Now tell us why!!!

The corporations that sell bottled water are depleting natural resources, jacking up prices, and lying when they tell you their water is purer and tastes better than the stuff that comes out of the tap.

The Bottled Water Lie
By Michael Blanding 

When Antonia Mahoney moved to Boston from her native Puerto Rico 35 years ago, the first thing she noticed was how much better the water tasted. Over the years, however, the water she was receiving from her tap began to lose its appeal. “Little by little, the taste changed,” says the retired schoolteacher, who eventually gave up tap water altogether and began paying over $30 a month to get bottles of Poland Spring water delivered to her house.

Walking through Boston’s Copley Square on a sunny day last month, however, she was intrigued by a banner advertising something called the “Tap Water Challenge.” As she approached the table, a fresh-faced activist behind it told her the “challenge” was a blind taste test to see if passersby could tell the difference between bottled water and tap water. Mahoney turned her back while four water samples were poured into small paper cups — two of tap water from Boston and a nearby suburb, and one each of Poland Spring and Aquafina.

“That’s tap water,” Mahoney declared after draining the first cup. “That tastes just like what I drink at home.” Her confidence faded, however, as she downed the next three, which all seemed to taste the same. When the cups were turned over, it turned out that what she thought was tap water was actually Aquafina — and what she thought was Poland Spring was actually the same Boston tap water she gets at home for free. “I couldn’t believe it, I couldn’t believe it,” she says later. “You know I pay so much for that water. Now I am thinking to stop the Poland Spring.”

Mahoney wasn’t alone in that decision. A student from Connecticut who attends Massachusetts College of Art says that she has cartons of bottled water stocked in her dorm room, because she doesn’t want to chance city tap water. After taking (and flunking) the test, she says now she’ll start drinking from the faucet. “It tastes the same as the tap water I drink at home in Connecticut, and I drink that all the time,” says the student, Katey vanBerkum. “Why spend your money on bottled water if you don’t have to.”

For the rest of the story, click here. 

Today’s video of the day, which also doubles as our “Embarrassing Nigga Moment,” comes from the always ignorant “Hot97″ radio station. For the past few years, the station has sponsored “SmackFest,” which, unfortunately, is exactly what it sounds like. Dozens of women, mostly Black and Latina, smack the shit out of each other for a five thousand dollar prize. Fortunately, the city of New York banned the contest because it violated laws about organized fighting. Unfortunately, the station continues to appeal to the lowest common denominator.

Here’s some footage from SmackFest 2005:

On his new track, “Lost One,” Jay-Z breaks down the science on the Roc-A-Fella split and acknowledges a rift between between Beyonce and him. At the beginning of the song, Jigga says:

I heard mufuckas say they made Hov/ Made Hov say “OK so, make another HOV”/ niggas wasn’t playin they day role/ so we parted ways like Ben and Jay-Lo/ shoulda been did I been in a daze though/ I put friends over business at the end of the day though/ but when friends business interests is day-glow / ain’t left to say though/ i guess we forgot what we came fo’

DAMN! Expect Dame to unleash Killa Cam for another string of anti-Jigga diss records…
About Beyonce he says:

I don’t think it’s meant to be/ for she loves her work more than she does me / and honestly at twenty-three / i would probably/ love my work more than I did she / so we ain’t we/ it’s me and her / for what she prefers over me is work/ and that’s where we differ / so i have to give her/ free time even if it hurts/ so breathe mommy it’s deserved/ you were put on this Earth to be/ all you can be like the reserves/ and me, my time in this army is served / so I have to allow she, her, time to serve / the time’s now for her / in time she’ll mature/ and maybe we can be we again like we were /

This verse, which is a throwback to his “You Must Love Me” and “Song Cry” moments, is at once interesting, introspective, and flat out beautiful. As we would expect from someone getting his “grown man on,” Jay brilliantly explains the complexities of his relationship without appearing bitter, petty, or opportunistic. I can’t wait to hear Beyonce’s highly orchestrated response!

Unlike the paint-by-the numbers hit “Show Me What You Got,” “Lost One” shows Jay-Z at his best. From the clever wordplay to the perfect music to the song’s title, a slick nod to Lauryn Hill’s Wylcef-dissing “Lost Ones,” Young Hov is clearly on his A-game.

To hear it, click here.

“Rap music belongs in the rubbish bin! It encourages punching, boastfulness, and rudeness to ho’s!” – Marge Simpson