Waterworld was another one of these.
Wiper, I don't think it's recent shock value, this pee and poop recycling thing, because Herbert wrote Dune like what, in the sixties? I think it's always been something science fiction has strove to solve.
I don't think we can recycle it over for anything more than the actual water, because the ammonia and cellular run offs have been eliminated for a purpose! It's the toxic waste of our bodily chemical functions. I think cavies are the only animals that can eat their own poops, and even those are certain types of poop they eliminate, specially shat out with an overload of vitamins not digested first time around.
For humans, though, vitamins can only be used once as far as I know, so some form of suppliment would be neccessarily.
And, this article should remind all of us why flies, although carriers of the five d's (some of which are diarrhea, dysentary, I can't remember the other 3) are nature's garbage men and totally ecologically important for their larval stages, which are poop eaters to the max. Without them and beetles like the dung, glossy pillbug, and tumblebug, we would have shit and dead carcasses everywhere. So, we need these bugs to get rid of the waste we produce. At one time, we were ecologically balanced, with a purpose for everything. Now, I think the overpopulation has so upset the balance this poop concern will indeed, one day, be reality to the point these tactics WILL be neccessary.
Wiper, good thought-provoking morning reading. But, one comment, I wish you could have found a picture of the english dude who played Paul Muadib in the Sci-Fi mini-series for the stillsuit picture.
I could look at him all day. Crooked nose or not. I did notice the hunky dude you picked had red hair!!!

Thanks for your comments, daph! I submitted the article (title and all) to Dave-O without any suggestions for the visuals. In fact, he surprised me with the pictures, which I do think enhance the piece. Didn't even think about the red-haired aspects of the dude until you mentioned it just now. LOL! Nice feedback commentary from you, of course.

I think this would be a GREAT avatar, too. We could get Assblaster or Poop Diddy to put a poopreport logo on the chest, a huge load in the nether region, and we'd be off to the races!
Ha!

Yea Waterworld is an interesting one. Interesting they can filter their piss to be clean water, but can't filter out salt from the ocean to drink it.

Aren't we overlookin' the nutritional value of ejaculatory matter? Now if we can just kasher it properly.

Mazel Tov. TH.

You already eat poop in a similar way. How do you think that crops are fertilized? Yes, in many places they actually take dried-out matter from municipal sewage systems and spread all over fields. And then you eat it. Poop.

The idea of doing the same thing on a smaller scale in a spaceship is not very strange or much of a leap.

I admit that the recycling concept on a spaceship makes sense, and I acknowledge the fertilizer comment. I am still wondering, though, about the 'stillsuit' idea for civilian life in a bathroom fixture-less world of the future. People walking around pooping and pissing and processing without ever taking their clothes off. Hope that never comes to pass, so to speak.

I would want one with olive and khaki trim. I look good in black, but I love olive and khaki.

My thoughts would go to my big old butt, though. You can't hide a bootie in a still suit.

And, there'e the issue of the monthly visitor. How the hell do we deal with THAT?

VERY good story..although I find some of the concepts fascinating, and who knows what the future truly holds, I decidedly agree with your summation in the lsat paragraph!!!

daph, re: your question regarding the monthly visitor. Just add another tube, I guess. Sounds really constricting to me.

LOL, LOL, LOL, LOL, and another LOL... I gotta go... But it was good... See ya!

OK, dammit, that's where I draw the line. That tube better be an outie tube, cuz' none of that's going back in.
Just plain no.

Hey little Herbivore dude,
That's totally interesting!
I tried to eat my own poop once as a puppy, and my owner put this crappy stuff in my food that made my poop taste worse than shit. She's no fun.
I can't even get my big old head in the litter boxes around here.
I get "bad dog" and you get cast iron skillet immunity for the same thing.
No freaking fair.
All I can do is lick my butt.

Confused:

I am a furry little turd-eating herbivore that has to recycle some of my poop in order to thoroughly digest the celulose and rough fibers. The process is called coprophagy. It involves reaching around with my big rodent incisors and plucking the soft, half-digested poop as it is ejected from my little rat butt and re-chewing it. Some ancient Hebrews thought I was "chewing cud" without the prerequisite cloven hoof and declared me "traif" or non-kosher. Rabbits fall into the same category for the same reason. So, I guess I should say "Thank God" for being safe at least in most parts of Israel!

Peace in the Pooperateria. TH.

The subject of eating and drinking one's own outpourings I won't enter into, but wouldn't mean-spirited employers, especially in the UK, love any excuse for keeping workers working, without a break, all day.

In 1832, a young boy died in a Leeds mill after being refused permission to visit the toilet.

Some firms and some schools have been known to expect employees and pupils to bring their own toilet paper.

For a guy, standing at the urinal with his zip undone, or sitting in a cubicle with his trousers round his ankles, is 'me time'. He can unwind as he unloads.

If some bosses won't pay for the time or the paper, how mean. While they are about it, they might as well put meters in, where you pay for the water you use. Of course, you would have to pay extra for the warm water you use to wash your hands, and for the electricity you use for the dryer.

Re the first post - what are "cavies"? Anyone know?

Hey Confused,
I'm sorry, I just got writing and forgot to elaborate on that. Cavies are rodents. I was referring to things who do this special poop eating like some rats, guinea pigs, hamsters, etc. Our guinea pig, Fred, is actually pretty cool, but he does this once or twice a day.

Gross, but I guess neccessary in their little scheme of things.

Thanks for the heads up on the 'stillsuit' definition, Turdmatic. Also, a good laugh out of the 'pulled it out of my ass...' comment!

Aha, Sitting and Wiper, the concept that we still need private time to do this, or any type of private time at all.

This is very true.

Two questions:

1. Since urine essentially is sterile as it exits the body, why does it require the same degree of processing as poop?

2. What about farts? How does the stillsuit deal with gaseous emissions? Are they simply vented to the atmosphere? If so, no wonder those sand worms are so hep on ridding Dune of humans. Isn't it enough that we are ruining our own planet with methane emissions?

Peace on all Poopy Planets. TH.

Makes one wonder, Sitting Wiper, if, despite the lack of actual facilities in a futuristic setting with ambulatory apparel toileting, a special area still might need to be be designated for the purpose of 'standing around and downloading/peeing.' Or just concentrating during the act, itself. In order to get the waste products into the internal tubing effectively, standing still would more or less be a necessity. (Thus the term 'stillsuit,' I suppose.) Even people with the runs will conventionally come to a halt when the stuff starts shooting out of the ole ass.

So perhaps the mean-spirited, break-less scenario you describe would be difficult to pull off. Perhaps the deal in a 'stillsuit' society in the workplace would be that people would still have so much time per shift to stand around and take care of business, so to speak. I envision a room with headphones, maybe virtual reality goggles where people could entertain themselves with music or plotless scenery/travelogues whilst concentrating on 'priming the tubing.'

Interesting conjecture, what?

Wiper--I think "stillsuit" refers to the fact that it functions as a still (as in distilling equipment) for the waste, not that you have to stop moving while you use it.

Also you're right that there'll always be a need for a separate place where poopsuited workers can stand around and take a dinner ("taking a dump" wouldn't quite describe it anymore). I write software for a smallish lab that is right next to the bathroom on its floor; that bathroom is where the designs for my best code and the fixes for my worst originate. ("Here's the latest version, Boss, I just pulled it out of my ass...")

And, the biggest question of all, how the heck do they wipe?

Daphne - I'm not a scientist, so have no idea how, but perhaps one day there will be some self-cleansing agent in our food which takes away the need for wiping, a bit like an automatic defrosting freezer.

A daft conversation is developing on this site, but it's fun, and a good intellectual exercise.

Post Script. The Big Wiper and I would have to find another name if we no longer had to wipe our bums.

Ha!!
I would still be daphne.
You all would be Sitting and The Big.

Oh man, yes, you'd need new names, all right!

Alright... Even if the idea does come out, and even if it works, and even if it wins the nobel prize, it's human... What I mean is, have you ever been on the computer, you click on a site and it doesn't come up or the site turns out all white? Well maybe the suit will still sterilize the poop one day, but on that day, accidently, the stuff you're about to eat smells like poop, or tastes like poop... And let's say that one of the people who owns it is a "Malicious Pooper" like myself, when we shoot out our stool at lightning speed, it won't get fully sterilized, if sterilized at all! And what about liquid poo? There's still a lot of crap that haxs to be done before this suit can even be thought of to make...

Paul...

re - "what are cavies" (5/28)
I'd never heard of short tailed rodents (correctly) referred to as members of their zoological family Caviidae before Daphne's post of 5/27. I thought "cavies" was some kind of slang for varmints. Oh well, live and learn (and keep reading P.R.!)

Hello, I was the star of dune and I think that the poo recycling idea is a great one. For those of you who disagree with me... Bugger Off!

When I was filming that Police video where we were in the dessert, it made me think of how useful the recycled poo and pee idea is. Look out world, I'm gonna make a comeback into the music scene. My new band will be called The Enforcers and our first single will be SMS, actually this will really just be an ad for Nokia. Also you should download the Walking on the Moon ring for your cell phone, it is brilliant!

Dune sucked donkey balls!

I realize its been a while since this has been posted, but after watching Dune, I believe the still suite were more for collecting number 3 (sweat) than number 2. I seriously doubt they would have wasted urine, but I don't see them using the poop, at least not right away. It would make to much of a mess. ANd how come no one ever thinks of number 3 when talking about excreting?