In other news... (humorous news items)

[ColletArrow]

Once again switching direction:
Chepstow celebrates 'plastic-free' status with plastic banner

A town has celebrated becoming "plastic-free" - by unveiling a giant plastic banner.
The flag sits pride of place in the centre of Chepstow in Monmouthshire after the honour from environmental group Surfers Against Sewage (SAS).
But the banner over the 13th Century archway has been described as "beyond irony" from its former mayor, who wants the local town council to take it down.

Quite the irony. Apparently they considered cotton, but decided plastic was better as it is more "hard-wearing".
The article goes on to state that "plastic-free" means the town is against single-use plastics rather plastics in general. All that remains is whether or not the banner counts as single-use; it's not exactly going to be re-used, but it does have a longer (intended) lifespan than throw-away packaging. Hmm.

[commodorejohn]

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/11/business/energy-environment/china-solar-roads-renewables.html
Holy shit, solar roads, I thought this was deemed really stupid?

"Solar freakin' roadways" was bullshit from the start. There have been other small scale trials of more sensible concepts on low-trafficked roads, but the fundamental point remains that whatever solar tech you have, it's better on a roof than on a road.

Hey, if Mao could turn farms into steel mills, surely Xi can turn roads into roofs!

[CorruptUser]

The Republic Formerly Known as Macedonia is to be renamed Republic of North Macedonia.

Istanbul, not Constantinople, long time ago, was Contantinople...

[orthogon]

The Republic Formerly Known as Macedonia is to be renamed Republic of North Macedonia.

Istanbul, not Constantinople, long time ago, was Contantinople...

Don't you mean "the republic formerly known as the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia"?

At one point didn't the trope-namer change his name back? I vaguely remember him being introduced as "The artist formerly known as The Artist Formerly Known as Prince; formerly known as Prince: Prince!"

[DavidSh]

I had always though "Upper Macedonia" was appropriate, but it may be too reminiscent of "Upper Slobbovia". "North Macedonia" works at least as well.

[CorruptUser]

Well, it's better than West Bumfuck...

[Coyne]

The solar roads initiative has one huge potential advantage that keeps it going and going and going, like the Energizer Bunny. That idea is government dollars for massive Highway projects. It doesn't have to be smart to be a good boondoggle for extracting them tax dollars.

ETA I mean, really, this is a bad idea. Who seriously thought solar panels would perform well that would not be facing the Sun directly and would also spend 75% of their time covered by the usual traffic jam?

[CorruptUser]

Someone who thinks solar panels can be manufactured as cheap as paper? I mean, if a solar panel was only $10 per sq meter, then even covering the interior walls of your home in panels could make economic sense.

[Tyndmyr]

I mean, if that were the case, I would put them literally everywhere else first.

Even the roof of a car makes rather more sense than the road, I think. Roof of a house is easiest, exterior walls, roofs of vehicles, basically anywhere with an appropriate surface that isn't much traversed beats out a place that is.

[Soupspoon]

The article goes on to state that "plastic-free" means the town is against single-use plastics rather plastics in general. All that remains is whether or not the banner counts as single-use; it's not exactly going to be re-used, but it does have a longer (intended) lifespan than throw-away packaging. Hmm.

Since your post, I've been pondering (to nobody's advantage, even mine, but I have so I might as well tell you what I have pondered) and decided that "Single Use Plastic" is definitely the wrong term. Right now I'm on a park bench, looking at (or at least toward) a park rubbish bin that appears to be plasticy in its various external parts (top, sides, access door), around a metal frame and extractable bin-container. They are all single-use elements, yet should (the ravages of vandals aside) last for a long, long time. More than wood (may even be far less flammable and somewhat self-extinguishing) and maybe more than completely unprotected metal (which, let's face it, is also one of the horns of this dilemma!).

If (I haven't looked) there's a plastic bin-liner in the bin-container (for better management) it may be single-use as it gets swapped out each time it is emptied, or it may be reused as long as it remains intact enough between emptyings as the container+bag are upended and just the accumulated detritus transferred to whatever garbage-collection vehicle/trolley they use here.

I'm toying with the idea of swapping "single use" for maybe something like "transient utility". Or perhaps, in the case of packaging materials, "transit(ory) utility". It vilifies the right(/wrong) use of plastics and doesn't apply to the ones where they're actually a decent idea (like a long-term use of a banner, or the coating on a CD) so long as you then do what you can at the end of their extended life. It doesn't help classify copiously shed microfibres from artificial/part-artificial textiles, discarded nurdles and fragments of plastic from other (good) uses ending in uncontrolled fragmentation, but you can't have everything...

And now I think I should quit this park (having eaten my sandwiches, and drunk my drink) and get onto more important things. Even if they don't save the world, either.

[orthogon]

I've [...] decided that "Single Use Plastic" is definitely the wrong term.

We used to say "disposable".

[Soupspoon]

I've [...] decided that "Single Use Plastic" is definitely the wrong term.

We used to say "disposable".

That doesn't cover those bits of sticky-tape on printers, then, which stick to your hand so you can't dispose of them, just stick them to the other hand/the back or undeside of a handy piece of furniture.

[PM 2Ring]

FWIW, a previous discussion on solar roads is here: viewtopic.php?f=7&t=123914

[Tyndmyr]

The article goes on to state that "plastic-free" means the town is against single-use plastics rather plastics in general. All that remains is whether or not the banner counts as single-use; it's not exactly going to be re-used, but it does have a longer (intended) lifespan than throw-away packaging. Hmm.

Since your post, I've been pondering (to nobody's advantage, even mine, but I have so I might as well tell you what I have pondered) and decided that "Single Use Plastic" is definitely the wrong term. Right now I'm on a park bench, looking at (or at least toward) a park rubbish bin that appears to be plasticy in its various external parts (top, sides, access door), around a metal frame and extractable bin-container. They are all single-use elements, yet should (the ravages of vandals aside) last for a long, long time. More than wood (may even be far less flammable and somewhat self-extinguishing) and maybe more than completely unprotected metal (which, let's face it, is also one of the horns of this dilemma!).

If (I haven't looked) there's a plastic bin-liner in the bin-container (for better management) it may be single-use as it gets swapped out each time it is emptied, or it may be reused as long as it remains intact enough between emptyings as the container+bag are upended and just the accumulated detritus transferred to whatever garbage-collection vehicle/trolley they use here.

A banner commemorating a single event seems, to me at least, to be significantly more impermanent than a dumpster. More than the plastic bag perhaps, but not a great deal more. The plastic bag's probably gonna be used for at least a week, maybe a few weeks, depending on exact garbage handling schedule, the banner likely isn't intended to be used for multiple events, and will probably start to look pretty rough after a bit of exposure. I'd imagine they'd toss it at some point during the summer.

Anyways, disposable plastic isn't inherently bad. Garbage bags use a fairly modest amount of plastic, and few practical substitutes come to mind. A paper bag offers significant disadvantages over plastic, for instance. Using no bag at all results in significant labor to clean disgusting trash out of bins, and probably a fair bit of water. Sure, reducing trash overall(and thus bag usage) is definitely good, and recycled plastic in bags is good, but abandoning single use plastic bags altogether may not be a net improvement.

[Soupspoon]

Surfers Against Sewage:

This large plastic banner product is build to last, to withstand the weather and be used for years to come at our events.

That's the people who awarded the honour. Who looked into other alternatives and even made up a canvas one for use on their stall "when it was dry", implying that this less plastic one wouldn't stand up to the same lifetime punishment of being deployed out in all possible weathers for indefinitely numerous future instances like the plastic one will.

(Howeverso reasoned, imma gonna take their word for it, them being the awarders.)

[Quercus]

With binbags a biodegradable plastic (on the months to years timescale) produced from biomass seems like the best overall solution. Not sure if such a material currently exists.

[Soupspoon]

With binbags a biodegradable plastic (on the months to years timescale) produced from biomass seems like the best overall solution. Not sure if such a material currently exists.

It does. All kinds are being developed and being improved to get that fine (and movable!) line between not falling to bits on use and not hanging on too long after that stops.

Here's something from more than a decade ago: https://www.livescience.com/7222-biodeg ... d-sea.html

I recall something in a New Scientist in the late '80s about a tuned-degradable plastic made out of handily bio-friendly monomers that might be used to hold' strips' of seeds. Laid into the soil, it would protect them against too much and too little water at colder temperatures. But once a suitable soil-temperature arrived, it'd dissolve away (ideally with useful by-products, but you could also interspace seeds with nutrient-rich stuff, released at just the time to dope the soil around the seed) and so the growing season starts.

I don't know if anyone actually got that to market. It probably was never quite so doable as to outcompete the 'old fashioned'
way of planting and caring for crops when the farmer already does.

[Link]

Alright, I don't know what the verdict is on linking tweets in this thread, but it's humorous and directly related to something newsworthy so fuck it: https://twitter.com/HillaryClinton/stat ... 1101582336

[trpmb6]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... China.html

This image alone is crazy!

[sardia]

Scott Pruitt's legal defense fund, to defend his unethical behavior, is unethical. https://www.peer.org/news/news-releases ... minal.html

Typical.

[Link]

↶
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... China.html

This image alone is crazy!

Iä! Iä! Cthulhu fhtagn!

[commodorejohn]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5847383/Storm-photos-appear-starfish-octopus-flying-streets-China.html

This image alone is crazy!

I like the "shellfish" photo. I can just hear the conversation in the office:

"Frank, that's clearly a shrimp."
"Look, it could be a prawn, alright? I go calling it a shrimp and it turns out to be a prawn, then where would we be?"
"Yeah? You go calling it a prawn and it turns out to be a shrimp, what about that?"
"Oh for the love of God, you two..."
"Steve started it, Alice."
"Look, just call it a shellfish, alright?"

[trpmb6]

I like the "shellfish" photo. I can just hear the conversation in the office:

My first thought went to when matt damon and brad pitt did voiceovers for shellfish (prawns/shrimp?) in the first Happy Feet movie.

[Yablo]

Grandmother kills rabid bobcat with bare hands.

“It caught me slightly on my face, but I got him before he could do much damage there,” she said. “I took it straight to the ground and started inching my hands up to its throat."

This could easily have ended up in the Darker Side thread if the woman hadn't been a complete badass.

[addams]

Grandmother kills rabid bobcat with bare hands.

“It caught me slightly on my face, but I got him before he could do much damage there,” she said. “I took it straight to the ground and started inching my hands up to its throat."

This could easily have ended up in the Darker Side thread if the woman hadn't been a complete badass.

That's darned amazing.
Thank you for bringing it.

Bobcat are a medium size animal. Bigger than a house cat.
This is the First Time I've heard of one attacking a human.

I've never been frightened by a Bobcat.
They are usually shy and slink away.

Cougar are in that area, too.
She'd have Not taken down a Cougar.

I'm afraid of Cougar.
I've been stalked.

Rabies!!?
Without treatment, 100% fatal.

[Mutex]

For some reason I can't access that article today, weird error. Anyway I wanted to check it again to see if it mentioned the bobcat's size or weight? Wikipedia gives a range of 47-125cm long, and 6-18kg in weight. Which ranges from not much bigger than a domestic cat, to about half the size of a tiger. I didn't know they could be that big and wondered which end of the scale this one was.

[addams]

They are usually the size of a Cocker Spaniel.

Significantly larger than a house cat.
Significantly smaller than a Cougar.

Not an animal I'd want to tangle with.
Yet; Apparently a human has a shot.

I've seen a lot of them, in passing.
Oh! They are bigger than Fox.

[Soupspoon]

For some reason I can't access that article today, weird error.

"www.onlineathens.com - Access Denied
Error code 16
This request was blocked by the security rules"?

I got that when I first tried to read the report (still am getting it), and just assumed it was a GDPR overkill response thing.

[Grop]

For some reason I can't access that article today, weird error. Anyway I wanted to check it again to see if it mentioned the bobcat's size or weight? Wikipedia gives a range of 47-125cm long, and 6-18kg in weight. Which ranges from not much bigger than a domestic cat, to about half the size of a tiger. I didn't know they could be that big and wondered which end of the scale this one was.

Half the size of a 36 kg tiger, that is.

[Sableagle]

For some reason I can't access that article today, weird error. Anyway I wanted to check it again to see if it mentioned the bobcat's size or weight? Wikipedia gives a range of 47-125cm long, and 6-18kg in weight. Which ranges from not much bigger than a domestic cat, to about half the size of a tiger. I didn't know they could be that big and wondered which end of the scale this one was.

Half the size of a 36 kg tiger, that is.

Half the mass is far from the same thing as half the length.

I'll let Grace explain:

[Mutex]

Yeah I was talking about length, and it was a number pulled out of the air anyway, I just meant a bobcat that big would probably easily kill the majority of people.

[Sableagle]

Not so many results for 18kg bobcat:

Bobcats and domestic cats are not thought the be capable of interbreeding, but there are people who keep bobcats as pets. They're said to have a similar nature to their domestic cousins, but can be leash trained like a dog. Declawing and neutering is strongly recommended. You know, so your pet doesn't kill and eat you.

But plenty for 40lb bobcat:

[Grop]

My point was, mass is more significant than length. And size is a super vague word.

[Soupspoon]

Inertial or gravitational?

[Coyne]

Bobcat are a medium size animal. Bigger than a house cat.
This is the First Time I've heard of one attacking a human.

Not the first time I've heard of it. Family story. My grandfather was out riding horseback and came upon a bobcat sitting on a post. Evidently being insane, (such a comfort, proof of family insanity) he decided to see if he could rope the bobcat. He was successful. The bobcat jumped down off of the post and jumped up into the saddle, where my grandfather had been sitting a moment before. Fortunately, the rope came loose and the bobcat fled.

[addams]

Bobcat are a medium size animal. Bigger than a house cat.
This is the First Time I've heard of one attacking a human.

Not the first time I've heard of it. Family story. My grandfather was out riding horseback and came upon a bobcat sitting on a post. Evidently being insane, (such a comfort, proof of family insanity) he decided to see if he could rope the bobcat. He was successful. The bobcat jumped down off of the post and jumped up into the saddle, where my grandfather had been sitting a moment before. Fortunately, the rope came loose and the bobcat fled.

Good on You!
Family stories are a Treasure.

As for me, I've seen a great many Bobcat.
They always leave as soon as they notice me.

They seem so shy.
Cougar strike fear into my heart.

If I see a Cougar, I think of it as a near death experience.
Most victims never see the Cat. Bobcat are, like, so mild.

[Mutex]

Saudi Arabia is considering spending $750M turning Qatar into an island just to annoy them.

https://www.vox.com/2018/6/21/17485754/ ... ulf-island

Trump: "I'm the trolliest country leader ever!"
King Salman: "Hold my... whatever we drink instead of beer"

[trpmb6]

Saudi Arabia is considering spending $750M turning Qatar into an island just to annoy them.

https://www.vox.com/2018/6/21/17485754/ ... ulf-island

Trump: "I'm the trolliest country leader ever!"
King Salman: "Hold my... whatever we drink instead of beer"

I really was hoping that there would be some sort of other reason for doing it, however small it may be.

Nope. There is literally no reason to build a canal there. There is nothing on either side of qatar there. It's literally a wasteland.

Also, apparently Qatar has a booming agricultural industry.

[Tyndmyr]

Hey now, it has a use. They're gonna dump nuclear waste in it!

Definitely a good use for a canal, right?

[trpmb6]

Hey now, it has a use. They're gonna dump nuclear waste in it!

Definitely a good use for a canal, right?

At that point I thought I was reading the onion.

Surely that's more of a "f you" statement than anything. I would hope they're smarter than that...