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161 messages

BS: Urine and its various uses.

19 Jul 07 - 03:13 AM (#2106571)
Subject: BS: Urine and its various uses.
From: Peace

I noticed that this topic has captured the imaginations of many many people on Mudcat. Well, two that I know of, but that's a start. What strange uses do you know about for urine?

eace

(I've gone for a pee.)


19 Jul 07 - 03:33 AM (#2106574)
Subject: RE: BS: Urine and its various uses.
From: GUEST,Keinstein

Urine was the original source of phosphorus. It was a century before someone discovered that bones are a better source, and another 80 years before mineral phosphates were used.

Urine was also the source of nitrates used in gunpowder. The urine of bishops and abbots was prefeered to that of common folk.


19 Jul 07 - 03:36 AM (#2106578)
Subject: RE: BS: Urine and its various uses.
From: Cluin

It's excellent for writing your name in the snow.


19 Jul 07 - 03:48 AM (#2106583)
Subject: RE: BS: Urine and its various uses.
From: Scooby Doo

Its been used as HRT and Thyroxine in the early days of the medication.


19 Jul 07 - 03:50 AM (#2106584)
Subject: RE: BS: Urine and its various uses.
From: Liz the Squeak

American brewing industry.


Urophagia - that's drinking your own - is quite common in some cultures.

It's also "an old method of teeth-whitening during the Renaissance, though it needn't be, and wasn't always necessarily, that of the user".

Can I just say, at this point...






















Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeuuuuuuuuuuuuuwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww!

LTS


19 Jul 07 - 03:51 AM (#2106587)
Subject: RE: BS: Urine and its various uses.
From: Liz the Squeak

Cluin - that's all very well, but it's in my daughter's handwriting!!!

LTS


19 Jul 07 - 03:51 AM (#2106588)
Subject: RE: BS: Urine and its various uses.
From: Cluin

For hair styling... witness the Lemon Swirlie


19 Jul 07 - 03:53 AM (#2106589)
Subject: RE: BS: Urine and its various uses.
From: skipy

For fixing dye.
For making foam to cover runways.
Skipy


19 Jul 07 - 03:54 AM (#2106592)
Subject: RE: BS: Urine and its various uses.
From: Cluin

But I've never even met your daughter!


19 Jul 07 - 04:03 AM (#2106594)
Subject: RE: BS: Urine and its various uses.
From: Liz the Squeak

It's a SPROJ effort Cluin - Society for Preservation of Old Jokes. Leadfingers is the founder member (indeed, he was there at the birth of many of the SPROJ benificiaries).

Assisting with compost.

LTS


19 Jul 07 - 05:17 AM (#2106618)
Subject: RE: BS: Urine and its various uses.
From: John O'L

If you soak your hands in it, your callouses will soften. If your hand-basin is a deep one you might want a few beers first.


19 Jul 07 - 05:22 AM (#2106621)
Subject: RE: BS: Urine and its various uses.
From: skipy

Leather tanning
Skipy


19 Jul 07 - 05:25 AM (#2106626)
Subject: RE: BS: Urine and its various uses.
From: John MacKenzie

When you have broken down in the cold weather in somewhere like Jugoslavia in -38C, it can be used direct from the tap with some soap to get the grease off your hands, when there is no hot water available anywhere else.
Giok

[It's true]


19 Jul 07 - 05:33 AM (#2106628)
Subject: RE: BS: Urine and its various uses.
From: GUEST,SussexCarole

Speeds up the action in a garden composter!


19 Jul 07 - 05:41 AM (#2106629)
Subject: RE: BS: Urine and its various uses.
From: GUEST,ibo

I freeze mine in shapes of little teddybears,and give them out as weeny pops to kids at halloween


19 Jul 07 - 05:51 AM (#2106639)
Subject: RE: BS: Urine and its various uses.
From: manitas_at_work

Lye


19 Jul 07 - 05:52 AM (#2106640)
Subject: RE: BS: Urine and its various uses.
From: John MacKenzie

No it's true!


19 Jul 07 - 06:01 AM (#2106645)
Subject: RE: BS: Urine and its various uses.
From: Georgiansilver

I once used it to defrost my car door lock when it was deep frozen.
My ex-wife wasn't too happy though as we were in the middle of a supermarket car park.(That's not why she's my ex.)


19 Jul 07 - 06:05 AM (#2106650)
Subject: RE: BS: Urine and its various uses.
From: GUEST,ibo

i once pissed on my ex wife in a car park,i was very confused at the time cos my car door was frozen


19 Jul 07 - 07:34 AM (#2106674)
Subject: RE: BS: Urine and its various uses.
From: bobad

Birth control pills.


19 Jul 07 - 07:37 AM (#2106680)
Subject: RE: BS: Urine and its various uses.
From: katlaughing

Laundries used it to keep togas sparkly white in ancient Rome.


19 Jul 07 - 08:32 AM (#2106708)
Subject: RE: BS: Urine and its various uses.
From: Big Al Whittle

the acid bath murderer Haig drank it trying to convince the people that he was mad.

they hung him anyway.


19 Jul 07 - 08:33 AM (#2106709)
Subject: RE: BS: Urine and its various uses.
From: Geoff the Duck

NOT putting out George Bush if he was on fire.
Quack!
GtD.


19 Jul 07 - 08:35 AM (#2106710)
Subject: RE: BS: Urine and its various uses.
From: Big Al Whittle

Ps the judge asked at Haig's trial, did he appear to be enjoying it?


19 Jul 07 - 08:51 AM (#2106722)
Subject: RE: BS: Urine and its various uses.
From: Mr Happy

no, he was just taking the piss!!


[yes - always has to be one!!]


19 Jul 07 - 08:53 AM (#2106723)
Subject: RE: BS: Urine and its various uses.
From: Rapparee

1. It was collected by the Confederacy during the US Civil War to help the Selma (AL) Nitre Works make gunpowder. Women were urged to save the contents of their chamber pots, which were collected. ("Ladies! Save your pee for the Con-fed-er-acy!" was NOT the slogan used.)

2. Because of its mild antiseptic properties it was long used to wash battle wounds. ("Here, Sir Edmund, let us cleanse your facial gash.")

3. Bees are attracted to the sugar in the urine of people with diabetes. This was used for years as a postitive test for the disease.

4. Doctors used to claim that they could diagnose and cure diseases simply by looking at bottles of urine. ("Hector, you've got measles, your mother-in-law's down with glanders, your wife's pregnant, and your horse has diabetes.")

5. Various diseases DO affect the urine, changing it's color, smell, specific gravity, and what you see in the microscope. Liver dysfunction, for example, can turn urine very dark to black.


19 Jul 07 - 08:56 AM (#2106726)
Subject: RE: BS: Urine and its various uses.
From: bobad

Maple syrup urine disease


19 Jul 07 - 08:59 AM (#2106728)
Subject: RE: BS: Urine and its various uses.
From: John MacKenzie

Didn't he do a version of 'Drahn 'em in the barf' Al?
Giok
¦¬]


19 Jul 07 - 09:02 AM (#2106731)
Subject: RE: BS: Urine and its various uses.
From: Bizibod

Easing the pain of jellyfish stings


19 Jul 07 - 09:19 AM (#2106749)
Subject: RE: BS: Urine and its various uses.
From: Bill D

Why, for marking your territory, of course!


19 Jul 07 - 09:32 AM (#2106756)
Subject: RE: BS: Urine and its various uses.
From: Bee-dubya-ell

Urine can be used to relieve the pain of jellyfish and Portugese Man-of-War stings. (Household ammonia works better, if available.)


19 Jul 07 - 09:49 AM (#2106773)
Subject: RE: BS: Urine and its various uses.
From: john f weldon

hate to bring this up, but it may still be happening...

http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?node=Leint%20Ale


19 Jul 07 - 09:56 AM (#2106776)
Subject: RE: BS: Urine and its various uses.
From: Bill D

That explains this...


19 Jul 07 - 10:17 AM (#2106789)
Subject: RE: BS: Urine and its various uses.
From: mack/misophist

Urine collected from public pissoirs and sold to tanners paid for a number of works projects in ancient Rome. The Baths of Caracalla, from which Grand Central Station was copied, for example.


19 Jul 07 - 10:32 AM (#2106794)
Subject: RE: BS: Urine and its various uses.
From: Micca

It was also used in the extracting of Woad from the root of the plant Isatis Tinctoria I assume due to the ammonia or urea present being need to extract and "fix" the dye and Elizabeth I forbade any works producing it within a mile of any of her palaces because of the stench!!!


19 Jul 07 - 10:38 AM (#2106798)
Subject: RE: BS: Urine and its various uses.
From: MMario

actually the use of urine was in the preparation of the dye bath from the dye cakes produced through a rotting/retting process. the concentration of the dyestuff by rotting the leaves was *much* more odiferous then the dye bath itself. REALLY gag-making.


19 Jul 07 - 10:43 AM (#2106804)
Subject: RE: BS: Urine and its various uses.
From: SINSULL

OK
Once again, I will be the one to say it - Golden Shower, an aphrodisiac for some.


19 Jul 07 - 10:44 AM (#2106805)
Subject: RE: BS: Urine and its various uses.
From: John MacKenzie

A piss-up for others


19 Jul 07 - 10:52 AM (#2106812)
Subject: RE: BS: Urine and its various uses.
From: Liz the Squeak

Picture of a Golden Shower. I have a catalogue that says I can have Golden Showers up the side of my house if it's suitably sheltered.

















'Golden Showers' is actually the name of Englands' best selling climbing yellow rose.

It has a profusion of golden yellow blooms from May to September, sometimes lasting through to Christmas if it's mild enough.

It's also a cocktail. 1oz banana liqueur to 1oz white rum, mix over ice and top up with Sprite.

Some prefer to use peach liqueur for a deeper colour.

LTS


19 Jul 07 - 10:54 AM (#2106814)
Subject: RE: BS: Urine and its various uses.
From: MMario

liver disorders will give a deeper colour as well.


19 Jul 07 - 10:57 AM (#2106819)
Subject: RE: BS: Urine and its various uses.
From: Doktor Doktor

(of barges and smacks) ..... ".... to make a sail more efficient and to prolong its life it was dressed with a mixture of oil (traditionally fish oil), seawater and horse urine .... "


19 Jul 07 - 11:34 AM (#2106848)
Subject: RE: BS: Urine and its various uses.
From: Cluin

You asked for it, Peace. I guess you knew Mudcatters would know their piss lore and you'd get some weird responses but be careful. Urine over your head.


19 Jul 07 - 11:58 AM (#2106869)
Subject: RE: BS: Urine and its various uses.
From: heric

To collect and concentrate the muscimol from Amanita muscaria.


19 Jul 07 - 12:01 PM (#2106872)
Subject: RE: BS: Urine and its various uses.
From: John MacKenzie

Micturating isn't a Scottish surname.
G


19 Jul 07 - 12:04 PM (#2106878)
Subject: RE: BS: Urine and its various uses.
From: Donuel

heric, a vast number of other drugs pass through unscathed to the point that even sewerage treatment plants can not remove the hormones and other agents that are flushed down the toilet.

Tap water may have lots of trace prescriptions in it.


19 Jul 07 - 12:05 PM (#2106879)
Subject: RE: BS: Urine and its various uses.
From: John MacKenzie

The birth control pill is being blamed for fish changing sex, as traces of it survive the sewage farm.
G


19 Jul 07 - 12:06 PM (#2106880)
Subject: RE: BS: Urine and its various uses.
From: Becca72

According to my great grandmother it's good for your skin, too. She talked of applying wet diapers to her face...bleck.

I also heard somewhere that the jellyfish bit was an urban legend...


19 Jul 07 - 12:08 PM (#2106883)
Subject: RE: BS: Urine and its various uses.
From: heric

I saw a doctor's wife with a huge box of expired medications of various sorts, which she said she had to destroy by flushing. Problem solved, but I'm not sure who to report it to.


19 Jul 07 - 12:20 PM (#2106894)
Subject: RE: BS: Urine and its various uses.
From: Micca

Sins. "Golden Shower" is also the name given to a drink made from 1/2 Peach juice
1/2 Champagne(or sparkiling wine)
+ a god measure of Apricot Brandy
all well chilled


19 Jul 07 - 12:24 PM (#2106899)
Subject: RE: BS: Urine and its various uses.
From: Peace

There are some seriously different people on Mudcat. Who'd a thunk it?


19 Jul 07 - 12:43 PM (#2106920)
Subject: RE: BS: Urine and its various uses.
From: Peace

"Subject: RE: BS: Urine and its various uses.
From: bobad - PM
Date: 19 Jul 07 - 08:56 AM

Maple syrup urine disease"

I will never look at pancakes the same after today!


19 Jul 07 - 01:02 PM (#2106932)
Subject: RE: BS: Urine and its various uses.
From: Steve Shaw

SussexCarole is spot on. Urine is the best compost activator there is, and it's free. Urine is rich in nitrogen and potassium, and healthy urine is sterile. Lawrence D. Hills, the pioneering organic gardener, called urine "liquid household activator." So, take a trip to the compost heap when needs must, with just a furtive backward glance, and improve the fertility of the garden, and save water at the same time. Everyone's a winner.


19 Jul 07 - 01:02 PM (#2106933)
Subject: RE: BS: Urine and its various uses.
From: Bee-dubya-ell

All these alternate uses for urine are great, but when you get right down to it, you just can't beat urine for plain old peeing. Try it. See if you can piss Kona coffee or green tea or Tang. Nope, it's not gonna happen. Every time you take a pee it's gonna be urine.


19 Jul 07 - 01:06 PM (#2106938)
Subject: RE: BS: Urine and its various uses.
From: Cluin

That's why apple juice and beer go through you so quick. They don't have to stop to change colour.


19 Jul 07 - 01:06 PM (#2106939)
Subject: RE: BS: Urine and its various uses.
From: MMario

Micca - just how much is a "god measure"? Do the gods use metric or not?


19 Jul 07 - 01:07 PM (#2106940)
Subject: RE: BS: Urine and its various uses.
From: Amos

It is most widely used as a means of eliminating liquid waste and excess water from the body.

It is also highly valued, although this is not widely acknowledged, for its remarkable ability to relieve the painful pressures that periodically develop in the region of the human bladder and urethra.


A


19 Jul 07 - 01:10 PM (#2106943)
Subject: RE: BS: Urine and its various uses.
From: Peace

It can also be used for staining one's slacks.

"No matter how you shake and dance
The last few drops go down your pants."


19 Jul 07 - 01:13 PM (#2106948)
Subject: RE: BS: Urine and its various uses.
From: Midchuck

1: Put some in a boot.

2: Type up a set of directions for pouring it out of the boot, and glue the directions on the heel.

3: Give the boot to a person and instruct him/her to pour the urine out of the boot.

4: If he/she is unable to do so, elect him/her to Congress.

I assume that's the process that's now used.

Peter.


19 Jul 07 - 01:24 PM (#2106959)
Subject: RE: BS: Urine and its various uses.
From: HouseCat

My grandmother always said a teaspoon of urine in the ear will cure an earache. My Dad (jokingly) said, "Couldn't you just save a spoon and pee right into the ear?" to which she replied mildly, "Oh yes, that was often done, but usually only if there was a boy around to do it."
Ick.


19 Jul 07 - 01:26 PM (#2106963)
Subject: RE: BS: Urine and its various uses.
From: heric

Don't forget the ambrosiacal, methanethiolic delight of asparagus. Almost miraculously the fun begins in less than an hour.


19 Jul 07 - 02:02 PM (#2107011)
Subject: RE: BS: Urine and its various uses.
From: Peace

Ya wanna make your urine go all odorful, eat corned beef. Jaysus . . . .


19 Jul 07 - 02:19 PM (#2107021)
Subject: RE: BS: Urine and its various uses.
From: Bee-dubya-ell

If it's technicolor pee you're looking for, good old Detroit Dark Red beets have no peer.


19 Jul 07 - 02:26 PM (#2107026)
Subject: RE: BS: Urine and its various uses.
From: john f weldon

I'll simplify a long story down to the basics...

...getting rid of an unwelcome long-term guest by peeing in his prized cowboy boots...

...it worked!


19 Jul 07 - 02:58 PM (#2107055)
Subject: RE: BS: Urine and its various uses.
From: GUEST,.gargoyle

A woman's urine, combined with apple cider creates a powerful sedative.



Several legends - one claims it was named for a man's mistress who was a barmaid. Another:



A German chemist, Adolph von Baeyer, founder of what was to become the Bayer Chemical Co., who in 1905 won the Nobel Prize in chemistry, happened in for some celebrating of his own. It was on that day that he had synthesized "malonylurea" from a reaction of urea with malonic acid, a chemical found in apples. No one knows exactly what he was trying to accomplish, but malonylurea became known as "Barbituric acid", making St. Barbara Day even more important!


        
http://www.chemcases.com/pheno/pheno01.htm





A Prussian chemist, Adolf von Baeyer, is credited with inventing and naming barbituric acid in 1863 or 1864. He created the acid out of a compound of malonic acid and urea. On the day of his discovery, Baeyer is said to have gone to a nearby tavern to celebrate. Some sources say it happened to be the feast of St. Barbara that day; others say the barmaid was named Barbara. In any case, he named the compound barbituric acid.


http://www.madehow.com/Volume-7/Sleeping-Pill.html



Sincerely,

Gaargoyle



Somewhere - out there is a REALLY good story about this discovery - funny and shocking both.


19 Jul 07 - 03:00 PM (#2107056)
Subject: RE: BS: Urine and its various uses.
From: Cluin

Aw, go piss in yer ear!


19 Jul 07 - 03:27 PM (#2107070)
Subject: RE: BS: Urine and its various uses.
From: Rapparee

You can buy several types of pee, as a powder or in the original liquid state. For example:

Predatorpee 100% Wolf Urine is a powerful communicator to animals at the top of the food chain. Coyote, Moose, Bear, Elk & Mule Deer fear the wolf more than any other animal. That is why the scent of WolfPee is so effective. When these large prey believe there is a wolf in the immediate area, they flee. By liberally marking an area with WolfPee, you duplicate the territorial marking habits of wolves in the wild. This illusion triggers an instinctive response in the prey. If wolves are around, these animals want to be far away! Predatorpee is not a pesticidal repellent, but rather it is an extremely effective territorial deception scent. The same territorial marking attributes, also make WolfPee an excellent training aid for giant breed dogs. Dogs react to the illusion of canine territorial encroachment and will instinctively respond by marking over wherever WolfPee has been applied.


19 Jul 07 - 03:28 PM (#2107072)
Subject: RE: BS: Urine and its various uses.
From: Big Al Whittle

I hesitate to say, have one on me....!


19 Jul 07 - 03:32 PM (#2107074)
Subject: RE: BS: Urine and its various uses.
From: Rapparee

Spread the granules and your backyard, too, can smell like a predator pissoire.


19 Jul 07 - 03:40 PM (#2107080)
Subject: RE: BS: Urine and its various uses.
From: Steve Shaw

Never mind asparagus or corned beef. Just eat a big bowl of sugar puffs for breakfast and, by mid-morning, hey presto - sugar puff-scented wee-wee!


19 Jul 07 - 04:04 PM (#2107095)
Subject: RE: BS: Urine and its various uses.
From: gnu

At uni, I took a survey engineering course. The Prof, named Gerhart (spg?) Gloss had been a German Airman prisoner of war in WW2. He and his buddies made a makeshift camera and used urine to develop photos of the camp and surrounding countryside and got them smuggled back to the Luftwaffe (spg?).

I live in New Brunswick, Canada. I have had more than one occasion of thawing out a frozen padlock or car door/trunk lock "naturally".


19 Jul 07 - 04:09 PM (#2107100)
Subject: RE: BS: Urine and its various uses.
From: Micca

MMario a "god measure should have read a GOOD measure, think about 2 fl.oz to I bottle of Champagne
On The matter of colour, the yellow colour of urine is due to eluted salts from the kidneys, mostly Bilirubin, but if you secrete a samall amount, (1-2 mls)of Methylene Blue into a drink such as coffee or dark beer then it is excreted unchanged and can cause severe panic in the recipient as they find they are pissing bright blue!!!


19 Jul 07 - 04:32 PM (#2107112)
Subject: RE: BS: Urine and its various uses.
From: Peace

Some American beers and urine seem to be sufficiently similar in taste--so much so that they may be the key to perpetual motion.


19 Jul 07 - 04:38 PM (#2107115)
Subject: RE: BS: Urine and its various uses.
From: john f weldon

After travelling, do you ever notice that, for several days, your urine will bring back memories of the place you left? More so even than photos?
From Louisiana, magnolia...
From Brazil, caphirini...

...or am I just screwy?


19 Jul 07 - 04:41 PM (#2107119)
Subject: RE: BS: Urine and its various uses.
From: Peace

I'd use the term, 'different', John. Definitely different . . . .


19 Jul 07 - 05:27 PM (#2107151)
Subject: RE: BS: Urine and its various uses.
From: Becca72

"Special" even...


19 Jul 07 - 06:28 PM (#2107189)
Subject: RE: BS: Urine and its various uses.
From: Liz the Squeak

Peace - wouldn't that be perpetual motions?

LTS


19 Jul 07 - 06:31 PM (#2107191)
Subject: RE: BS: Urine and its various uses.
From: Rapparee

"Ya know, Butch, it's not a good idea to lick a fire hydrant at -20 F. Warm water to thaw you off? Really? And you don't care where it comes from? O00kay, Butch...."

You can also fill a sock with sand, wet it, and have a decent blackjack or cosh. If you don't have any water handy, well....


19 Jul 07 - 07:27 PM (#2107228)
Subject: RE: BS: Urine and its various uses.
From: The Fooles Troupe

I'm afraid to read the ads below...

... very afraid...


19 Jul 07 - 08:36 PM (#2107271)
Subject: RE: BS: Urine and its various uses.
From: robomatic

Inspiration and subject of an award winning Broadway musical.


19 Jul 07 - 08:49 PM (#2107281)
Subject: RE: BS: Urine and its various uses.
From: Peace

I can't believe that a thread on urine has attracted so much attention. Of course, it's not every day ya get to tell folks what you know about something as relatively obscure as urine. Neat to see the folklore on it.

(It was used in my youth to help dry up bad acne. I tried it too, and it worked. Of course, ya don't go around telling people that when you are nearing your teens. You wait until you're old enough not to give a rat's ass what folks think, no offense intended.)


19 Jul 07 - 08:53 PM (#2107283)
Subject: RE: BS: Urine and its various uses.
From: Rapparee

It can kill a small tree over a weekend if enough Boy Scouts work at it.


20 Jul 07 - 12:28 AM (#2107370)
Subject: RE: BS: Urine and its various uses.
From: GUEST,.gargoyle

Good point Robomatic.

URINE TOWN

Delightful musical - laughed my face into fractures - Yes they made a musical this bad....when you gotta go, you gotta go.

WEBSITE: http://www.urinetown.com/flash/index.html

Sincerely,
Gargoyle


20 Jul 07 - 12:29 AM (#2107371)
Subject: RE: BS: Urine and its various uses.
From: Peace

Six of us turned an evergreen orange by the end of the summer (at a gymnastic camp). The tree base was about 5" in diameter and the people who ran the camp made the mistake of putting a tent platform about 4' from it. It was a two-ended tent. So, what's it gonna be at 2:00 AM? A walk of about 150' to the latrine or the tree?


20 Jul 07 - 02:42 AM (#2107396)
Subject: RE: BS: Urine and its various uses.
From: Georgiansilver

A lot of interesting uses for urine on this thread but I am so surprised that no-one has come up with the best known use for it.....
It helps people to pee!


20 Jul 07 - 03:35 AM (#2107410)
Subject: RE: BS: Urine and its various uses.
From: Liz the Squeak

Actually, GS, Amos said it a while back yesterday.

It seems we're missing so many great recycling and fertilization opportunities now that we no longer 'bucket and chucket' our bodily wastes.

But it sure explains why my rubber plant turned yellow over one weekend when I left it to the tender mercies of a housemate.

LTS


20 Jul 07 - 03:44 AM (#2107415)
Subject: RE: BS: Urine and its various uses.
From: John MacKenzie

Was his name Johnny?


20 Jul 07 - 03:52 AM (#2107418)
Subject: RE: BS: Urine and its various uses.
From: Rog Peek

Being a Guinness drinker, I've always believed that gnat urine was the main constituent in the production of laget!


20 Jul 07 - 04:44 AM (#2107439)
Subject: RE: BS: Urine and its various uses.
From: Liz the Squeak

Well Giok, we were TOLD it was Tim.... but that isn't what was on the warrant that the cops brought round the day after he did a moonlight flit with a stolen TV and the furniture.

We've not yet mentioned the most popular urban use for urine - washing down shop doorways, telephone boxes and dark corners. I'm given to understand that if you aim properly and have a good tank of lager to back it up, you can wash the pools of vomit clear across the pavement into the gutter.

LTS


20 Jul 07 - 04:46 AM (#2107441)
Subject: RE: BS: Urine and its various uses.
From: Peace

Makes a great conductor when ya hit the electric fence . . . .


20 Jul 07 - 04:55 AM (#2107449)
Subject: RE: BS: Urine and its various uses.
From: John MacKenzie

You forgot the lifts in tower blocks Liz, another popular toilet, in the ascendant, but I can't stand de scent.

Giok


20 Jul 07 - 06:08 AM (#2107476)
Subject: RE: BS: Urine and its various uses.
From: Liz the Squeak

I've never had the misfortune to live in a tower block...

I am even more glad of that fact now.

LTS


20 Jul 07 - 08:12 AM (#2107520)
Subject: RE: BS: Urine and its various uses.
From: Jack Campin

It's a good wood stain. It was often used to stain boxwood instruments dark brown (recorders, clarinets, flutes, bagpipes). If you have a darkened boxwood instrument the chances are you're inserting something in your mouth that has been left to soak in pre-antibiotic-era pee for several weeks.

There are of course hundreds of Gaelic songs to accompany pummeling urine-soaked tweed on a table.

Inteh 18th century, a dyeing process was dicovered that used a mixture of urine and a specific seaweed from the west coast of Scotland to produce a strong blue colour. It was done in a factory in Glasgow, under conditions of the greatest secrecy to preserve the inventor's monopoly on the process (the factory had high walls and all the workers were monoglot Gaelic speakers). The urine was collected from the East End of Glasgow. But once the locals figured there was money in it, the urine collectors had to carry hydrometers - the suppliers were watering it down.


20 Jul 07 - 09:06 AM (#2107550)
Subject: RE: BS: Urine and its various uses.
From: Rapparee

The index to Hyatt's "Folklore Fromm Adams County, Illinois" lists 77 entries for "Urine," not including those for "bed-wetting" and "kidney trouble." Here are a few more interesting entries of the non-human variety:

4015: A bullfrog wetting on you will give you warts.
4645: If you step on the ground where cows wet, you will get ground itch, that is, your toes will crack.
4557: Drink the urine of a goat for a kidney complaint.
5477: Let a person with weak lungs drink "billy goat" urine.
4250: Let a toad wet on your wart to cure it.

Some human ones:

5012: Treating an ear with urine will cure deafness.
9244: "If you want your man to give you all of his money, take a pinch of salt, a pinch of red pepper, and put it in a cup of chamber lye and sprinkle it around in his room. Do this every day for a week and he will give you all of his money."
5584: If you accidentally take poison, rink urine to cause vomiting.
8778: If a gambler is losing, he will pick up a bay baby and let it wet on hime. He thinks that will change his luck and make him lucky.

You too can pick up a copy of this book and learn even more! And...it's all from the area where I (and Mark Twain) grew up!


20 Jul 07 - 10:00 AM (#2107589)
Subject: RE: BS: Urine and its various uses.
From: Rog Peek

As well as tower block lifts, it is also used as an 'air freshener' in telephone boxes, multi story car park stair wells, and pedestrian underpasses.


20 Jul 07 - 10:21 AM (#2107609)
Subject: RE: BS: Urine and its various uses.
From: maldenny

Followed this thread from the 'Cleaning LPs' thread.

I think SussexCarole is brave to admit to using urine as a compost accelerator. A recent 'Gardeners Question Time' couldn't get any of the ladies present to admit to using it, though about half the men were happy to. Maybe something to do with the differing mechanics or geometry of the procedure.

Also, I've heard that on sailing ships, the crew washed their dungarees by soaking them in a communal urine barrel (apart from those with certain diseases), and then towing them behind the ship for a while.


20 Jul 07 - 03:11 PM (#2107767)
Subject: RE: BS: Urine and its various uses.
From: Liz the Squeak

Ah, the common urinal, known in the British Army as the 'Gunners Barrel'... Possibly from the tradition of pissing down the muzzles of muskets to clean the caked on powder during battle when stopping to boil a can of water was too lengthy a process but not cleaning the muzzle was too dangerous. A clogged musket barrel will cause a misfire and the thing will explode in your face or project your ball about 3 feet downwards.

LTS


20 Jul 07 - 04:41 PM (#2107821)
Subject: RE: BS: Urine and its various uses.
From: Cluin

It's great for washing that last bit of baby batter out of the tube before you go to sleep so you don't wake up crusty.


20 Jul 07 - 06:13 PM (#2107862)
Subject: RE: BS: Urine and its various uses.
From: Joybell

We nurses had a great way to get back at difficult male patients. Not on the ones who are actually sick you understand - just the ones in for some minor problem. A sense of humour, on their part, helped too.

1. Place 1 effervescent tablet and a little Mercurochrome in an empty urinal.
2. Present it with a friendly smile to the difficult male.
3. Hide outside the door and wait for the screams.

You could use Gentian Violet but red colouring is more interesting.

Cheers, safely pensioned off, Joy


20 Jul 07 - 06:29 PM (#2107871)
Subject: RE: BS: Urine and its various uses.
From: Rapparee

We once put colorless indicators (for acids and bases) in the high school urinals....


20 Jul 07 - 06:38 PM (#2107876)
Subject: RE: BS: Urine and its various uses.
From: Joybell

Ford Pills - Are they still around. Are good for turning urine blue.
100
Cheers, Joy


20 Jul 07 - 06:39 PM (#2107877)
Subject: RE: BS: Urine and its various uses.
From: Bee-dubya-ell

"I know that urine love with him,
'Cause I saw you dancin' in the gym."


20 Jul 07 - 06:40 PM (#2107878)
Subject: RE: BS: Urine and its various uses.
From: Bee-dubya-ell

If a gambler is losing, he will pick up a bay baby and let it wet on hime. He thinks that will change his luck and make him lucky.

Is that where the phrase "Urine luck today!" comes from?


20 Jul 07 - 06:44 PM (#2107879)
Subject: RE: BS: Urine and its various uses.
From: Bee-dubya-ell

Second person singular: Urine

First person singular: Irine

First person plural: Werine

Second person plural (in southern US): Y'allrine


20 Jul 07 - 07:27 PM (#2107899)
Subject: RE: BS: Urine and its various uses.
From: GUEST,petr

apparently the reason the best urine for sodium nitrate came from Bishops and Abbots - is because they tended to drink more alcohol

My dad remember the public pissoirs in our home town- someone would come around to collect the urine..

it was used in the tanning process too..


20 Jul 07 - 08:12 PM (#2107921)
Subject: RE: BS: Urine and its various uses.
From: Bill D

You can't play the game without ammunition!

Am I the only one who remembers this in the 60s?


20 Jul 07 - 08:15 PM (#2107924)
Subject: RE: BS: Urine and its various uses.
From: Liz the Squeak

No, because I am too young; but a ping pong ball in the bowl helps little boys with their aiming technique. I used to live with a bloke whose ping pong ball must have been bouncing around the bathroom, judging by the mess he'd make.

LTS


20 Jul 07 - 09:06 PM (#2107952)
Subject: RE: BS: Urine and its various uses.
From: Bill D

Yes, Liz...I am sure. As a male, *I* have seen far too many bathrooms...public AND private... made into unholy messes.

Well...that gives us one more use for urine.....job security for janitors.


21 Jul 07 - 02:17 AM (#2108038)
Subject: RE: BS: Urine and its various uses.
From: john f weldon

...sigh... ...long since vanished from montreal, the old metal trough in the men's room... ...capable of serving an unlimited number of beer-soaked guys... ...but they still exist in distant corners of the globe... ...very efficient for lanting, no doubt?


21 Jul 07 - 02:27 AM (#2108040)
Subject: RE: BS: Urine and its various uses.
From: Peace

I'm glad they're gone now. SOB to get out of them when you've fallen in.


21 Jul 07 - 07:07 AM (#2108092)
Subject: RE: BS: Urine and its various uses.
From: bobad

"long since vanished from montreal, the old metal trough in the men's room"

I've heard that there is still one extant at Molson Stadium.

Send your friends pee mail


21 Jul 07 - 07:58 AM (#2108111)
Subject: RE: BS: Urine and its various uses.
From: Steve Shaw

Quote: "A recent 'Gardeners Question Time' couldn't get any of the ladies present to admit to using it, though about half the men were happy to. Maybe something to do with the differing mechanics or geometry of the procedure."

The truth is that ladies rarely do it because there's a far greater risk of horseflies hovering around the compost heap rising up and biting your bum during the execution of the process if you're a lady.


21 Jul 07 - 09:12 AM (#2108134)
Subject: RE: BS: Urine and its various uses.
From: Rapparee

I just read that some of the ancient Greeks thought that amber was hardened lynx pee.


21 Jul 07 - 10:00 AM (#2108147)
Subject: RE: BS: Urine and its various uses.
From: JennyO

The truth is that ladies rarely do it because there's a far greater risk of horseflies hovering around the compost heap rising up and biting your bum during the execution of the process if you're a lady.

Not to mention the difficulty of straddling the compost heap - especially if your compost is in boxes like mine is. I have no intention of standing in that stuff. And it can be seen from the road.


21 Jul 07 - 10:40 AM (#2108167)
Subject: RE: BS: Urine and its various uses.
From: Tootler

Urine was used in the fulling of woollen cloth.

All those "Waulking" songs from Western Scotland were sung while stamping about in a very large bath of Human Pee. Well, actually, later it got replaced by Fullers Earth.

My surname "Walker" arose because some fairly remote ancestor did something similar.


21 Jul 07 - 12:34 PM (#2108207)
Subject: RE: BS: Urine and its various uses.
From: Big Al Whittle

Just makes you wonder which brave soul first mentioned it to his fellow highlanders....

Hey man, I got this idea we could walk around in a bath of piss all day......

A bit like those Native Americans....

No more getting sunburnt for me, its rubbing on the buffalo dung time.....

Did the rest of the village, say wow! what a brilliant idea!

Or did they say, well its an idea......


21 Jul 07 - 12:46 PM (#2108215)
Subject: RE: BS: Urine and its various uses.
From: Bee-dubya-ell

There are other ways to get the urine to the compost pile other than in one's bladder, ya know. A bucket comes to mind.


21 Jul 07 - 01:14 PM (#2108235)
Subject: RE: BS: Urine and its various uses.
From: heric

>>...sigh... ...long since vanished from montreal, the old metal trough in the men's room... ...capable of serving an unlimited number of beer-soaked guys... ...but they still exist in distant corners of the globe... ...very efficient for lanting, no doubt? <<

The last one in San Diego, at the Star Bar, was remodelled out of existence a couple of months ago, with no mention and no regard for its historical significance.


21 Jul 07 - 04:15 PM (#2108315)
Subject: RE: BS: Urine and its various uses.
From: Peace

Only you would find that Bobad.


21 Jul 07 - 04:27 PM (#2108324)
Subject: RE: BS: Urine and its various uses.
From: Peace

Yeah, like everyone talks about the good stuff to do with urine. Never the bad stuff. Here is a picture of a middle linebacker from Hamilton who started his urine therapy on March 23, 2007. It has definitely fu#ked him up.


21 Jul 07 - 09:25 PM (#2108410)
Subject: RE: BS: Urine and its various uses.
From: Joe_F

I believe I read once that there were tribes in which the lower classes would smoke peyote & have visions followed by horrible hangovers. The upper classes would then drink their urine & have the visions without the hangovers. The kidneys of the proletariat had filtered out a lot of the bad stuff. Si non e vero....


21 Jul 07 - 11:53 PM (#2108436)
Subject: RE: BS: Urine and its various uses.
From: Rapparee

I don't know about peyote (which is usually eaten) but I do know that the upper class of certain tribes in Siberia would eat hallucigenic mushrooms (they were quite costly) and the active principle was passed out in the urine, which was drunk by the lower classes, and so everyone had a good time.


22 Jul 07 - 12:07 AM (#2108441)
Subject: RE: BS: Urine and its various uses.
From: Peace

Happens with the Yanomami, too.


22 Jul 07 - 01:42 AM (#2108459)
Subject: RE: BS: Urine and its various uses.
From: The Fooles Troupe

"the active principle was passed out in the urine, which was drunk by the lower classes, and so everyone had a good time."

Ah yes, such a concept existed in Western Europe in the Industrial Revolution. Trade Unions noticed that the bosses did shit upom the workers...


22 Jul 07 - 04:42 AM (#2108481)
Subject: RE: BS: Urine and its various uses.
From: GUEST,ibo

it is good for marking ones territory,i once pissed myself at a party and nobody came near me.


22 Jul 07 - 06:07 AM (#2108500)
Subject: RE: BS: Urine and its various uses.
From: Jack Campin

The problem with Amanita muscaria is that it contains ibotenic acid. This causes irreversible brain damage but is metabolized in the body into muscimol, which like the other alkaloids in the mushroom, is a heavy-duty hallucinogen but with no long-term physical effects. So the person who eats the mushroom itself is risking a lot more than hangovers, while the pee drinkers just get safely smashed.


22 Jul 07 - 08:31 AM (#2108531)
Subject: RE: BS: Urine and its various uses.
From: Dickey

I have found that plants grow like crazy after I pee around them.


22 Jul 07 - 08:39 AM (#2108532)
Subject: RE: BS: Urine and its various uses.
From: Dickey

During the American Civil War, The confederates were short on gunpowder so the resorted to collecting women's pee to make it with, inspring this poem:

ohn Harrolson! John Harrolson! You are a wretched creature.
You've added to this bloody war a new and awful feature.
You'd have us think while very man is bound to be a fighter,
The ladies, bless the dears, should save their P for nitre.

John Harrolson! John Harrolson! Where did you get the notion
To send your barrel 'round the town to gather up the lotion?
We thought the girls had work enough making shirts and kissing,
But you have put the pretty dears to patriotic pissing.

John Harrolson! John Harrolson! Do pray invent a neater
And somewhat more modest mode of making your saltpetre;
For 'tis an awful idea, John, gunpowdery and cranky,
That when a lady lifts her shift, she's killing off a Yankee.

The poem made it's way to the Union Army, where a Yankee penned the
following addendum:

John Harrolson! John Harrolson! We've read in song and story
How women's tears through all the years have moistened fields of
glory.
But never was it told before amid such scenes of slaughter
Your Southern beauties dried their tears and went to making water.

No wonder that your boys are brave, who wouldn't be a fighter
If every time he fired his gun, he used his sweetheart's nitre;
And vice-versa, what would make a Yankee soldier sadder
Than dodging bullets fired from a pretty woman's bladder?

They say there was a subtle smell that lingered in that powder,
And as the smoke grew thicker and the din of battle louder,
That there was found to this compound one serious objection,
No soldier boy could sniff it without having an erection.


22 Jul 07 - 06:12 PM (#2108803)
Subject: RE: BS: Urine and its various uses.
From: GUEST,Art Thieme

Martin Gibson used to make snow cones out of it!

Art


22 Jul 07 - 10:37 PM (#2108941)
Subject: RE: BS: Urine and its various uses.
From: Sorcha

I thought 'waulking' involved soaking the woven wool in urine, then 'beating' in over a beater bar or the backs of chairs, NOT wading in the urine...???


22 Jul 07 - 11:24 PM (#2108956)
Subject: RE: BS: Urine and its various uses.
From: Howard Kaplan

The amniotic fluid, in which the fetus develops inside the amniotic sac before birth, consists largely of the fetus' own urine. Here's the Wikipedia page about it.


22 Jul 07 - 11:41 PM (#2108962)
Subject: RE: BS: Urine and its various uses.
From: Dickey

"Watch out where the huskies go, and don't you eat that yellow snow"


23 Jul 07 - 03:53 AM (#2109021)
Subject: RE: BS: Urine and its various uses.
From: Liz the Squeak

Wool is coated in natural waterproofing. To soak it properly, it needs to be 'agitated', like the alternating rotations of a washing machine. Before washing machines were invented, feet were perfect for the job of agitating. Kept them nice and clean too.

LTS


23 Jul 07 - 09:16 AM (#2109179)
Subject: RE: BS: Urine and its various uses.
From: Rapparee

Washing your face in baby pee was supposed to "cure" freckles. And Ye Olde Romans used it as a mouthwash.


23 Jul 07 - 04:05 PM (#2109514)
Subject: RE: BS: Urine and its various uses.
From: Liz the Squeak

Ooh yummy....

LTS


24 Jul 07 - 04:32 AM (#2109839)
Subject: RE: BS: Urine and its various uses.
From: Gurney

Abbot's and Bishop's pee was best for gunpowder because they were wine drinkers. I think I got that from a Hornblower novel.

James Bond used it for invisible ink....

My dad once used it in his motorbike carbide lamp when nothing else was available. His girlfriend,-later my mum- was not impressed, but she married him anyway.

"Chammily'll poison you, my old man.
Chammily'll poison you, come cuddle me, my Dan."
Fermented urine as bleach.

'Stumbling' Jack Elliot.


24 Jul 07 - 09:20 AM (#2109975)
Subject: RE: BS: Urine and its various uses.
From: Rapparee

My mother used it quite a bit. She'd often say, "Urine trouble, young man!"


24 Jul 07 - 12:14 PM (#2110159)
Subject: RE: BS: Urine and its various uses.
From: frogprince

A former girlfriend's mother swore to this story: semi-literate, semi-intelligent, mother delivers baby in hospital; hasn't decided on a name; sees an interesting word in print, which she pronounces Ureen. Which is how Urine came to be used as a name for a baby girl.


24 Jul 07 - 01:15 PM (#2110210)
Subject: RE: BS: Urine and its various uses.
From: Rapparee

My mother went to school with a girl named "Pellegra" -- the girl's mother thought the word was the name of a Greek goddess.


24 Jul 07 - 04:23 PM (#2110361)
Subject: RE: BS: Urine and its various uses.
From: Cluin

My Dad used to call his yougest sister "Placenta".

Until she found out what it meant.


24 Jul 07 - 05:21 PM (#2110393)
Subject: RE: BS: Urine and its various uses.
From: GUEST,Phil Garringer

I remember reading in one of the "Sharpe's Rifles" books that the redcoats would pee down the barrel of their muskets to break up the fouling a bit.

I know for a fact that urine will keep deer away from your veggies!

I also know that it is a greatly cathartic act to piss on the grave of your enemy. Not from first hand experience. My Uncle did it.


24 Jul 07 - 05:35 PM (#2110412)
Subject: RE: BS: Urine and its various uses.
From: Rapparee

It's also a great way to share a bottle of good whisky with dead friend.


25 Jul 07 - 12:31 AM (#2110629)
Subject: RE: BS: Urine and its various uses.
From: Cluin

Good way to get the warmth back into your willy while icefishing.


25 Jul 07 - 12:35 AM (#2110632)
Subject: RE: BS: Urine and its various uses.
From: Cluin

Though there's a better way, if she'll go for it.


25 Jul 07 - 03:08 AM (#2110673)
Subject: RE: BS: Urine and its various uses.
From: GUEST,Jim Carroll

2 uses not mentioned.
In the manufacture of cloth (tweed) in the Outer Hebrides, the cloth was soaked in urine and then stretched by hand by a group of women (don't they always get the best jobs!).
The process was known as 'waulking' and was done to the accompaniment of singing, (hence 'waulking songs').
Some Travellers, when they wished to marry, would pee into a bucket and when it was swirled round they were considered joined for life.
Jim Carroll


10 Aug 07 - 10:19 PM (#2123430)
Subject: RE: BS: Urine and its various uses.
From: bobad

German ingenuity: The Piss Screen


10 Aug 07 - 11:05 PM (#2123463)
Subject: RE: BS: Urine and its various uses.
From: Gurney

My father used to tell of when he was on searchlights in WW2. Their unit had a 'comedian' who thought it was hilarious to stagger back into the hut and piss on the hot pot-belly stove, then laugh about the complaints about the resultant steam.

They fixed him. The unit sparky wired the stove to a frightening voltage.

I've used it on my wellies/gumboots when fishing on VERY cold days.


14 Aug 07 - 06:40 PM (#2125557)
Subject: RE: BS: Urine and its various uses.
From: Rog Peek

Just returned from Ireland, and Heric, you appearing to be a connoisseurs of urinals, thought you might like to know there is still one of those metal troughs in The Wallis Arms in Millstreet Town, and in Con Lucey's in Knocknagree, both in Co. Cork.


14 Aug 07 - 07:40 PM (#2125596)
Subject: RE: BS: Urine and its various uses.
From: bobad

For the connoisseur of the pissoir: http://urinal.net/


14 Aug 07 - 09:19 PM (#2125664)
Subject: RE: BS: Urine and its various uses.
From: Joe_F

Dickey & Rapaire: This song (re?)appeared during W.W. I, under the title "Chamber Lye", with von Hindenburg in the place of John Harrolson. I suspect that the story is apocryphal, but it would be interesting to know when the song actually originated.


24 Aug 07 - 05:52 PM (#2132980)
Subject: RE: BS: Urine and its various uses.
From: John MacKenzie

Heard a guy in Whitby sing a self penned ditty about The Lant Men, apparently they were the ones that took the piss.
G
Lant


24 Aug 07 - 06:03 PM (#2132983)
Subject: RE: BS: Urine and its various uses.
From: Rapparee

Joe F., it apparently DID originate during the US Civil War. John Harrolson WAS with the Confederate Board of Gunpowder and Niter and he did put an ad in at least the Selma, AL newspaper asking householders to save "chamber lye" for making gunpowder.

I've got more on this at home.


24 Aug 07 - 10:04 PM (#2133103)
Subject: RE: BS: Urine and its various uses.
From: Joe_F

Rapaire:

In that case, perhaps this thread should be moved above the line. %^)


25 Aug 07 - 04:28 PM (#2133449)
Subject: RE: BS: Urine and its various uses.
From: Herga Kitty

Giok - I too heard the song about the lant men, on Wednesday, including the explanation of how they had to taste it for purity, because the sellers would add water to make up the required amount.... (didn't this feature as one of Tony Robinson's worst jobs in history?).
Kitty


09 Sep 07 - 05:38 PM (#2144858)
Subject: RE: BS: Urine and its various uses.
From: john f weldon

Despite the somewhat moribund state of this thread, let me confirm that Molson Stadium does indeed have huge, wide, deep shiny metal troughs for the recycling of beer.
And lots of them; no waiting, even with 20,000+ beer-soaked patrons.
And also the Als beat BC.
Yay!


09 Sep 07 - 06:35 PM (#2144900)
Subject: RE: BS: Urine and its various uses.
From: Big Al Whittle

that's a lot of wee


09 Sep 07 - 06:59 PM (#2144920)
Subject: RE: BS: Urine and its various uses.
From: Mickey191

This thread is priceless - Most of you could be comedy writers! Should be comedy writers!


10 Sep 07 - 01:18 AM (#2145126)
Subject: RE: BS: Urine and its various uses.
From: GUEST,ed

pismire

An ant, or emmet.

Origin: Piss + mire; so called because it discharges a moisture vulgarly considered urine. See Mire an ant.

Source: Websters Dictionary


10 Sep 07 - 01:59 AM (#2145129)
Subject: RE: BS: Urine and its various uses.
From: GUEST,Bert on Kelly's machine.

A word of warning. It has been mentioned above that the stuff is used to set the color in dyes.

Very true. It is used in the Middle East for carpet dyes, specifically by tribal carpet weavers.

So don't buy that bright red carpet from Afganistan, and I speak from experience here, --- 'cos you never stop your cats from peeing on it.


10 Sep 07 - 02:54 AM (#2145149)
Subject: RE: BS: Urine and its various uses.
From: Liz the Squeak

Ah... that explains a lot about my former vicar, his handwoven Middle-Eastern rug and his three dogs who really loved that rug...

LTS


10 Sep 07 - 10:32 AM (#2145438)
Subject: RE: BS: Urine and its various uses.
From: GUEST,Neil

Some of the stains used in stained glass winows in medieval cathedrals that have a vibrancy which can not be duplicated to this day had human urine as an ingredient.


10 Sep 07 - 01:40 PM (#2145606)
Subject: RE: BS: Urine and its various uses.
From: frogprince

No shit?