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Space Station Crew Drinks Recycled Urine

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the time-to-boldly-come-back dept.

An anonymous reader writes "After the astronauts on the International Space Station finished up their communications with Space Shuttle Atlantis yesterday, the crew on the Space Station did something that no other astronaut has ever done before — drank recycled urine and sweat. The previous shuttle crew that recently returned to Earth brought back samples of the recycled water to make sure it was safe to drink, and all tests came back fine. So on Wednesday, the crew took their recycled urine and said 'cheers' together and toasted the researches and scientists that made the Urine Recycler possible. After drinking the water, they said the taste was great! They also said the water came with labels on it that said 'drink this when real water is over 200 miles away.'"

72 of 349 comments (clear)

  1. Snow Signitures not allowed? by MeNotU · · Score: 3, Funny

    What a (lack of) drag!

  2. Nonsense. by John+Hasler · · Score: 5, Insightful

    > ...the crew on the Space Station did something that no other astronaut has ever done
    > before -- drank recycled urine and sweat.

    Everyone drinks recycled urine and sweat every day.

    --
    Warning: this article may contain humor, sarcasm, parody, and perhaps even irony. Read at your own risk.
    1. Re:Nonsense. by Forge · · Score: 4, Informative

      True. We also drink recycled Blood, vomit, pus and other miscellaneous bodily fluids.

      For those who read/watched Dune, the fremins just do in minutes with a machine what nature dose for us in months with sunlight.

      --
      --= Isn't it surprising how badly I spell ?
    2. Re:Nonsense. by Sechr+Nibw · · Score: 5, Funny

      It's just another step along the Golden Path.

    3. Re:Nonsense. by drinkypoo · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Hell, your sewage is merely treated and released back into the environment.

      And by "released back into the environment" what you actually mean is "pumped back into the river". Oh sure, it's "treated", but it's still not REALLY safe to put back in there. So what do we do? We take some water out of the river, make it safe to drink, take a shit in it, then make it kind of safe, then dump it back into the river... so that the next town can pump our shitwater out of the river, and repeat the whole process.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    4. Re:Nonsense. by Cyrano+de+Maniac · · Score: 5, Informative

      > Everyone drinks recycled urine and sweat every day.

      While a good point, this may not be quite as true in the case of the astronauts aboard ISS.

      A large portion of the water delivered to ISS comes from the Space Shuttle as it combusts liquid hydrogen to power itself while docked. Depending on the source of the liquid hydrogen and oxygen fuel (i.e. Is it generated from electrolysis of water? Condensed directly from the atmosphere? etc), it's possible a significant portion of their water supply has never been urine or sweat before.

      And even if the liquid hydrogen and oxygen was water previously, do water molecules generated from hydrogen combustion really count as "recycled"?

      -- CdM

      --
      Cyrano de Maniac
    5. Re:Nonsense. by x2A · · Score: 5, Funny

      Is that what inspired your nick? *lol*

      --
      The revolution will not be televised... but it will have a page on Wikipedia
    6. Re:Nonsense. by laejoh · · Score: 5, Funny

      True. We also drink recycled Blood, vomit, pus and other miscellaneous bodily fluids.

      I don't drink that stuff if it's fluoridated. Fluoridation is the most monstrously conceived and dangerous communist plot we have ever had to face!

    7. Re:Nonsense. by TheRaven64 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Humans actually have one of the weakest immune systems out there, mostly because we've been breeding less and less for hardiness (and worse, in the past ~400 years less for intelligence as well) thanks to the "contributions" of the few bright sparks who come up with things like, say, "the crapper" and make it so that those with downright piss-poor immune systems pass them on to the next generation.

      This needs slapping with a massive [citation needed]. A mere 400 years is not enough time for significant evolutionary changes. Most animals don't foul their own nests either. Ones that have fixed nests just go a distance away from them and ones that don't just move on afterwards. A toilet just allows us to move our waste away from ourselves easily, rather than moving ourselves away from our waste. It's also worth noting that proper sanitation is not available to a large chunk of the human race (who have not, therefore, had this lack of evolutionary pressure away from developing a strong immune system) and that the average lifespan of these people is around half that of people who do.

      --
      I am TheRaven on Soylent News
    8. Re:Nonsense. by bhsurfer · · Score: 5, Funny

      I do not avoid the company of astronauts, but I do deny them my essence.

      --
      Those are my principles, and if you don't like them... well, I have others.
      Groucho Marx
    9. Re:Nonsense. by Runaway1956 · · Score: 2, Funny

      Rural American here. I have a septic tank. Everything we excrete as waste goes into a tank, where bacteria break it down into nutrients again. The overflow goes right back into the ground, percolates through a gravel bed, and the trees and grass take it up. It's eventually evaporated into the atmosphere, from where it falls again as rain.

      Hey, cool, I've probably pissed on EVERY CITY IN THE WORLD (indirectly)!!!

      --
      "Windows is like the faint smell of piss in a subway: it's there, and there's nothing you can do about it." - Charlie Br
    10. Re:Nonsense. by berashith · · Score: 5, Interesting

      C section is a horrible example. A great many C-sections are done out of convenience. Who can have childbirth interfere with vacation or social requirements?

      My wife had an emergency c-section. It turned out the a fall from a horse many years before had damaged her pelvis to a point that natural birth just didnt work. People like her should not be allowed to pass on the genetic trait of broken bones and physical trauma during teen years!

    11. Re:Nonsense. by Runaway1956 · · Score: 5, Interesting

      400 years is plenty of time for selective breeding to make a big difference in the gene pool. Selective breeding leads to new breeds of dogs, cats, horses, cattle and more in much less than 400 years.

      Here, in the US, I consider the draft to have been a form of selective breeding. The services excluded people with flat feet, idiots, insane, weak, etc from duty. The strongest, healthiest, smartest, and most stable were sent into battle, and very often killed, while the undesirables stayed home to breed.

      How many people think that this had zero impact on the gene pool?

      Just something to think about.........

      --
      "Windows is like the faint smell of piss in a subway: it's there, and there's nothing you can do about it." - Charlie Br
    12. Re:Nonsense. by TheRaven64 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Not to mention the fact that in a number of cases the operation saves the mother; the child was not at risk. The child would have survived anyway, and would have passed on these genes whether the operation took place or not.

      --
      I am TheRaven on Soylent News
    13. Re:Nonsense. by GodfatherofSoul · · Score: 2, Interesting

      A mere 400 years is not enough time for significant evolutionary changes.

      Heck yes it is, for creatures with a faster reproductive cycle than humans. Large animals with limited food supplies will shrink. Can't recall the name, but there's a moth in England that evolved a reddish color because of all of the brick masonry in one region (the original color stood out and made those moths vulnerable to predation).

      --
      I swear to God...I swear to God! That is NOT how you treat your human!
    14. Re:Nonsense. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      Do you know when fluoridation first began? Nineteen hundred and forty-six. Nineteen forty-six, Laejoh. How does that coincide with your post-war Commie conspiracy, huh? It's incredibly obvious, isn't it? A foreign substance is introduced into our precious bodily fluids without the knowledge of the individual. Certainly without any choice. That's the way your hard-core Commie works.

      FYI, I first became aware of this during the physical act of love.

    15. Re:Nonsense. by smellsofbikes · · Score: 5, Informative

      There's an interesting piece on the rise of cesarian section delivery written by New Yorker staff writer and active surgeon Atul Gawande, where he claims and shows evidence that c-section replaced forceps delivery because forceps delivery required experience, skill, and physical dexterity, while c-section could be taught by rote, essentially. His underlying thesis is that a mass-production system of doctoring means everyone will get basically the same level of quality of care, rather than having some superstars and some real duds. But in the meantime, it's become so routine, and so highly practiced, that it's rapidly approaching parity with natural childbirth, as regards complications to mother and child, and he thinks at some point it'll be considered the default method for childbirth.

      --
      Nostalgia's not what it used to be.
    16. Re:Nonsense. by quanticle · · Score: 5, Insightful

      For the draft to have had an impact on the gene pool, a vast majority of the people who went to war would either have had to be killed or mutilated in a way that rendered them unable to reproduce. Even in the American Civil War, that was not the case.

      Can you find me even one example of a war that actually affected the reproductive ability of all of the soldiers that fought in it?

      Also, lets not forget that the draft only affects men. Women were excluded, and therefore any gene not on the Y chromosome would have been excluded from being affected.

      --
      We all know what to do, but we don't know how to get re-elected once we have done it
    17. Re:Nonsense. by geekoid · · Score: 3, Insightful

      In humans? no it's not enough time for anybig changes.

      Your example involves selective breeding by an ;outside' source, us.

      But in the natural environments, 400 years just isn't a long time.

      We are not, or have been the decedents of the big brave people that went to battle, we are the decedents of the little shit that stayed in the cave and fucked all the women.

      Your look is way to myopic. I could say all the people smart enough to avoind the draft and stayed home helped the gene pool, but that to is too myopic.
      How many people where drafted? what percentage died before having off spring?
      Add to the fact after WWII the ones that did survive fucked like rabbits. So the physically able went to war, and the survivors came back an had kids. Wouldn't that be an evolutionary improvement?

      --
      The Kruger Dunning explains most post on /. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
    18. Re:Nonsense. by Changa_MC · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Most doctors still do not prefer to do a C-section out of convenience - it's a safe surgery, but what I've read indicates that surgery of any kind is still more dangerous and leads to a longer recovery time than drug-assisted natural birth.

      Have you actually met any american doctors? They don't give a shit about you.

      --
      Changa hates change.
    19. Re:Nonsense. by timeOday · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Here, in the US, I consider the draft to have been a form of selective breeding.

      In WWII 0.32% of Americans died, as opposed to 16% in Poland, 13.7% of Soviets. So at the very least, it's much less true in the US than other places.

      World War also provided soldiers an unprecedented opportunity to fling their DNA all over the globe, apparently Uncle Sam didn't make troops take a vow of celibacy.

      Anyways, (tribal) warfare is nothing new, and certainly the number of strong men who die hunting has taken a big nosedive in civilized times.

    20. Re:Nonsense. by socrplayr813 · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Regardless, the filtering process is more than adequate to make the water safe. The fact that astronauts tend to be scientists of at least a reasonable caliber, they'll no doubt understand the science behind it and have no trouble drinking it.

      I worked with water filtration in the past and, while I might hesitate slightly on my first sip, I'd have no issue drinking it. I'd bet it's significantly cleaner than most water flowing through pipes on earth.

      --
      The confidence of ignorance will always overcome the indecision of knowledge.
    21. Re:Nonsense. by scubamage · · Score: 2, Informative

      Not true. Do some research on aquaponic gardening. Basically you raise a big container of fish. The fish water gets full of fish waste. Dangling into this water are the roots of hydroponic plants. They take the fish wastes, use them as food, add oxygen to and purify the water. The only thing you need to pay for at that point is fish food - and even that isn't necessary if you use some types of plant material/algae which will keep growing to feed the fish. Its essentially a full ecosystem capable of feeding an entire town come harvest time. Come next season, start over. Further you can set up one breeding pond of fish to be used to supply fingerlings for other ponds. It's pretty awesome stuff. In theory it could run ad-infinitum so long as it was well maintained.

    22. Re:Nonsense. by 1u3hr · · Score: 2, Interesting
      Take caesarean sections, for example. In the US, 31% of births are by caesarian section. That right there is 31% of the future population who would not exist in more primitive times, and who carry genetics that make it at least more likely than average that they themselves will not be able to give birth without modern medical assistance. You can't tell me that doesn't change the overall makeup of a population in terms of its ability to deal with that specific problem.

      I'm a fairly tall person, and my wife is rather short. And when she was pregnant, the baby was overdue by more than a week. At that point the baby was very healthy, but very large (9 lbs). After about 14 hours of labour there was no other option to get it out than Caesarean. Our daughter is extremely healthy and strong. I don't think you can make a case that the population has been weakened by assisting her birth. Now 12, she will soon be taller than her mother, and should not have any problems when and if she eventually has a family.

      So I doubt your blithe assertion that 31% of the population are genetically inferior -- or even inferior in the ability to give birth -- because of this mollycoddling has any basis in reality.

    23. Re:Nonsense. by StikyPad · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Zero impact, maybe not, but it only affect a very narrow range of ages, and so excluded the vast majority of healthy parents with healthy children under 18.

      And you're assuming that the majority of draftees were killed, which simply isn't the case. 2.1 Million Americans fought in Vietnam, and 58,000 died. It would be hard to argue that, even if all 2.1M died, it would have affected the population at large (genetically), because most of those people had brothers, sisters, children, etc. Furthermore, the Sole Survivor Policy has long been in place to help ensure entire family lines aren't simply wiped out (although for practical matters, it doesn't cover people with no siblings).

      --
      https://www.eff.org/https-everywhere
    24. Re:Nonsense. by RpiMatty · · Score: 2, Insightful

      No where in your quoted section is the OP saying that 31% of US births should have been eliminated.
      He said that 31% of US births WOULD NOT have happened in the past.

      Big difference between saying something would not have happened in the past, and saying something should have been prevented.

      The OP is right in the fact that modern science is changing our overall genetic makeup.

      Your wife fell off a horse. Maybe she was taught improperly, maybe horses don't like her.
      In the past when riding a horse was a primary mode of transport, your wife would be at a disadvantage. If she fell off a horse and couldn't have kids that removes the can't ride a horse trait from the gene pool. Note that this could be a learned behavior. If your wife didn't learn to ride a horse properly, odds are her child would also learn incorrectly.
      Had your wife not broken her pelvis and been able to have a natural birth, then the strong bones / knows how to take a fall trait would have been passed on.

    25. Re:Nonsense. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      The one that starts with a golden shower?

    26. Re:Nonsense. by Kral_Blbec · · Score: 2, Insightful

      That is false logic. I have no idea who Ina May Gaskin is, but I assume she is some registered midwife and has to screen clients to make sure they are healthy and everything is going okay, otherwise she is obligated to pass them on to the doctors.

    27. Re:Nonsense. by PachmanP · · Score: 2, Informative

      I seem to remember one Asian country having an ungodly female-to-male ratio because of wars. I can't remember which one though... Anyone got a clue?

      Well China has a very low female to male ratio because of the one child policy combined with the cultural value of sons. Not quite what you were going for, but it's the only thing I've heard of.

      --
      You're thinking small. Why miniaturize the laser, when we could instead enlarge the sharks? -John Searle
  3. Living in a desert by mc1138 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    While it may not seem like it the space station is essentially a desert with very little water. This sort of situation really makes it important to loose as little water as possible, and as the astronauts even said when properly treated it tastes great!

    --
    The musings of just another geek and his junk.
    1. Re:Living in a desert by Sechr+Nibw · · Score: 3, Funny

      I would think it would make it important to loose your water into the proper receptacle, actually. It doesn't matter if you loose a lot or loose a little, just as long as you loose it into the right place!

    2. Re:Living in a desert by x2A · · Score: 2, Funny

      "Humidity must be a problem on space stations; people loose water due to respiration"

      There ya go, broke that for ya

      --
      The revolution will not be televised... but it will have a page on Wikipedia
    3. Re:Living in a desert by gnick · · Score: 2, Informative

      Try again...

      [Citation
      cited]

      --
      He's getting rather old, but he's a good mouse.
  4. You gotta be taking the piss outta me! by Philip+K+Dickhead · · Score: 5, Funny

    That's not Gatorade, mate!

    --
    "Speaking the Truth in times of universal deceit is a revolutionary act." -- George Orwell
    1. Re:You gotta be taking the piss outta me! by davidsyes · · Score: 2, Funny

      MPP? Magic Piss Pot?

      When the water machine goes haywire, they lack of water will give rise to a new definition of pissing contest... If the machine clogs up, it could be attributed to "piss-poor-performance"...

      --
      Previously: "Linux... Toward the Sunrise..." Now: "Linux... Toward the-- No, now, part of Every Sunrise"
  5. Re:How does that make it not "real water"? by caffeinemessiah · · Score: 5, Insightful

    If it's 2 hydrogen bonded to 1 oxygen in the right form it's "real water" Honestly, the Astronauts should be some that would not have the silly reaction to drinking treated water.

    Certainly, but 2 hydrogen bonded to 1 oxygen exists in ripe form in your toilet as well, it's more a question of the additives. And if we did NOT feel an instinctive revulsion towards our own excrement, we would have been wiped out as a species a long time ago after eating our own toxic feces (that rhymes, too). So give those space monkey a break, eh?

    --
    An old-timer with old-timey ideas.
  6. One step closer by COMON$ · · Score: 4, Funny

    To my Stillsuit...bring on the worms...

    --
    CS: It is all sink or swim...oh and did I mention there are sharks in that water?
  7. Re:How does that make it not "real water"? by Morphine007 · · Score: 4, Funny

    I have this... Increadible feeling of... Deja vu...

    Apparently so did the mods who modded you redundant... twice...

    --
    Oh god, that woman is John Romero!
  8. Re:How does that make it not "real water"? by Sockatume · · Score: 4, Insightful

    If someone takes a piss in the vat at the Coca-Cola plant, it's still "real Coca-Cola" to a high empirical degree, but I think you'd still appreciate the psychological distinction between that Coca-Cola and the stuff that came out beforehand. Likewise there's a strong innate (unlearned) notion of contamination in humans that makes this "purified urine" rather than "ever so slightly contaminated water" from the astronauts' perspective.

    --
    No kidding!!! What do you say at this point?
  9. 'waterhasnotaste' tag by sirkazuo · · Score: 2, Informative

    Water does have a taste - it tastes like... water!

    All water that isn't pure hydrogen and oxygen also has a flavor derived from the levels of various trace minerals and additives in it. Just because you can't taste something doesn't mean I can't!

    1. Re:'waterhasnotaste' tag by RiotingPacifist · · Score: 2, Insightful

      so your not actually tasting the water, just the minerals

      --
      IranAir Flight 655 never forget!
  10. another angle by Tim4444 · · Score: 5, Funny

    it's probably cleaner than the water in the Hudson...

    1. Re:another angle by Experiment+626 · · Score: 4, Funny

      Yes, and then they ran it through a machine to make it even more so.

  11. Re:How does that make it not "real water"? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Likewise there's a strong innate (unlearned) notion of contamination in humans

    I'd like to see some evidence for that.

    If you you have little kids, or have spent any time with them, you'd know that they'll happily put anything in their mouths if you don't stop them. The idea of contamination is deliberately taught to children, using words like "icky," "yucky," and "ohmigodwhatisthatinyourhand."

  12. Big deal! we all do by petes_PoV · · Score: 5, Insightful
    Water abstracted from rivers that are fed from treatment plants. That contains water from recycled urine. As does rainwater, when urine evapourates into clouds, which then condense into rainfall.

    Sadly this story has all the self conscious immaturity you'd expect from a 12 year-old, sniggering because it's about pee. Whatever happened to the grown-ups section of Slashdot?

    --
    politicians are like babies' nappies: they should both be changed regularly and for the same reasons
  13. Water World by bamboo7 · · Score: 2, Funny

    Kevin Costner paves the way for technological innovation. I'd quote the movie but for some reason no good lines spring to mind.

  14. Natural water by DarrenBaker · · Score: 5, Funny

    I refuse to drink nature's water... Fish fuck in it.

  15. Re:How does that make it not "real water"? by Sockatume · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I think it's still an open question as to whether disgust is innate, but once a child it, the idea of a disgusting object "contaminating" another is obtained more or less immediately. That's not something we teach kids particularly early, and it's actually a rather abstract notion. I don't have access to sociology journals from here unfortunately and it's been a while since I read much about it, so things could've moved on.

    --
    No kidding!!! What do you say at this point?
  16. not sure... by ilblissli · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I'm really not sure why this is news worthy. Recycled water has been around forever. When I was a little kid I was first introduced to recycled water when my city decided to start a reclaimed water system to be used or lawn irrigation. This was to help stop our aquifer from being depleted so quickly for frivolous stuff like watering the grass. When they proposed this new system one of the water treatment people drank a glass of recycled water to prove to everyone that it was completely safe and would not pose any heath risks to kids playing in sprinklers or drinking from a hose. I'd also like to ask, how do people think submarines stay down for so long without coming back up for 10,000 new bottles of Evian bottled water every few days? (yes we have distilling plants on board most ships to convert salt water to fresh but many also have water treatment/recycling plants as well)

  17. Singaporeans were the first to drink recycld waste by Heartz · · Score: 3, Interesting

    All about New Water http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NEWater . Singaporeans have been drinking from Malaysian waste for years...

  18. its worse than that by circletimessquare · · Score: 5, Funny

    fish don't fuck

    the females just crap all their eggs in your water

    then the males come along and just jizz all over the eggs, in your water

    you're not drinking fish fucked water

    you're drinking fish circlejerked water

    --
    intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
    1. Re:its worse than that by dunkelfalke · · Score: 3, Informative

      Uhm, actually you are wrong, some fish (poecilidae like guppys or swordtails) do fuck.

      --
      "It's such a fine line between stupid and clever" -- David St. Hubbins, Spinal Tap
  19. Re:How does that make it not "real water"? by Shakrai · · Score: 4, Insightful

    If someone takes a piss in the vat

    What does Budweiser have to do with the ISS?

    --
    I want peace on earth and goodwill toward man.
    We are the United States Government! We don't do that sort of thing.
  20. Re:How does that make it not "real water"? by revlayle · · Score: 3, Informative

    "Additives? Whats in the toilet are additives."

    Um... POO comes to mind.

  21. Re:Singaporeans were the first to drink recycld wa by mbone · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Basically every city that gets its water from a river drinks the recycled urine etc. from the folks upstream.

    And, that is most cities located on rivers.

  22. I hear Heston by bobdotorg · · Score: 3, Funny

    It's pee. Soylent Yellow is made out of pee. They're making our drink out of pee. Next thing they'll be breeding us like cattle for poo. You've gotta tell them. You've gotta tell them!

    --
    __ Someday, but not this morning, I'll finally learn to use the preview button.
  23. we also fertilize our food with shit by circletimessquare · · Score: 2, Insightful

    but i think you'd have a problem if someone gave you a shit pancake to eat, saying it was ok, it was chemically treated to be nutritious and delicious

    there is meaning in the massive amount of time and the massive natural filtration that goes into the process you describe, and the artificial tiny distance described in the article between what comes out your ass or your dick, and what winds up in your cup and on your plate

    when that distance is reduced via technology, the squeamishness you haughtily assume to be superior to is really just a basic and simple form of empathetic discomfort. its intrinsic to the way your mind works. its simple psychology and its real, and you are in fact not superior or immune to it, unless you are a cyborg

    what you describe is not self-conscious immaturity, its basic human symbolic thinking. and you need to understand it (and know your own mind better), if you ever hope to remain meaningful to the human society around you

    --
    intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
  24. Re:How does that make it not "real water"? by Jason+Levine · · Score: 4, Funny

    If you you have little kids, or have spent any time with them, you'd know that they'll happily put anything in their mouths if you don't stop them. The idea of contamination is deliberately taught to children, using words like "icky," "yucky," and "ohmigodwhatisthatinyourhand."

    Which is ironic when you consider that parents frequently have to overcome previously decided upon levels of contamination to function as a parent. To use myself as an example, during my wife's first pregnancy test, my job was to hold the filled urine cup and dip the test strip in. I didn't even have to touch the urine, but the thought of it being in a cup so close to me made me nauseous.

    Now, after being a parent to two boys, I can eat lunch, stop to change a poop-filled diaper, and then resume eating lunch (after washing my hands of course!). The idea of changing a poop-filled diaper or wiping the bottom of a young child does not make me nauseous at all. Sometimes I'll forget the different parent-nonparent revulsion levels and tell stories that are perfectly ok by parent standards but make non-parents run to the nearest bathroom to hurl. This can be useful if your coworker brought in something that you'd like. "Hey, that's a nice pudding cup... Though it kind of reminds me of my son's diaper yesterday. I opened it up and stuff just spilled out everywhere and... what's that? You don't feel like pudding anymore? I guess I can eat it."

    Just don't ask to hear my mustard story!

    --
    My sci-fi novel, Ghost Thief, is now available from Amazon.com.
  25. How to make it "taste" better? by Alzheimers · · Score: 4, Funny

    Put it in a can labeled 'Coors'

    Most people wouldn't be able to taste the difference anyway.

  26. Re:How does that make it not "real water"? by berend+botje · · Score: 5, Funny

    It brings the 'P' to the ISS...

  27. Re:How does that make it not "real water"? by MagicM · · Score: 5, Informative

    There is no such thing as "real Coca-Cola". Or if there is, the majority of what goes for "Coca-Cola" isn't "real Coca-Cola".

    Coca-Cola is created from concentrate or syrup. This concentrate is shipped to bottlers who add their own sweetners and other additives, which causes local variations. Then it is combined with water from different sources, causing even more variations. Coca-Cola, even in a can or bottle, tastes differently all over the place.

    Then add to that the abomination that is fountain-based Coca-Cola, which is syrup mixed with carbonated tap water. This means that the Coca-Cola from your local city-water-fed McDonald's tastes differently from the Coca-Cola served in the well-water-fed McDonald's just out of town.

    You should count yourself lucky if you've ever had two servings of Coca-Cola that tasted the same.

    </rant type="pet peeve">

  28. Re:How does that make it not "real water"? by dmatos · · Score: 2, Funny

    Can I hear your mustard story?

    --

    It may look like I'm doing nothing, but I'm actively waiting for my problems to go away.
    --Scott Adams
  29. Re:How does that make it not "real water"? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    A number of interesting theses
    conclude, on consumption of feces:
    If you go to the loo
    and eat your own poo
    you'll soon be wiped out as a species.

  30. Oblig. Quote by NevermindPhreak · · Score: 3, Funny

    "Is it necessary for me to drink my own urine? No, but I do it anyway, because it's sterile and I like the taste."

  31. Re:Bear Grylls by Hatta · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Bear Grylls fakes his shit. If the camera cut, there's no reason to believe he actually drank his own urine. Drinking your own urine in a survival situation is a bad idea anyway. If you're dehydrated, your urine will be hyperosmotic and do more harm than good.

    To be fair though, Bear did eat a live fish on camera, which is one of the coolest things I've seen on TV. Too bad the rest is fake.

    --
    Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
  32. Re:How does that make it not "real water"? by Fantom42 · · Score: 5, Funny

    "Additives? Whats in the toilet are additives."

    Um... POO comes to mind.

    Only on slashdot does a comment that says "Poo is in toilets" get moderated Informative.

  33. THAT'S NOT TANG!! by deft · · Score: 2, Funny

    Here's a video chad carter did on the development of this system Chads a trained physicist and a improv actor here in LA... brilliant. I laugh every time.

    That's Not Tang: The NASA Urine Recycler took 10 years to develop. Watch the testing videos.

    http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/e7286d6d84/thats-not-tang-from-fod-team

    --

    There's nothing Intelligent about Intelligent Design.
  34. When asked about how they felt about the new tech. by Tetsujin · · Score: 2, Funny

    As the astronauts had their first drink of recycled urine, the guys on the ground asked them how they felt about the new toilet's ability to reclaim pure, fresh water from crewmembers' urine:

    "Wait, is that what you guys just sent up here? We haven't installed it yet..."

    --
    Bow-ties are cool.
  35. It's safe water! by The+Redster! · · Score: 2, Funny

    But I still don't like the foam moustache it leaves.

  36. Re:How does that make it not "real water"? by geekoid · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Wow, you are really mistaken. The tastes of the water going into the mix is heavily controlled for taste. Even to the point where some plants have there won water treatment system on top of a cities water treatment system.
    So like most people on /, while technically true, not practically an issue.
    Save fountain drinks; which really to heavily on the min. wage worker remembering to check the mix.

    "You should count yourself lucky if you've ever had two servings of Coca-Cola that tasted the same."
    That is just stupid. even if what you said was true to a high degree of practicality, most people drink coke from the same location. It's not like every can in an 8 pack came from a different part of the world.

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    The Kruger Dunning explains most post on /. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
  37. When I grow up... by Anonymous+Struct · · Score: 2, Funny

    I'm going to be an astronaut^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H fireman!!

  38. What, no Frost Piss post? by davidwr · · Score: 2, Funny

    You got first post and you passed up on this Golden Opportunity?

    --
    Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.