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"We [science fiction writers] always wanted to believe in "private sector" space -- hucksters make better characters than a government does."
- Larry Niven
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| Frictionless Toilet | ||
| A toilet bowl that does not require water, because its surface is frictionless. |
| The bathroom - the toilet was different. Just as he had sketched it. Wrong; there wasn't any water in it. And no flush. What the hell, there was only one way to test a toilet. When he looked, the bowl was sparkling clean. He poured a glass of water into it and watched it run away without leaving a drop. The bowl was a frictionless surface. Have to mention this to Bury, he thought. There were bases on airless moons, and worlds where water, or energy for recycling it, was scarce. |
| From The Mote in God's Eye,
by Larry Niven (w/J. Pournelle). Published by Simon & Schuster in 1974 Additional resources -
|
Compare with the frictionless coating from Clifford Simak's classic 1963 novel Way Station and the
water repellent surface from Frank Herbert's Dune.
Thanks to Winchell Chung of Project Rho for contributing this item.
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Tech news articles related to works by Larry Niven (w/J. Pournelle)
Frictionless Toilet-related
news articles:
- Frictionless Toilet Could Save 140 Billion Liters Of Water
| Nuclear Batteries May Pack Inner Punch |
| Listen Up, Coppertop - Wearable Device Turns You Into A Battery |
| Smellicopter Combines Live Moth Antenna With Mechanical Drone |
| DARPA's Virtual Caves Explored By Virtual Robots |
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