Since I Suddenly Have All This Time On My Hands…V1

Since I suddenly have all this time (1) First in a series

I was reading a WIRED article and the writer used the word
“Retromingent”.
Having never seen this word before, of course I looked it up.
It refers to any animal that urinates “backward”, like a hippo, camel, or raccoon.
I thought:
“Backward? What does that mean?”
So I went to Google and input “Camel Urinating”.
Sure enough, there was a video of a camel urinating.
But the really interesting -or perhaps troubling aspect of this video was that there was a guy catching the urine in a metal bowl!
WTF? I wondered.
I watched to the end when the guy carefully carried the urine over to a table that looked like it had milk and flour on it.
-waiting for the fresh camel pee!
Are they going to cook with this? I wondered getting a bit flustered.
And right then, the video ended.
Okay
Now I need to know!

After more searching I did not (yet) find what sort of Bread (?) (Croissants? Muffins? Camel-flavored Focaccia?) one might make with camel urine.
However, I did find out something else.
It is highly valued in Africa (and Asia I gather) after it is boiled until it is a concentrate and then it is made into an oil that “promotes long and healthy hair growth”.
Sure…What have you got to lose…besides a few friends?

And there is this: In a region of Somalia camel urine is considered a health tonic, and you drink hot right out of the camel…But you need to really wanna! Because it is so hot there that water is not wasted not even by a camel. So, they only urinate VERY early in the morning. And now, here, I’m picturing some guy who has arthritis, or God knows what and he gets up early fully prepared with a water bottle with the top cut off (presumably so the camel’s “aim” isn’t an issue), catches the urine and pounds it down before it has a chance to cool.
This is because “every plant the camel eats is considered medicinal” to these folks.
What I’d like to know is does the camel feel weird when he discovers that he can’t pee in peace?

Anyway, I know what you’re thinking. Zaslow is probably too squeamish to even try this if somehow he were to suddenly find him self in Somalia at 4 am.

And, you’d be right!

I found this out this bit of obscura because I suddenly am trapped at home “sheltering in place”, “socially isolating” myself, and since I suddenly have all this free time. I figured that I’d share it with you.

Cheers!

About Zaslow Crane

Zaslow Crane wrote his first Science fiction story when he was 11 This was after an uncle had given him a Charmin case full of sci fi paperbacks- all the old masters: A.E.Van Vogt, Cordwainer Smith, Heinlen, Bradbury, and dozens more. After that, he never looked back. Zaslow Crane has contributed to numerous magazines and newspapers over many years, and has been a contributing editor for a national magazine. He has been published a couple hundred times for non fiction. Regarding fiction, he writes primarily SciFi and was one of the creative talents behind Smoke and Mirrors, a parsec nominated podcast that "re-imagined" the Twilight Zone and, which ran for 2 1/2 years. He has written over two hundred short stories, 7 or 8 novellas and two novels, one of which "explains" a great many advancements in human technology. He likes mindless sort of work, because it frees that other part of his brain to work on story ideas, so if you see him, say, digging a ditch, you'll know that he’s really writing. He lives in a tiny house on a hill in Central California. His home overlooks the ocean - IF you're willing to stand on tip toes and crane your neck. Just a bit.

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