November 05, 2007

Bottled Water as Sin

Eric on the reinvention of morality.

My mother and I squabble over this all the time. She tends to drink tap water, but I feel that (depending on the municipality I'm in at any given time) it tends to improve my water-consumption to drink bottled. Sometimes I drink tap stuff for the fluoride and extra minerals, or for conservation reasons, or to save money.

But plastic bottles are lighter than anything else out there, and the water doesn't spill out of them in a car as it does from water tumblers/glasses. Furthermore, ordinary bottles can be thrown away at airports and the like, when one is prohibited from bringing liquids into any given area. Finally, the smallest water bottles ("vendable" versions, and those marketed to kids) can fit in one's purse, so one can always have water around.

And regular bottles are supremely recyclable. So I just don't see the problem.

Growing up in a parsimonious family, I'm well aware that just about any move any person can possibly make can be considered "wasteful." Any consumption of resources whatsoever can be made into a source of shame.

But what, exactly, is the point to that? We have to make rational cost-benefit analyses on these issues.

At least, I have to.

Posted by Attila Girl at November 5, 2007 09:47 AM | TrackBack
Comments

As I posted on the classicalvalues.com post, if you have any reason to watch what you send through your kidneys, you'll probably back up bottled water. Some municpal tap water, while perfectly fine for a person with two healthy kidneys, is verboten for a dialysis patient. Even those with one kidney (naturally or via surgery) should keep an eye on the water content.

Posted by: Lysander at November 5, 2007 01:04 PM


What Lysander says should be tempered with the knowledge of both your municipality's track record of water quality, and the company that produces the brand you are considering drinking.

As for it being a "sin," it brings to mind the point that the radical environmental movement is trying to inculcate guilt into anyone who is affluent.

Posted by: John at November 5, 2007 03:01 PM


When the $$ were going to Europe for Perrier and Evian. it was the thing to do. Now that Coke and Pepsi lead the way, it is now a sin of excess.

Posted by: Darrell at November 5, 2007 04:15 PM


John -

I agree. I'm not advocating some "Brand X" bottled water over tap, but knowing what is coming out of the tap and what is coming in the bottle.

Posted by: Lysander at November 6, 2007 10:38 AM


Flouride (actually flourosic acid) + copper pipe = Alzheimers.

Most of the webpages that carried the original story have disappeared, but this, less scientific one, is still up.

http://www.azcentral.com/community/glendale/articles/0628gl-alzheimers28Z18.html

-Bob

Posted by: Bob at November 6, 2007 12:01 PM


"Flouride (actually flourosic acid) + copper pipe = Alzheimers."

Absent any scientific knowledge of that "fact," of course.

Ditto aluminum, lead(including solder for copper pipes), smoking, lack of intellectual stimulation, acetylcholine deficiency, genetic abnormalities, lack of physical exercise, aging(and senescence in general), lack of social interaction, head injuries, etc., etc., etc.

Posted by: Darrell at November 7, 2007 09:13 AM


Darrell, the guy is a scientist and he's published.

Also, (from one of the vanished articles) the water
has to be acidic enough to get the copper in it.

FWIW, last I read, the "flouride" the MWD puts in our water was
actually industrial flourosic acid, not some sort of pharmaceutical additive. And they've been sued because
they regulate the content so poorly that allegedly kids are
getting flourosis of the teeth.

-B

Posted by: Bob at November 7, 2007 05:19 PM


I thought there were genetic contributors to Alzheimer's. And that nuns who do crossword puzzles don't get it as much. Or something.

Posted by: Attila Girl at November 7, 2007 11:37 PM


"nuns who do crossword puzzles don't get it as much."

You were referring to Alzheimer's, right?

Lately, I've been reading "Faith and the Placebo Effect"
by Lolette Kuby. Her thesis is that whatever you believe
will heal you will heal you. She also discusses the
"nocebo effect" -- which might be described as whatever
you believe will kill you will kill you.

She had breast cancer.
http://www.originpress.com/pXaceboeffect/
(Replace the 'X' with an 'l' -- your content filter doesn't
like "pX".)

-Bob

Posted by: Bob at November 8, 2007 10:25 AM


Yes--Alzheimer's. Though I was being facetious.

I had a great-aunt with Alzheimer's, and I may be third in a matrilineal sequence of women with an extreme fear of dementia.

The placebo effect does, I think, provide us with a window into the unharnessed power of the human brain.

Posted by: Attila Girl at November 8, 2007 02:01 PM


Just saying nothing explains it totally. Not yet. Correlations are not causation. When an answer is found I will let you know. All the factors I listed have been linked at one time or another. They comprise the questions. One day we'll have an answer.

Posted by: Darrell at November 8, 2007 09:43 PM


By the time an answer is found, you'll let me know and I'll promptly forget ;)

Yeah--I know about the causality arrow problem. But the genetic argument is very seductive to me (in areas other than obesity, of course--though it could be that there are families in which such things run, but every once in a while a supremely disceplined ubergirl arises, and maintains something like a normal weight against all odds, which makes her all the more admirable, blah blah blah . . .).

Posted by: Attila Girl at November 9, 2007 12:25 AM




Share photos on twitter with Twitpic "Let the issues be the issue.

About Joy W. McCann: I've been interviewed for Le Monde and mentioned on Fox News. I once did a segment for CNN on "Women and Guns," and this blog is periodically featured on the New York Times' blog list. My writing here has been quoted in California Lawyer. I've appeared on The Glenn and Helen Show. Oh—and Tammy Bruce once bought me breakfast.
My writing has appeared in
The Noise, Handguns, Sports Afield, The American Spectator, and (it's a long story) L.A. Parent. This is my main blog, though I'm also an alumnus of Dean's World, and I help out on the weekends at Right Wing News.
My political philosophy is quite simple: I'm a classical liberal. In our Orwellian times, that makes me a conservative, though one of a decidedly libertarian bent.


8843.jpg An American Carol rawks!
Main AAC site (Warning: sound-enabled;
trailer starts automatically.)


button01.gif
Buy Blogads from the
Conservative
Network here.



AttilaInLCF.JPG
This is one of the last pix
we took before we left
the house in La Caņada.
I think it's very flattering
to Bathsheba the .357.

"The women of this country learned long ago,
those without swords can still die upon them.
I fear neither death nor pain." —Eowyn, Tolkien's
Lord of the Rings


KhawHeadShot.jpg Free Abdulkarim al-Khaiwani!
See Jane Novak's "Yemeni Watch" blog,
Armies of Liberation.
Free journalists and dissident bloggers, worldwide!

Some of My Homegirls— ERROR: http://rpc.blogrolling.com/display_raw.php?r=59e4b55f70f50de810150859b200a635 is currently inaccessible



My Amazon.com Wish List


ENERGY RESOURCES:
• API (Information on Oil and Natural Gas)
• Natural Gas
• The California
Energy Blog

• The Alternative Energy Blog
(Solar, Wind, Geothermal, etc.)
• The Energy Revolution Blog
• Gas 2.0 Blog
• Popular Mechanics'
"Drive Green"



MOVIES & TELEVISION:
Criticism—
• Libertas
(now on hiatus, but they'll be back!) • Pajiba

Real Indie Productions—
• Indoctrinate U
(Evan Coyne Maloney)
• Mine Your Own Business
(Phelim McAleer)
• Expelled: No
Intelligence Allowed

(Ben Stein, Logan Craft,
Walt Ruloff, and John
Sullivan)

Real Indie Production
and Distibution
Companies—

• Moving Picture Institute


THE SAGA OF LIFE IN
THE R.H. HYMERS, JR., CULT:

• First Installment: The Basic Story
• Hymers' History of Violence

• How Fun Is It To
Be Recruited Into Hymer's
Offbeat Church? Not Very.
• How I Lost My Virginity


THE LITTLE MISS
ATTILA SAMPLER:


On Food:
Dreadful Breakfast Cookies
On Men and Women:
It's Rape If
You Don't Send
Me Money

Women Talk Too Much;
I'll Date Dolphins

Heterosexual
Men Are Kinky

Hot Cars,
Hot Girls

On Animation:
Freakazoid!
—the Commentary
Freakazoid!
DVD

On Religion:
Athiests and
Christians Talking
To Each Other



TESTIMONIALS:
"Good grammar, and better gin."
—CalTech Girl
"I enjoy Little Miss Attila's essays."
—Venomous Kate
"Joy is good at catching flies with honey."
—Beth C
"Your position is ludicrous, and worthy of ridicule."
—Ace of Spades
"Sexy."
—RightGirl
"Old-school."
—Suburban Blight

HAWT LYNX:

Teh Funny—
• Dave Burge
Interesting News Items

Civics Lessons—
Taranto on How a Bill Becomes Law

Editorial Resources—
• Better Editor
• Web on the Web
• Me me me me me! (miss.attila --AT-- gmail --dot-- com)
Cigars—
Cigar Jack

Science—
David Linden/
The Accidental Mind

Cognitive Daily

Rive Gauche—
Hip Nerd's Blog
K's Quest
Mr. Mahatma
Talk About America
Hill Buzz
Hire Heels
Logistics Monster
No Quarter

Food & Booze—
Just One Plate (L.A.)
Food Goat
A Full Belly
Salt Shaker
Serious Eats
Slashfood

Travel—
Things You Should Do
(In the West)

Just One Plate (L.A.)

Cars—
• Jalopnik
The Truth About Cars

SoCal News—
Foothill Cities

Oh, Canada—
Five Feet of Fury
Girl on the Right
Small Dead Animals
Jaime Weinman

Audio—
Mary McCann,
The Bone Mama

(formerly in Phoenix, AZ;
now in Seattle, WA;
eclectic music)

Mike Church,
King Dude

(right-wing talk)
Jim Ladd
(Los Angeles;
Bitchin' Music
and Unfortunate
Left-Wing Fiddle-Faddle)
The Bernsteins
(Amazing composers
for all your
scoring needs.
Heh. I said,
"scoring needs.")

Iran, from an Islamic Point of View
and written in beautiful English—

Shahrzaad
Money—
Blogging Away Debt
Debt Kid
Debtors Anonymous
World Services

The Tightwad Gazette

Sex—
Gentleman Pornographer

More o' Dat
Pop Culture—

Danny Barer
(Animation News) • Something Old,
Nothing New

(And yet more
Animation News)
Sam Plenty
(Cool New
Animation Site!)
The Bernsteins
(Wait. Did I mention
the Bernsteins
already? They're
legendary.)

Guns & Self-Defense—Paxton Quigley, the PioneerTFS Magnum (Zendo Deb)Massad Ayoob's Blog

THE BLOGOSPHERE ACCORDING TO
ATTILA GIRL:


The American Mind
Aces, Flopping
Ace of Spades
Argghhh!!!
Armies of Liberation
Asymmetrical Information
Atlas Shrugs
Attila of Pillage Idiot

Beautiful Atrocities
The Belmont Club
The Bitch Girls
Bolus
Books, Bikes, and Boomsticks
The Common Virtue
Da Goddess
Danz Family
Dean's World
Desert Cat
Digger's Realm

Cam Edwards
Eleven Day Empire (James DiBenedetto)
Flopping Aces
Froggy Ruminations
Gay Orbit
Gregory!
Jeff Goldstein

Mary Katherine Ham
At the D.C. Examiner
Hugh Hewitt
Hi. I'm Black.
Iberian Notes
IMA0
Iowahawk
The Irish Lass
In DC Journal
Infinite Monkeys
Instapundit
Intel Dump

Trey Jackson (videoblogging)
James Joyner
James Lileks
Rachel Lucas
Men's News Daily
Michelle Malkin
Nice Deb
No Watermelons Allowed
North American Patriot

On Tap
On the Fritz
On the Third Hand
Outside the Beltway
Oxblog

Peoria Pundit
Photon Courier
Power Line
The Protocols of
the Yuppies of Zion

Protein Wisdom

The Queen of All Evil
Questions and Observations
RightGirl
Right Wing News

Scrappleface
Donald Sensing
Rusty Shackleford
The Shape of Days

Sharp as a Marble
Sheila A-Stray
Laurence Simon

Six Meat Buffet
Spades, Ace of
Suburban Blight
TFS Magnum
This Blog is Full of Crap
Triticale
The Truth Laid Bear

Venomous Kate
VodkaPundit
The Volokh Conspiracy

Where is Raed?
Wizbang
Write Enough
You Big Mouth, You!


milblogsicon.jpg

Support our troops; read the Milblogs!

LinkGrotto
Support a Blogger
at the LinkGrotto.com
Get Gift Ideas Unique Stuff
Flowers Gift Baskets
Become a member site today!