How to Boil Water

On Wednesday, they announced that there was a parasite in Oslo's drinking water. Giardia. Can you say that ten times fast, "giardia"? It's not deadly, but symptoms include diarrhea, malaise, excessive gas, nausea, vomiting, and weight loss. The other thing that was announced was that the water had been contaminated the previous week, but we weren't told. So we've probably all drunk contaminated water by now. Well naturally, there was a run on bottled water. Almost all the shelves in all the stores were empty. It was a little post-apocalyptic. Yesterday I was walking home from the gym and shopping, and there was a sign outside one of the stores announcing they had water. Ironic that something that is free and abundant is in short supply. I, for one, am not giving in to the hype and hysteria (well... there isn't any hysteria, but I liked that phrase). We do boil water for 3 minutes, as recommended, before funneling it into bottles for drinking, but I brush my teeth in tap water. Hey, I can afford to shed a few pounds.