Tuesday, September 19, 2006

Space station crew survives bad smell scare

The crew aboard the international space station survived a scare today when a bad smell led them to don protective gear. Here is the AP's take on it:
An oxygen generator on the international space station overheated and spilled a toxic irritant Monday, forcing the three-man crew to don masks and gloves in the first emergency ever declared aboard the 8-year-old orbiting outpost.

This story led me to wonder about another enclosed working environment filled with recycled air...the cubicle farm. Cubicle farm inhabitants can tell you that occasionally toxic irritants create bad smells in their environment, too, especially if their cubicle neighbor had a late night of drinking. Yet your common Dilbert has no way of protecting him/herself from these bad smells. I motion that every cubicle be outfitted with a mask and rubber gloves so that Joe Officeworker has the same level of safety as our space station crews.

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