Christie's Prehistoric Auction and Flaming Toilets

For those of you that literally have everything, you may want to check out Christie's Auction house in Paris, France. On Monday, April 16th, Christie's will be auctioning off a 15,000 year old skeleton of a Siberian Mammoth, along with several other prehistoric mammals.

Some of the items that will be on the auction lineup will be a 10,000 year old skeleton of a 13.5 foot rhinoceros as well as a 7.5 foot tall cave bear. Private collectors currently own the artifacts, but the auction is open to everyone including artists and museums.

If prehistoric skeletons aren't your taste then they will also offer a 330 pound meteorite that contains semiprecious stones. These pieces will not come cheap however; the meteorite is valued at $122,000 - $162,000. They will also feature a bezoar, which is a pearl that is formed in the stomach of certain herbivores. The item is made of stone and covered in calcium phosphate. Some bezoars can grow larger than the size of an egg, which makes them extremely valuable. The one on auction at Christie's will be valued at approximately $34,000.

The highlight of the auction, however, will be the skeleton of the 15,000 year old Siberian Mammoth. Named "The President", the buyer will need at least $199,000 and an enormous amount of room to display it. The skeleton, tusks and all, is approximately 12.5 feet high and 16 feet long.

For potential buyers that are bummed because they can't make it to Christie's in order to bid, don't worry. For the first time at Christie's they are allowing online bidding as well. I wonder if the Mammoth would make a good accent piece in my living room.

-Toilets a Fire Hazard-

Toto, the leading toilet maker in Japan issued a press release offering free repairs for their bidet toilets. Apparently, due to faulty wiring, several of the toilets have caught fire. In three separate incidents that ranged from March 2006 to March 2007, the Z series bidet has caught fire.

"Fortunately, nobody was using the toilets when the fire broke out and there were no injuries," said Emi Tanaka, spokeswoman for the toilet company. "The fire would have been just under your buttocks."

According to Tanaka, a manufacturing defect is causing the fire in the wiring for the toilets. The company is planning on repairing 180,000 toilets that were manufactured between May 1996 and December 2001 free of charge. The Z series toilet offers a pulsating massage spray, power dry, built-in bowl deodorizer, an automatic open/close lid, and the "Tornado wash" flush.

The models sold in Japan range in price from $1680 - $2600 and are very popular in Japan. For those of us in the United States we will have to keep using the standard toilet since the Z series is not available overseas. But look at the bright side; you won't have to worry about your butt catching fire while on the pot.

*Sources*

-Columbus Dispatch Online. URL: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/F/FRANCE_MAMMOTH?SITE=OHCOL&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2007-04-15-22-51-16. AP. 2007Apr15.

-Columbus Dispatch Online. URL: http://columbusdispatch.com/dispatch/content/national_world/stories/2007/04/16/bidet.html. AP. 2007Apr16.