Space station toilet malfunction.
“It failed late yesterday,” NASA spokesperson John Ira Petty said of the Russian-built space commode in televised commentary from Mission Control in Houston. “Russian specialists are troubleshooting. The problem appears to be a [gas] separator issue. In the meantime, the crew has been instructed to use the toilet in the Soyuz [TMA-12] spacecraft.” NASA has paid $19 million for a second Russian-built space toilet, which will be delivered alongside other life support, exercise equipment and sleeping quarters during a November shuttle mission. Having two working main toilets is vital for the space station, which is expected to double its crew size to six astronauts next year.
I know, I know. I must resist the urge to post distasteful bathroom items.
$19 million for a toilet?
It does seem a little steep. Though in fairness the equipment is bespoke, due to the, er, mechanics of using it in microgravity. Note the stirrups.
http://neatorama.cachefly.net/images/2006-09/internationa-space-station-toilet.jpg
http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=getting-a-handle-on-space
“The problem appears to be a [gas] separator issue.”
That’s what I like about this place. One day it’s epistemology and the decline of academia, the next day it’s an exploding toilet gag.
I’m a complicated guy.
Memories of playground rhymes…
Oh dear, what can the matter be?
The astronauts have backed up the lavatory
It ain’t much fun in zero gravity
Just thank your stars you’re not there.
Gosh $19m – it makes this look reasonable at $5000….
http://www.totoneorest.com
That’s the fanciest bathroom website I’ve ever seen!
Wow. The toilet/bidet/bathroom recliner comes with its own remote control. And oscillating action. You can practically smell how classy it is.
And on the day THIS came out, too:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/3195671/Northerners-less-likely-to-wash-their-hands-after-going-to-the-toilet.html
I was just reading the BBC account:
“People who had used the bus had higher rates of hand contamination than those who had used the train. Manual workers had cleaner hands than other professionals, students, retired people or the unemployed.”
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/7667499.stm
Nasa’s microgravity “wee wee” capture system is not the worlds expensive toilet…
“The World’s Most Expensive Gold and Jewelry Sparkling Environmental Friendly Washroom”
http://home.howstuffworks.com/most-expensive-toilet-in-world.htm
It’s like SOLID GOLD, man.
Eew. Major tack. It’s the toilet a really successful pimp would have.
It’s not the loveliest thing in the world.
Anna
He could have paid for the suite with an hours earnings of one $32 million hooker, or at the other end of the scale, 32 million $1 hookers.
I suspect that $1 hookers would probably think the suite was classy.
Also, being solid metal it would very cold to sit on, although I suppose that a Bond villain with no feeling in his buttocks might buy one.
I think the golden lav inhabits the same aesthetic space as Damien Hursts diamond encrusted skull.
Both a colossal waste of cash and a colossal failure of taste.
“It’s the toilet a really successful pimp would have.”
Or possibly a pirate.
“It’s the toilet a really successful pimp would have.”
Or Donald Trump.
I saw The Apprecentice S1, and his expensive condo overlooking Central Park. It was so tacky and cheap-looking. It reminded me of some rooms in the Hearst Mansion.
This reminded me of the poem by Carol Ann Duffy in which she imagines herself into the mind of the wife of Midas. I find it rather moving. And funny:
http://www.trinity.cumbria.sch.uk/englishdep/midas.html
Horace,
It’s no use trying to elevate this thread with poetry. We both know it’s only a matter of time before it descends to fart jokes.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E3znWZj-x9U
David
You are right, I don’t doubt. Still, as the saying goes: vulgarity is innocent; urbanity is not.
“It’s no use trying to elevate this thread with poetry. We both know it’s only a matter of time before it descends to fart jokes.”
As Mr Eugenides has recently posted,
“Naturam expellas furca, tamen usque revenit”
“You can drive nature out with a pitchfork, but she will come back.”