4 ms·

The presence of crustaceans has nothing to do with cleanliness. New York City also has famously good water, and it has crustaceans: http://www.nytimes.com/2004/

The presence of crustaceans has nothing to do with cleanliness. New York City also has famously good water, and it has crustaceans: http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/07/nyregion/the-waters-fine-but-is-it-kosher.html?_r=0 http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/07/nyregion/the-waters-fine-b...

ceejayoz 10y ago
That's pretty fascinating. Basically, no one has actually been able to keep true Kosher until the advent of water filters and microscopes.
- ars 10y ago
  > and microscopes All microscopic creates are kosher. It must be visible to the naked eye to be non-kosher. According to Kosher law you are supposed to check your water after drawing it, to make sure it has no insects in it. This is the backstory for the test in Judges 7 BTW. Now in modern times people expect drinking water to be clean. So it was quite a surprise to find visible insects in New York water.
  - ceejayoz 10y ago
    > All microscopic creates are kosher. That seems like an after-the-fact retcon, given folks thousands of years ago being unaware of a microscopic world's existence.
EvanAnderson 10y ago
Thanks for linking to that article. It send me down a rabbit hole to learn more about copepods. It also led me to this amusing logo for a conference: http://invertebrates.si.edu/copepod/images/13ICOClogo.jpg http://invertebrates.si.edu/copepod/images/13ICOClogo.jpg
finid 10y ago
New York City also has famously good water Not true! NYC does not have "famously good water". I found that out when I had to change my counter-top water filter after about one year of use. It was more than gross. Imagine having to drink that water without the benefit of a water filter. By the way, I don't think water people drink in many restaurants are filtered.
- anthotny 10y ago
  But couldn't that just be the pipes in your building? The water comes from the Catskills, and when it leaves there, at least, it's extremely clean.
  - teslabox 10y ago
    The water towers on top of NYC buildings tend to not be maintained especially well: With their quaint barrel-like contours and weathered cedar-plank sides, rooftop water towers are a constant on the New York City skyline. And though they may look like relics of a past age, millions of residents get their drinking water from the tanks every day. But inside these rustic-looking vessels, there are often thick layers of muddy sediment. Many have not been cleaned or inspected in years. And regulations governing water tanks are rarely enforced, an examination by The New York Times shows. https://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/27/nyregion/inside-citys-water-tanks-layers-of-neglect.html https://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/27/nyregion/inside-citys-wat... (warning: autoplay video)
  - finid 10y ago
    That the water at the source is clean may be true, but you judge the water by its nature at the final destination, because in the final analysis, that is where the grade of quality matters to those who'll be drinking it.
- notadoc 10y ago
  The water sources to NYC are very high quality. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_City_water_supply_system https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_City_water_supply_sys... http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/03/24/nyregion/how-nyc-gets-its-water-new-york-101.html http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/03/24/nyregion/how-n... Anyway, all water filters get very funky after a year.
  - finid 10y ago
    True, "all water filters get very funky after a year", that funkiness is an indication of the true quality of the water that reaches your house or apartment. That's how you tell what you'd have been drinking without filtration.

ceejayoz 10y ago

That's pretty fascinating. Basically, no one has actually been able to keep true Kosher until the advent of water filters and microscopes.

ars 10y ago
> and microscopes All microscopic creates are kosher. It must be visible to the naked eye to be non-kosher. According to Kosher law you are supposed to check your water after drawing it, to make sure it has no insects in it. This is the backstory for the test in Judges 7 BTW. Now in modern times people expect drinking water to be clean. So it was quite a surprise to find visible insects in New York water.
- ceejayoz 10y ago
  > All microscopic creates are kosher. That seems like an after-the-fact retcon, given folks thousands of years ago being unaware of a microscopic world's existence.

EvanAnderson 10y ago

Thanks for linking to that article. It send me down a rabbit hole to learn more about copepods. It also led me to this amusing logo for a conference: http://invertebrates.si.edu/copepod/images/13ICOClogo.jpg http://invertebrates.si.edu/copepod/images/13ICOClogo.jpg

finid 10y ago

New York City also has famously good water Not true! NYC does not have "famously good water". I found that out when I had to change my counter-top water filter after about one year of use. It was more than gross. Imagine having to drink that water without the benefit of a water filter. By the way, I don't think water people drink in many restaurants are filtered.

anthotny 10y ago
But couldn't that just be the pipes in your building? The water comes from the Catskills, and when it leaves there, at least, it's extremely clean.
- teslabox 10y ago
  The water towers on top of NYC buildings tend to not be maintained especially well: With their quaint barrel-like contours and weathered cedar-plank sides, rooftop water towers are a constant on the New York City skyline. And though they may look like relics of a past age, millions of residents get their drinking water from the tanks every day. But inside these rustic-looking vessels, there are often thick layers of muddy sediment. Many have not been cleaned or inspected in years. And regulations governing water tanks are rarely enforced, an examination by The New York Times shows. https://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/27/nyregion/inside-citys-water-tanks-layers-of-neglect.html https://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/27/nyregion/inside-citys-wat... (warning: autoplay video)
- finid 10y ago
  That the water at the source is clean may be true, but you judge the water by its nature at the final destination, because in the final analysis, that is where the grade of quality matters to those who'll be drinking it.
notadoc 10y ago
The water sources to NYC are very high quality. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_City_water_supply_system https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_City_water_supply_sys... http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/03/24/nyregion/how-nyc-gets-its-water-new-york-101.html http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/03/24/nyregion/how-n... Anyway, all water filters get very funky after a year.
- finid 10y ago
  True, "all water filters get very funky after a year", that funkiness is an indication of the true quality of the water that reaches your house or apartment. That's how you tell what you'd have been drinking without filtration.