Anal moi: "Michelle Obama"

Starbucks does actually have really good tasting water.

Around my neck of the woods where the water is borderline toxic, when I noticed recently that Starbucks coffee wasn't making me have skin and digestive problems (like in the past from almost all places near here).

I started ordering a glass of ice water with my drink and it was very tasty (I'm a water connoisseur, and buy many bottled waters, but only the best ones).

I asked the barista what there secret was and he said they had installed a special filter but it was proprietary. Thinking he was pulling my leg, I emailed Starbucks HQ and they affirmed that yes, it is a very good filter and yes they can't tell me what it is.

I've improved my water to the point of tastiness with a GE reverse osmosis filter that was quite the bear to set up and install. But it's worth every drop.

Silly, sure, but - forest for trees. This ad is at one of the kajillion excellent water fountains the Port of Seattle has ALL OVER THEIR AIRPORT. They even have those talking fountains. As a lifelong fountain aficionado, I must put in a good word for SeaTac having always made it especially easy for travelers to avoid thinking they have to use the retail vendors for hydration.

@3) Sea-Tac is hardly unique in having lots of water fountains.

A better ad would have said something along the line of "you can always get water on the plane..."

@2 Move one city south. Auburn has a glacier fed water supply. Incredibly clean & crisp.

I like candy. Everyone at the stranger is such a prig.

@2,

I asked the barista what there secret was and he said they had installed a special filter but it was proprietary. Thinking he was pulling my leg, I emailed Starbucks HQ and they affirmed that yes, it is a very good filter and yes they can't tell me what it is.

I once asked a priest how they get their holy water. He said there's a "special filter" installed but it was proprietary. I called the Vatican to verify it and they told me that was correct, they have a "very good" filter, but they can't tell me what it is.
I suspect their filter may be supernatural.

Michelle Obama is getting over the top on this. Did you all see her chastise Olympic Gold Metal winner Gabby Douglas on the Tonight Show over celebrating her victory by enjoying a delicious Egg McMuffin?
Given the athlete's metabolism, I hardly think egg, cheese, and a muffin warrants Michelle's plebeian pontificating.

Most candy is very low-fat, just pure sugar and/or corn-sweetener. Many of the pricey Starbucks glopathons are loaded with grease.

MO is projecting her fears... Not everyone has a ballon ass... She should speak with Fergie on ass matters and diets...

@4, no kidding. Few do it as well as my podunk hometown's though. If they want to put some cute ads up promoting their rent-paying retail tenants, doing it at the site of their wonderfully popular fountains seems logical enough. To think it will have a serious water-discouraging effect is like thinking putting escort ads next to the personals means the Stranger would rather we pay for it.

@12) A "serious water-discouraging effect"?

My pancreas is whimpering.

#8

I did spend one whole afternoon during a scout jamboree looking for a "left handed windjammer" so gullible could be my middle name.

So, I grew up calling them "drinking fountains" instead of "water fountains" like the rest of the world does, apparently. Is this just a Southeast Alaska thing? Or just me? Anybody else call them that?

@14, what, commenters can't overwrite sometimes too?

@9 Did you see the smiling and laughing? Notice the tone of the remark and her body language?

This is what we call joking.

Just because Romney is a robot doesn't mean his supporters have to be.

In the snowboard world, where just about every athlete is paid by either RedBull(shit) or Monster, there's been a backlash by some pros who've dropped the energy drink sponsors and launched a campaign called simply Drink Water.
http://www.wedrinkwater.com

Remember folks-airports are the filthiest places on earth. If you use the drinking fountain, do not touch anything, including the button. Pull a sleeve over your finger or get a napkin before to put over the button. Other countries are exporting the fucking plague, ferchrisakes!

@9: Another Republican whose blind hatred makes it impossible to see humor from a Democrat.

@19: Of course, laughter followed and I would have agreed with you. But the joke is essentially the result of the First Lady's sincerity over the issue. And when she said "You're setting me back Gabby" and then Gabby with an embarrassed laughter says "ssorrrry", the "joke" fizzles.
It's all kind of weird.
It's as if Gabby will be reluctant to watch that video as she remembers provoking the First Lady, nervous laughter, "joke", and all.

@23 Didn't seem too nervous to me. Looked like she was teasing her in a very good natured way.

Do you really think Michelle Obama thought that her cause was set back by Gabby enjoying a McMuffin? Really?

@23, you honestly seem to be the only one in this scenario, on the TV or in the thread, who is made uncomfortable by Michelle Obama.

@23: Oh come on man, you are smart enough to know damn well that it was a joke. Give me a break.

"Provoking" the first lady? Please. Either you are just willfully lying (shocking, right?) or you are seriously projecting your fear of black people.

...but I do love it when people go out "for a cup of coffee" and come back with a sundae. If your coffee needs that kind of enhancement in order for you to be able to enjoy it, maybe you should just kick it and go the hell to Dairy Queen.

I don't trust public water fountains anymore. I gave them up when I started getting really sick when travelling. It's one of the things I ruled out as a source. I keep my hands away from my face. I wash my hands thoroughly whenever I get a chance. I stay out of the airplane toilet, and I don't drink from public fountains. Call me a germaphobe, but for the last few trips I've remained well.

@26 That's not true. FLOTUS makes me uncomfortable too, but in a "my jeans are too tight" kind of way.

Is it Seatac where some of the water fountains shame you with "glug-glug" noises? I'm starting to see the larger strategy here.

This is why we as a nation are sick and getting sicker. In public health, we call it an obesogenic environment. Others call it a toxic food environment or the "eat-more" food environment. Whatever you call it, it's clear that we have given the food and beverage industry carte blanche to do whatever they want with our environment. They can advertise whenever and however they want to whomever. They can put the worst foods at ever-inflating sizes within constant reach. This ad is a particular egregious example of a strategy the beverage industry has been using called "share of stomach," where their competitors are no longer other beverage companies, but things like water or homemade tea. It's a direct assault on our health that seeks to further undermine our norms around food.

But the thing that pisses me off the most is that anytime someone says, "Hey, this is out of hand, doing the healthy thing should not be an uphill struggle," we hear the same refrain from industry: "You want to live in a nanny state! People are obese because they don't practice personal responsibility or they don't exercise or they need more education."

BULLSHIT.

People are obese (and, far more importantly, disabled and dying prematurely from food-related chronic diseases) because we as a society have allowed industry to make that the default. It's crazy. It's time for us - acting through our elected representatives - to restore sanity. That's why I support NYC's proposed soda size cap, I support the soda taxes that are on the ballot in California, I support the happy meal standards in San Francisco, I support banning food advertising to children under five, and I support major structural reforms to the Farm Bill.

@30, a dream April 1 prank would be to switch that "babbling brook" audio file for a fart noise.

@32 - How about a blowjob slurp noise? Too far?