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from the all-the-cryptosporidium-you-can-drink dept.
At Rainbow Grocery, a cooperative in this city’s Mission District, one brand of water is so popular that it’s often out of stock. But one recent evening, there was a glittering rack of it: glass orbs containing 2.5 gallons of what is billed as “raw water” — unfiltered, untreated, unsterilized spring water, $36.99 each and $14.99 per refill, bottled and marketed by a small company called Live Water.
“It has a vaguely mild sweetness, a nice smooth mouth feel, nothing that overwhelms the flavor profile,” said Kevin Freeman, a shift manager at the store. “Bottled water’s controversial. We’ve curtailed our water selection. But this is totally outside that whole realm.”
Here on the West Coast and in other pockets around the country, many people are looking to get off the water grid.
[...] Raw water is such a nascent business that there’s debate over what exactly to call the liquid. Daniel Vitalis hosts a podcast, “ReWild Yourself,” that promotes hunting for food and gathering water; he started the site called FindASpring.com to help people locate springs. He prefers the term “unprocessed water,” which echoes the idea of processed versus unprocessed food.
“I don’t like ‘raw water’ because it sort of makes people think of raw sewage,” Mr. Vitalis said. “When you say ‘live water,’ that’s going to trigger a lot of people who are into physics and biology. Is it alive?”
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/29/dining/raw-water-unfiltered.html
(Score: 2) by bzipitidoo on Wednesday January 03 2018, @05:19AM (3 children)
Well, you know Einstein's famous quip about human stupidity. And every year there are plenty of contenders for Darwin Awards.
Stupid things people do:
Build homes in floodplains
Use fireplaces for heating
Drive while drunk
Vote for politicians like Roy Moore
I also consider it stupid to do thrill seeking stuff like skydiving, but that's not so simply viewed. Mental problems are also a huge source of self-destructive behaviors and actions, and it's hard to dismiss that as mere stupidity. Delusional thinking and a stubborn refusal to face facts are other all too common bases for stupid decisions and moves.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Freeman on Wednesday January 03 2018, @04:35PM (2 children)
Nothing wrong with using a Fireplace for heating. It doesn't deserve to be anywhere near the things you put on that list. Trying to heat a 2500 square foot house with 1 Fireplace, yes, crazy. Most people would just stay in the room with the Fire or a nearby room. Though, using a Wood Burning Stove is a much better idea, if you're looking to warm your house. You get a lot more radiant heat and are less likely to burn your house down.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 03 2018, @05:55PM
Google Russian Fireplace.
(Score: 2) by bzipitidoo on Wednesday January 03 2018, @06:20PM
What I meant were the typical crappy American fireplaces that send 90% of the heat straight up the chimney. They are horrifically wasteful and inefficient. They can even cause the house to get colder because the air they send up the chimney must be replaced, and that typically happens by drawing cold air from outside into the house. Benjamin Franklin complained about them more than 2 centuries ago, so you'd think people would have gotten a clue by now. But no. They aren't serious heating appliances, what they really are is entertainment so people can watch the pretty flames. If you're going to heat a home with firewood, you'd do much better to use a wood burning stove, which can also much more easily be used for cooking. I've heard of Korean fireplaces that route the smoke through a passage under the floor that runs the length of the house, before releasing it to the air. That would be a lot better.
But even a good fireplace is not that great. There isn't enough wood for everyone to use them, and they create lots of pollution. Forests have been annihilated to satisfy demand for firewood, and that didn't turn out well. One could instead use solar heating, with thermal mass and decent insulation. And then there's the tried and true method of wearing warmer clothes.