[long] Re: Legal traps in open source

[Daniel Smith]

> 
> Maybe I'm doing something wrong with my maths here - they were serving 
> the coffee at 180F, which comes to:
> 
>   (180F - 32F) * (5C/9F) = 82C
> 
> By my measurement, water in Canberra boils at about 97C, meaning that my 
> tea/coffee will usually be served at least as hot as McDonald's hot 
> beverages ever were - I don't know how to adjust for adding cold powder 
> (for instant coffee) and sugar.

More to the point, the water is ~97C when it comes out of the kettle.
As soon as it hits your ceramic cup (at ~25C) it will *rapidly* cool and
hit an equilibrium of 50-70C. Depending on cup size, mass and materials. 
Probably within 10-15 seconds.

> I guess the Americans just like tepid coffee.  This would explain a lot 
> of the case - to me, "boiling" is approx 100C, not 57C (135F being what 
> the article claims is the "industry standard" for coffee).
> 
>   (135F - 32F) * (5C/9F) = 57C
> 
> That is only a little hotter than the hot water that comes out of my 
> taps.  In an aged care facility, they often turn the temperature down to 
> 40C to eliminate the risk of scalding.

Now as for *real* coffee, ie. that not made from powdered dirt :-)
Real coffee, either espresso or dripolator does *not* use boiling water. 
Boiling water does icky things to delicate aromatics. Espresso uses lots of
*pressure* (15 bar being the standard). This is why espresso is served
in warmed cups (sitting on top of the machine). And why any milk is
heated with steam before adding to the coffee. Otherwise it would get
cold too quickly.

McDonalds serve coffee in styrofoam, which does not significantly
exchange heat with the coffee, hence it stayed at 82C and caused severe
(second degree) burns. And the whole motivation behind this practise was
$hareholder value. Hence evil and negligent.

> As for having records of 700 other people having this problem - this is 
> only a very very small number of people compared to those who have 
> successfully handled McDonald's coffee without harm to themselves or others.

Thats actual settled out of court complaints ... see Ford and the Pinto
for a comparison. No record of minor burns and near misses. We are
talking *serious* injuries here.

And do you really think hospitalisation for skin grafts is comparable to
going "bugger, that didn't work out of the box. Damn you Tridge."
Thats a little cold (groan) of you.

Daniel