Ever since 2016, I’ve had to get used to the idea that things are going to happen that absolutely no one can predict. Nothing makes sense anymore, and you just have to accept it. Still, every now and then, something shows up that was very much not on my bingo card for 2023, and as much as I try not to be surprised anymore, I can’t help myself. For example, yesterday when an otherwise ho-hum press release from Toyota included a photo that looked exactly like a butt plug.
Was the comparison a bit crass? Perhaps. At the same time, though, how could anyone who knows what a butt plug looks like look at the above photo and not see a butt plug? Like, that is the exact shape of a butt plug. Unsurprisingly, that post was a hit with commenters even if a few people got upset that a Jalopnik writer would dare write something even slightly immature. I would argue, though, that if they replaced that stick up their ass with a nice butt plug, they might be happier overall.
As it turns out, though, there is a little more to this story. Which I guess shouldn’t be surprising considering how famously conservative Toyota is as a company. I just wasn’t planning to dig any deeper unless I got a call from Toyota’s PR department asking that I clarify the original butt plug post. That call never came, nor did any angry emails, but one Redditor over on /r/RealTesla offered an actual explanation in the comments:
That’s called a pear shaped flask and it is shaped that way for a reason. The flange is to fix it to the neck of the rotovap and form an airtight seal. The rotovap is hooked up to a vacuum and rotates with the flask on an angle (so when it rotates the sample is spread out for greater surface area). For larger samples a round bottom flask can be used which lets the sample spread out if there is a lot but gentle collects it as the volume decreases, and also makes good contact with a round heating mantle. For small samples that are already powder that just need to be given a final dry before storage the pear shaped flask is the only way to get the same effect while also having a large neck to get the sample in and eventually out. The pointed bottom also helps to scoop the sample out or scrape it off the sides if that is necessary.
The design is 100% practical and the fact that it looks exactly like a butt plug is unrelated to that practical design.
At first, that sounded like some turbo encabulator nonsense to my poorly educated self, but nope. As it turns out, that really is a pear-shaped boiling flask. And while we’re sure there are plenty of other places to buy them, this website will sell you one for a mere $69. If you’re interested in ordering a case of 12, though, you can get them at a slight discount. Yes, they’re actually important scientific lab equipment and “have short necks and carefully controlled wall thicknesses to maintain proper balance between thermal expansion and mechanical strength for optimal shock resistance.”
So Toyota, I would like to apologize for saying that the pear-shaped boiling flask you included in your press release looked like a butt plug. Had I paid better attention in science class 20 years ago, I probably would have known what I was looking at and would not have made such a crude comparison. Probably because I’d be making Smart Person money doing actual science instead of writing about cars, but you never know. I could have still ended up writing for Jalopnik anyway, only more educated and not the kind of person to look at a pear-shaped boiling flask sitting in a flared base and think it looked like a butt plug.
So now you know. It’s not that the flask looks like a butt plug. Butt plugs just happen to look almost exactly like pear-shaped boiling flasks. Now please go forth and share what you have learned with your friends, family members, coworkers and favorite bartender. I’m sure this is one fun fact they just can’t wait to learn.