I think that they are likely already considering these you mention. You can get clothing and gear that aren’t made of plastic, so maybe they are doing that - the methods described on their website specifically call out using leather gloves and taking wind direction into account.

https://missionspiritus.com/expeditions/antarctica/

From my perspective this “pinnacle of human ingenuity” is actually a farse, because it relies on a monoculture and is therefore unsustainable in the long term.

Don’t get me wrong, the engineering is cool and I understand how important the mass production of food has been up to this point in human history, but there is another side of the story. The advent of machinery like this is part of why modern farmers use so many pesticides, herbicides, and fertilizers - a monoculture depletes the soil of its nutrients and decreases natural pest control, necessitating the use of chemicals. The use of those chemicals has in turn driven huge ecosystem changes that we are only just beginning to understand the impact of (such as mass pollinator die-offs, changes to soil microbiology, pollution of fresh water sources, pollution of cropland soil, and more) as well as impacting humans in ways we don’t understand since some of those chemicals make their way into our bodies.

IIRC the reason most caps used to be unrecyclable (many still are) is that they had a liner in them made of a different material. Because such caps were composite materials (using different types of plastic for the liner and the cap), they would make an impure product if recycled. The same problem applies if the cap and bottle are different types of plastic, which used to be more common.

Wish we got a more complete understanding of the truckers’ side in this article - why is it so hard to turn off your engine instead of idling?

The guy quoted in the article says that some trucks need to operate their lift gates 15 or 20 times in a day. First of all, turn on your engine to operate the gate and then turn it off when you’re done… Secondly, if it is impacting business too much to take that extra time to turn the engine on and off, invest in an auxiliary power source to operate the lift gate.

Maybe I’m missing something?

So what do you suggest? No cars allowed at all? Even in European countries with strong public transportation cars are still useful and allowed (except in crowded city areas). It’s hard to imagine life out in the boonies without access to a car…

I think we should pursue better public transportation primarily, but I also think efforts to make electric vehicles better are an important piece of the puzzle to transporting ourselves sustainably.

I think there may be more to Ukraine’s abstention than being “too busy with their own shit,” probably they don’t want to annoy the US govt and risk having military aid further reduced.

I too was curious about this contraption. Here is a video of some people using one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H5nQ3CpFCl8&t=12m39s

Imo music discovery on Spotify is best done by pursuing playlists posted by musicians you like or just hopping by related artists/album features.

The article hits the nail on the head when they say to listen to human curated content - whether it be curated by yourself or someone else, it’s the best way to find something new/good.

If I were in your shoes, I would probably mention the change in tone/word choice to the lead on the project since you have a good relationship with them. Just mentioning that you noticed the change and aren’t sure about it doesn’t need to be combative, and I would be truly shocked if it cost you the job. Depending on your state it might even be illegal to fire you for something like that.

I personally would not take a stand or refuse to do the voiceover or anything like that. I would make it clear that I would do the voiceover using the script as it is written. I would think of it as providing feedback rather than making demands, which seems like it would be within the purview of a QA reviewer.

This way you can at the very least get more information about the situation - find out whether this was an intentional change. If so, it may be time to start making moves so you can eventually drop this company.

Very cool. I wonder how durable these electrodes are once coated in nanowires.

I use songstitch.art

I recommend “Rookie” by Rookie.

Here is my last month:

Tariffs on Chinese goods are a good thing. And I honestly see why the next logical step is tariffs on Mexico because Chinese companies are already building in Mexico so they can assemble there and ship across the border and circumvent tarrifs.

I think China manipulates markets and damages the global economy while making consumers feel like they don’t need to value the products they buy because they are so cheap. And I don’t think we should be letting China off the hook for the Uyghur genocide/gluttony of human rights violations.

Buy local. I wish it was easier to buy American manufactured stuff.

I feel like hypothetically it is a worthwhile thing to share with your friends that you and your partner have decided you want children and that the time is now. It’s a big life decision, and when the time comes for myself and my partner, I will definitely want to talk with my close friends about it.

The conversation doesn’t have to be about raw dogging, instead it could be about planning for children. Many people plan for children in advance of getting pergenat.

Thank you for your recommendations, I have been enjoying them very much.

I recommend the album “Cosmic Frog” by S2cool. Funky indie album, I love it. I think maybe he is focusing on a band he is in, “Fictionist,” although he also does writing for lots of other companies so not sure really…

Also “07” by The Chicken Chokers. Bluegrass/string band album, it’s how I came to love bluegrass. These guys were active for a while in the New England area but I believe they have split and now some of them are playing in another band “Twang.”

Finally, “Seara de Jazz cu Aura” by Aura Urziceanu. Romanian scatt jazz. I think she was pretty famous in Romania, but I have to take Wikipedia’s word for it. She eventually had a career in the USA; she certainly toured with some big names but it’s hard to tell if she was a success.

I bring up blacklisting because it is the clearest demonstration of intentionally starving people that comes to mind. Sure, Stalin wanted collectivization to go off without a hitch. Problem was, there was a hitch. So he decided it would happen anyway, starving people be damned. Imo good governments don’t intentionally starve people in order to achieve their goals.

To me your argument boils down to “the ends justify the means.”

How do you defend the “blacklisted” villages? I don’t detect any remorse in the material you have cited, just concern over making sure his policies are being properly enacted. It seems pretty clear to me that Stalin considered the loss of life in Ukraine to be worth it in order to drive his agenda forward - why else would he have allowed policies that forbid farmers themselves from eating the food from the fields they tended? Why else would he have allowed policies keeping farmers from traveling for any reason? To ensure that they produced food for the rest of the union, which would focus on industrial output. You can argue that he was right - without such rapid industrialization, they almost certainly would have lost to the Nazis imo.

Also, don’t conflate socialism with collectivism. I never said that the gains made in terms of education, life expectancy, etc. were possible without socialist policies. You can have socialism without collectivism/without stalinism. I think it’s much better that way.

*there wasn’t a country better for the working class that survived

Imo you can’t just ignore all the people who died as a result of the rapid industrialization and collectivization. And how great is your life if you have to change everything about what you say and how you act just to appease party officials?

I don’t want to ignore all the great things that happened during the Soviet era. I think you’re right about better access to education and many of these other things, but there are so many asterisks.

I argue that the same things could have been achieved without collectivization and without so much political violence. Social support programs are great, but they should be available to everyone, regardless of how much you support the prevailing political party.

And just how sure are you that Stalin would have gone back in time to prevent the Holodomor? I’m unconvinced - it quelled an inconvenient uprising.

If you look at the holodomor I think it’s hard to continue painting the Soviet Union as having uplifted the proletariat. Soviets starved their people to achieve rapid industrialization - a tradeoff that most of those who died would probably not have agreed with. IIRC most historians say that collectivization was a horrible failure and was not good for the working class.

First hand accounts of life during stalinism make it clear that people had to develop weird mannerisms to avoid making it seem like they were disloyal/anti-party; basically everyone walking on eggshells all the time.

The conversation around “tankies” reminds me heavily of “neolibs” - loosely defined in the minds of the folks discussing them. Basically a catch-all term for your own idea of what a liberal outgroup should be.