February 28, 2013

February 25, 2013

*facepalm*

Wait, he crapped in his hands? No facepalm! No facepalm! "Crap your hands make noise!"

February 21, 2013

That's what you get for asking for extra cheese.

Or you could just get a cheese sandwich, made with all cheese.

Via and via.

Take THE BIG BOOK OF GROSS STUFF quiz!

Over at GoodReads, a reader has put together a quick quiz of your favorite book. But even if you haven't read it, it's sort of fun. I say that despite my score:
Yep, I scored 50% on a quiz on my OWN book!

February 17, 2013

Deep Questions

Over at Slate, the Explainer is the person in charge of answering reader questions. But there are some questions even the Explainer can't deal with, like this one:

I’m a tall guy. So when I pee, sometimes there’s a splash that exceeds the height of the bowl and lands on the floor. What is it that splashes? Is it water from the toilet or is it pee? I’m guessing it’s water from the toilet because the momentum of the pee takes it down and for it to splash out would defy the physics of liquids.

February 16, 2013

Farting pilots can cause airline disasters!

Via.
I am pleased to report the first in-depth scientific review of flatulence. It answers a number of questions, but the most important one is whether it’s okay to fart on a plane.

The answer: Yes!

It turns out that changes in air pressure at altitude actually do make you more flatulent. So instead of worrying about social embarrassment of passing gas, “just let it go.” From the article in the New Zealand Medical Journal:
“(Holding back) holds significant drawbacks for the individual, such as discomfort and even pain, bloating, dyspepsia (indigestion), pyrosis (heartburn) just to name but a few resulting abdominal symptoms. Moreover, problems resulting from the required concentration to maintain such control may even result in subsequent stress symptoms.”
What about up in the cockpit? That’s a bit tougher:
“On the one hand, if the pilot restrains a fart, all the drawbacks previously mentioned, including impaired concentration, may affect his abilities to control the plane. On the other hand, if he lets go of the fart, his co-pilot may be affected by its odour, which again reduces safety onboard the flight.”
(Oh, and this study also found one other thing: women's farts smell worse than men’s!)

February 13, 2013

"Bad Dog": It's a sculpture! (A giant, peeing sculpture.)

"Bad Dog" is at the Orange County Museum of Art right now.
Richard Jackson's the artist. 

(Dunno who the dog is, but he pees yellow paint!) 
Photos via Manitoba Museum of Finds Art and OCMA.

Bad Dog activation by Manitoba Museum of Finds Art

A long time ago on a toilet far, far away...

 Millennium Falcon toilet lid and a lightsaber plunger-handle. Via.

February 11, 2013

This is actually a pretty good idea!

A friend spotted this sign at her local pool. "Persons having currently active diarrhea . . . shall not be allowed to enter the pool water." (Thanks, Cristina!)

February 10, 2013

What can we learn from poop?

A gentleman named David Waltner-Toewes has written a new book called The Origin of Species: What Excrement Teaches Us About Evolution, Ecology, and a Sustainable Society. (This is a funny title; check Charles Darwin to get the joke.)

National Geographic interviewed David about his book. Here's a selection:

Question: Explain what you mean by “Unless we change how we think about [poop], we are doomed to forever live in it.”
Until very recently, people thought of poop like just a big pile of manure [that needs to be disposed of]. So it ends up in waterways, creating pollution that leads to people getting sick. We need to think about ways to use the energy in that poop in various ways. For example, people are using poop to produce electricity and heat with biodigesters. Countries like Rwanda have mandated that public institutions have to take waste and put it through biodigesters—this creates methane that in turn produces heat or electricity. So it’s not just waste. 
Q. Can you describe some more unsung benefits of poop? 
The thing about excrement in general is that it’s part of life. Part of the argument I make in the book is that as soon as you have life, you have essentially poop. As life developed, the waste for one animal became food for another animal. We depend on a web of recycling of nutrients, and poop is an important part of that. People get sqeaumish but they shouldn’t be. If you don’t think of it as poop, but instead think of it as recycling nutrients, this is a really interesting and sustainable way to produce food.

Careful—driving on snot and ice isn't easy!

You might have to turn on your car's two-nostril drive. (Thanks, Eric!)

February 1, 2013

Dude—learn to spell "can't"!

"My love for you is like diarrhea . . . I just can't hold it in!"

Odor in the Court!


Via.
Noisy flatulence interrupts court session in Grimsby THE quiet dignity of a court session was abruptly disturbed when someone loudly broke wind in the public gallery. Nobody apologised for the noisy interruption – and there were anxious looks from people nearby who feared they might get the blame. Grimsby magistrates pretended they had not heard a thing, and in a seemingly unrelated incident a few minutes later, all the lights went out for a few seconds before flickering back on again.