http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/02/04/big-soda-strikes-again Comments On: Big Soda Strikes Again by Paul Constant en-us Copyright 2013 The Stranger. All rights reserved. This RSS file is offered to individuals, The Stranger readers, and non-commercial organizations only. Any commercial websites wishing to use this RSS file, please contact The Stranger. webmaster@thestranger.com (The Stranger Webmaster) Fri, 24 May 2013 00:00:01 -0700 Fri, 24 May 2013 21:45:00 -0700 Foundation http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss
Those who think Israel is obligated to set a Brand New Magnanimous Precedent for dealing with territorial possessions resulting from a defensive war are hypocrites and should be ashamed of themselves!

Unfortunately, the discourse on the subject of Palestine has become so warped that basic logic is now seen as a Great Zionist Plot.

Posted by d.p.]]> Tue, 05 Feb 2013 13:50:43 -0800 The Stranger Posted by Hawke]]> Tue, 05 Feb 2013 13:21:46 -0800 The Stranger Posted by johnjjeeves]]> Tue, 05 Feb 2013 12:13:58 -0800 The Stranger Posted by Tacless]]> Tue, 05 Feb 2013 10:17:23 -0800 The Stranger
for me, the key to getting really good bubbles is twofold: refrigerate the water first (overnight) and use water that hasn't been de-mineralized (like a britta machines). I filter for impurities like chlorine, but use a Berkey, so the minerals stay in. It tastes better and our bodies need it. But, the minerals seems to increase the staying-power of the bubbles.
Posted by Christi S]]> Tue, 05 Feb 2013 08:25:26 -0800 The Stranger "It's gone on for 65 years..."
"You forfeit the right..."

Maybe @13 and @16 didn't intend to conflate Israeli products and the presumed culpability of Jews. But @32 and @33/@43 sure as hell did.

I'm not the least bit desirous of "more atrocities" (nice blame-shifting there), nor of shutting down debate, nor of any expansions or incursions or stupid military escapades that make peace more difficult.

But facts are facts and history is history. By all historic precedent, Israel could have conquered those lands outright once attacked, expelled all inhabitants, and that would have been that. Any move toward two states is by definition a unilateral withdrawal.

And that's probably even wise, since settlement policy has largely been a multi-decade shooting-oneself-in-the-foot spree, and since no one but the craziest hard-liners actually wants to evict the Palestinians or to spend the rest of their lives in a state of perpetual war.

However, those who envision a "two-state solution" with impermeable borders and zero economic interaction would doom the Palestinians to permanent ghetto-ization. Lack of economic opportunity is at the heart of the region's resentments. Israel and Palestine are together the size of New Jersey; Palestine's other neighbor-states are indifferent at best and collapsing at worst. An economically isolated "independent Palestine" would be no better situated and no less resentful than an "occupied" territory.

If a company is employing West Bank workers, paying them well and treating them fairly, and claims no political agenda, then it is both counterproductive and stupid to launch a vendetta against that company. Economic normalization could even be the path to peace.

Anyway, my original offense was taken at @16's use of "apartheid". Israel is not an apartheid state, because the residents of its undisputed lands have equal rights. The United States had to proactively grant Puerto Rican citizenship, and it still hasn't granted Puerto Ricans full voting rights or statehood. You can't be a "second-class citizen" of a territory that is merely "occupied".

My second offense was taken at the rampant ignorance of history and rush to judgment that seems to be unique to American quasi-liberals broaching the topic of Israel. Which is where the dangerously trendy antisemitism (that @32 makes most explicit) becomes germane.
Posted by d.p.]]> Tue, 05 Feb 2013 00:18:15 -0800 The Stranger
The key component is a "carbonator cap" and the associated ball cock valve. Beyond that you need a tank of gas, a common regulator, and a tiny amount of tubing with clamps. Simple. Search "carbonator cap" and you can find all you need many places (e.g. http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1…)
Posted by Aaron]]> Mon, 04 Feb 2013 23:55:12 -0800 The Stranger
Posted by Just nobody]]> Mon, 04 Feb 2013 23:06:34 -0800 The Stranger
To have an honest debate or discussion, you must accept the legitimacy of the other person's right to speak. Instead, the very first thing out of your mouth is the denial of that legitimacy: anyone who speaks against Israel is anti-semitic.

That tactic is the at the heart of the violence in the Middle East. We know what we get when we listen to people like you, it's gone on for 65 years. Same shit, different voices. You're not giving anything of value, just reinforcing the dynamic that will result in more atrocities.

Which is why we can discount anyone who cries wolf w/ the anti-semitism bit. By not respecting the legitimacy of the other side, you forfeit the right for anyone to respect your side.

Posted by Some Old Nobodaddy Logged In]]> Mon, 04 Feb 2013 22:53:41 -0800 The Stranger
I seriously considered the Soda Stream before I bought my system. I think it works just fine, and I've bought a couple as gifts now that the tanks are more widely available for exchange (at Bartells and other local stores). But at $15 for about 60 liters worth of seltzer, it just seemed a little pricey. By comparison, I pay about two cents a liter.

What I'd really love is to be able to hook up a Soda Stream to my 20 lb cylinder. Best of both worlds.
Posted by Goldy]]> Mon, 04 Feb 2013 20:42:03 -0800 The Stranger Posted by soggydan]]> Mon, 04 Feb 2013 20:26:51 -0800 The Stranger
Most the flavors are indeed crap, but I love their orange syrup: tastes more like Fanta Orange than Orange Crush (which tastes like melted popsicle). Their tonic is fucking terrible.

Also, if you don't want to pay $25 or whatever to swap out the CO2 cylinder, check this out: someone makes a valve that works in the SodaStream but fits onto standard 12oz or 20oz paintball cylinders (which fit inside SodaStream machines fine, depending on which size model you have). You can have these filled for about $5 at sporting good stores that cater to that sport. (It's the first product on the page.)

Also, @17 and @18, this place sells a kit like Goldy's setup for $100, though with a 20oz paintball tank. But there's nothing to figure out: it's specifically designed for carbonating standard 2 liter bottles, and it comes with everything you need. They say in the detailed description that they also offer a complete kit with a 5 pound tank like Goldy's, which welding shops will fill, but it's not on the site, so you'd have to call them. (The horror!) I recall it being around $150 when it was up there. And again, plug and play, though I'd strap that tank to something.
Posted by Free Lunch]]> Mon, 04 Feb 2013 19:11:58 -0800 The Stranger
I'm no fan of Likud, I think residential settlement expansion is stupid and has been used to intentionally fan the flames of the conflict, and I have serious problems with the encroachment of theocratic ideologies upon secular matters.

But the fact remains that the Occupied Territories were acquired during a border conflict precipitated by the territories' former owners, and in that sense they are morally equivalent to Danzig/Gdańsk, Alsace-Lorraine, or Czech Silesia. If Israel had wished to kick 100% of the occupants into refugee status in Egypt and Jordan and permanently absorb the territories, all of human history would have been their precedent.

@32: Tossing around the word "Zionism" like a hot potato and bringing up the Holocaust (which nobody else did) just to dismiss disdainfully more than convince me that you're a deeply bigoted piece of shit.

Also, cute YouTube video -- "SodaStream causes Palestinians to die!" Funny, because the company "employs some 900 Arabs from the Palestinian Authority[-governed West Bank]". Yeah, economic development and stable employment, the lack of which is integral to understanding the sustained hostilities, is totally the same as killing people! Go fuck yourself.

@33: More YouTube videos! I'm a fan of Amy Goodman. I actually like Shulamit Aloni and think she truly believes she's working in the best interests of a lasting peace. But she's a classic Litmus-Test Leftie and her suggestion that calling out bigotry is nothing but a nefarious "trick" holds about as much water as Ralph Nader's suggestion that an Al Gore presidency would have been just like George Bush's.

Posted by d.p.]]> Mon, 04 Feb 2013 19:00:27 -0800 The Stranger
Sodastream bothers me for the same reason the old soda syphons bother me. The disposable steel cartridges and the price per fill.

One of the great things about your (and my friends') setup is you can recarbonate standard bottles of soda after they've been half-used, have sat in the fridge a day or two, and have lost most of their fizz. Then, you can buy those cheap two-liter bottles without having to serve the whole thing at once or lose the quality.
Posted by Brooklyn Reader]]> Mon, 04 Feb 2013 18:50:42 -0800 The Stranger Posted by Cato the Younger Younger]]> Mon, 04 Feb 2013 18:50:16 -0800 The Stranger Posted by Sargon Bighorn]]> Mon, 04 Feb 2013 18:42:30 -0800 The Stranger
You will gain weight."

Do you ever tire of being wrong?
Posted by undead ayn rand]]> Mon, 04 Feb 2013 18:40:24 -0800 The Stranger
You will gain weight.
Posted by Will in Seattle]]> Mon, 04 Feb 2013 17:42:24 -0800 The Stranger
From the horse's mouth:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pla…
Posted by Some Old Nobodaddy Logged In]]> Mon, 04 Feb 2013 17:22:03 -0800 The Stranger
Truth hurts, doesn't it? People pointing out how Israeli apartheid resembles or is even worse than South Africa's?

The Holocaust happened in Europe, not Palestine. Palestinians want human rights. What is anti-semitic about that?

Also, here is some info on SodaStream in musical form. Cheers, all!
http://youtu.be/nsxx6RxqcwM
Posted by Linda J]]> Mon, 04 Feb 2013 17:15:54 -0800 The Stranger
Oddly, the only sugared sodas I like are ultra-sweet fruit ones, like orange, grape, strawberry. But I'm on a diet. Though all this diet soda I'm drinking (I also love Coke Zero With Cherry) has made my liver the size and shape of a 1966 Ford Thunderbird, I'm pretty sure.
Posted by Fnarf]]> Mon, 04 Feb 2013 17:15:25 -0800 The Stranger chinchona bark and some patience: the concentrate can last for months.
Posted by Doctor Memory]]> Mon, 04 Feb 2013 17:15:11 -0800 The Stranger
My neighbor and one time best friend in the 70s and 80s was a Tab freak. She didn't care for Diet Coke at all when it was introduced. I always thought Tab was more saccharin-flavored but maybe that's what she was used to. She drank it a lot. She's have it with beef burgundy, cheese souffle, pasta, or chocolate cake ("It cuts the sweet.") She also adored Diet Dr. Pepper. But I digress, we'd go on Sunday safaris for Tab because it was getting harder and harder to find and she didn't have a car. When we did find some, we'd stock her up. Enough for a month or two. We'd heard that soft drinks in cans have a shelf life of about 2-3 months (2L bottles are 5-6 mos.). I haven't been shopping for Tab since then. Is it still hard to find?
Posted by Bauhaus I]]> Mon, 04 Feb 2013 17:04:01 -0800 The Stranger
@23, Sodastream's Diet Coke is pretty awful, kind of sour-tasting. Not metallic -- real Diet Coke is metallic, and I LIKE that taste (Tab is better). If you add a squirt of Torani lime-flavored syrup (look in the coffee aisle of a big supermarket) you can make it an inferior but drinkable version of DC with Lime.

Note that all Sodastream flavors are partly "diet" -- they're all made with aspartame, even the non-diet ones, which is part of the reason they suck so bad. The worst is, very disappointingly, the Sodastream Tonic Water -- having a source of cheap, quality Tonic (i.e., better than Schweppes or Canada Dry junk) would make life almost bearable, but it is not to be.

But yeah, all Sodastream flavors are crappy.
Posted by Fnarf]]> Mon, 04 Feb 2013 16:47:56 -0800 The Stranger
Fnarf: You can control how much carbonation goes into the water by pushing the button more times. I don't know how this doesn't work for you. I generally drain my bottles in less than 24 hours, so I can't speak to how long the bubbles last, though. They definitely last all day.

@ Everyone bringing it up: I had no idea about the Israeli connection until you brought it up. Thanks for the information. I'll do a little reading on it tonight.
Posted by Paul Constant]]> Mon, 04 Feb 2013 16:38:08 -0800 The Stranger