The first Wellington Meetup has been posted.

Submitted by Gold on Mon, 2009-09-21 10:40

Hey all,

I've just posted the First Wellington meetup. If you're in Wellington or know people in Wellington please RSVP so we have an idea of numbers.

Anyone interested in going, but not wanting to use Meetup.com please let me know and I'll add you as guests to my RSPV.

The place is Kitty O'Shea's on Thursday from 5:30pm.

I'm getting into Wellington early to attend the first meetup so hopefully I'll see you there.

Details at http://wellington.skepticsinthepub.net.nz/calendar/11421844/

Regards,
Gold

Trackback URL for this post:

http://skepticsinthepub.net.nz/trackback/34
‹ Humanists Society in Wellington Traveling Skeptic from Oz ›

skeptics out the pub

Submitted by senator_b on Tue, 2010-03-09 01:14.

uh, i'm just wondering, i know you're called "skeptics in the pub" but could there possibly be some non-pub meetups?
the reason is that i'm abit o.c.d./paranoid [skeptical?] about drinking/eating out since I found out about toxic heavy metals in water and other bad things in food/drink, and i assume i can't come to a pub unless i actually buy something there to drink/eat? (unless i just buy for someone else?)

(i thought i'd just post here than start another topic/thread.)

Skeptics in the Pub can be

Submitted by Gold on Wed, 2010-03-10 11:11.

Skeptics in the Pub can be anything you like. Skeptics in the Park, At the Pictures, and anything or anywhere else starting with, not not starting with "P".

If you want another type of event, hit the meetup site for your location and add it as a suggestion. Add a post to the forums here (for your location) also for discussing it.

The meetups are very informal and very loosely organised. Basically, if you want something to happen, step up and make it happen. :)

Finally, not everyone drinks. In Christchurch we have a few regulars that don't drink alcohol. Also, I don't think any bar would ask you to leave just because you weren't buying anything. Especially if you were with a group.

no need to eat / drink. You

Submitted by Stupettigrew on Tue, 2010-03-09 18:25.

no need to eat / drink. You can just drink the tap water....

tap water is out because of

Submitted by senator_b on Tue, 2010-03-09 20:08.

tap water is out because of soft/acidic water (+ chloride & sodium) and heavy metals from fittings/pipes/tanks (copper/cadmium/iron/etc). Unless they have hard water or that volcanic rock water (like bentonite).

Erm... I think you have hard

Submitted by happyevilslosh on Wed, 2010-03-10 20:32.

Erm... I think you have hard and soft around the wrong way...

waters

Submitted by senator_b on Wed, 2010-03-10 21:55.

I've had that said to me before and I'm puzzled. I've done my own research of chemistry, dietary, etc (re)sources/references. Soft/acidic water is bad because it picks up toxic heavy metals from fittings/pipes/tanks/pots/jugs; hard water (having calcium and magnesium) is good because it doesn't. Except with soap/lathering/scum which is other way around.

I think that where the confusion on either my or others part comes in is with the council's adding (chloride &/or) sodium. My research shows that adding sodium (to make water more alkalic? (like they annoyingly add it in vit c/ascorbic acid)) [or salt] can have bad effects like soft/acidic water (tho there are different sodium compounds). (My mother even reckoned Lower Hutt council put caustic soda in water!)
All I know is that here there is blue stain on white basin/bath showing copper/etc in hot &/or cold water; and when I hold jug of water upto light I can see stuff from tap fittings after been sitting for hours, and small silvery bubbles of other stuff all the time. (Council even warily half-admits saying we have to "chuck first cup of water in morning", and water-testers confirm sodium & chloride in water.)

Gold:
Thanks for explaining/clarifying.

Dude, you're making it way

Submitted by happyevilslosh on Tue, 2010-03-16 17:04.

Dude, you're making it way more complicated than necessary. :P

Soft water is simply water that is relatively pure (it hasn't picked any minerals up), hard water is water with high mineral content, be it the 'toxic' ones from fittings or calcium and magnesium.

Note that adding sodium to water would make it harder not softer. I'm also unsure where you've picked up the idea that soft water is acidic, it's basically the most neutral thing out there. I think that hard water will be either very slightly acidic or basic depending on what it's acquired. For example—if I remember chemistry correctly—sodium, magnesium, calcium and copper will make it acidic whereas chlorine would make it more basic, although I'm dubious it would alter the pH in any significant way.

Aha!

Submitted by happyevilslosh on Wed, 2010-03-17 07:50.

I did some further reading to try to determine if I was right or wrong about the affects of sodium, magnesium, et al., I didn't really convince myself either way but I think I'm probably not right. However, think I worked out where you are confused. Namely I came across water softener. Which, as the first paragraph states, is

the act of reducing the dissolved calcium, magnesium, and to some degree manganese and ferrous iron ion concentration in hard water. A common water softener is sodium carbonate (Na2CO3).

Then in the section on the effects the page goes on to say

A person who drinks two litres (2L) of softened, extremely hard water (assume 30 gpg) will consume about 480 mg more sodium (2L x 30 gpg x 8 mg/L/gpg = 480 mg), than if unsoftened water is consumed. [...] The American Heart Association (AHA) suggests that the 3 percent of the population who must follow a severe, salt-restricted diet should not consume more than 400 mg of sodium a day. AHA suggests that no more than 10 percent of this sodium intake should come from water. The EPA’s draft guideline of 20 mg/L for water protects people who are most susceptible.

So yeah, basically sounds like you've equated soft water and softened water. There's also some more information here.