a little while ago i was on the public transit in the morning. since i have a regularish work schedule these days i see the same people here and there.
me (and everyone else) was overhearing a conversation by 2 teens. one of them was saying they only drink bottled water at school because they suspect lead contamination in the pipes. (the kids at this school look like rich kids, i don't think there is probably lead but it's not totally impossible i guess.)
after listening to this for a little while i turned around and gave that person friendly but firm lecture that if they think there is lead they should get a testing kit (which is free). [edit: and i told them how to do that.] why let other people drink water with lead? lead is very bad. if there is lead, you could be a hero for finding out. if not actually interested enough to do that, stop being a snob and drink the tap water because municipal water is a gift and you should appreciate it. then it was time for everyone to disembark.
now i see this person sometimes and we mutually actively ignore each other.
what do you think?
get a woter bottle, drink it in front of them crinkling it loundly as you do so. Do the satisfying intake of air after big drink and say "yummy microplastics".Potential lead poisoning is a funny reason to seek out certain plastic contamination. Downside is that you have to drink from a plastic bottle. But. Cmon. Damage is done already, it's in everybody's gutslead is way worse than anything plastics can do to you. if you have the choice between plastic and lead, CHOOSE PLASTIC. ffs. the child isn't wrong on that account.
lots of people who are subject to contamination of water by all kinds of things will choose plastic bottle water instead of whatever pathogen or heavy metal or whatever. I think specifically of indigenous communities which are intentionally targeted for these poisonings.
lead is way worse than anything plastics can do to you. if you have the choice between plastic and lead, CHOOSE PLASTIC. ffs.
You are right.
I'd like to apologize for my glib response. It was not appropriate for me to suggest plastic contamination is anywhere on par with lead poisoning.
I would probably also have done that ngl. I'm getting more annoying by the day. I got in someone's way going the wrong way on a one way trying to drive down a bike only lane today, got them to stop, and low key yelled at them.
you're correct though. its almost certainly fine and if its not they'd be pretty shitty to not alert anyone and just drink their bottled garbage instead
the sentence is phrased ambiguously: i can't really tell who was going the wrong way down the one way ---- them or you.
in any event: been there done that. but how do you "low key" communicate with someone in a vehicle? i feel like somewhat keyed up is the only way to go.
they were going the wrong way, halfheartedly attempting to squeeze their 6ft wide vehicle in the 3-4ft bike lane. I was biking the other way in the regular size car lane, so I pulled into the center of the lane and stuck my arm out. They stopped, to my surprise, and rolled down their tinted ass window and I yelled (not trying to be too aggressive but I had my ears covered so it came out loud): YOU'RE GOING THE WRONG WAY DOWN A ONE WAY STREET and the guy was just just like oh okay and then we both continued on. I guess if I was really feeling annoying I would've gotten in his way until he turned around.
I ran into someone doing even worse than this a few weeks ago (wrong way down a multi lane one way with no counter-flow bike lane), but that time I was also in a car. We both pulled up to a stoplight facing eachother, and then when it turned green I stayed where I was and started motioning for them to turn off the one way. They fuckin went straight around my ass, all the while I was pointing and honking and yelling, all because they didn't want to turn onto the highway and have to go out of their way a little, so they continued even further the wrong way down a major arterial road where they could have trivially caused a head on collision. I hate cars.