Some people live in areas with shitty municipal or well water. Full of iron, sulfur or chlorine. Here in Florida they put so much chlorine in the drinking water in the summer time that my dark colors fade when I wash them, not to mention the crappy taste. So a lot of people get water coolers and/or drink RO water. $200 for an RO system for the sink, plus filters, works out to about the same cost as getting drinking water in bottles.

I agree, the tons of plastic is a waste of precious fossil fuels, but let the market decide.

nfidelbastard wrote:

People are insane. They'll pay over $1.50 for a 20 oz bottle of water when just a little farther back in the store are gallon water jugs for less than a dollar. For most people, even the cheap gallon jugs are unnecessary as most everyone in our country has access to decent water. It's not my money, so I guess I don't give much of a fuck unless they start taxing me for a water bottle cleanup. I only wish I could live long enough use my idea of mining landfills for raw materials. We're not there yet but it's sure to be a lucrative business some day.

We are there.  That's called "the Philippines."  Or, for that matter, any sufficiently-underdeveloped "developing" country.

Bottled water's a scam and a huge waste of resources. It's also poorly regulated. If you want to throw money away, just send it to me and I'll spend it on good food, hot men, and the occasional char siu bao at my favorite dim sum place.

Other than distilled water which I've used to top off the acid levels on car and motor-cycle batteries, I've only purchased a bottle of water once.  And, that was only be-cause we'd been driving a-round in the desert all day and I was starting to seriously de-hydrate.

Taint wrote:

If you want to throw money away, just send it to me and I'll spend it on good food, hot men, and the occasional char siu bao at my favorite dim sum place.

Oh, I was going to ask them to send it to me; But, I was just going to waste it paying a few bills.  You go a-head, Dude.  You obviously need it more.

The crap from my tap is poison. When I went back to NY, it was like a treat to have plain table water. Owing to the cheap Japanese copper piping they elected to use around 1977 (as averse to local materials, since AZ is KNOWN for its copper mining), it tastes like Dirt-Flavored Kool-Aid. When I can, I don't even use it for ice.

Fortunately, gallon refills at the closest market are only a quarter. In regular 115º heat, the only trouble is being able to carry enough.

square wrote:

You could send it to this chick.  I'm sure with her degree in business administration she'll apply it wisely.

Ms. Dillon, 26, of Coraopolis, was the first in her family to attend a four-year university and loans were the only way to finance the business administration degree that would be her passport to a better life.

Well, you can take the girl out of the trailer park, but...........she's still going to get knocked up and fuck up her life.

phoQ wrote:

If you shower in tap water, you might as well drink it, if it’s palatable.  Shower water penetrates warm, open pores and aerosolizes any unwanted chemicals, allowing them to be absorbed at perhaps 10-100X the rate of drinking.

Huh?  I'll bathe in seawater but I won't drink it.

phoQ wrote:

opsec wrote:

Huh?  I'll bathe in seawater but I won't drink it.

Do you find sea water palatable?  If so, drink up.

I think "I won't drink it" made the point obvious... it contains unwanted chemicals that would make me quite ill.  I was just pointing out that I don't suffer this strange and deadly osmosis you describe from immersion in it.  I apologize in advance in the unlikely case that you're a freshwater jellyfish.

Emmeran wrote:

phreddy wrote:

square wrote:

You could send it to this chick.  I'm sure with her degree in business administration she'll apply it wisely.

Ms. Dillon, 26, of Coraopolis, was the first in her family to attend a four-year university and loans were the only way to finance the business administration degree that would be her passport to a better life.

Well, you can take the girl out of the trailer park, but...........she's still going to get knocked up and fuck up her life.

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/images/2 … _0_500.jpg

She has an option still:  1-800-Go-Army

Fucking college is another scan that has be built up over the last 20 years, acheives nothing but instant debt load.   Half of our fucking secretaries (I'm sorry Executive Assistants) have University degrees and they still answer my fucking phone and do my filing.  Me I've got shit but a bad attitude, a get-it-done resume and a hefty annual bonus.

I put myself through college with ill-gotten gains.

No bad debt for me. My brother will be paying back shit forever.

In 1999, I bought a hot tub with my grant money.

I read a lot.  Not the most rounded education, but inexpensive. 

Heya RT, been out on the bay much this season?  I hope you're not wasting this weather!

opsec wrote:

I think "I won't drink it" made the point obvious... it contains unwanted chemicals that would make me quite ill.  I was just pointing out that I don't suffer this strange and deadly osmosis you describe from immersion in it.  I apologize in advance in the unlikely case that you're a freshwater jellyfish.

Do you heat up sea water and breathe it in?  First, osmosis is the diffusion of solvent only.  Secondly, human lung surface area is ~50X that of skin, and the blood-air barrier in the lung is only 2 cell layers thick.  Thus, the primary route that many tap water toxins enter the body is through inhalation in the shower.  The point, that you are making me belabor, is that people who buy bottled water out of fear of tap water contaminants should be more worried about showering than drinking.

opsec wrote:

No, the sun does, and the surf aerosolizes it.

The amount of sea water occasionally inhaled in the open air at the beach is negligible compared to standing in a closed box of sprayed water daily.  And I’m not even going to start on the differing chemistries of the two systems.

opsec wrote:

Busted.  I could argue that water itself is [an] unwanted chemical in a saltwater jellyfish placed in fresh water, but that's reaching.

Osmosis is solvent diffusion across a semi-permeable membrane.  It’s a specialized form of diffusion. 

opsec wrote:

I would argue that the amount of water inhaled in a shower is many magnitudes lower than the amount ingested on a daily basis

Yes, but it’s not the water, it’s what’s in the water.  Hot water increases solubility to pipe metals but decreases solubility to gasses.  So hot water has more shit in it, and chlorine gas is coming out of the tap.  One study found a 4X increase of trihalomethanes in the blood post showering.  Modeling has also predicted that showering for 10 minutes results in 50% more trichlorofluoromethane inhaled compared to the ingestion of 2 liters of water.

opsec wrote:

Also, steam doesn't count... it's a distillate.

How hot is your shower that it distills water?  What you’re seeing is mist, or droplets suspended in air.  These inhalable drops contain tap water.

opsec wrote:

I enjoy making you belabor

I know you do.  I guess I sort of reverse trolled myself with my first post.