So you've got seedless grapes, but say this one flavor of grapes you really like is seeded. Boom! Now you can make it seedless. We've got seedless oranges, but say you really like the taste of Valencia oranges (which are seeded). Boom! Now you've got seedless Valencias. And you go from there.
Nah, much like shit gets tested on mice, tobacco is the goto for testing on plants.
Yeah, there's time we need to test on pigs and whatnot. But mice are usually good enough in multiple domains, cheap to get a lot, and are pretty easy to handle in a lab. So that's the usual selection for testing shit on.
Pretty much same deal with tobacco, checks enough boxes for interesting things to test against, is super cheap, and pretty straightforward for dealing with in a lab.
You do initial testing on dummy cheap shit. Once you work out the bugs on the cheap thing, pretty much you do roughly the same thing on the expensive stuff that you're actually going to sell.
Tobacco is super cheap and editing the seed gene on it is pretty similar to the seed gene in grapes. So you do most of the work on cheap ass tobacco. When you've got tobacco down switching that same process over to grape only requires a few tweaks.
Key factions of the House Republican conference reached a tentative agreement Sunday to keep the government funded temporarily and avert a shutdown currently scheduled for the end of this month, pairing it with a conservative border security measure, multiple GOP sources with knowledge told NBC News....
SEC. 2010. OPERATION STONEGARDEN.
(a) ESTABLISHMENT .—There is established in the Department a program to be known as ‘Operation Stonegarden’, under which the Secretary, acting through the Administrator, shall make grants to eligible law enforcement agencies, through State administrative agencies, to enhance border security in accordance with this section.
Well that's escalating fast. This would allow local police to "enhance" border security, which is... Ungood. So this is obviously going to die in the Senate.
To be eligible to receive a grant under this section, a law enforcement agency shall
...
a State or territory with a maritime border.
Ah shit, we're going to give a ton of money to Florida's State army. Boo!
Man, Division C of this just sucks giant donkey balls. Also, some of it doesn't even make math sense. Use the budget allocation pre-2021 for 900 miles of solid wall? There's not enough dinero amigo! And yes, even with the oh so clever item (3):
Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the Secretary of Homeland Security shall waive all legal requirements necessary to ensure the expeditious design, testing, construction, installation, deployment, integration, operation, and maintenance of the physical barriers, tactical infrastructure, and technology under this section
Just ignoring all the construction regulations isn't going to save that much money on nine followed by two zeros of miles of solid wall in a lot of the land that Congress is requiring. It's just a non-doable thing, even if we were building the wall out of papier-mâché. Also the whole "oh don't worry about documenting anything during the construction" that seemed to work "oh so well" with the PPP loans. Let's clearly do that again.
Oh also of note is the lack of any guidance on E-Verify. Clearly we cannot be going after "innocent" employers who "forgot" to check if the person was a legal immigrant or not.
All I have to say is that whole thing is a BIG ASK for just kicking the can to October.
SEC . 101. (a) Such amounts as may be necessary, at a rate for operations as provided in the applicable appropriations Acts for fiscal year 2023
Just FYI for anyone who doesn't know. The US fiscal year is from Oct. 1 to Sep. 30. So FY23 ends on September 30th and that's literally the first thing this bill covers. "We're just going with it until the end of FY23."
All I'm going to say is that I'm putting a shiny quarter on this being told to pound sand by the Senate. Just a hunch.
Picks up my Portugal after it turns itself, in a puff of smoke, into a small green leaf. Shouts, "Woohoo". Shoves green leaf into pocket. Proceeds to smack an alligator in the head with a butterfly net for two hours.
Also, image what little Jimmy is gonna think when he finds out he was grown in a laboratory
That's not what artificial wombs will do. Currently we have incubators, that's pretty successful for births between 32 and 37 weeks gestation and sort of successful for 28 to 32 weeks gestation. Artificial wombs will allow hospitals to have better rates of success for the 28 to 32 weeks gestation and allow for a new group of 22 to 28 weeks gestation.
In a round about way the artificial wombs are much more sophisticated incubators. Instead of well controlled rooms and layers of barrier to prevent pathogens, the preterm child is placed in a sack filled with fluids. And rather than concentrated oxygen delivered via a nasal cannula (which requires some pretty advanced development of the lungs), it's delivered via the umbilical cord. Delivering nutrition to a preterm is a complex determination but in some cases it may require delivery via IV, in the artificial womb it is also delivered via the umbilical cord.
For the most part the artificial womb will allow higher success rates for preterm birth. The artificial womb will not be useful for births < 22 weeks and will not be something that preterm babies would spend months at a time in. It's not that sophisticated a device nor attempts to be that. At most a preterm child would spend a few weeks within the bag and then be transferred to an incubator when chances of success are much higher there.
No one is popping embryos inside a bag and then opening it up nine months later to pull their kid out. We're still really, really, really far from that point. Likely we're not going to have that technology for some time from now, but who knows? That said, it ain't this technology.
That's not really how that works. There's not a section in one's DNA that codes for bones, rather there are sections that code for proteins that get involved in chemical reactions that begin building bones themselves. DNA codes for chemicals that when they come together at the right time produce your fingers for example. It's not that the DNA codes for a 32mm birth canal it just codes for the proper chemicals to come together to begin developing what will eventually become the birth canal.
So editing the DNA to modify a particular physical aspect is not just reprogramming a new number somewhere in the DNA, it's coding for more expression of particular chemicals to come together. But like anything, adding more reactions can have various side effects, having those chemicals linger for too long and the tissue may eventually become too frail to even give birth to begin with.
You know, like utilize our knowledge of DNA to fix known issues as such
And that's easier said than done. Editing DNA isn't something we regularly do and when it is done, it's usually done on something simple because editing usually results in a 99% loss. Long story short, editing haploids (and most likely male sperm) is going to be the primary means for germline genetic editing that "might" be passed on to children because most people are not ethically okay with attempting to edit embryos with a 99% failure rate.
But editing haploids doesn't assure that the trait will be conveyed to the offspring. During combination some of the genetic material is mixed around in a sort random fashion. So that new trail could get mixed around and now you've coded for a pregnancy that might end in miscarriage or even worse, might not.
It's really complicated and incredibly error prone to edit DNA. Which is why it is mostly done with sperm, yeast, bacteria, and what not. Things that if we kill 99% of it, isn't some big ethical concern. Editing an embryo is like rolling ten million dice and every single one of them have to land on six otherwise you've just doomed that person. That's not an impossible thing, just a highly improbable thing and no one is really comfortable with those odds from an ethical standpoint. We're not really good at editing DNA correctly the first time, but given enough of something, we can eventually have success. So if the odds are one in a million and you have 500 million of something, then you've got really good odds at success.
So you should keep that in mind when you think about editing DNA. Even if we got really good at knowing which genes to express and which ones to repress (which we're not even there yet), putting in those changes that would actually make it to the offspring would also be monumental. So yeah, we're not anywhere near where I think you think science is at.
start growing people in a lab
I also commented elsewhere about this notion. But also, even if we did have an artificial womb today, it's likely going to be in the NICU of your local hospital and not some laboratory. Because an artificial womb, as I indicated in my other comment, would only really be for preterm births greater than 22 weeks gestation, which is way better than what we get with incubators that only give moderate success rates at 28 to 32 weeks gestation and are ideally for 32 to 37 weeks gestation.
The Unity pricing debacle has taken an unfortunate, dangerous turn. In a new report from Bloomberg, the company has reportedly canceled a town hall meeting due to what the publication called credible death threats. According to Bloomberg, Unity CEO John Riccitiello was set to address employees Thursday morning, but the...
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and the state’s top health department official are directly contradicting federal health recommendations and warning residents against getting a new COVID-19 booster, saying there’s not enough evidence it provides benefits that outweigh risks....
Florida Surgeon General who has no formal education in infectious diseases, gives advice about infectious diseases. Seriously, the guy's medical background is "PhD in Health Policy, clinical training in internal medicine, and clinical studies for 'weight loss, smoking cessation, and cardiovascular disease prevention among people with HIV'."
I may as well just go to my optometrist and ask what they think about the vaccine while I'm at it. Good professionals command what they have mastery over and become supportive on that which they are not. Shitty professionals run around acting like they know everything. This guy is very much the latter.
Yeah, of Internal Medicine. Infectious diseases is a specialty of that domain for the reason that most internists hand off to specialist for specific diseases and mostly deal with generalized management. I don't go to a gastroenterologist for hip replacement. Someone who is into family medicine ain't my first choice for diagnosis and treatment options for something like lymphoma, I'll likely go to a specialist who knows what the hell they're talking about for specifically dealing with the disease and they'll hand off notes to my PCP for generalized management. Ladapo is no different here, Internal Medicine doctors are ones that usually look at a patient and try to figure out who to send them to for specialized care and then handle general management based on the notes from specialist.
Ladapo is indeed a doctor. He's got a domain of mastery. But that domain isn't on infectious diseases, but instead of deferring to those who have devoted their lives to this specific domain of study, he's just spouting off at the mouth about something in his professional career he'd refer patients off to a specialist for.
So, I find it humorous to say the least that when he was an internists that whole being held accountable for running his mouth off about things was next to nothing and routinely handed off for specialty care. But now that he's in a political position where he can be held less accountable for BS he spouts off, he's got no problem indicating that he's got the answers to it all.
It's just funny how once that accountability goes out the window, he's less affable to defer to specialist's wisdom.
The quip about me heading to my optometrist is going a bit extreme indeed, but still, guy has a background in knowing when to hand off to others when he's being held accountable, and now has a background of running his damn mouth when he's no longer being held accountable for the crap he's saying. But that said, guy better hope to hold tight to that political career now. Making a lot noise needlessly isn't a look most hospitals like for their residents.
After her trial, St Cyr had said in a Facebook livestream that she wasn't sure the case would ever move to sentencing because "the truth" would come out before then.
I'm sure "the truth" is coming right after infrastructure month.
"So just keep watching Tucker, keep spreading the truth, keep talking about the corruption, keep sharing, and we will bring the system doooooowwwwn.”
Tucker Carlson's show was canceled.
At her sentencing hearing Wednesday, St Cyr's attorney, Nicole Owens, said her client was at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, because of a “misguided sense of duty.”
C'mon don't leave us hanging, who was the source of that misguided sense? Also, getting ice cream on your first date with someone only to find out they're lactose intolerant, that's misguided. Attempting to overthrow the government, that's a few levels past misguided. Just saying.
“I’ve been on a spiritual journey,” St Cyr said. Then she launched into a bizarre 45-minute rant — until the judge cut her off with a stern warning to wrap up — on a series of topics, including her beliefs about the air we breathe, her spiritual being, radio frequencies, her difficult upbringing and a woman she watched being arrested on a playground during the Covid pandemic.
Actually I blame the judge on this one. After sitting for weeks listening to this lady's crazy Facebook streams, figuring "what's the worse that could happen if I let this lady speak freely?", you're just opening yourself up for that.
That said, I'm sure the 45-minute jam packed insane stream of consciousness diatribe was something to behold.
She also talked about her actions during the Capitol riot. She didn’t express regret or accept any responsibility for her actions that day, and she indicated that she wasn’t concerned about the prospect of serving jail time
Shocking. Been a pattern of that with folks who attempted to overthrow the government. It's like these small jail sentences aren't deterrent enough.
“I did the right thing,” St Cyr said about her actions on Jan. 6. “I know it sounds delusional.”
Oh sweetheart, it's a bit past just sounding that way.
In a Facebook livestream after her sentencing, St Cyr also said she hadn’t filed taxes since 2019, and she encouraged her followers not to pay their taxes.
I foresee another court case in her future, just a hunch.
When you're against something you should stop financially support it.
Yes. But it should be said, it cannot just stop there. People need to indicate to their various governments that union busting should be prosecuted no matter the billionaire doing the busting or the third party they hired.
I think too often people rely on the “you should vote with your wallet” that they forget, we cannot buy our way out of social ills. Spending our money on the “correct” product and not spending it on the “incorrect” product isn’t a panacea. And worse it can breed superficial support in companies to simply convince you to buy more of their shit. I think we’ve made enough memes about Eddard Stark warning us that with Pride month, the rainbows are coming to social media.
I think that’s the key point. Not going to Starbucks is one thing BUT it cannot stop there, otherwise no Real ™ change is actually going to happen. Lots of people are just tangentially caring about the issue for lots of various reasons. We need to implement change at every level. People should talk to their mayor, their city council, governor, State assembly, and what not.
Starbucks spends money so they can see results quickly, and since us common folks are not wealthy beyond belief, we’ve got to take the long and time expensive route. It cannot just be “just stop spending your money there” that alone is never going to work and breeds even worse results, with ads just pretending they’re buddy buddy with you.
A lawsuit brought by a group of Colorado voters cited the Constitution's 14th Amendment in their effort to prevent Trump from getting on the state ballot in 2024.
When a civil action is removed solely under section 1441(a), all defendants who have been properly joined and served must join in or consent to the removal of the action.
— 28 USC 1446(b)(2)(A)
petitioners’ first claim, which is brought against Secretary Griswold,
makes it clear that the Secretary is not a nominal party.
— Chief Judge Philip A. Brimmer ruling
The Secretary Griswold is joined and Trump did not have the Secretary sign on to the request to be removed. Therefore the request is deficient.
Hey also. Gopher is also getting a bit of a hit, but mostly due to a new protocol someone came up with called Gemini. It's like Gopher a lot but has some (and I cannot emphasize this enough) very basic markdown.
You can find out more about it here. I recommend Lagrange for your client. Two places I like to go to are Station (gemini://station.martinrue.com/) and Antenna (gemini://warmedal.se/~antenna/). BBS (gemini://bbs.geminispace.org/) is also a new one on the scene.
And the nice thing about Lagrange is that it also supports the Finger protocol which basically is a way to read the .project or .plan file on a given user for the indicated system. Those files for those that never used them allowed a user to type a short status update into them that folks could then poll at any given time. Basically "ye olde status update".
There's a person that serves a weather reporting system via a finger interface at (finger://graph.no/) and it works really well in Lagrange.
It's a motion to dismiss that was granted under rules of the court. The rules cited by the defendant (The Secretary of State) in the motion to dismiss:
Rule 12(b)(1) — The plaintiff did not present enough evidence to show that they have standing to bring the matter before the courts.
Rule 12(b)(6) — The plaintiff did not present sufficient factual matter to state a claim to relief that is plausible on its face .
The court sided with the plaintiff that sufficient evidence was indeed presented before the court to indicate that the plaintiff did indeed have standing, BUT their argument brought before the court failed to state a claim under either the APA (the Administrative Procedure
Act) or the First Amendment. Thus the court has accepted the motion to dismiss the case, citing:
A concrete injury is “foremost” among the standing requirements
Plaintiff could state in concrete terms the injury to be suffered by those affected by the two avenues of injury they (the plaintiff) had indicated. The plaintiff is the one who brought up the first amendment and the APA but failed to follow through on the argument before the court in terms of actual injury (a court CANNOT assume injury even ones that sound pretty obvious).
More importantly the first amendment issue brought before the court couldn't be held. The court indicated that the Government has a vested interest (in the name of national security) to be all up in the business of people traveling here for work. But that the plaintiff did bring up a point about how that might also hurt their ability to work here, but failed to qualify it in their original argument (that basically means, "I don't think this is a first amendment issue but you've got a point if you want to try something else.")
The motion to dismiss is granted with perjury. The plaintiff cannot bring it back before the courts and cannot usually appeal the decision.
So yeah, the Judge sounds like he was interested in the issue being brought but the arguments that were critical to their case fell apart at the whole "for foreigners traveling here, the US has every right to monitor your social media accounts". The argument that seemed to pique the judge's interest was how that information might be used to remove business opportunities from people traveling here. Which is a good point because once a person is approved to work here in the US, the information obtained by the Visa application cannot be used to taint the work environment the person works in.
However, the plaintiff wasn't able to provide a concrete way of how that would happen (that was outside of the "we're arresting you and kicking you out" which the Government has a right to do). The thing is the plaintiff would need a way to connect the dots on how information obtained in the Visa might get back to their employer and then the employer keeps the person but alters their job based on that information released by the Government. If there is a manner by which that might happen, then yeah, that's a no-no.
There is not one ounce of honor or decency left in the Republican party
Oh that was already the case with buttery emails and before that birth certificate two, the long form-aroo. We all saw an exodus of long standing Republican Senators in middle of the road positions, because they saw the writing on the wall. Batshit crazy is the new GOP.
Helpful hint, it's not just video game programming. Those hijacked gas pipelines in the US, unsecured SCADA systems weren't because every sysadmin was falling asleep, it's because nobody pulling the trigger wanted to listen to the sysadmins screaming that blindly deploying shit without audits, was a bad idea.
In pretty much every single technological failure, there's usually a common thread. Someone did (or forgot to do something) in the name of profit.
Yeah that's literally UNENFORCEABLE. We just had a case last year that indicated that you can scrap data from sites so long as the data being scrapped isn't used for profit.
Additionally, scrappers cannot be legally held to have agreed to the TOS. Just simply typing an address in and then receiving a page back doesn't mean that anyone agrees to the TOS of the server that gave the page. For pretty much the same reason software couldn't enforce the "if you don't agree with the terms on the CD-ROM, then you cannot open the package the CD-ROM is in." So just because X wrote that in their TOS has zero bearing on if they can actually enforce that through the court system, which likely that's going to be a big NAH.
That's based off of the point of the gate-up/gate-down test given by the courts. If a normal person can find a random "tweet (are we still calling them that?)" by typing a URL, the gate is up, you cannot pick and choose who gets to enter. If you don't want a random tweet being scrapped the gates must be down. That means nobody typing in a random URL can ever access that tweet, they have to go through the gate house to gain entry to the resource. But gates down means that no one is going to link to a tweet because when they click the link, instead of seeing the related information, they get handed a login page. Which X has been trying that and news outlets bitching that they're not going to post tweets in their story if Musk is just going to block everyone.
The thing that X could argue is that someone is using their tweets for "profit" which is exactly the case they're trying with the ADL and the CCDH. They're trying to argue that these not-for-profits are profiting off of convincing ad buyers to not buy ads. Which, if that sounds crazy, OH BOY IS IT. However, Musk's lawyers have attempted to muddle the waters on what is "PROFIT". So grab some popcorn for that one.
The thing is that, I get Musk wants to hold tight copyright on the tweets and not surface a lot to others who might use that data for who knows what purpose. BUT you cannot have cake and have eaten it as well. Musk doesn't get the best of both worlds. He can put everything behind a wall and attempt to enforce his TOS, but that's still not really go to go well for his ADL/CCDH case. Or he can surface the tweets for the Internet to read. But he cannot have both. We've settled that in courts and Congress hasn't made any kind of motion in changing that standing.
Not to mention that because of the standing rules of the Senate, all you have to do is send an email saying you’re filibustering and any one person can bring to halt something all the other 99 Senators just want to move on to the next topic.
Literally this guy stands alone on this and the brain dead rules allow him and him alone to bring it all to a halt.
The US is getting fucking robbed by their medical industry. Of course I expect nothing less from the nation that had AT&T, Verizon, Comcast, etc steal $400B for Internet they never built. Which is also the nation that spent $700B on banks to “save” them.
Damn, I need a loan from the bank of the American taxpayer.
WD-40 used to come in big cans before it was an aerosol. And there has been spray bottles of it for some time too.
From what I remember, WD-40 is just mineral oil plus some hydrocarbons. The aerosol version is just so that tiny target straw works well, but you can literally just spray it on the work area and “rub” it in as it’s a penetrating oil for water displacement. In fact, I’m pretty certain that’s what the WD stands for, water displacement.
Twitter as WeChat is exactly what I’m guessing Musk is attempting. I wouldn’t be surprised if he started linking Teslas and the Supercharger Network to Twitter.
He has mentioned that the three would have some interconnectivity via his xAI platform. Along with StarLink providing the networking to the platform.
What all it means and how it all works has yet to be seen. Pretty hard to work on new ideas when your company is hemorrhaging money faster than an executive at a top dollar strip club.
Does this really solve the ethical wicket of human embryo testing?
Subjectively, no. Objectively, yes. Just because it has enough properties to do things similar to an embryo, it has been shown that it is in fact NOT an actual embryo.
Is tricking stem cells into forming an embryo really that different from fertilizing an egg with a sperm cell to form an embryo?
Yes, very much so. Sperm and egg method is you get what you get and you don't throw a fit. Which is less than ideal if a very narrow line of cells is all that you were interested in. Think of the ethical implications of taking a fetal tissue and indicating, "Oh well 90% of this isn't what I wanted. Let's slice that off and focus on this 10% I do want. Oh and freeze that shit I sliced off, someone may want it before it goes bad." The tricking stem cells allows us to focus efforts so that the yield is much higher on what researchers want.
would this still develop into a functional human being if implanted into a womb?
No. It does not. No one has tried with humans but it's been tried with primates. The uterus takes the embryo and plays along for a bit of time but after that, the body figures out the ruse and the whole thing comes apart, usually in fetal resorption. So while this method can produce particular lines of cells quite well, there is obvious things that are massively missing form our understanding of ovum to make this remotely successful. Can we overcome that technical deficit? ABSOLUTELY. Will we? Nah, it's not likely.
Synthetic embryos serve a particular sticking point researchers have about human cell lines. Most governments allow human cell lines to exist for about five weeks (there's particular exceptions to this that have more asterisks than the TOS for most social media sites, I'll not go into them, we're just going to stick to in general here). Thereafter, they must be destroyed. The problem is that if you need a particular line of cells that develops much later in the development stage, you need donor tissue which is much more expensive. With synthetic embryos you can "jump" right to what you need.
So this brings us back to the ethical part of this. Objectively, these cell lines being created by this process come very differently than what we harvest from actual donors. And there's little likelihood that this process is going to develop much further than great for single targeted cell lines, piss poor for complex tissue/organs/actual humans. So objectively speaking, synthetic embryos today have very little chance to be confused for actual human embryos. Today's synthetic embryos are just way too dissimilar to actual embryos that I think any ethical concerns are overblown. Yes, it has the name embryo in it, but that is solely a technical distinction and confusing it with actual embryos is a gross misunderstanding of the details.
Subjectively speaking, if I build a ship out of things that look like wood, act like wood, and feels like wood but is indeed not wood, did I build a wood ship? There's a point where I can make fake wood look real enough that it would be hard to tell if it was wood or not. Likewise, it wouldn't be impossible to develop synthetic embryos to a point that the body would know no difference between it and a real one. The only problem is that much like our wood thing, there are trees that are way cheaper to just grow and harvest than to sit here literally trying to reinvent the tree. The whole sperm/egg thing is just something nature has had a lot of time to perfect and it's going to be a very pretty penny to mimic that. And everyone will find that there are very few takers that want to blow that kind of money.
What synthetic embryos solve is a need for particular lines of cells much later in the development phase of a human life. Those cells are expensive to obtain. Synthetic embryos are a cheaper means to getting SOME of them. But if the goal is an actual embryo, you still cannot beat the cost and effectiveness in your run of the mill fertilization. Additionally, if your goal is large amounts of tissue/full organs, likely that 3D printing is going to beat out this technology but until either one of them wins, we still have the expensive and complex system of being an organ donor and waiting till you get a fatal head injury. So synthetic embryos seem to only be able to serve the niche that they are more affordable than the current method. Could they do more? Oh yeah. Will they? Probably not. It was pretty expensive getting to where they are currently at, and going further there just seems to be better methods for the use cases they would serve.
Out of this whole thing, I just want to say something about this.
Some players' reactions to the paywall have been unfavorable; they think that charging for mods is unethical and goes against the spirit of community modification
Everyone needs to make bread. Someone asking for money from their mod or map or whatever isn’t against any spirit. It’s just a human being asking to make bread. Now some don’t agree with the price tag and that’s fine.
But we all need to recognize humans asking for some dough for their hard work is in the spirit of existing. Some folk do it for free just for the feelings and we love ‘em for it. But those asking for some cash are no different.
This world is already full of dog eat dog. Let’s not hate on someone just trying to get through it. You don’t have to pay the ask, but let’s not go making enemies just cause we don’t agree on that number on the price tag.
Are we doing this shit again? Look the straws and disposable cups consumers use pale in comparison to the largest contributors of plastics.
The fishing industry accounts for 70% of all plastic that makes it into the ocean. Textiles and shitty tire disposal combine to contribute about 65% of the plastic you will drink.
All of these things are things politicians can “do things” about but just simply don’t. Instead we get story after story about how you dear consumer are the shitty one who is at fault for the fucked up world you live in, not these hard working captains of capitalism who are just doing their best to keep shareholders happy while trying to buy that $50M mansion.
Yes, disposable cups are a problem. Solving that problem will do zero to change the calculus on the amount of plastic you’re actively putting into your body. This whole, “it’s not the fucked up systemic pollution our society relies on that’s the issue, it you to average person who is at fault for every problem in this world” Stockholm-esque bullshit type of journalism needs to stop.
Yes the scientific paper is indeed an interesting read. But what Wired has done is take this pretty innocuous study and turned it into some green washing flagellant bullshit that literally helps the core issue zero percent. Yes, we should be better stewards of the planet. No, telling everyone they’re pieces of shit for existing does not help the cause.
That's a fine take, but it ignores that for this particular issue the consumer isn't the one dictating the terms. I can't roll up to the McDonald's and ask them to put my soda into the cup I hand them. Bioplastics and green plastics aren't a thing that I directly can fund nor can I convince my politician to prioritize research into them. And the other alternatives outside of a brand new kind of plastic or a reusable cup have massive cons, not because they are inherently bad choices, but because companies rushing to implement those changes are usually executed poorly. I mean, the BEST way to reduce this aspect that's immediately achievable by every single consumer is to just simply stop eating out completely.
I also think that having the mindset every day to live more sustainably and reduce personal waste is valuable
Absolutely. But there's also the aspect that our society is build with some really messed up assumptions and we really need to address those. Like a lot of energy needs to be poured into those things more so than anything else. Like I said, easiest way to do away with all of the particular plastic involved in the story is to just simply stop giving any money to fast food, take away stuff, etc. Make your own sandwich, pack your own mashed potatoes, fix your own coffee to take with you.
But there's a lot of people who are getting the full throat IRL experience that will say, "who the fuck has time for that shit?" And it's not their fault they are caught up in the shit tsunami that is modern society. They're just trying to survive. So things like "just stop eating there" is surprisingly, and fucked up, a big ask for them.
It can be eye-opening and a step toward bigger steps like voting, advocacy, boycotts, and conversations with others
And yeah, it's good to have a conversation about it. But we ought to really also talk about the details of the matter because they're important. Why isn't that voting working? Why is there so little advocacy? Why are boycotts doomed to fail every time? There's reasons for these things and I would argue that those reasons are way more important than shaming people who just want to eat a lunch today.
I would rather do something infinitesimally small than nothing
And I agree, but it needs to not stop there. And in fact the bigger picture items, the finer detail things, those things should be what lead the conversation and the stopping of plastic cups would be an outcome of that. Instead we have here a story that starts out with "you're a bad person for using plastic cups" and goes absolutely nowhere with "why it be like that?" It's just pure "you're a bad person. End of story." That's not incredibly helpful to convince people that they should be mindful. People should indeed be mindful, but the shirt that a lot of us are currently wearing has a lot more contribution to the issue than the cup some person just received at the McDonald's.
It's literally the plastic straw thing again. And changing that didn't really change much of the calculus then, because the straw thing contributes so little to the actual issue.
The Trump campaign may have violated United State copyright law by selling merchandise featuring the former president’s mugshot, legal experts have warned.
Our US advertising revenue is still down 60 percent, primarily due to pressure on advertisers by @ADL
What’s neat about this, is that with that kind of loss and the complexity that X is tying to these cases. Even if it was going to be a slam dunk case, the odds they’ll ever recover any kind of cash to stem the absolute bloodletting that percentage indicates within enough time is close to zero.
That kind of loss paired with the monster sized debt already saddled onto the company is like taking a person who has been cut in half and just had their arms ripped off, all while the person is suffering a heart attack. And the best the doctors can hope for is that a single unit of blood can get here in time to help with the massive blood loss.
That said, the case is likely to end up like the other one they have going on. Very unclear, very murky arguments, and a lot of questions that don’t have good prior case history.
Additionally, no court is actually going to think the ADL caused billions of losses by reprint of tweets actually on the website. You can be free speech Musk. But people get to point out what’s on your site to advertisers. The ADL actually can work in concert with advertisers as pretty much every court will see the ADL playing a vital role in due diligence. No court is going to attempt material harm for someone presenting facts, that’s just begging the court to side with a commercial entity in spite of facts.
Musk looking for excuses on why his company is sinking like the Titanic and he is having issues with accepting that he’s the one who sank it.
Director Woody Allen says Spanish football chief Luis Rubiales should not lose his job for forcibly kissing a player on the lips after the Women’s World Cup final, saying it was not like he murdered someone or burnt down a school....
The thing is the added complexity that the plaintiff is adding is just going to extend out the entire process. The filing indicates something like a 60% loss of ad revenue. Even if the case runs smooth as butter, there's no way Musk can get access to the money he's seeking in time to cover the massive loss plus the huge debt obligations he's sacked the company with already.
There's zero ways restitution from this case would ever give the company enough head above water quick enough to prevent drowning in debt.
Too late Megatron, we’ve already stripped all the resources on Earth. Looks like you’ll have to checks notes fly into space for which you are more than capable of and comfortable with, and obtain all the resources you need there which were always there unprotected in quantities more abundant than humanity’s wildest dreams.
Megatron you suck as a leader. You should run for US President.
Researchers have successfully transferred a gene to produce tobacco plants that lack pollen and viable seeds, while otherwise growing normally (news.ncsu.edu)
House Republicans release short-term bill to avert government shutdown until Oct. 31 (www.nbcnews.com)
Key factions of the House Republican conference reached a tentative agreement Sunday to keep the government funded temporarily and avert a shutdown currently scheduled for the end of this month, pairing it with a conservative border security measure, multiple GOP sources with knowledge told NBC News....
Cargo pants are a godsend (startrek.website)
Human trials of artificial wombs could start soon. Here’s what you need to know. (www.nature.com)
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Unity cancels town hall over reported death threats (www.theverge.com)
The Unity pricing debacle has taken an unfortunate, dangerous turn. In a new report from Bloomberg, the company has reportedly canceled a town hall meeting due to what the publication called credible death threats. According to Bloomberg, Unity CEO John Riccitiello was set to address employees Thursday morning, but the...
Contradicting federal health officials, Florida Gov. DeSantis recommends against new COVID booster (apnews.com)
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and the state’s top health department official are directly contradicting federal health recommendations and warning residents against getting a new COVID-19 booster, saying there’s not enough evidence it provides benefits that outweigh risks....
'I did the right thing,' Jan. 6 rioter says before being sentenced to 2.5 years in prison (www.nbcnews.com)
At her sentencing hearing, Yvonne St Cyr did not express regret or accept any responsibility for her actions on Jan. 6, 2021....
Every. Time. (lemmy.sdf.org)
It’s either the full volume Facebook video feed, texting with the keyboard sounds on, or microwaving sardines.
Calls for Starbucks boycott grow amid aggressive union-busting activities (www.theguardian.com)
Judge rejects Trump’s request to move Colorado ballot case to federal court (www.nbcnews.com)
A lawsuit brought by a group of Colorado voters cited the Constitution's 14th Amendment in their effort to prevent Trump from getting on the state ballot in 2024.
USENET, the OG social network, rises again like a text-only phoenix (www.theregister.com)
[EFF] Federal Judge Upholds State Department Rule Requiring Visa Applicants to Disclose Social Media Information (www.eff.org)
Summary...
Douglas Coupland is trying to think of a new title rule. (lemmy.world)
Biden impeachment inquiry: What we know about the case (www.bbc.com)
Republicans want to investigate the "culture of corruption" they claim surrounds the president.
I’ll fight anyone who shits on Gen Z (i.imgur.com)
Irrefutable proof of a all loving god (lemmy.world)
COVID And Working From Home Made Starfield Development "Very, Very Slow," Todd Howard Says (www.gamespot.com)
X updates its terms to ban crawling and scraping (techcrunch.com)
The new terms, which are effective from September 29, ban any kind of scraping or crawling without “prior written consent.”...
Senator Tuberville: No truce over military blockade on abortion (www.bbc.co.uk)
Military leaders claim Tommy Tuberville's actions are a national security risk, but the senator is defiant.
American Freedom on Healthcare (lemmygrad.ml)
Canada will ban aerosol WD-40 in 2024 (www.westernstandard.news)
Almost every Canadian has a spray can of WD-40 in the garage, but that's about to change....
Supercut of Mike Lindell's problematic deposition (www.youtube.com)
Mike Lindell’s behavior in deposition has earned him a motion for sanctions. See all of the exhibits in one cut.
Google gets its way, bakes a user-tracking ad platform directly into Chrome (arstechnica.com)
Our Computer (infosec.pub)
OC for you.
According to Elon Musk’s own math, the company formerly known as Twitter has lost 90% of its value and could be worth just $4 billion (finance.yahoo.com)
Scientists grow whole model of human embryo, without sperm or egg (www.bbc.co.uk)
Starfield players pirate the DLSS mod after the developer locks it behind paywall (www.gamescensor.com)
Well this aged like milk. (lemmy.dbzer0.com)
cross-posted from: lemmy.dbzer0.com/post/3466450
Sorry, Your Paper Coffee Cup Is a Toxic Nightmare (www.wired.com)
Trump may have violated copyright law by selling mugshot merchandise (nypost.com)
The Trump campaign may have violated United State copyright law by selling merchandise featuring the former president’s mugshot, legal experts have warned.
Japanese newspaper Gigazine goes over the slow decline of technological freedom up to today. (archive.ph)
The original japanese article....
Trump vows to end EV maddness (thehill.com)
Musk threatens Anti-Defamation League with defamation lawsuit (arstechnica.com)
‘He wasn’t raping her’: Woody Allen defends Spanish football boss over World Cup kiss (www.smh.com.au)
Director Woody Allen says Spanish football chief Luis Rubiales should not lose his job for forcibly kissing a player on the lips after the Women’s World Cup final, saying it was not like he murdered someone or burnt down a school....
Elon Musk Threatens To Sue Anti-Defamation League For X’s Lost Ad Revenue (www.huffpost.com)
You gotta have faith (lemmy.world)
Optimus saw that Nazi rally in Florida and, well, I can't blame him rule (media.kbin.social)
Steve Harwell, Smash Mouth Founding Singer, Dead at 56 (www.rollingstone.com)
“Walkin’ on the Sun” and “All Star” vocalist announced his retirement in 2021...