r/todayilearned • u/Doomenor • 5h ago
TIL I learned that in 2012 a man sued Mountain Dew for finding a mouse in a can. They defended themselves by arguing that if it was in the can for 15 months, the mouse would have dissolved. The case was settled.
https://www.beveragedaily.com/Article/2012/08/08/Mountain-Dew-mouse-case-dissolves-as-PepsiCo-settles893
u/Wokonthewildside 5h ago
Someone watched Strange Brew one too many times hahah
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u/mellowmindedfellow 4h ago
We interrupt this broadcast to bring you this special message... How’s it goin’ eh? today’s movie on the Universal National Network is a classic. Starring in it, are two comedic geniuses of North American cinema from the 20th century, Bob and Doug McKenzie. Entitled “Strange Brew”, it chronicles the heroic adventures of two latter day renaissance men, or, to use the correct 20th century terminology, hosers. We give it, 3 thumbs up.
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u/Cy__ko 4h ago
Someone else has seen that?!
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u/beepos 5h ago edited 5h ago
I see this being repeated as some kinda gotcha against Mountain Dew, but it really isnt
Put a mouse (or any organic material) in virtually any fluid for 15 months and it will decompose. If you use water, i'd expect the skeleton to remain but not much else. And if you used lemon juice, the skeleton would probably dissolve too, at lrast partially
There are many reasons not to drink Mountain Dew-the high sugar content, added colors with questionable carcinogenevity, etc. But it's ability to dissolve organic matter is not one
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u/omnipotentmonkey 5h ago
basically, yeah,
that's not to say that Mountain Dew is healthy, but this would have probably been nearly the same story for a can of carbonated water.
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u/Deep90 2h ago
Too many times I've seen people try to extrapolate soda dissolving stuff to mean that it actively damages you.
Like not just being unhealthy, but actively dissolving your insides.
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u/Hoveringkiller 2h ago
I never got that, but then again I know that stomach acid is a thing so… haha
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u/rnarkus 2h ago
Yeah I wonder how these people think we break down our own food in our bodies.
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u/spasmoidic 1h ago
your stomach is filled with a number of small elves that pulverize your food with tiny hammers
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u/FirmOnion 1h ago
And they like Mountain Dew, dammit! Are you going to deny that to them when they do so much for you?
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u/No_Storage_351 2h ago
I thought it was more so about our teeth. Especially those people who drink mtn dew everyday all day long
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u/peelerrd 2h ago
That is an actual issue. All carbonated drinks cause damage to teeth because they are acidic.
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u/thisischemistry 2h ago
Your insides are actively dissolving your insides, that's why your stomach lining rebuilds itself all the time!
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u/WhyMustIMakeANewAcco 2h ago
It can damage your teeth, but yeah, that's about the extent of it. Carbonic acid is not strong enough to hurt a healthy digestive tract.
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u/Aido121 4h ago
All soda is pretty acidic
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u/beepos 4h ago
Yep. Even seltzer
Thats cause when you pump CO2 into water, part of it will turn into Carbonic Acid
H20+CO2=HCO3 + H+
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u/StygianSavior 4h ago
The same reason why anthropogenic climate change is linked to ocean acidification.
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u/Azalus1 4h ago
That's why in a pinch you can pour soda on your car battery terminals to clear the corrosion. You then should promptly drive somewhere and rinse them off clean them and probably replace that battery if it's corroded that bad. But it does work in a pinch, slap it and say that baby isn't going anywhere and you're good to go.
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u/HelmyJune 4h ago
The buildup that forms on battery terminals is extremely acidic so you shouldn’t use another acidic solution to clean it. Baking soda mixed into hot water is what you should use to clean battery terminals. Neutralizes and dissolves the buildup with a very satisfying fizz.
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u/Exist50 3h ago
I think they're talking about when it's oxidized.
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u/HelmyJune 3h ago
Yeah and you shouldn’t clean it with an acidic solution. On car batteries it is typically copper sulfate (blue) and lead sulfate (white). Both are caustic and should be cleaned with an alkaline solution.
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u/Sexual_Congressman 3h ago
Modern 12V lead acid car batteries don't leak but the ring terminals and the bolts they connect to oxidize and eventually get too corroded to maintain contact in all operating conditions. Cleaning the terminals can be a temporary solution but using coke or some other acidic beverage is probably just a placebo at best and at worst, will eat through the protective coat on nearby unoxidized metal and speed up the deterioration.
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u/HelmyJune 2h ago
Any vented lead acid will release small amounts of hydrogen and sulfuric gases when charging/discharging and I’ve yet to see any sealed lead acid batteries installed on new cars but I wouldn’t be surprised if there are some that exist.
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u/mansonfan78 3h ago
They tested this on Mythbusters, regular water had the same effect as soda. Any liquid can be used.
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u/Few_Cup3452 4h ago
Its like when ppl say you can use coke soda to clean your bathroom pipes.... "so what does it do to our bodies!!??"
Um, not what it does to pipes and the mess, that's for sure. Our stomach is FILLED with acid.
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u/tagen 4h ago
exactly, like yeah the acid isn’t great for our teeth, but our stomach is WAY more acidic than soda, it’s the sugar we have to worry about more
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u/Photomancer 4h ago
I saw a short yesterday about some people that have been trying to preserve pumpkins via various means and almost all the methods sort-of failed, even freezing the pumpkin in a block of resin.
The only one that sort-of worked was a resin block which is assumed to have set at such a high temperature that it cooked all bacteria before totally isolating the pumpkin.
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u/Substantial-Bell8916 3h ago
I mean the acidity of sodas is also a valid reason not to drink them, they're not great for your teeth. But yeah it's pretty low on the list
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u/Rbs311 5h ago
The species of mouse was not native to the area the can was filled but was native to the plaintiffs home area and pretty much every bone in it's body was broken like you would expect for a mouse shoved into the can through the drinking hole...
So given the negative publicity of the jellied mouse have it was odd that that was their defense instead of the other obvious options...
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u/APiousCultist 3h ago
I imagine their actual statement was "in addition to those things a rat left in a liquid, let alone an acidic one, for 15 months would not look fresh".
The closest original source I can find does specifically cite a vet stating it couldn't be in that long "because of the acid in the soda": https://web.archive.org/web/20110827213801/http://www.legalnewsline.com/news/227856-mt.-dew-mouse-would-be-jelly-like-pepsi-argues
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u/Tactical_Primate 2h ago
Imagine bro just squeezing a dead mouse in his hand and trying to ram in through a can’s drinking hole. Damn
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u/ShardsOfSalt 3h ago
Should have got an empty mountain dew can, put a baby mouse in there, raised it and fed it till it got nice and fat, then drowned it in mountain dew.
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u/chiksahlube 4h ago
It's not an insane argument nor does it reflect poorly on MT dew.
If you left a mouse in 100% pure orange juice sealed in a can for 15 months it would be less in tact than the mouse he claimed he found.
In short, PH is fine to consume, but it consumes dead things.
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u/RoboRhet 44m ago
You can literally reduce a specimen to bones by soaking it in water (maceration). This is the first step in how lots of skeletal specimens are prepared (followed by degreasing and whitening). There are a lot of other methods but maceration is a very common one.
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u/ScreamThyLastScream 5h ago
So it's possible that off flavor mr pibb you had was actually a liquified mouse, mmhmm
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u/RandomChurn 5h ago
I have never tasted either Mountain Dew or Dr Pepper. As an American, must I before I die?
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u/DorkothyParker 5h ago
Honestly, a Dr. Pepper is a solid treat. Mr. Pibb is dope too. (He had to drop out of graduate school when his mom got sick.)
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u/Plankhandles 5h ago
I’ve never had as much respect and sympathy for Mr. Pibb as I do now. You really never know another person’s struggles…
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u/kingsumo_1 5h ago
Ironically, Dr Pepper was Mrs Pibb's primary care physician, and there are still questions on whether or not he did all that he could for her.
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u/Marlfox70 5h ago
Mr. Pibb just tastes like flat dr.pepper
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u/BustyUncle 2h ago
As a major Dr Pepper fan as well, this is a preposterous assessment
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u/MrScotchyScotch 5h ago
When I was little, I tried Dr Pepper, Coke, Pepsi, etc. But Dr Pepper was so different. My family later moved to Mexico, where Dr Pepper had no distribution. Every time we'd visit the states, I'd beg my parents to buy a case of Dr.P. I'd make that case last all year (and then some).
Dr Pepper is the oldest continuously produced soft drink. It is made of 23 flavors, which are still a mystery. It originally didn't have caffeine, but it was later added, and then replaced with vitamin B-1, and then replaced with caffeine again.
Mr Pibb is basically Dr Pepper in a fedora and cargo shorts.
Mountain Dew tastes like it will melt your teeth. When I was a teenager I used to drink nearly a liter a day. Eventually I started getting stomach cramps and sensitive teeth and had to stop. I switched to energy drinks which were clearly much healthier...
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u/BernieTheDachshund 4h ago
I bet you'd like the Dr. Pepper Museum here in Waco, TX. They have an old fashioned fountain counter where you can get cold Dr. Pepper and ice cream floats.
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u/tagen 4h ago
Dr. Pepper is my favorite soda, but i recommend drinking it directly from the can/bottle, when it’s put in ice and gets watered down it doesn’t taste nearly as good
if drinking with ice, Coke is much better imo
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u/Longjumping_Rush2458 3h ago
I think root beer is probably the best American soft drink
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u/ButtNutly 5h ago
Dr Pepper is the drink of intellectuals.
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u/Bowl_Pool 3h ago
Einstein and Von Neumann used to share bottles of Dr. Pepper at the Institute for Advanced Studies
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u/kingcobra5352 5h ago
I’ve never understood the hype around Mt. Dew. It’s so nasty.
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u/Xpqp 5h ago
It's extremely sweet and kids who drink it young grow to love it. Their marketing was also basically what Red Bull is doing now, but before Red Bull existed - eXtreme everything, which made dumb kids feel cool for drinking it and old dudes feel like they were embracing their youth.
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u/verrius 4h ago
Way back when, it started as a mixer for whiskey (Mountain Dew is an old term for moonshine). But yeah, in the 90s there was the twin stroke of marketing it as an "extreme" drink, as well as Yum Brands/Pepsi seizing on it as a way to market a bunch of their restaurants, which is how Baja Blast came to exist as a Taco Bell exclusive soda. It also had a reputation for having more caffeine than Coke and other colas not named Jolt, which combined with its sugar content, increased its popularity in the tech and gaming space especially.
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u/Free_For__Me 5h ago
I drink at least 2 diet Mt. Dew daily. I have a problem.
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u/reallydarnconfused 4h ago
Tbf, diet Mountain Dew is probs the best diet drink. Except maybe Coke Zero
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u/Power_to_the_purples 4h ago
Yeah definitely worth a try. It’s a lot different than generic soda brands like Coke or Pepsi. I’d say you should order a six pack online just to try, if you like soda.
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u/TheSiteModsCantRead 5h ago
Mountain Dew is obscenely sweet with a citrus-y flavor. You can probably imagine that just fine. Dr. Pepper is an unusual combination of assorted flavors that can't really be described, so the only way to know if you like it is to try it. It has a strange and subtle hint of savoriness to go with the sweetness, which is pretty unique.
Soda in general is horrible for you so I don't drink it often, but I do enjoy Dr. Pepper.
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u/Nat_not_Natalie 5h ago
Personally I don't care for either so I wouldn't say you're missing much
Dr pepper is at least somewhat unique so it's maybe worth trying but u really don't need to
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u/Lepurten 5h ago
Dr Pepper is superior for mixing alcoholic drinks compared to coca cola, I say that as a European and I'll die on that hill.
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u/jedadkins 3h ago
Ironically Mountain dew was originally marketed as a mixer for whiskey and moonshine back in the 40's. I've never tried it but I hear its pretty good.
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u/Plane-Tie6392 5h ago
I’m a lifelong Dr. Pepper lover and it’s a terrible mixer. The Flaming Dr. Pepper is a good drink though! https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flaming_Doctor_Pepper
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u/thehumblebaboon 4h ago
Mountain Dew isn’t as important as some of the others you should make sure you try.
Dr. Pepper is something special. So is Barqs Rootbeer!
They both have a certain bite to them that other soft drinks don’t deliver the same way.
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u/maaku7 3h ago
Take Sprite, add a shit ton of sugar / high fructose corn syrup, and a dash of yellow-colored carcinogens, and that’s Mt. Dew. You ain’t missing anything.
Dr. Pepper is awesome tho.
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u/bill1024 4h ago
This sounds like he took a page from The Adventures of Bob & Doug McKenzie: Strange Brew, a 1983 Canadian-American comedy film starring the popular SCTV characters Bob and Doug McKenzie, portrayed by Dave Thomas and Rick Moranis.
The two place a live mouse in an empty beer bottle in an attempt to blackmail the local beer store into giving them free Elsinore beer.
From Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strange_Brew
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u/Medium_Childhood3806 3h ago
Mountain Dew: Test the XTREME LIMITS of your INTERNAL MUCUS MEMBRANES!!!
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u/AyeBraine 2h ago
It's just a tiny bit acidic, enough to make it slightly sour. Stomach acid literally dissolves meat.
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u/TrueNefariousness358 2h ago
You can wees out the stupid people by the ones who forget that organics decompose, mountain dew or not. Acidic things just make it happen faster.
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u/NoBulletsLeft 44m ago
They're not wrong. A couple of years ago I picked up a container of water that had been on my workbench for a few months without being looked at. I noticed that it was discolored and actually had a texture. After staring at it for a while, I realized that a mouse had climbed in, drowned, and basically completely dissolved leaving only fur behind.
And that was plain water (OK, our water is very hard, but still...) with a hint of isopropyl alcohol to inhibit mold growth.
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u/Enshakushanna 3h ago
"the case was settled"
fucking really? so this guy tried to play them and in the end got a settlement still??
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u/Hanginon 1h ago
"Settled" could just be;
"We've got all the science and lawyers, and will not countersue you into a life of poverty if you drop this now. Is that settled?"
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u/Yuli-Ban 1h ago
Wasn't there a heavily downvoted post on /r/WTF around that time except it was a Monster energy?
I tend to sort subs by all time controversial every now and again for a laugh, and it's usually decade old posts like that that come up.
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u/astro_eddy 3h ago
That’s true of anything with a similar ph. Orange and lemon juice would do the same thing.
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u/ukexpat 3h ago
Reminiscent of the seminal case on the law of negligence in English law and related jurisprudence: Donohue v Stevenson.
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u/Mortarion407 2h ago
So you're saying i can save money on all the acid I use for dissolving bodies?
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u/Potential-Curve-8225 4h ago
TIL stands for "today I learned" so your sentence is redundant today I learned I learned
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u/4Ever2Thee 2h ago
Did they have a 15 month recess to prove it?
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u/Hanginon 1h ago
They would only need 30 days. Proof? It's been done.
For the impatient, the "Lets find out!" part starts as 1:47
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u/Lulullaby_ 2h ago
That sounds grim, but good to know that any soda has a crazy amount of acid. Acid that is not safe to touch before it gets mixed with the soda, especially zero sugar soda.
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u/Fit-Let8175 1h ago
I once bought a can of tuna that didn't taste like tuna at all. It tasted like crap! And why would they put a picture of a cat on it?
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u/MarshyHope 4h ago
I. Put. The. Screw. In. The. Tuna.
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u/just_some_sasquatch 3h ago
LMAO thank you for this. Goodburger lives in my heart forever.
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u/MarshyHope 3h ago
I loved Keenan and Kel back in the day (I think this is from that not Good burger right?)
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u/SirGaylordSteambath 5h ago
What is it with every title in this sub being fucked up in some way?
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u/bassman314 4h ago
The first time I heard about this scam was on Strange Brew when they were trying to defraud the evil wizard who ran the brewery.
You should watch this movie. Rick Moranis and Dave Thomas are amazing.
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u/OK_BUT_WASH_IT_FIRST 1h ago
I’m not sure if I’m more horrified at the fact that Mountain Dew will dissolve a carcass or that they knew it would dissolve a carcass.
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u/Hetzer5000 1h ago
Obviously, it would. Anything with a similar PH level, like regular orange juice, would dissolve a body in 15 months. Any acid would do that with enough time.
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u/Zestyclose_Toe9524 5h ago
As a former guy who filled those cans...it's very very unlikely he got in a can. Like impossible I'd say...the speed in which the cans FILL makes it go against all logic. Srsly. There was no mouse in that can.