Monday, September 18, 2006

Who Weekly Space Edition

All kinds of reports lately about celebrities in space. Paris Hilton (can't they just leave her there? someone quipped), William Shatner (not keen on vomiting, quite right too), and now Madonna. Will this make space travel more topical for a new generation? I feel I'd better start collecting news clippings, as this may be the tip of the iceberg, a new phenomenon in popular culture.

Of course if they are going to have girly celebs out there, the space knobs had better get the space toilet thing sorted out. I read somewhere recently that a Russian spacecraft had to have its toilets adapted for women. Do these people never learn?

In line with my argument that discarded human organic remains in orbit may one day acquire a scientific value, if cosmic rays don't cause complete denaturing of complex biomolecules (note the fluent use of technical terms meant to inspire credibility), it may be that celebrity waste may become a true collector's item for space scavengers of the future.




6 comments:

  1. Euwww!!!

    I'd like to post a more intelligent reply carefully considering the nature of what becomes 'heritage' and the assignment of value to materials - but Euww!

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  2. Anonymous9:09 am

    Hmm ... I always thought the russian space program was fairly progressive for female cosmonauts ...

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  3. Well, I suppose it's not so different from analysing coprolites in an archaeological context. Is your "euww" a response to the idea of space poo in general or Paris Hilton's in particular?

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  4. And one would have thought the Russians were across female requirements in space, but apparently not. Poor Valentina Tereshkova was suffering from period pain in orbit, yuk.

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  5. Anonymous2:11 pm

    How can you tell that Paris Hilton is in space (not just a waste of space) - and I don't believe she goes to the toilet -- Barbie doesn't!!

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  6. Jojo, I think your question is akin to Bishop Berkeley's paradox and will require much pondering.

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