La Hacienda makes hot sauce. This is their ad campaign. (Via.)
February 28, 2013
February 26, 2013
Ham and Bananas Hollandaise—it's not just for breakfast anymore.
Wait, I've just learned that it's forbidden by the Geneva Convention! Via.
February 25, 2013
February 22, 2013
February 21, 2013
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!
Yep, I scored 50% on a quiz on my OWN book!
February 19, 2013
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 15, 2013
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. |
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:
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.
February 9, 2013
February 2, 2013
February 1, 2013
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.
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