Pissky

Gilpin Family Whisky made from diabetics' urine

James Gilpin is a designer and researcher who works on the implementation of new biomedical technologies. He's also got type 1 diabetes, where his body doesn't produce enough insulin to regulate blood sugar levels.

So he's started a project called Gilpin Family Whisky, which turns the sugar-rich urine of elderly diabetics into a high-end single malt whisky, suitable for export.

The source material is acquired from elderly volunteers, including Gilpin's own grandmother, Patricia. The urine is purified in the same way as mains water is purified, with the sugar molecules removed and added to the mash stock to accelerate the whisky's fermentation process. Traditionally, that sugar would be made from the starches in the mash.

Once fermented into a clear alcohol spirit, whisky blends are added to give colour, taste and viscosity, and the product is bottled with the name and age of the contributor.

The original idea came from an (unverified) story he heard about a pharmaceutical company that supposedly set up a factory next to an old people's home and would swap cushions and soft toys for the residents' urine. They'd then process the urine to remove the chemicals that had passed straight through the dilapidated endochrine systems of the patients, which could then be put straight back into new medicine.

The whisky, as you might have guessed, won't be widely marketed conventionally. In fact, it's more of an art piece, asking, Gilpin says, whether it's "plausible to suggest that we start utilising our water purification systems in order to harvest the biological resources that our elderly already process in abundance".

It'll be exhibited, with tasting sessions, at 100% Materials, a design and architecture event in London in September, and the Abandon Normal Devices festival in Manchester in October. If you're not keen on trying it yourself, then you can still go along and view the three films that Gilpin will be showing alongside the whisky, which each outline one aspect of living with the disease.

I'll pass.

Double Feature

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Dog Masks

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Man, Shot In Head, Notices Five Years Later

Polish man was drunk at New Year's party, remembered having sore head.

BERLIN — A Polish man living in Germany went about his business for about five years without noticing he had been shot in the head because he was drunk when it happened.
Police in the western city of Bochum said on Tuesday doctors found a .22 caliber bullet in the back of his head after the 35-year-old went to have what he thought was a cyst removed.
Presented with the 5.6mm projectile, the man recalled he had received a blow to the head around midnight at a New Year's party "in 2004 or 2005", but had forgotten about it because he had been "very drunk," a police spokesman said.
"He told us he remembered having a sore head, but that he wasn't really one for going to the doctor," the spokesman said.
The wound later healed around the bullet and it was not until the man decided to have the lump examined due to recurring pains that the discovery was made.
Police said they were not treating the incident as suspicious as the bullet might have got lodged in the man's head when a reveler fired a gun in celebration.
"It may have been a shot fired up in the air which entered his head on the way down," the spokesman said.
The resident of Herne, who has lived in Germany for several years, was expected to be released from hospital later this week after the bullet was removed on Friday, police said.

Minneapolis Will Pay $165,000 To Zombies

The Minneapolis city attorney's office has decided to pay seven zombies and their attorney $165,000.

The payout, approved by the City Council on Friday, settles a federal lawsuit the seven filed after they were arrested and jailed for two days for dressing up like zombies in downtown Minneapolis on July 22, 2006, to protest "mindless" consumerism.

When arrested at the intersection of Hennepin Avenue and 6th Street N., most of them had thick white powder and fake blood on their faces and dark makeup around their eyes. They were walking in a stiff, lurching fashion and carrying four bags of sound equipment to amplify music from an iPod when they were arrested by police who said they were carrying equipment that simulated "weapons of mass destruction."

However, they were never charged with any crime.

What The Internet Needs

You know what the internet needs ?
An online version of Hungry Hungry Hippos !

Rodents of Unusual Size ?

Rodents of Unusual Size ? I don't think they exist...

HORRIFIED neighbours told yesterday how their homes are being invaded by giant rats - including a 30-INCH LONG monster that was shot dead.
The rodents, twice the size of common types, are plaguing an estate in Bradford, West Yorks, often appearing in kitchens and lounges.
It is feared some could be "super rats" from South America.
Pictured above is a monster 2½ft rat killed on the estate.

But the shaken man who shot it in the head - 31-year-old Brandon Goddard - yesterday revealed FOUR others of the same size scuttled away to safety.
And he said: "They were more like Ratzillas than rats.
"I got out of there as fast as I could. Who knows how many there will be if they've been breeding?"
The shot rat, feared to be from a species native to South America, is TWICE as big as common British types and the largest seen here.
The residents of Ravenscliffe estate in Bradford, West Yorks, are used to seeing massive rodents that sometimes appear in their kitchens and lounges.
Even so, the new colony shocked them. Shown a picture of the dead creature, mum-of-five Rebecca Holmes, 38, gasped: "Oh my God! I've seen them as big as cats but never that big."

The estate has long had a monster rat problem. Rebecca told how her cat Marie cornered one in her lounge. But it stood and fought as it was just as big as the moggy.
A neighbour clobbered it with a baseball bat.

Dead Rats, get your dead rats. For Rat Salad, Rat Potatos, Rat Pie !

People

I just don't understand people.
They get so pissed off when I make kind gestures towards others.
Like somehow my reaching out to others somehow slights them.
(shrug)

Well, it's been a long day.
Tried like hell to do things right and found ways to fail on almost all counts.
At least I seemed to do one damned thing right today.
There's that.
:-)

Let's Dance !

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Good thing they did this during the daylight.

Happy VJ Day !

65 Years Ago, The World Changed.

Full color photos and a color movie of VJ Day in Honolulu, Hi August 14, 1945.

Note: Scroll down the page at the link.

Happy International Lefthanders Day !

Happy Blame Some Else Day !

The first Friday the 13th of the year is Blame Some Else Day.

What a great time you can have on this day. Imagine all the problems, errors, and mistakes you could heap on someone else today. On this day you don't have to take responsibility or blame for any faux pax on your part. On the downside, this day comes as a double edged sword. While you are busy putting the blame elsewhere, someone might just be putting the blame on you!

I blame Bush.
All the kids are doing it.




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Ah, nothing like relaxing in the poooooooooool !!!!!!

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CHEEKTOWAGA, N.Y. (WIVB) - Where did all the water go? That's what a Cheektowaga family wants to know after the backyard swimming pool drained itself dry in a matter of minutes.

Carrie Craven said, "What do I do? What do I do with the big hole in my yard and my kids and my dog and how are we, what are we going to do?"

Lots of questions after the Craven family had the fun literally sucked out of summer last week when a sinkhole opened up under their pool, sucking out all the water while children were swimming.

"They were yelling, "Get out of the pool! Get out of the pool!" Because we didn't know if it was going to fall down, if the whole pool was gonna sink underneath us," described Carrie.

Every drop of water gushed out, flooding the yard, and then disappearing into the hole.

The Sum Of All Fears

Great article from "The Young Guns", Mary Katharine Ham and Guy Benson.

Throughout the lengthy public debate, President Obama and his surrogates consistently ridiculed and denounced critics of the bill as bad-faith, fear-mongering propaganda merchants.
The facts now prove there was plenty to fear in good faith.

Happy Friendship Day !

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