How do the shuttle astronauts go to the bathroom?

I’m glad you asked:

The WCS (Waste Collection System) consists of a commode, urinal, fan separators, odor and bacteria filter, vacuum vent quick disconnect and waste collection system controls. The commode contains a single multilayer hydrophobic porous bag liner for collecting and storing solid waste. When the commode is in use, it is pressurized, and transport air flow is provided by the fan separator. When the commode is not in use, it is depressurized for solid waste drying and deactivation. The urinal is essentially a funnel attached to a hose and provides the capability to collect and transport liquid waste to the waste water tank. The fan separator provides transport air flow for the liquid. The fan separators separate the waste liquid from the air flow. The liquid is drawn off to the waste water tank, and the air returns to the crew cabin through the odor and bacteria filter. The filter removes odors and bacteria from the air that returns to the cabin. The vacuum quick disconnect is used to vent liquid directly overboard from equipment connected to the quick disconnect through the vacuum line.

The urinal can accommodate both males and females. The urinal assembly is a flexible hose with attachable funnels for males or females. It can be used in a standing position or can be attached to the commode by a pivoting mounting bracket for use in a sitting position.

All waste collection system gases are ducted from the fan separator into the odor and bacteria filter and then mixed with cabin air. The filter can be removed for in-flight replacement.

Read the complete article from NASA.

via New links

Mom always said to wear clean underwear

Thanks Joe P

Sign of the times

Thanks Joe P

Peek-a-boo

High hopes

What's wrong with this picture?

Your odds of dying.....

 1 in 88,000 of being killed in a terrorist attack.
1 in 55 million of dying in a firey plane crash.
1 in 55,928 chance of death by getting stuck by lightning.
1 in 20,605 in your clothes igniting.
1 in 10,455 of dying in your bathtub.
1 in 10,010 by falling from a ladder or scaffolding.
1 in 9,396 due to excessive heat.1 in 8,389 due to excessive cold.
1 in 7,972 in a drowning accident.
1 in 6,842 in a railway accident.
Our men and women in uniform stand a 1 in 207,261 chance of dying in operations of war.

More on these odds and what to do about them here.

via Coolio’s

Soper Mom Video

Watch a mom with no arms go through an average daily routine.  changing a diaper, shopping, driving, etc.  Kind of makes your problems pretty petty.  She has no more problems than the average person.

Super Mom video.

via Land-o-links

Now that's a treehouse

Nothing will stop us from drinking

Irish joke

John O'Reilly hoisted his beer and said, "Here's to spending the rest of me life, between the legs of me wife!"

That won him the top prize for the best toast of the night! He went home and told his wife, Mary, "I won the prize for the best toast of the night."

She said, "Aye, what was your toast?"

John said, "Here's to spending the rest of me life, sitting in church beside me wife."

"Oh that is very nice indeed, John!" Mary said.

The next day, Mary ran into one of John's toasting buddies on the street corner. The man chuckled leeringly and said, "John won the prize, the other night, with a toast about you, Mary."

She said, "Aye and I was a bit surprised me self! You know, he's only been there twice! Once he fell asleep, and the other time I had to pull him by the ears to make him come."

Thanks Cousin Phyllis

Stuff on my cat

Lots more Stuff on my cat.  Note: Click link at bottom of pages for more pics.

Even I wouldn't do this to my kids

Although it’s funny in hindsight.

http://media.putfile.com/Badparents

via Blogywood

Turd Twister

 The Turd Twister is a complete kit for shaping your turd into amazing designs, and it comes with a hilarious instruction manual. It's the Ultimate Gift for the person who has everything, including a "twisted" sense of humor!

 The Turd Twister is designed to fit comfortably up your butt during your morning constitutional.  Insert the Extruder Ring, hold it tenderly between your butt cheeks, and let nature take its course.  Now you can take advantage of sophisticated Turd Twister extrusion technology to craft incredible excremental designs whenever you like!

Only $9.95 at TurdTwister.com

Large bills

 $100,000 bill.

Today, the currency of the United States, the U.S. dollar, is printed in bills in denominations of $1, $2, $5, $10, $20, $50, and $100.

At one time, however, it also included five larger denominations. Shown here is a $100,000 Gold certificate from 1934. High-denomination currency was prevalent from the very beginning of U.S. Government issue (1861). $500, $1,000, and $5,000 interest bearing notes were issued in 1861, and $10,000 gold certificates arrived in 1865. There are many different designs and types of high-denomination notes.

The high-denomination bills were issued in a small size in 1928, along with the $1 through $100 denominations. Their designs were as follows:

• $500 bill: featured a portrait of William McKinley
• $1,000 bill: featured a portrait of Grover Cleveland
• $5,000 bill: featured a portrait of James Madison
• $10,000 bill: featured a portrait of Salmon P. Chase
• $100,000 bill: featured a portrait of Woodrow Wilson

 

More on large denomination bills in U.S. currency.

via Look at this

Facts on farts

Farts Q&A:

Where does fart gas come from?
The gas in our intestines comes from several sources: air we swallow, gas seeping into our intestines from our blood, gas produced by chemical reactions in our guts, and gas produced by bacteria living in our guts.

What makes farts stink?
The odor of farts comes from small amounts of hydrogen sulfide gas and mercaptans in the mixture. These compounds contain sulfur. Nitrogen-rich compounds such as skatole and indole also add to the stench of farts. The more sulfur-rich your diet, the more sulfides and mercaptans will be produced by the bacteria in your guts, and the more your farts will stink. Foods such as cauliflower, eggs and meat are notorious for producing smelly farts, whereas beans produce large amounts of not particularly stinky farts.

Why do farts make noise?
The sounds are produced by vibrations of the anal opening. Sounds depend on the velocity of expulsion of the gas and the tightness of the sphincter muscles of the anus. Contrary to a popular misconception, fart noise is not generated by the flapping of the butt cheeks. You can see proof of this in the close-up video footage of Carl Plant's fart on Mate-in-a-State . 

How much gas does a normal person pass per day?
On average, a person produces about half a liter of fart gas per day, distributed over an average of about fourteen daily farts. Whereas it may be difficult for you to determine your daily flatus volume, you can certainly keep track of your daily numerical fart count. You might try this as a science fair project: Keep a journal of everything you eat and a count of your farts. You might make a note of the potency of their odor as well. See if you can discover a relationship between what you eat, how much you fart, and how much they smell.

 More Fart Facts.

via Look at this

Watch out for that flying chair

MRI machines can be very dangerous devices.  when they turn on the power it becomes a gigantic magnet, hence the name Magnetic Resonance Imaging device.  See Danger! Flying Objects.

via Look at this

Interesting

via Growabrain

Bad breath = bad heart? Perhaps

 Ultra-sensitive breath tests aim to identify disease

NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — Breath tests aren't just for drunken drivers anymore.

Dr. Michael Phillips is shown with a breath collecting device at his office. By Mike Derer, AP

They now can help determine if a heart transplant is being rejected and potentially will cut down on the number of biopsies transplant patients must endure.

The new test was developed by a New Jersey researcher, Dr. Michael Phillips, who expects his patient-friendly method will one day be used to detect lung cancer, breast cancer, kidney disease and diabetes.

And one day, he hopes, giving a breath sample will be as common as a blood or urine test.

more at USAToday.

via New Links

HUH? Swazi king drops sex-ban tassels

 Swaziland's King Mswati III has ended a five-year sex ban he imposed on the kingdom's teenage girls a year early.

The girls have had to wear large woollen tassels as a sign of their chastity since 2001.

The sex ban was imposed to fight the spread of HIV/Aids. About 40% of the population are HIV positive.

In 2001, the king fined himself a cow for breaking the ban by marrying again, but he could choose another wife at the annual reed dance this weekend.

In the two-day ceremony bare-breasted girls will dance before the monarch.

King Mswati transgressed the ban when he took a 17-year-old girl as his ninth wife just two months after imposing the sex ban in September 2001, sparking unprecedented protests by Swazi women outside the royal palace.

Meanwhile, the health ministry has released new figures which show that 29% of Swazis aged 15-19 are HIV positive.

For pregnant women, the figures were 42%.

There is more on this at BBC News.

via New links