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Gates Foundation Makes Progress On Reinvented Toilets
Julie188 writes "Last summer the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation pledged to spend millions to reinvent the toilet. That investment has born fruit with teams from around the world coming up with many different ways to turn human waste into energy."
... now come with a Start button. Blue loo of death, anyone?
Has to be said.
I don't want to say anything bad about Bill, but this sounds like a pretty shitty idea.
Some of these things seem rather complicated and use materials that aren't easy to obtain.
To provide greater benefit the machine should be able to be manufactured without specialized tools and be able to be built with universally available, preferably recyclable or re-purposed materials. If people can make a living out of making and servicing these toilets then the sanitary and economic (from the created industry) benefit will spread quickly and independently without requiring the oversight of a foreign NGO.
Anyone who thinks this is a silly idea needs to spend two weeks in a city without modern plumbing.
Why reinvent the toilet when we already have perfectly functional, no-energy (or very low energy) composting toilet and urine diversion options? What is it about these options that does not meet the criteria?
Patent litigation: A doctrine of Mutually Assured Destruction... in which everyone seems willing to push the button
Long time linux lover here. Long time hater of MS policy and business practice. However, this man, who was once the richest man in the world has in the latest 15 years of his life great things for humanity. Things that actually make a different for people. I don't care how much you hate windows or Gates as the former president of that company, but surely you can't be against him spending so much of his fortune (and sure, he has enough money to have a comfortable life even with doing this) to make lifes better... Give the guy a break on this part. He has spend a fortune on his foundation and did so with many great projects that actually got shit done. (no phun intended)
I don't think you understand me. Not trying to speak up for MS at all. Speaking up for a guy who changed lives. On the pc - for the worst. In Afrika - for the better. And next time, show some balls. Use your account.
I'd love to see some demographics on countries sorted by asshole cleanliness. I'm guessing that just like education and health care, the USA would be solidly in the middle of the pack. I suspect that Japan probably would have the most-clean assholes in the world, just based on their high end toilet technology. I'm not sure I want to speculate on the dirty end of the scale so as not to risk diplomatic incident.
I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?
Look, we can separate this into 2 different camps: developed vs. undeveloped.
In the developed world, we have plumbing throughout, so the flush sends it to a central area. Now, how useful is that? 2 words: Joules Biotech. They are using genetically modified cyanobacteria, to kick out ethanol and diesel fuel. So, why is this special? Because this uses our sewage as feedstock. IOW, it turns crap into fuel. OTOH, the ideas being pushed here, require loads of energy to try and get rid of crap.
Then you have the undeveloped world. Basically, we are talking, no plumbing. So, what matters most to them? Soap and a water bowl. Yes. For the vast majority of the world, they use their left hand to wipe their ass(which is why you do not use your left hand in nearly all parts of the world). We could help the undeveloped world by simply getting them resources such as soap to kill the bacteria that are on their hands, esp. the left one. For those of you that think that this is funny, keep in mind that the single highest killer of babies in 3rd world nations is diarrhea. Much of that is from the parents or siblings having dirty hands.
Best and simpest idea for a toilet I've seen is the tree bog. Its a raised platform over an enclosure space fenced off with chicken wire. Around the bog you plant willow or other greedy trees which rapidly consume the nutrients, effectively turning the poo into biomass. Aerobic decomposition has advantages over anaerobic decomposition and there is no smell if you use a layer of sawdust. The whole thing requires no maintenance as the poo decomposes very quickly. Not good for urban situations but ideal in rural environments.
There are four sorts of people in the world: fools, lunatics, idiots and morons. - Umberto Eco, Foucaut's pendulum.
The whole idea behind these toilets is that water is scarce and the region is poor -- that's only half-true. If you want to get down to serious, cheap answers, fund plumbing of salt water in from the ocean -- it won't be useful for drinking without some prior preparation, but the toilets, if properly made, need not be an advanced technology to function. Plus if one goes through the trouble of piping in sea water, perhaps it would open up more inland areas to the possibility of desalination plants? The demand would be limited to simply drinking water and bathing, since the toilets would be "first priority" and not need to have a constant source of fresh water like the former two. The only issue I could really see here is a requirement for redundant plumbing, in areas where having too much plumbing must seem like...well, a pipe dream.
Markus Kayser's solar sintering 3D printer shows what is possible when you use ingenuity, technology and two abundant desert resources, sunlight and sand. Mr. Kayser says he is already working with Kohler on the possibility of using solar powered, sand fed replicators like his to make sanitation products such as toilets and plumbing.
Years ago it was the iLoo (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ILoo) I wonder what Microsoft's fascination is with crap?
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Some of my Scout parent friends are military doctors and they told me that better field latrines were a measurable factor in WWII. All armies had established procedures for setting them up, and the fastidius Germans did a solid job of it, if you pardon the pun---but the Americans added an additional step of covering the latrine box with a burlap sack as a fly barrier. The flies are a major disease vector, and as a result American troops were healthier and more combat ready.
The article says Gate's toilet efforts have "born fruit".
Yeuagh!
Were these fruit "Dingleberries"?
"Flyin' in just a sweet place,
Never been known to fail..."
I guess you might be able to "Share" your lavatory adventures too.
Electronic Music Made Using Linux http://soundcloud.com/polyp
We in Latin America are very familiar with this behaviour.
People that got the upper hand in business by all kind of dubious means start all kind of charitable work and sponsoring of the arts.
It is called a PR exercise.
One can't deny that these exercises can have benefits, sometimes immense ones, but they can't rewrite history or palliate the pain and anger of the people who suffered previous bad behaviour.
What would impress me is if Bill would use his quite reasonable leverage to undo some of the damage his company did, for example stopping Microsoft patent trolling expeditions, bribing the necessary politicians with the respective campaign donations in order to change the idiotic copyright and patent systems in favour of the general public, or some other gesture saying "mea culpa".
As it is, to all those who remember the other BIll, it is too much to ask to forgive (which I can) and forget (which I can't).
IANAL but write like a drunk one.