Would you like a Soda with that?

[Koshaw]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11318353/

[Figarou]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11318353/

Yuck..I never liked drinks from the soda fountain. It always has a terrible taste. Now I know why.

[Lupin]

Eh, I never get ice anyway, since it waters down the drink.

[Hamster]

*Throws away drink from KFC*

Thanks for the heads up!

[Ink]

...I have a big problem with this article...

1.) Aligning toilet water and drinking water is ridiculous and very unprofessional.

Why? Because it's a mannerism that does not present the subject objectively. Serve it without theatrical additives if it's a scientific study. It won't kill any of us to drink toilet water -- but there's a taboo associated with what we poo in.

While it isn't advised blahlablahblah... but you can drink toilet water. There's nothing insanely wrong with it.

That fact alone turns this from a scientific look to a cultural shock value item.

2.) Not all bacteria is bad.

For life to exist bacteria must too exist. If any of you have a salt-water fish tank at home you can make your own salt water but you need actual salt water with lots of living things in it to add. Why? Because there's a difference between sea/ ocean water and artificial sea/ocean water.

This theology that all bacteria must die is in effect not correct. Drinking perfectly harmless, pure H20 is okay... but some of the buggies in water are actually GOOD for you.

Surprise surprise.

3.) Testing a few resturants is FAR from conclusive.

'Nuff said.

4.) How correct was her sampling and how professional was she in doing all this work?

How did she do her sampling? Who were witnesses to the samplings? How was the scientific analysis actually done? Where were the containers located and did they have any outside contact? What sample did she take first? Did she or anyone touch the sterile area? Was the cups she got the ice in sterile or are we testing cup and ice?

She's got a HUGE number of variables getting ice from a cup and then she has to put the ice in a container for testing. Trace elements get picked up just being AROUND this stuff, let alone passed out a Drive Thru window.

5.) This world is obsessed with fear and safety.

We all ingest E. Coli daily. It lives in our intestines...

Damn, thinking about it, you must be lucky you're not dead yet. How many times did you pick up something icked out as a baby and PUT IT IN YOUR MOUTH.

I pride myself on being clean, but I don't spend my days fretting over elements that, in nature, we came into contact with regularly. And I will munch on ice. Why? Not because I'm a martyr or a daredevil... I like ice and I haven't gotten ill yet because I've eaten it.

Our ancestors had NONE of the modern science and they lived. Smelly, but they lived. Even after ingesting bad, naughty things like bacteria. And where did they get their ice? On the river. Heh. Yeah, they cut ice. With horses and saws. And they still do today in areas. Wooooo...

I hate to discredit people but I'm tired of this Fear Factor theology behind everything. Life is not without its threats and if the toilet water was really as bad as that article made it seem anybody with a dog would have had a toilet-bowel induced death. Toilet water IS drinkable, if it was pasty toxins you wouldn't let Fido near it.

Life results in a 100% mortality rate!
Start taking risks now!
One day you will die, it's predestined, it can be seen in all our futures... wooooooooo.....!

It's kind of sad that we have to fear everything and believe what a twelve year old concludes.

Including the horror of --

...ICE CUBES...

OMG! I can see what the the horror movies coming out in 2210 will be made of: cookie dough eaters and people that are slipped ice cubes.

[Anubis]

EEEEEEEEEEWWW!! that is nasty!!

[Lupin]

5.) This world is obsessed with fear and safety.

We all ingest E. Coli daily. It lives in our intestines...

While whe do have Escherichia coli living in our intestines, there are many different strains. Most of these are harmless. However, several strains, such as E.coli O157:H7, do produce materials that are toxic to humans.

Furthermore, because E. Coli lives in the intestines of most mammals, and is excreted in feces, its presence is usualy indicative of fecal contamination.

[Scott Gardener]

Sure, we all die eventually, but why rush into it?

And, while I agree that it's important not to get too startled without investigating the facts instead of focusing on sensationalism, all this did start with someone investigating the facts.

[Shadow Wulf]

I dont get drinks out of thier unless Im eating in the resteruant which is hardly, and I have to agree they do have a wierd after taste but thats because they mix the soda syrup and water together as it goes into the machine. Anyway Im not that concerned just yet, I feel like I got enough to worry about as it is.

[Ink]

While whe do have Escherichia coli living in our intestines, there are many different strains. Most of these are harmless. However, several strains, such as E.coli O157:H7, do produce materials that are toxic to humans.

Furthermore, because E. Coli lives in the intestines of most mammals, and is excreted in feces, its presence is usualy indicative of fecal contamination.

Uh-huh... I test for it every day at work (dad own's a federally inspected slaughter house). The problem with E.Coli is it getting, in a decent quantity, in areas of the body it shouldn't be. That's when it goes bad.

The thing is they didn't explicitly denote what E.Coli it was. Nobody saw the scientific information in full, we all saw a spruced up article. And worse yet -- everybody believes it.

People used to cut ice from rivers and use it to chill their drinks. We still do an annual Ice Harvest in February in my area and house the river-ice for summer parties and chicken BBQ events when punch (and alcohol) is required... Nobody has died yet.

You know on those handy websites they tell you to avoid drinking lake and river water too now... Dangerous 'cause it's got things in it.


What must our ancestors have done?!

[sarcasm]
People, you know, just be careful to go and buy some nice bottled water.
[/sarcasm]

Does anybody see this as foolish this gets?

Sure, we all die eventually, but why rush into it?

[Note the Sarcasm]

Yeah, I mean, evolution couldn't have done that great a job. Them ice cubes, terrible they are. Let's not push our luck. I mean, if we hadn't found out about E.Coli years ago we all might have met the end of the line... I can't even imagine how we've survived for thousands of years.

But wait... was defining E.Coli bacteria like pointing out gravity? It's been around us ... since the beginning?



Now, if only this girl had done her experiment on how unhealthy fast food was... and how if you eat it every day you'd gain weight and then die of malnutrition.

Yet, nobody would care about those findings. In fact, I think the usual phrase is still, "Yeah-yeah, I know it's bad for me... I don't care! Hi, yeah, can I have a number one? Yeah, with fries please."

Now we just have to add, "Oh, no ice in the soda. Thanks"

Makes it all better, right?

[anirbas]

Yum Yum!
full of bacterial goodness!

It doesn’t bother me much I've been drinking soda from fast food restaurants all my life, I'm not going to quit now.

[Lupin]

Uh-huh... I test for it every day at work (dad own's a federally inspected slaughter house). The problem with E.Coli is it getting, in a decent quantity, in areas of the body it shouldn't be. That's when it goes bad.

The thing is they didn't explicitly denote what E.Coli it was. Nobody saw the scientific information in full, we all saw a spruced up article. And worse yet -- everybody believes it.

Great. Then you should know that we test for E. Coli because it occurs in larger numbers in feces than various pathogens, and since most strains are harmless, it's less of risk that an error in testing that leads to contamination will cause someone to get ill.

It's not E. Coli itself that's the problem, it's what it's usually indicative of that is.

On a semi-related note: The water in toilets tends to be pretty clean, considering it gets replaced constantly. (It's probably cleaner than your kitchen sink.)

[Set]

It's kind of sad that we have to fear everything and believe what a twelve year old concludes.

Oh finally, someone with some sense! The paranoia thing going on nowadays over everything is annoying as hell. And worse yet, no one believes they're paranoid. It makes me want to slap them all and say "What in hades is wrong with you?! Get a clue!" Seriously.

As for the evil ice cubes, I like ice, I'll get ice, I'm not going to shrink away from it because it might be "OMG, contaminated!!!!111!!one!"

By the way, according to the MythBusters your toilet seat is the cleanest place in your house.

[Ink]

Great. Then you should know that we test for E. Coli because it occurs in larger numbers in feces than various pathogens, and since most strains are harmless, it's less of risk that an error in testing that leads to contamination will cause someone to get ill.

It's not E. Coli itself that's the problem, it's what it's usually indicative of that is.

On a semi-related note: The water in toilets tends to be pretty clean, considering it gets replaced constantly. (It's probably cleaner than your kitchen sink.)

Feces-oh-my!

Yeah, I know that 'intestinal bile' is like the work-house for E.Coli 157

Add the fact I live on a fully functioning farm (that supplies are slaughter house) helps to know poo... It actually exists in large quantities on our property. I mean, E.Coli and poo.

It's amazing to think we all live with poo on some level.

And most of you would be ridiculously grossed out if you've ever been in a cow-patty contest when you were eight and can live to tell about it. Hell, we used to swim in the cow-creek. Cows don't avoid crapping in our swimming hole because that's impolite, they poop wherever they wanna poop. And at eight we'll swim where we wanna swim.

I'm not dead yet.

But the thing I'm saying is: I'm not worried about it.

I get more exposure to poop then any non-farmer does. Between cleaning gutter cleaners, spills, cleaning the tractor, spreading manure, clipping cows, and generally handling anything in the barn I come into contact with poo every day. Moreso than general hygiene pronounces for the non-farming community.

What it's indicitive of is the horrors of "What If!" which annoy the piss out of me. We can "What If!" all day. People die, people avoid death... But that's turned into "OMG! THE ICE! THE ICE! THERE'S POOP IN MY ICE!"

Yes, some a** forgot to wash their hands. Some little girl forgot you can't touch the ice you put in a sterile sample or else it contaminates it. It could have come from her, from the cup someone touched and not necessarily the ice itself... and so many other options of what went down exist.

Get a grip, snap out of it, and stop assuming because some middle schooler took some lab samples that all of us are going to get E.Coli poisoning...

Have you ever eaten cookie dough? If you have, by god you daredevil you, you're running more of a risk than getting E.Coli from a freakin' self-serve ice machine.

Eating cookie dough is like, "Welcome Salmonella! Welcome to my tummy!"

The amazing thing is in all the years I've lived and all the cookie dough I've consumed, and my family along with me, have not perished!

And our eggs we don't refrigerate and many are farmers market goods -- which means they're right from under the hen. Meaning more chance for contamination from tiny bids of bird poo washing the egg didn't get.

Alas! We humans are not as fragile as we assume we are!

[Lupin]

I get more exposure to poop then any non-farmer does. Between cleaning gutter cleaners, spills, cleaning the tractor, spreading manure, clipping cows, and generally handling anything in the barn I come into contact with poo every day. Moreso than general hygiene pronounces for the non-farming community.

Good for you. That means you have a functioning, healthy immune system. But just because you do, it doesn't mean that everyone else does.

What it's indicitive of is the horrors of "What If!" which annoy the piss out of me. We can "What If!" all day. People die, people avoid death... But that's turned into "OMG! THE ICE! THE ICE! THERE'S POOP IN MY ICE!"

Yes, some a** forgot to wash their hands. Some little girl forgot you can't touch the ice you put in a sterile sample or else it contaminates it. It could have come from her, from the cup someone touched and not necessarily the ice itself... and so many other options of what went down exist.

So it touched the cup instead of the ice. Does that really matter? Like your mother said when you wouldn't eat $VEGEATABLE: "It all ends up in the same place."

Get a grip, snap out of it, and stop assuming because some middle schooler took some lab samples that all of us are going to get E.Coli poisoning...

Nobody here said that.

Have you ever eaten cookie dough? If you have, by god you daredevil you, you're running more of a risk than getting E.Coli from a freakin' self-serve ice machine.

Eating cookie dough is like, "Welcome Salmonella! Welcome to my tummy!"

The amazing thing is in all the years I've lived and all the cookie dough I've consumed, and my family along with me, have not perished!

Yes I've eaten cookie dough, I also consume raw fish, and undercooked meat (it tastes better.) But I also know that I'm the only one consuming these things, and I know my immune system is fine. The problem comes when you have several hundred people walk into a resturant a day. A person with a weaker immune system might get sick if food gets contaminated. One cannot plan for everything, but one can take reasonable percautions.

And our eggs we don't refrigerate and many are farmers market goods -- which means they're right from under the hen. Meaning more chance for contamination from tiny bids of bird poo washing the egg didn't get.

Alas! We humans are not as fragile as we assume we are!

One should not make generalizations about ~280 million other people. Just because you want to risk things, doesn't mean other people would as well.

[Ink]

The human race ISN'T fragile. A few million years of evolution ought to tip anyone off on how not fragile we are. We have lived on every fascet of this planet, we house on all land masses, and we have begun to flow even into the very near corners of our own solar system.

We are, however, SUSCEPTABLE to things, but that does not make us fragile.

Now, I understand what you are saying. I simply feel like all it is, in the end, is some fact to chase me into fearing ice cubes. Which I think is ridiculous for anyone to be afraid of at this point (since no conclusive study has been done, and middle schooler science projects are NOT conclusive studies).

The young and old and frail are told to take these things to heart because they're not in such well-working conditions. I'm not telling you or them how to diet, though, I'm saying that we need to keep the fear thing on an intellegent basis.

I'm not going to listen to this like there is actual, cold-hard-facts that that girl's science project means we all need to boycott ice cubes.

That's sheer lunacy.

I get general public health concerns and I understand the precautionary measures. I'm not out to get people or push them into eating ice cubes that they don't want to eat...

Granted, in the end, there is no such thing as true health and safety, precautions or no.

I'm just saying that we need to make sure our fear is on a basis of reality. Meaning things become concerns, we curb them, move on. No theatrics, like this.

Anybody who eats at a regularly plotted food joint who thinks it's healthy and/or safe needs to really rethink pulling in. Especially if they're young, old, or frail/sickly/ailing. But even after countless rushes to the ER due to malnutrition, plus notorious movies on the subject, and general "This is not healthy" notations can't motivate people to stop eating the unhealthiest, unsafest foods for three squares a day.

Instead people point and go, "While your there, pick me up a [insert garbage] you know, uhm... And just be careful of the ice cubes. They put poopy hands on those."

It's not the ice cubes that are the problem! It's the whole damn system that's a problem. But we don't irrationally fear it -- instead the heart patients eat the artery clogging sandwich, the morbidly obese binge rabidly on fat inducing foods, and their actually health-at-risk bodies shrink in submission to the wonderful flavor of All Beef Patty.

I won't shead a tear for those poor innocents, who should have known better, but were being consumed by selfless sandwich love, which promptly put them in the hospital.

We shouldn't be afraid of things, just concerned on how to fix them -- but now, because a middle schooler on a rampage for a blue ribbon has 'proven' it we must panic about the ice cubes?

It's almost like it's staged to take place over actual health concerns (not health FEARS like Little-Girl's Science Project on killer, contaminated ice cubes) -- like people eating sixteen burgers because Atkins says you'll be better for it.

(My last post wasn't about the general public, nor do I intend to throw in political correctness. I am not a politician, I am one person and I speak for me. It was about the fact, as a whole, that we all survive in a germy, bacteria infested world. Hell, oxygen is a toxic environment and we live, no we THRIVE in it.

I meant nothing I said in distaste or to hound you, and mostly in gest because I find the subject outrageous...

And I sense another sushi fan amongst us?)

[wolfbound]

did you also know that the last little gulp in your cup is backwash. that right when you down that last little bit of soda or beer its mostly spit. yum.

thats why at bars you will never see a fully empty glass. there is always bit left.

i was a bartender before a chef.

[Set]

For some reason the beer thing reminded me of this.

http://jadephoenix.org/oriyan/strip/_01.html