Can't Beat The Real Thing

Long story, but the bottom line is that I spilled gasoline on my clothes. Boy did they stink. Bad. And washing them wasn't helping. After two washes and the gas smell actually seeming to intensify, I googled "remove gasoline from clothing." One guy who worked for the Army in petroleum said to add 20 oz. of Coke to the washing machine. Lo and behold, it did the trick.

Of course, there's a zillion other uses for this product that have nothing to do with drinking it. I've had friends pour Coke on corroded car batteries and it quickly ate away the corrosion. It can tenderize meat. Whoa. This got me thinking - what else can be done?

Well, I have found tons of crazy uses. First, though, a few fun facts about its history:
-Invented in Columbus, GA by a pharmacist. He claimed Coca-Cola cured many diseases, including morphine addiction, headaches and more.
-It used to have cocaine in it - and alcohol. The original recipe contained 60mg of cocaine per serving.
-The Coca-Cola name can be translated phonetically into "happiness in the mouth."
-The exact formula of Coca-Cola is kept in Sun Trust Bank's main vault in Atlanta.

And now, for some more crazy uses:
-Relieves jelly fish sting.
-Cleans old burns out of saucepans.
-Tanning lotion (ew).
-Makes you have perfectly separated curls if you pour an can of flat Coke over long hair and leave a few minutes before washing.
-Antiques photos (This is crazy. Please use Photoshop instead of ruining a picture!).
-DIET Coke strips hair dye.
-Cleans coins.
-Grout cleaner for tile floors.
-Removes stains from concrete.
-Cleans permanent marker out of carpet.
-Removes ice from a windshield.

And much more! Hard to believe that 1.5 billion servings of Coca-Cola products are consumed per day! Whoa.

So, yeah, it is a little scary that people drink this product that eats away gas and corrosion in such mass portions. I am more of a Diet Dr. Pepper girl myself. However, there really is no taste like Coke. And don't even try to say anything about Pepsi - yuck. Coke's lovers are devoted followers.

My mom drank so much in her young adulthood that she cannot drink hardly any without becoming very ill. She still absolutely loves it, though. She probably has like 3 tiny sips per year. While she was at my house, she looked at me and said in a whisper: "Do you have any Coke?" She looked as guilty as someone that shouldn't be smoking asking for a cigarette. It was hilarious.

"No, Mama," I replied. "I used it all to get gas off my clothes."

It was a perfectly normal conversation.