Remove rust spots from chrome car bumpers.
Rubbing the bumper with acrumpled-up piece of Reynolds Wrap aluminum foil dipped in Coca-Colawill help remove rust spots, according to household-hints columnist MaryEllen.

Clean corrosion from car battery terminals.
Pour a can of carbonatedCoca-Cola over the terminals to bubble away the corrosion, according to Heloise.

Cook with Coca-Cola.
The Coca-Cola Consumer Information Center offersa free packet of recipes including a Mustard Herb Dressing (an Italianstyle salad dressing made with one-half cup of Coca-Cola), a Twin CheeseDip (requiring three-quarter cup of Coca-Cola and doubling as a sandwichfilling), and Sweet-Sour Cabbage (using one-half cup of Coca-Cola andtwo tablespoons of bacon drippings).

Loosen a rusted bolt.
Mary Ellen suggests applying a cloth soaked ina carbonated soda to the rusted bolt for several minutes.

Bake a moist ham.
Empty a can of Coca-Cola into the baking pan, wrapthe ham in aluminum foil, and bake. Thirty minutes before the ham isfinished, remove the foil, allowing the drippings to mix with the Cokefor a sumptuous brown gravy.

Remove grease from clothes.
Empty a can of Coke into a load of greasywork clothes, add detergent, and run through a regular wash cycle. TheCoca-Cola will help loosen grease stains, according to Mary Ellen.

I use it for medicinal purposes knowing fully well it's not good for me!

There was another use for it in the fifties, people thought that it could prevent conception! But let's not get into the details. Imagine finding out your existence is dependent on the misuse of a soft drink!

[ 11-03-2001: Message edited by: l3i7l ]

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I find that instead of taking an antiacid like alkaseltzer if I've eaten something of dubious digestive qualities, a small amount of coke does more good than a tablet!

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Ya know why this worked? It makes you burp - thereby, getting rid of all those extra little gas bubbles in the tummy and making you feel better!

Straight coke syrup isn't as easy to find anymore, so, if you can't get it, you can use the syrup off of canned fruit - like peaches or fruit cocktail. (There are also several over-the-counter versions of "coke syrup" now.) It's said that the fructose, dextrose, and phosphoric acid acts as a local calming agent on the hyperactive stomach muscles. Some people say it works, some don't.

And, of course, the ginger ale works, because ginger is a naturally accepted remedy for nausea. Just make sure you're actually getting ginger ale and not "ginger-flavored" ale! You can also make ginger tea. Just slice up some fresh ginger, steep in water for about 5 minutes and drink. Ginger's a great herb. It works for a whole bunch of things - including the nausea. It has a lot of healing properties about it.

And, that concludes today's science lesson.

Clean a toilet bowl
Remove rust spots from chrome car bumpers
Loosen a rusted bolt
Clean grease from clothes

make you kinda think twice when you open up that can to drink it?! I know it's kinda making me have a "hey, wait a minute!" moment here!

[ 11-05-2001: Message edited by: Vikan ]

If you start feeling sick on a boat, get a cold towel with some ice folded up in it and wrap it around your neck. I've had boat captains swear by this remedy. And, I actually saw it work once on a lady who was this close to revealing to all of us what she'd had for lunch.

Many years ago, before I started to serve my 32-year term as a civil servant of Her Majesty's Reich, I worked as a cellarman-cum-barman in a seedy hotel on the south coast of England. My remedy for the after-effects of a heavy night was a glass of soda water liberally laced with angostura bitters. I thought I'd discovered it all by myself, but I've been told that it's actually a well-known recipe.

Like Linda, I sometimes wonder what the drinks I consume are doing to me. My most severe doubts come when I leave a teacup unwashed for a few days, and have to spend several minutes scrubbing away with a Brillo pad to remove the stain from the inside surface.