That's a Prince song title.
It came to mind today in the context of the Chinese blogger, confessing his computer sins on government TV, including a blog post that wondered whether there were contraceptives in the water.
Meanwhile, in America, First Lady Michelle Obama has a new health campaign with the message "When you drink water, you Drink Up," encouraging people to drink "even just one more glass a day," even though there is no medical reason for pushing people to drink more water. (Drinking too much water could kill you, and normally, drinking in response to whatever thirst you have is all you're supposed to do, though the advice to drink water instead of other things is good for those who want to lose weight.)
And who can forget that the 2012 presidential campaign was — at least some of the time — seemingly all about getting free birth control coverage into Obamacare.
Must be something in the water they drink/It's been the same with every girl I've had/Must be something in the water they drink/Cuz why else would a woman wanna treat a man so bad?
If I were a blogger in China, this post would be a crime, but only if it were deemed a rumor and it was also viewed more than 5,000 or reposted more than 500 times. I could get a 3-year prison sentence, not because of what I wrote, but because of what other people did with it after I wrote it — reading it, retweeting it, and construing it.
One must take care either: 1. not to become too popular or viral, or 2. to write in a manner that deters the construction that this is a rumor.
I'll do anything 4 U, anything/Why don't U talk 2 me?/Tell me who U are/Don't do this 2 me....
September 16, 2013
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24 comments:
"And who can forget that the 2012 presidential campaign was — at least some of the time — seemingly all about getting free birth control coverage into Obamacare."
Why isn't Obamacare providing us free water?
Are you aware that antivirus program Trend Micro has you listed as a source of malware? This just happened today.
I'm assuming that the purpose of this campaign is to quench thirst with water first, then one will be less likely to drink sugared beverages. As for just drinking extra water for the sake of some added health benefit in addition to ones daily intake of fluids, that's silly. Even coffee counts as a fluid, despite coffee being a diuretic. Soup, milk, tea, it's wet? It's fluid and counts, unless it's extremely salty, in that case you'll drink more naturally because of thirst, to balance out your electrolytes.
We had "water drinkers", back in the days of working on a psych unit. They quickly threw off their electrolyte balance and were sent to the ER.
Actually, one of the goofier aspects of this campaign is that it simply is "drink one more glass of water today than you did yesterday" -- not, "swap out sugary beverages for water," or anything similar. According to what I'd read over the weekend (I think it was in The Atlantic?), the promoters intentionally do not want to say any more than that. It feels almost cultish, the way some people cart their water bottles with them everywhere they go and measure how much water they drink in a day. Next up: keep your water bottle clean!
http://janetheactuary.blogspot.com/2013/09/drink-more-water.html
But Birth Control in US water isn't a rumor:
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=birth-control-in-water-supply
http://www.livescience.com/20532-birth-control-water-pollution.html
@Jane The link in my post goes to the piece in The Atlantic, which is very good.
Note the involvement of the bottled water companies, which is irksome. Drink tap water!
Jane,
Actually, one of the goofier aspects of this campaign is that it simply is "drink one more glass of water today than you did yesterday" -- not, "swap out sugary beverages for water," or anything similar. According to what I'd read over the weekend (I think it was in The Atlantic?), the promoters intentionally do not want to say any more than that.
Indeed. They don't want to say "drink less soda," because that would harm a couple of large companies. But they can say "drink more water," because most people are going to think "bottled water," and most of the bottled water brands in the US are run by the identical soda companies. Win/win, yes? Soda is awfully cheap to produce, but I'd bet that bottled water is cheaper still.
On my part, I'm a bit put off by a directive from the First Lady to "drink more water" when (a) there's no consensus about how much water I ought to be drinking; and (b) she can have no idea how much water I drink now. At least, I hope she can't.
Note the involvement of the bottled water companies, which is irksome. Drink tap water!
Agreed! Tap water varies a lot, of course, but most of it is palatable, especially if cold enough. Unless, of course, you're a fluoridation-phobe. There are a number of them on the Atlantic thread.
I still remember the Consumer Reports taste-test of bottled water, late 70s/early 80s? The test was blind, and NYC tap water beat every commercial product. Granted, NYC has waaaay-above-average water, but still.
I wonder if the Brita water filter folks are paying attention....
Bottled water costs more per gallon than gasoline. What's the ratoinale for that? Remember how people used to point out that Evian is naive spelled backwards? Get a good water filter and refill your bottles.
"drink one more glass of water today than you did yesterday"
That won't end well.
Drinking too much water could kill you
And you're complaining about bad science! Although it is technically possible to drink so much water it can kill you, it is rare and also extremely difficult.
Basically you have to be on drugs like ecstasy or have an extreme electrolyte imbalance because of extreme exertion.
But objecting to reasonable and benign statements of the first lady is worthy of deliberate distortion and hyperbole.
Drinking an extra glass of water a day isn't going to kill (or even harm) anyone.
"Don't Go Near the Water"
Seriously grungy Beach Boys from the grungy early 1970s.
Freder Frederson,
Water overdoses have happened, mostly in fraternity hazings and the like, I think.
What I object to is being told, by the First Lady, that however much water I now drink, I should drink more. She hasn't a clue even what water intake is optimal for me, let alone what I currently drink daily. But whatever it is, it's not enough! Drink Up!
(Brought to you by the producers of fine bottled waters.)
Trend Micro
Yeah, I couldn't access Althouse at work at all today*. You're a malevolent spewer of viruses, according to them. Doesn't affect any other Blogspot blog that I can see.
*Sucked. Couldn't goof off. Withdrawal!
It's all part of the international communist conspiracy to sap and impurify all of our precious bodily fluids.
It's incredibly obvious isn't it, a foreign substance is introduced into our precious bodily fluids without the knowledge of the individual, certainly without any choice, that's the way your hard-core commie works.
http://youtu.be/N1KvgtEnABY
As someone who happily received the "you are cancer free" news today after a 2 yr battle with breast cancer, ask any legit oncologist about the synthetic hormones in water from birth control -- you betcha it's there. And it is not filtered out by any municipal sewage plant and certainly not by a Brita filter.
Also, if Ms. "Drink yer water" had any common sense, she'd know that it DILUTES the stomach acids that help effeciently digest food (especially fats) thus leading to weight gain! Worst thing you can do is drink water with a meal. But maybe she wants more fat people so she and the ipab/death panel can say "nein" to extensive medical care for overweight people and they'll die sooner thus saving $ AND reducing the population!
She and Melinda must be in cahoots on this one.
.
(the thing i always have to do first in order to be able to both sign in and have responses sent to mail--
gol dangit)
[now, here's my actual comment]
a thing
There have been occasions where I've touched the wrong spot on Althouse (via my iPad) and been whisked off to a porn site.
On that malware thing, I will look at everything added yesterday. Maybe some embedded video. I'll take it out. Let me know if you see improvement.
Great analogy Debbie. It seems I'm getting lots of those cups lately. There really is nothing more rewarding than helping those in need or encouraging them and it's such a powerful thing to help those in need, knowing it is the Lord you are serving. It's really the heart of being a servant. May we all fill many cups each day. :) Drinking Water Filtration
Theranter said...
As someone who happily received the "you are cancer free" news today after a 2 yr battle with breast cancer, ask any legit oncologist about the synthetic hormones in water from birth control -- you betcha it's there. And it is not filtered out by any municipal sewage plant and certainly not by a Brita filter.
First, congratulations on being declared cancer free!
Yes, birth control hormones can be detected in water. The question is whether the levels detected are significant. When technology allows detecting something at the parts per trillion level, it may not be significant health wise. Hormones are very powerful chemicals and a little goes a long way so we need some good information.
A high percentage of bottled water is really just filtered tap water. If you want your water to be hormone free, you'll probably have to go with distilled water.
"Danger Will Robinson...Does Not Compute!
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