in December 1987. She requested a straight tequila shot, a creamy Grasshopper cocktail, and a B-52, which consists of Baileys Irish cream, coffee liqueur, and Grand Marnier. The old woman’s server, Dave Schmidt, was encouraged to experiment with some more complex mixes by this.
The most popular outcome that resembles a B-52, is the Alaskan Duck Fart. At the bottom is Kahlúa coffee liqueur, followed by Baileys, and, at the senior citizen’s request, Crown Royal (instead of Grand Marnier) on top. Apart from the names, the only noticeable distinction is that the whisky is used in place of the cognac and bitter orange liqueur. But why give this amazing invention the name of a flatulence?
This is when the origin story becomes less certain. According to one theory, Dave Schmidt named his product after The Beaver State since ducks are prevalent in Oregon and there is a well-known college football team named after them. An alternative version states that the inventors just called out what was in front of them and that Schmidt’s drunken muse was wearing a duck beak (probably the hat sort).
Additionally, there is the theory that after making the shot, this customer made a noise like a fart.
In The Land of the Midnight Sun, the Alaskan Duck Fart shot has gained widespread recognition, despite its peculiar moniker. Fans of the recipe exist, obviously. It has, after all, made its way from Peanut Farm in Anchorage to other drinking establishments, such as Ernie’s Old Time Saloon in the somewhat remote Alaskan island city of Sitka. Rennie’s Landing, for example, is a college pub in Oregon where they even have a “Duck Fart” shot made with Irish cream, Kahlúa, and Pendelton whisky. Even still, we rank the drink itself among the most embarrassing whisk(e)y-based beverages you can have. [...]
19 August 2024Influencer’s skincare routine alarms doctors
As reported by the New York Times, Brazilian model Débora Peixoto has come under fire from doctors for her strange skincare routine, which includes covering her face in her own poop.
Regarding her stinking skincare routine, which she just posted on Instagram, Peixoto, 31, told Jam Press, “It’s the craziest thing I’ve done in my life.”
The influencer, who gained notoriety before for softening her skin with period blood, claimed that she read online that applying a fecal face mask could “prevent aging.”
The content creator, who has over 650,000 Instagram followers, is shown in a video opening a jar of her own feces and smearing it all over her face, resembling a mud mask.
After using a clothespin to pin her nose closed in order to “hide” the odor, the beauty waits a few minutes before washing off the excremental exo-layer. Peixoto shows off her bright face to the camera at the conclusion of the video.
“It has worked for me, and my skin has stopped flaking!” exclaimed Peixoto, who caused a stir when she married her considerably older cousin in the previous year.
The strange method was swiftly criticized by experts, who said that the health risks outweighed any purported advantages.
“Of all the skincare ‘trends’, this is one of the strangest I have ever come across,” said Dr. Sophie Momen, a dermatology consultant at the London-based Cadogan Clinic. “There is absolutely no scientific benefit to your skin in using feces as a face mask.”
She continued by saying that the combination of poop and food can lead to food poisoning, bacterial and viral infections, and “redness and discomfort.”
Mr. Tunc Tiryaki, a plastic surgeon who works with her, seconded her PSA, which warns: “Feces contain a plethora of bacteria, viruses, and parasites, including E. coli, Salmonella, and helminths, which can cause serious infections and diseases.”
“Applying feces to your face can introduce these pathogens into your body through small cuts, abrasions, or mucous membranes, leading to severe skin infections or systemic illnesses,” said the doctor, who advised using contemporary skin care items in their place.
The commentariat also turned their noses up at Peixoto’s crappy cosmetic routine.
“People are getting too extreme on the internet. This is worrisome,” lamented one critic, while another wrote: “This is why aliens don’t talk to us.”
Although doctors criticize the unconventional skincare method of using human excrement, some beauty experts have suggested applying bird droppings to one’s face as a way of promoting skin health. They argue that the waste contains beneficial chemicals that can effectively remove dead cells and result in a radiant complexion. [...]
12 August 2024Revolutionizing waste management in space
A dirty secret in space travel is that astronauts have been known to use diapers while wearing spacesuits. However, a new design promises to recycle valuable water while also offering a more hygienic approach to spacewalks.
When inside the International Space Station, astronauts use a Urine Processor Assembly to recover water from pee by vacuum distillation, according to NASA. Because water is so important, life support systems try to recover over 98% of the water that the crew brings.
Life support
Outside the spacecraft, spacewalks may take many hours, and astronauts wear “maximum absorbency garments”. As explained here, these MAGs have been in use since the 1970s and are made of many layers of superabsorbent polymer. To put it briefly, everything that is inside them is diapers, and nothing is recycled.
A new concept in full-body “stillsuits,” was influenced by the Dune film series. In the movies, some spacesuits clean drinking water by absorbing water lost through pee and sweat.
Water recovery
The “stillsuit” prototypes, described by Cornell University researchers in a publication in Frontiers in Space Technologies, make use of a special urine collection and filtration system specifically designed for spacesuits.
“The MAG has reportedly leaked and caused health issues such as urinary tract infections and gastrointestinal distress,” according to Sofia Etlin, the study’s first author and a research staff member at Weill Cornell Medicine and Cornell University. Additionally, astronauts currently have only one liter of water available in their in-suit drink bags.
That is not much for spacewalks lasting many hours. It is significantly less when you take into account NASA‘s intention to include longer spacewalks on the moon as part of their highly ambitious Artemis lunar missions. In an emergency, astronauts ought to be able to perform a spacewalk for a whole day, according to Etlin. Plans call for many astronauts to conduct lunar spacewalks on at least four Artemis missions.
Taking a pee
A urine collection device wrapped in polyester microfiber is part of the ‘stillsuit’. It consists of an undergarment with several flexible fabric layers attached to a silicone collection cup that is molded. As a result, astronauts of different genders would need to employ different sizes and shapes. When moisture is detected by an RFID tag connected to an absorbent hydrogel, a pump is activated. It takes only five minutes to collect and purify 500 ml of pee, and the researchers claim that it is 86% efficient because it is designed for microgravity.
“The design includes a vacuum-based external catheter leading to a combined forward-reverse osmosis unit, providing a continuous supply of potable water with multiple safety mechanisms to ensure astronaut wellbeing,” said Etlin. Another idea is to provide astronauts with their own supply of high-energy, non-caffeinated drinks. [...]
5 August 2024Skibidi Toilet’s surprising journey to the big screen
It looks like Skibidi Toilet, the internet sensation gone viral, is headed for the big screen. There are rumors that a well-known director is thinking about turning it into a film or TV series.
Nobody could have predicted that the brief, ridiculous animations that were posted to YouTube would turn into the internet sensation known as Skibidi Toilet. Therefore, a prominent director is now interested in adapting these videos for the big screen after they gained extraordinary notoriety.
As reported here, Adam Goodman, the former president of Paramount Pictures, disclosed to Variety that he and director Michael Bay are considering making the Skibidi Toilet adaptation a reality, as explained in the most recent episode of the Strictly Business podcast. Goodman acknowledged that, while it is not their main priority right now, talks are still going on for both film and television versions.
The Skibidi Toilet viral craze began in February of last year when Alexey Gerasimov, also known as DaFuq!?Boom!, posted an 11-second video to YouTube. The short video, which shows a head singing as it emerges from a toilet, unintentionally went viral. Since then, Boom’s channel has collected over 70 videos, ranging in length from one to five minutes, that show a futuristic world in which cyborgs—basically, CCTV cameras with bodies—wage battle against toilets with human heads.
With the ultimate objective of wiping out humanity and turning more people into Skibidi Toilets, these conflicts take place in an ever-expanding industrial landscape. Boom, an animator who is now 26 years old, has over 43 million followers and 17 billion views. Boom is ready to take Skibidi Toilet beyond YouTube. Bay and Goodman are well known for their ability to turn unorthodox ideas into successful business endeavors. Their creative team is directly collaborating with Boom to make sure that every choice is in line with his vision, and they are fully invested in the adaptation process.
Goodman highlighted Boom and Bay’s positive and effective working relationship, pointing out that Boom’s outstanding work has astounded Bay. He thinks Boom is going to launch a huge new creation that will be comparable to the Marvel Universe or Transformers. Goodman said they are looking into the idea of a hybrid adaptation, but he did not mention any specific studios at this time. This method might combine live-action and animated components like that of District 9 and John Wick.
Although Skibidi Toilet first became popular on YouTube, its notoriety grew even more as a result of calculated partnerships with well-known video games. The Skibidi Toilet series increased its popularity and brought in tens of millions of dollars in income each year by incorporating skins and characters with a toilet theme into Roblox and Minecraft.
These collaborations demonstrated viral content’s enormous commercial potential and adaptability to a variety of entertainment platforms. According to Goodman, the next big intellectual property wave will originate from viral phenomena and the internet rather than from rebooting or reviving existing franchises.
This change is a reflection of the increasing focus on appealing to younger audiences, who set the trends on social media. And Skibidi is a perfect example of this new success trend fueled by the internet. Skibidi Toilet has the potential to become the next big Hollywood property, according to Goodman and Bay, if it continues on its current growth trajectory. They think it might, like other blockbuster series, fascinate people around the world and have a big impact on the entertainment industry. [...]
3 August 2024A U.S. Army AH-64 gunner was given the call sign “Muddy” after experiencing diarrhea
In peacetime as well as during earlier conflicts, diarrhea was a prevalent and debilitating medical ailment that many US troops suffered from in Vietnam. Jet jockeys (a colloquial term often used to refer to fighter pilots or pilots who fly high-speed jet aircraft) were less likely to get it than helicopter pilots and other flying props operating out of mainland airbases, especially those operating out of Thailand or carriers who only caught it during in-country R&R.
Anyway, having diarrhea in the cockpit of an attack helicopter can be a really serious problem.
The Shawarma before the storm
Buzz Covington, former US Army AH-64 Apache (a type of attack helicopter) co-pilot/gunner (CPG), recalls his experience on Quora.
“There I was… (All good aviator stories start like that) I was a relatively new front-seater in A-Model Apaches back in 1998, stationed in Illesheim, Germany. Though one of the newer pilots in the squadron, my back-seater Dave and I had been selected to be the lead aircraft of the lead troop for a nighttime deep attack squadron training mission.”
“Things are very busy leading up to a large training event like this, and I had not had time to eat during all of the last-minute planning and knee-board packet production. Knowing I had about five minutes before the last ‘tail boom update brief’, I ran across the street to the little shawarma stand that a local Turkish guy ran on our post. I grabbed a hot turkey shawarma and munched on it as I made my way over to my troop commander’s aircraft. Brief complete, we hopped into our Apaches as the sun set.”
“The entire mission consisted of a two-hour loop around Bavaria at about 500 hundred to 1000 feet, filling up at a FARP (Forward Arming and Refueling Point), proceeding to a release point, and then a nap of the earth (NOE) insertion to an attack by fire position for a simulated attack on the bad guys.”
Mission briefing and takeoff
“Things were going pretty well through the first thirty minutes of the flight, and we were hitting our ACPs (Air Control Points) plus or minus 10 seconds (which is pretty impressive in an old A-Model Apache with a Doppler nav system!), when out of nowhere, I started feeling like there was a basketball growing inside my guts! Sharp, stabbing pains in the abdomen told me that something wasn’t right. I told my back-seater that I wasn’t feeling so hot.”
“Dave was a combat medic in his previous Army MOS (Military Occupational Specialty), and gave me some wise advice. ‘Don’t let it fester… Push that gas out!’ Within a minute, I was glad I took his advice and started farting something fierce. The pressure in my guts went away, but the smell in my cockpit was pretty vile.”
When gas isn’t just gas
“The mission was progressing pretty well, and we’re now about an hour and a half into it. About 15 minutes before we were to go into our FARP, the pain hit me again. I only thought I knew what gas pains were before, but this was excruciating! I broke out in a sweat, my mouth went dry, and I felt clammy all over. Dropping my maps to the floor, all I could do was grab to ‘go fast’ handles up by my head, and begin to pray.”
“I told Dave that this was no regular gas pain and that we needed to consider aborting. He told me to start farting again, but this time I wisely ignored him. Luckily (?), we were on the part of our flight that took us relatively close to our home base. Dave called our troop commander, and told him ‘Blackjack 6, Gun One needs to RTB (Return to Base) due to incapacitated CPG’. Negative, Lead. Stop fucking around and maintain radio silence!”
“Dave was not happy to have his decision to abort squashed like that…. ‘Blackjack 6, Gun One departing flight to the west’. And with that, yanked the aircraft into a descending left turn towards our base!”
The point of no return
Covington goes on;
“The cuss words that came at us from our boss would have been funny had I not felt like I was going to barf and crap myself at the same time. I swear that my ass was smelling porcelain, because the closer we got to our base, the worse the cramping became, and the pressure against my sphincter continued to grow exponentially.”
“As Dave was getting ready to contact our tower, we heard a German Huey call in, and request the NDB approach , which was granted. As you can imagine, a Huey flying an NDB approach at night is not a quick event. Dave asked me if I wanted to call in as a medical emergency, which would have given us priority, but I said no, knowing that we would then have fire trucks, ambulances, and probably the post newspaper waiting for us on the ramp.”
“So, while I drooled all over myself and prayed to the poop Gods, we fell in behind the Huey as he completed his approach. Once the Huey made his low approach and departed, Dave requested to land directly to parking (which I didn’t even know you could do). Approved, he made a beeline for our ramp, and I really thought I was going to make it!”
The moment of truth
“Unfortunately, the second our wheels hit the ground, I lost all control of my bodily functions…”
“I felt like I was falling through my own ass as I passed what felt like gallons of hot steaming shit right into my flight suit. The smell was the most horrific thing I have ever experienced and left me in no doubt that some evil demon was inside my intestines, and casting nefarious spells on my rectum. I tried to hold myself up off the seat, but it was no use, and the seat cushion was already becoming squishy.”
“One of our crew chiefs saw us coming into parking way too early, and came running out to our spot. As he approached the aircraft to ask what was going on, I tried waving him away, and Dave was apparently pointing at me, to explain what the problem was.”
“To my horror, he reached up and opened my canopy door. It looked like he had been punched right in the face by Mike Tyson, and he went reeling backwards so fast that he tripped and fell on his ass.”
The walk of shame
“I could only sit there in agony as the blades slowed down and finally extricated myself from the cockpit. Mind you, the entire time, I am still shitting. I started the long walk towards the hangar (still shitting) and noticed that my flight boots were completely filled with diarrhea, and were now overflowing, and I left a trail of little shitty footprints all the way across the apron, through the hangar, and finally into the bathroom.”
“I sat in there, stripped down, and continued to shit for about another 15 minutes, almost non-stop and I had no idea my body even held that much liquid! Not knowing what to do, I just sat there. My trusty pal Dave finally showed up with a t-shirt wrapped around his face to somehow block the smell of death, and asked what he could do for me.”
“Following my instructions, he ran over to his place and returned with a garbage bag for my clothes, some sweats, and an entire box of baby wipes. He then called an ambulance for me, and they took me to the clinic. I received four bags of a saline IV and stayed in the clinic until the next day with a bad case of food poisoning.”
The legacy of ‘Muddy’
Covington concludes:
“I was later presented with the infamous seat cushion as a trophy of shame, and my call sign was ‘Muddy’ for a long time. Despite doing lots of neat things in the following years of my career, going off to combat numerous times, protecting great Americans on the battlefield, and dispatching scores of enemy combatants, I still occasionally meet somebody from our community, and they ask ‘Hey! Aren’t you that guy that shit himself in an Apache?'” [...]
8 July 2024Ancient grottoes meet modern tech
According to CNN, China’s Yungang Buddhist Grottoes, with their 51,000 statues carved 1,500 years ago into 252 caves and niches, are unquestionably breathtaking. However, the facilities at this World Heritage site, designated by UNESCO, have drawn more attention lately than the scenery.
A video that circulated on Chinese news and social media platforms depicts timers positioned above a row of female restroom cubicles, each equipped with a digital counter.
The pixelated LED screen turns green to indicate that a stall is empty. When in use, it displays how long the door has been locked in minutes and seconds.
A visitor is said to have taken the original video, which they then transmitted to the local newspaper published by the state, the Xiaoxiang Morning Herald.
“I found it quite advanced technologically so you don’t have to queue outside or knock on a bathroom door,” the paper quoted the visitor as saying.
“But I also found it a little bit embarrassing. It felt like I was being monitored.”
The Xioxiang Morning Herald was informed by an attraction staff member that the timers were put in place to handle the surge in visitors to the attraction, which included the facilities within the tourist site.
“They aren’t there to control the durations you could use the bathrooms,” the staff member was quoted by the newspaper as saying.
“It’s impossible that we would kick someone out midway. And we aren’t setting a time limit such as five or 10 minutes for how long one could use the toilets.”
According to a park staff member, the timer has been in place since May 1st, 2024, and is primarily a safety precaution, “ensuring the well-being of all guests, in case some guests use the toilet for an extended period of time and an emergency occurs,” as reported by the state-run newspaper Nanchang Evening News.
Discussions around the announcement have been very active on China’s social media platforms. The new timers were backed by several internet users on the well-known microblogging site Weibo, who claimed that they would deter customers from sitting in the stalls and scrolling through their phones.
“A tourist site isn’t an office – who would spend their time in the toilets? Is it really necessary?” said one netizen.
“Why don’t they just spend the money on building more washrooms?” said another.
Others claimed that it would benefit people who may not be able to contact them for help in the event of a true medical emergency.
Record-breaking visitor numbers
One of the main draws in Shanxi province, northern China, is the Yungang Buddhist Grottoes, which was inducted as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2001.
A record 3 million people visited the ticketed scenic area in 2023, a considerable rise from 1.98 million visits in 2019, the site’s second busiest year.
Not only have the restrooms at Yungang Buddhist Grottoes been updated, but so have other areas. To increase the area’s appeal, organizers have added additional mini-attractions and new events in recent years. [...]
1 July 2024Diarrhea in the cockpit
In peacetime as well as during earlier conflicts, diarrhea was a prevalent and debilitating medical condition that many US troops suffered from in Vietnam.
The risk of experiencing this was higher for helicopter pilots and other individuals flying propeller aircraft from mainland airbases than jet pilots, also known as jet jockeys, especially those based in Thailand or serving on carriers who only contracted it while on RnR in-country.
Diarrhea, the fighter pilot’s greatest fear
Tim Hibbetts, a retired US Navy A-6 Intruder and F/A-18 pilot, recalls on Quora:
‘HOLY S—T!’
‘Sorry for the outburst, but this is the pilot’s greatest fear. Even beyond enemy aces, missile batteries, or parachuting into a sea of sharks with frickin’ laser beams attached to their heads!’
‘Let me get this right out in front: not only did I never experience this, I never even urinated while in a tactical aircraft. I didn’t want to let my body know that this was a thing, having heard too many tales of pilots having to go several times each flight.’
Crapping in a glove aboard an F4U Corsair
‘Anyway:’
‘My favorite university instructor, CAPT (ret) George Faulkner, USN, started his career as an F4U pilot in ’46. He told me about dash-5 in an 8-plane formation, who’d slipped out and was flailing away a bit behind the rest of the formation. After the lead instructed him—as dash-2—to go find out the matter, he flew over and looked down into the cockpit. The other pilot had his flight suit down around his knees and was crapping in a glove. Several minutes later, he rejoined. I never found out if he got a new callsign out of that.’
F-14 Tomcat declaring physiology emergency
‘During one of my early at-sea periods, we had an emergency pull-forward, where all the aircraft parked in the landing area were quickly unchained and moved forward in order to allow a plane to land. As a junior LSO, just learning the role, I raced up there to help wave the guy aboard, expecting a damaged bird, or at least a single engine. But as he came in on a short straight-in, he called the ball, “203, Tomcat ball, 6.2, emergency, physiology.” I didn’t even hear it right, but some of the saltier paddles sprouted huge grins, “Roger ball, 10 knots, down the angle.” BAM! Trap, over to parking, and shut down.’
In naval aviation, a “short straight-in” approach refers to a direct path to land on an aircraft carrier, bypassing the usual circular pattern. As the pilot nears the carrier, they “call the ball,” indicating they’ve visually acquired the optical landing system. The “paddles,” or Landing Signal Officers, guide the aircraft to a safe landing. A successful arrested landing on the carrier is called a “trap,” where the aircraft catches an arresting wire with its tailhook. After landing, the pilot moves “over to parking,” taxiing to a designated area on the flight deck. Finally, “shut down” refers to turning off the aircraft’s engines, completing the landing process.
‘Even before the chains were completely tied down, the canopy was coming up and the Radar Intercept Officer (RIO) in the back was leaping from the cockpit. They said that he almost made it to the head that’s right inside the base of the island.’
S-3 Viking back-seater sacrificing his helmet bag
Hibbetts continues;
‘One of the department heads of the S-3 squadron, a back-seater, was out on a routine hop passing gas when Nature called. Of course, the way he described it, Nature sent a dozen Jehovah’s Witnesses on meth with AK-47s and a fresh will to spread the Good News. He clambered into the little space where you board the plane. He was ready to sacrifice his really nice helmet bag, like the ones these boys are toting:’
‘Like these E-2 bubbas, the Viking guys wore neither oxygen masks nor G-suits (which was likely the downfall of the F-14 RIO of the last paragraph). While the pressure was building to fantastic heights, he was able to go to one-quarter mast—flight suit around the knees— and opened the bag just in time. He underestimated the explosive power, though, and shot high, hitting everything except the inside of the bag.’
‘When they landed about 30 minutes later, the whole crew was very noticeably wearing their oxygen masks. To his credit, after the rest of the guys tumbled out, he warned off the plane captain and deck chief, taking almost an hour to clean the inside of the plane, then tossing his bag and flight suit into the sea and soaking his survival vest and harness for hours. Even the fate of his boots was a toss up.’
Horror, shame, and a terrific shambles
Hibbetts concludes;
‘I’ve heard similar stories from Air Force buddies, with fewer details, but the tale is always the same: horror, shame, and terrific shambles. There are so many nooks and crannies in a cockpit as to make removal almost impossible if things aren’t well-contained.’
‘On top of the nasty after effects, the condition is usually accompanied by severe cramping. At the wrong time, this could certainly bode ill for a pilot, be it during a landing or in combat. There’s just no knowing if we’ve lost anyone to gastrointestinal distress, but I wouldn’t like to think about it. That’s not the way I’d want to go. I prefer a newspaper and a quiet few minutes.’ [...]
24 June 2024Ancient parasites discovered in 200-million-year-old reptile poop
Researchers have shown that although extinct reptile predators that resembled crocodiles today were fierce hunters, parasites were able to withstand their scaly armor and sharp teeth.
According to CNN, an unusual case of parasite infection in a reptile that lived between 252 million and 201 million years ago during the Triassic Period has just been discovered by paleontologists. The creature might have been a phytosaur, a short-limbed, long-snouted predator. Instead of finding the parasites in the teeth or bones of phytosaurs, researchers extracted them from a coprolite, which is a fossilized excrement nugget.
Scientists discovered microscopic organic structures that resembled eggs when they dissected the preserved excrement that was discovered at a site in Thailand that is around 200 million years old. Upon closer inspection, the 0.002 to 0.006-inch (50 to 150 micrometer)-long objects were found to represent at least five parasites.
The scientists published their findings in the journal PLOS One. This is the first indication of parasites in a Late Triassic terrestrial vertebrate from Asia. Additionally, the specimen is unique among coprolite samples from this era and location in that it contains several parasitic species, including nematodes, a class of parasitic worms that are still in existence today. Contemporary nematodes are known to infect a wide range of animals and plants, including fish, amphibians, reptiles (such as crocodiles and alligators), and mammals.
“Our results give us new ways to think about the environment and way of life of old animals,” said lead study author Thanit Nonsrirach, a vertebrate paleontologist in the Department of Biology at Mahasarakham University in Kham Riang, Thailand. “In previous studies, only one group of parasites was found in a single coprolite. However, our current study shows that a single coprolite can contain more than one type of parasite.” According to the research, the animal had many parasitic infections.
‘Hard, smooth and grey’
The coprolite was collected by scientists in 2010 from the northeastern Thai outcrop known as Huai Nam Aun. According to Nonsrirach, during the Triassic period, this would have been a brackish or freshwater lake or pond inhabited by a variety of animal species, such as shark-like fish, progenitors of turtles and other reptiles, and primitive amphibians known as temnospondyls.
“Such conditions were conducive to the transmission of parasites,” he said.
About 3 inches (7.4 centimeters) long and 0.8 inches (2.1 centimeters) in diameter, the fossilized poo had a cylindrical shape. The surface of the specimen under study was described by the study’s authors as “hard, smooth, and grey in color.” Although coprolites may not have an impressive appearance, paleontologist Martin Qvarnström, a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Organismal Biology at Uppsala University in Sweden, claimed that hidden inside them are mysteries regarding “who ate whom” in ancient ecosystems. Qvarnström did not participate in the recent study.
“Surprisingly, coprolites often contain fossils rarely preserved elsewhere,” Qvarnström said in an email. “These include muscle cells, beautifully preserved insects, hair, and parasite remains. But despite being treasure chests in this regard, coprolites are opaque, so identifying their inclusions can be challenging. Detective work is also needed to find out who produced the now fossilized droppings, which is arguably the trickiest part of studying coprolites.”
Scientists can determine which ancient animal group may have created the poop by looking at the coprolites’ size, shape, location, and contents. For instance, according to Nonsrirach, some fish have spiraling intestines that eventually produce spiral-shaped coprolites. Furthermore, he clarified that reptiles and amphibians typically generate coprolites that are largely cylindrical.
The absence of bones in the coprolite suggests that the owner’s digestive system was strong enough to break them down. Although crocodiles are known to possess this physiological characteristic, the study notes that crocodile fossils have not been discovered at this site and that the earliest crocodilians would not appear for another 100 million years or so.
However, according to Nonsrirach, “it’s plausible that the coprolite originated from an animal similar to crocodiles or one that evolved alongside them, like phytosaurs.” Furthermore, fossilized phytosaur remains were previously discovered close to the location of the coprolite excavation.
Eggs and cysts
Upon initial observation, phytosaurs and crocodiles appear to be nearly identical. Both have large bodies covered with stiff scales at the top, long, powerful tails, and elongated, toothy jaws. According to the University of California Museum of Paleontology in Berkeley, one obvious distinction is that crocodiles have nostrils at the end of their snouts, whereas those of phytosaurs are perched on a bony ridge behind their eyes.
Despite the fact that these animals resemble each other essentially, they are not closely related. Convergent evolution, in which unrelated creatures independently evolve similar traits, is the cause of their copycat body plans.
The coprolite was cut into thin sheets, which the scientists then examined under a microscope. What they discovered was that there were five different kinds of organic structures—some ellipsoid, others spherical. An egg of a parasitic nematode in the order Ascaridida was discovered by the researchers after slicing one object in two and discovering an embryo inside.
According to the study, another object had “a well-developed shell and organized bodies within the shell”, and might be a different kind of nematode egg. The remaining ones were found to be cysts from single-celled parasites and eggs from unidentified worms.
“Studying the remains of parasites in coprolites is important since it provides us with rare insights into ancient parasite-host relationships,” Qvarnström said. “Thanks to the coprolite data, we can investigate when such parasitic relationships arose and how parasites and their hosts may have co-evolved through time.”
Nevertheless, Nonsrirach noted that it is unclear if the reptile became ill as a result of having the parasites.
“The determination of the animal’s health status cannot be determined by only the observation of the parasite contained within its coprolite,” he said. “Parasites can use their host as a way of development without causing disease to the host animal.”
According to the study, the reptile may have picked up its parasite community by consuming various kinds of infected animals.
“This event raises interesting questions about how prey animals and parasites interact with each other. It suggests that parasites may have been inside the bodies of prey before they were eaten,” Nonsrirach said. “This new point of view gives us a deeper understanding of how past ecosystems were connected and how they affected the lives of prehistoric animals.” [...]
17 June 2024A fascinating showcase of fossilized feces
George Frandsen has the world’s largest collection of fossilized poop; therefore; he decided to open a Poozeum.
At least that is what he has named his recently opened museum in Williams, Arizona. The roughly 8,000 pieces that comprise his coprolite collection—also referred to as fossilized poop—are freely accessible to visitors.
“Initially, many people react with a ‘yuck’ face or laughter when they first hear about the Poozeum. However, after witnessing the collection, their reactions often shift to shock at the diverse and intriguing nature of coprolites,” Frandsen told Guinness World Records.
“Given that most people have little to no experience with coprolites, it’s enjoyable to introduce them to this fascinating world and share the wonders they hold.”
As reported here, since he was eighteen, Frandsen has been enthralled with dinosaurs and fossils, and his fascination even grew when he saw fossilized excrement on a visit to a rock and fossil shop in Utah.
“Instantly, I found it both hilarious and fascinating,” he said. “This sparked my curiosity, leading me to learn everything I could about coprolites. I soon realized that these peculiar prehistoric ‘time capsules’ offer direct insights into the diets, behaviors, and environments of ancient creatures.”
When he learned that fossilized feces were frequently not exposed in public spaces, he decided to build a traveling exhibition that would be on display in museums across the United States. He first established the museum in 2014 as an online resource center.
“The enthusiastic response from visitors to these temporary exhibits highlighted the demand for a dedicated space where coprolites could be prominently showcased and their scientific significance thoroughly explored,” Frandsen added.
In order to follow his “crazy idea” of launching a Poozeum, he abandoned his job at a large healthcare company, sold his property, and relocated 2,000 miles to Williams, which is known as the Grand Canyon’s gateway.
There, tourists can see pieces such as the largest known fossil of a carnivorous animal’s stool, which measures 67.5 cm (26.6 inches) by 15.7 cm (6.2 inches) and most likely originated from a Tyrannosaurus Rex. Additionally, the collection includes some coprolites that have biting marks on their surface or teeth embedded in them. [...]
10 June 2024North Korea escalates tensions with South Korea
North Korea released waste and poop from balloons over crowded streets, in front of homes, and other public areas throughout South Korea, in Pyongyang’s most recent escalation of tensions with its southern neighbor.
As reported here, the military of South Korea claimed to have found over 260 balloons carrying trash and animal waste, accusing North Korea of carrying out an “inhumane and low-level” act. The balloons appeared to have been dispersed across the country, as local media reported seeing them as far south as Jeolla Province, which is close to the southernmost point of the South Korean mainland.
Images that were made public by the South Korean military revealed a variety of trash objects, some of which were combined with an undisclosed brown substance, lying around on front porches and in the streets, including in Seoul, the country’s capital. The military of South Korea warned in a statement that the acts are against international law and pose a major risk to public safety.
Some South Koreans living in bordering areas received text message notifications cautioning them not to go outside due to things they suspected to be from North Korea. Earlier this week, North Korea pledged to take “tit for tat action” in response to a well-known human rights activist launching anti-North Korea pamphlets and USB flash drives into the country that contained South Korean pop culture content.
Kim Yo Jong, the influential sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, called the waste-filled balloons a “genuine ‘gift of sincerity'” and an act of “freedom of expression” on the part of the North Korean people in a sarcastic statement.
The statement seemed to make fun of remarks made by South Korean officials, who have stated that they cannot be held responsible for their failure to prevent specific activists from distributing flyers in the North. Kim claimed that North Korea would send “dozens of times” more balloons into the South in response to similar leaflet launches in the future. The remark was posted to the official Korean Central News Agency.
Balloon wars
For an extended period, the dictatorial regime of North Korea has voiced complaints over South Korean activists who float anti-Pyongyang materials and other goods into the country. The leaflets, which are occasionally bundled with valuables like dollar banknotes or USB flash drives, frequently make fun of North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong Un, or the country’s record on human rights.
Park Sang-hak, a prominent human rights activist and defector from North Korea, has come under heavy fire from North Korea, specifically for sending roughly 20 big balloons into the country. It was Park’s first launch following the repeal of a regulation prohibiting such launches by the Constitutional Court of South Korea.
During the administration of former South Korean President Moon Jae-in, who attempted to strengthen ties with North Korea, the law was passed. President Yoon Suk Yeol, a conservative who succeeded him, has adopted a more aggressive attitude against the North. Even though it hates the leaflet launches, North Korea sent its own propaganda into the South for decades in revenge.
The host of the NK News Podcast on North Korea-related issues, Jacco Zwetsloot, is headquartered in Seoul and stated that the North’s leaflets were a part of a decades-long campaign to win over South Koreans and foster mistrust toward their government. However, he claimed that the most recent balloon releases containing excrement seem to signal a shift in North Korea’s strategy against the South.
“Once you send poop — or poopy toilet paper or trash — that’s liable to get the people offside rather than on side,” Zwetsloot said. “It could be part of the strategy of finding South Koreans hopelessly tainted and unworthy of being part of future unification plans with the North Korean populace.”
Pyongyang officially abandoned its long-standing objective of Korean reunification earlier this year and declared the South to be its permanent adversary.
Wider tensions
The actions align with North Korea’s growingly belligerent discourse towards the South, prompting several observers to surmise that Kim might be arranging a more serious provocation, potentially involving a cross-border conflict.
It is unclear, meanwhile, if Kim will go beyond his current practice of sporadically waging “gray zone warfare” methods, which are not the same as acts of war. In a particularly risky action, North Korea crossed the border with five small reconnaissance drones in late 2022; one made it as far north as Seoul, the country’s capital.
North Korea announced that its most recent attempt to send a military spy satellite into orbit had failed because the satellite’s rocket exploded soon after takeoff. As part of its attempts to keep an eye on the US forces stationed in the area, North Korea successfully launched its first spy satellite last year and has pledged to launch several more too.
The deputy minister of national defense for North Korea accused the United States and South Korea of “openly intensifying” their air espionage and naval patrol operations close to the inter-Korean border in a statement. According to the statement, the army of North Korea was directed by its “supreme military leadership” “to take offensive action against the enemy’s provocative encroachment.” [...]
3 June 2024Miklós Kiss’s neo-pop work combines art with toilets
Pop&Roll invites people to enter an immersive art gallery and store that also functions as a public restroom in Budapest. The space features vivid colors and a variety of neo-pop art references. Every element, from the interiors and graphic design to the concept and function, captures the lighthearted sensibility of Miklós Kiss’s fine art works.
As explained here, nearly 100 of his artworks are on exhibit, with the walls, furniture, and each of the 20 restrooms acting as canvases. The images are inspired by the pixel-based games of the 1980s and 1990s, as well as the interiors of Budapest’s Eastern European spas and swimming pools. The distinct spatial experience is a public artwork in itself, an avant-garde approach to art exhibitions that ignites creativity in one of the most unexpected places.
The Art Gallery, Art Shop, and Art Toilet are the three separate yet related areas that make up Pop&Roll. Each piece created by Hungarian artist Miklós Kiss aims to provide a fresh, fascinating, and accessible way to interact with and experience the world of contemporary art. The restroom area is a multisensory experience that is enhanced by carefully chosen music and scent. The music transports players to the realm of a fictional video game as they advance through a dungeon battle scene and eventually reach victory. The centerpiece of the Art Shop is a massive toy monkey with its limbs and legs changed into seats so that guests can relax. Its facial characteristics spell out ENJOY.
Goldenroaches and Emograms, originally graphic visuals and NFTs by Kiss, are dotted throughout Pop&Roll. A word’s letters make up the faces of the figures, which can be used to convey feelings, ideas, or just self-reflection. The pieces are displayed as though they are museum artifacts at the front by storage cabinets.
The irony of living in the era of social media also permeates the entire interior. This is also implied by the humorous caption of the enormous mouth mural that greets guests at the entrance: GIVE US THIS DAY OUR DAILY LIKE. The walls inside are covered with likes.
‘How many likes will this space get?’ Miklós Kiss playfully asks questions. As a result, the area takes on new meaning as a result of its daring combination of design, art, and functionality that encourages guests to pull out their phones, take a picture, and post it online.
Photos by Daniel Herendi [...]
27 May 2024Toilet bowls can be a good garden decoration
According to BBC, with his lavatorial garden display, a humorous and inventive resident has the villagers enthralled. The 58-year-old Andy Maddams of Manea, Cambridgeshire, repurposed two ancient toilets into plant pots.
Though “not particularly green-fingered,” he felt the first abandoned loo would make an eye-catching planter when he came across it while tidying his garden. The porcelain pair now occupies a prominent position in his front garden, which he stated served as a useful signpost for the rural village’s delivery vehicles.
“I was clearing my garden a few years back, after moving here, when I came across a virtually new unused toilet bowl,” said Mr. Maddams.
“It was in mint condition, so I didn’t want to chuck it in the skip.”
“I had a ‘lightbulb moment’—I used to have a wheelbarrow as a planter, so I thought I could do the same with the toilet. I put a conifer in it, and it looked quite nice.”
He continued: “Then a year or two later, my neighbor, Jim, was re-fitting his bathroom, and he came over to see me and gave me a second, almost identical loo. I couldn’t resist it, so now I have his and her toilets.”
“I sometimes get delivery drivers phone me when they can’t find my place, and I just mention the two toilets, and they track me down easily.”
“It’s a great way to locate my property; cyclists and runners know them very well. People go past giggling, it’s a bit of fun.”
“They are weighted down with stones, so are pretty heavy”.
When Mr. Maddams entered the local scarecrow competition two years ago, he made an effigy of Albert Einstein, the scientist, sitting on a toilet with his trousers around his ankles.
However, the day before the judging, someone stole his head, which Mr. Maddams admitted had “rather spoiled the effect”.
The use of strange objects in gardens is a focus of the Royal Horticultural Society.
Its chief horticulturist, Guy Barter, said: “Found objects can make great planters, for negligible cost and can often induce a very satisfying, startled double-take in passers-by.”
“Old drums from washing machines, wellington boots, socks, jeans, oil drums, old water tanks, airing cupboard copper cylinders cut down, even brassieres – suitably supported—as long as there is ample drainage and a suitable potting compost, free of peat, will support plants.”
“Sanitary ware is no exception, but do take the greatest care with disinfection.” [...]
