Chorks: Approved for Use in Outer Space

AFP:

Talk about a Chinese take-away. Astronauts Fei Junlong and Nie Haisjeng blasted into outer space with a full larder of Chinese specialities including cuttlefish and meat balls, and beef with orange peel.

But the pair of orbiting diners will have to do without chopsticks, which were considered too difficult to manoeuvre in the weightlessness of space. They’ll use forks and spoons instead according to the state Xinhua news agency.

(Emphasis mine.)

These particular taikonauts — as well as citizens throughout all of Asia — clearly need my chorks. (Note to self: have patent lawyer draft proposal for China National Space Administration STAT.)

Some background, for those of you who’re new to my chorks concept. While living in Taiwan last year, I really enjoyed using chopsticks — but I found that they failed in one crucial regard: picking up little pieces of food (vittles that’re too small to be grasped, and can only be poked). So I constructed the prototype you see above by fashioning tiny dumpling pokers to the ends of conventional chopsticks. And the chorks, thus, were born. Chopsticks plus forks equals chorks.

I’m still tweaking my current working model; in the meantime, I’m accepting overtures from angel investors who’re ready to change the world. Consider that the population of Asia is over three billion, and most of the people on the continent uses chopsticks. It wouldn’t take much market penetration to earn boat-loads of cash. But, of course, the chorks have never been primiarly a commercial endeavor: I just want the world to eat more efficiently. It’s that simple.

(News link via Ni Howdy.)

forks, chopsticks, chorks