I've got two quarts of sun tea brewing on the deck right now. But I just ran across an article warning about the bacterial dangers of brewing tea in the sun.

According to Snopes, the Centers for Disease Control states brewing sun tea can mean growth of Alcaligenes viscolactis, a bacteria common in water. Sun-heated water won't get any hotter than 130 degrees Fahrenheit, which is not hot enough to kill off bacteria. If your sun tea gets thick/syrupy and you see ropey strands, that's bacteria. Yikes -- I recall seeing strands in my sun tea when I've left it in the fridge too long!

Snopes shares a few common sense brewing tips if you insist on sun tea, as well as a safer way to brew tea overnight in your fridge. While I grew up on sun tea, I'm now imagining drinking long strands of bacteria -- yech. Maybe it's time to boil water and steep the tea bags instead.

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It's really not news when equipment suddenly and mysteriously goes absent at federal agencies. But, when tens of millions of dollars worth of stuff vanishes, some very scrutinizing eyes need to take a look. This is what the CDC is reporting, as some $22 million worth of equipment somehow is "missing."

An official audit of the property management procedures was requested in June from a U.S. congressional oversight committee, which should only be the start I would think. Regardless of how you cut it, $22 million in computers and equipment is more than will fit in some employee's pocket -- it's way more.

With taxpayers footing the bill for all this equipment (and the federal government in general), what do we make of this? Calling this situation come kind of "public looting" seems like an understatement. How often is the CDC audited? In perfect fashion, the last one was in 1995 -- over a decade ago. No big deal here I guess, as it's only the agency tasked with infectious and deadly disease control here in the U.S. (twiddles thumbs nervously).

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