There was all kinds of stuff in the news that made me angry this morning, so as has become customary on days like this, I’m going to pretend I didn’t read any of that and move straight on to the fart jokes:
For those of you who think flatulence is a laughing matter, let me tell you from some readings and meetings I attended back during my Boeing space-station design days, it isn’t. It’s an extremely serious health issue in spacecraft. Pile seven people in an RV and recycle their individual up-to-two-liters-per-day of passed gas for two weeks and you’ve got a description of a Shuttle mission. Astronauts on orbit report getting used to the smell as it slowly builds up and the scrubbers fall behind. Post-landing Orbiter cleanup janitors have been known to puke from the stench upon entering the crew compartment – or so I’ve been told.
By jwz@jwz.org. [jwz]