#1188 Dirty Bottoms

Back when we had the freezing weather, I discovered something interesting. The water in those little water bottles doesn’t freeze. Brand doesn’t matter, they all appear to be the same.
Even though the weather got down to zero, the water in a case of little 16 ounce bottles I had didn’t freeze. Even after leaving them in the back of my truck all night.
Naturally, since I intended to drink that water, and since I know the freezing temperature of 32 degrees Fahrenheit is based on the freezing temperature of, um, water, I was concerned. What’s in the water to keep it from freezing?
The bottle’s ingredients list indicated that minerals are added to improve flavor. So is one of those minerals propylene glycol? Forget about BPA and phthalates, are we all slurping small quantities of antifreeze?
At least it kills the bugs.
But how about the bottoms of those bottles? And cans too. When you buy them at the store, they are often gathered together at the top with something, but the bottom is open to the world.
The other day I opened up a vitamin bottle. I did so on my breadboard in my kitchen, which I use to prepare cut raw vegetables and lettuce and stuff.
The vitamin bottle was very careful about its top. There was a safety seal I had to break on the outside of the twist cap. And when I had the cap off there was another seal I had to break through to get to the vitamins.
But when I picked it up, there was some gunk on the bottom of the bottle. And it was sticky. Someone at the store had obviously set it in something. Or some kid had used it for a snot depository.
Great. Another health thing to get paranoid about. The bottoms of bottles and cans. Don’t put them on your kitchen preparation surfaces. Don’t put them on your pantry shelves because you’ll move them from there to your preparation surfaces.
They could have been soaking in crow poop out on the loading dock for all you know.
Life was so much simpler back in the time of Howard Hughes.
I bet he didn’t have to worry about non-freezing water either.
America, ya gotta love it.