http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/08/10/chinese_inventos_builds_giant_ball/

Helmet malfunction? Hee!

I love how the article says they left the issue of bathroom matters untouched. I'm sure he has it accounted for, but still. Because, hey, in whatever form of apocalypse this thing was built to endure (seemingly, all of them), I'm sure he'll just be able to step out of the ball a few times a day to relieve himself.

I was surprised it only said ten months. I don't know how long one could last in a nuclear bunker or something similar, but it seems like you could get much longer than ten months' worth of survival with over a million dollars.

ashkelon wrote:http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/08/10/chinese_inventos_builds_giant_ball/

Helmet malfunction? Hee!

mad.

That's insane genius, people. Insane.

He is either more sane than all of us, or is completely and totally insane.

It is a clever idea. It is a multi-purpose disaster shelter which is not too large and actually portable. As such disaster shelters go, it appears to be quite affordable. Household apocalypse protection.

However, I would feel more comfort in using one of them if I knew what the bathroom arrangements were. At the very least he could have given mention that bathroom arrangements did actually exist.

That is an issue, isn't it? LOL I know how bad my cabin fever would be floating around in my blast-ball for 10 months. Likely as not it would come to rest on top of the hottest of hot places.

I'd like to know who ordered 15 of them... I keep envisioning the Sino-Water-World.

The problem with having a tank full of liquid, spacifically the kind currently in question, is... What would happen if it leaked? While if the liquids were not inside the sphere (where they have no place to go) you would not have to worry about waking up to find yourself surrounded by your own c*** and have no fast way to get rid of it.

God-mod wrote:The problem with having a tank full of liquid, spacifically the kind currently in question, is... What would happen if it leaked? While if the liquids were not inside the sphere (where they have no place to go) you would not have to worry about waking up to find yourself surrounded by your own c*** and have no fast way to get rid of it.

One can easily incinerate it an then only have ashes to deal with. That's the kind of toilet we have in the 5th wheel. You put a paper cone in it, the waste and the paper go into a chamber where they are incinerated, leaving only a little residue.

Very convenient when you are dry camping and don't want to waste water just to flush, and where there are no dumping stations for chemical tanks. very reliable too.

A friend of mine has biological composting toilets at their house (and I don't mean outhouses). They are billionaires, and of course wouldn't want stank in the house. These gather the waste in a series of closed composting chambers and when it reaches the lowest chamber, it's basically non-stanky earth. Supposedly it's safe for compost, but they only use it in the flower beds. They have the advantage of being minimally complex and only need a bit of water and sometimes renewal of the bacteria that break down the compost.

Either of those might be a decent answer.

The question is will either of them work in a 4 metre sealed container? I think it would be simpler to just have an eject option for your refuse chamber.

BBeast wrote:The question is will either of them work in a 4 metre sealed container? I think it would be simpler to just have an eject option for your refuse chamber.

It's hard to open ports without contamination. I'd rather have to deal with ash buildup than radiation incoming. Or water, which would kill one rather more immediately.

The electric one definitely would fit and work well. Ours is small and has been reliable for 20 years. They are not cheap, but they have always been a very green choice. My kids never minded cleaning that one -- just once a week empty about an ash-tray's worth of ashes.

One of the lovely things with the electric toilet is there are no pathenogens remaining. So even if one did "eject" the bit of ashes, it would require a smaller port(possibly through existing ventilation) and the remains won't make you or anyone else sick.

In that case, it sounds like a viable option. Better than the alternatives, at the very least.