There is a new process for treating wastewater sludge that destroys the microfibers, so that is good news at least. I think it may be expensive, of course. It is called “hydrothermal carbonization”. Basically put the sludge in a giant pressure-cooker and the heat breaks the plastics into carbon and some water-soluble residual molecules which can go back to the start of the wastewater treatment plant to be biodegraded. But like others say, the main source in general is tires - not sure if they know whether tire microplastics are the main source in agricultural land though.

From the immortal Journal of Irreproducible Results, “The Data Enrichment Method”: “. . .its principal shortcoming is that before the enrichment process can be started, some data must be collected. It is quite true that a great deal is done with very little information, but this should not blind one to the fact that the method still embodies the ‘raw-data flaw’. The ultimate objective, complete freedom from the inconvenience and embarrassment of experimental results, still lies unattained before us.”

fwiw, this story is also covered here, imho a more credible source: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/2/1/palestinians-demand-international-inquiry-after-mass-grave-found-in-gaza

gotta admit, that is a lot safer approach than trying some shit on the real thing

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/36/37/42/36374294e5183a96de3e3e6696f4d3ad.jpg

In that case, Krasnodar and Rostov to Ukraine as buffer zones - maybe Belgorod and Kursk too?

I think there was a time when he could have apologized for a dumb mistake and everyone would have moved on. It is world news now because HE chose another and unfortunate path - which probably has no route back to the sunlit lands.

at 9000 feet deep, the pressure is 273 atmospheres or 4100 psig - they never knew what hit them.

Long ago, I was a midshipman on a submarine. The crew LOVED to watch submarine disaster films - with water spraying in all frothy and fire-hosey. But the reality would be a flooding time measured in fractions of a second, in most cases - people are not used to dealing with pressures in the tons per square inch except at the nozzle of pressure washers where the flow is tiny. So, on the bright side, most submarine failure deaths are quick ones.

whatever does not kill us, makes us stronger? LOL I think it might be OK if you rinse it very thoroughly - in a way it might be like beer-brewing. In olden times, the quality of water was not easy to assess - it might make you sick. But beer, if it tastes good, is proof that conditions have been achieved for fermentation and therefore, bacteria could not be present in significant numbers (else the beer would sour!). Maybe a healthy spirulina population in a pond is like that? I suspect it is true, but I have been unable to develop a spirulina culture so far (and partly from lack of serious effort).

I watched some youtube videos about people growing spirulina in backyard pools. They tell all about how to do it. One guy says normally he would dry it to powder and add it to “regular” foods. But he sometimes just eats it as-collected. It has no taste, or sometimes a faintly “fishy” taste

46.673,09.593 if you look for it on Google Earth or such.

yep, these are all marine algae. I think the market will develop and more consistent products (and no doubt thorougly coated with preservatives) will become prevalent once dear old General Mills, ConAgra, and their like enter the fray.

This could be for marine algae, which might have high iodine and sometimes high organic arsenic (though there is some debate over how toxic that is) - but freshwater algae are not necessarily high in iodine. Like spirulina for example.

this inspired me to paper over all my old comments and posts with clippings from random washington post articles from today. A labor of … love

In view of comments about restoration of deleted data, I had a look at the user agreement for NON EEU and it says "When Your Content is created with or submitted to the Services, you grant us a worldwide, royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable, non-exclusive, transferable, and sublicensable license to use, copy, modify, adapt, prepare derivative works of, distribute, store, perform, and display Your Content and any name, username, voice, or likeness provided in connection with Your Content in all media formats and channels now known or later developed anywhere in the world. This license includes the right for us to make Your Content available for syndication, broadcast, distribution, or publication by other companies, organizations, or individuals who partner with Reddit. You also agree that we may remove metadata associated with Your Content, and you irrevocably waive any claims and assertions of moral rights or attribution with respect to Your Content. tldr; they do not have to honor content deletion in the US. But I feel better that I deleted it, maybe it will be a little bit of pain to restore it. I will go back occasionally and re-delete if neeeded.

he is not wrong about moderators being like “landed gentry” in a lot of cases; but on the other hand the blackout already did the damage. Time will tell if he is dead-man-walking, but I already deleted all my content (posts and replies) and unsubscribed from all. Some people may feel angst that the blackout did not “win”, but it was a very useful occasion to focus on the reddit phenomenon and recognize our commoditization. I had been glad to contribute content, but if reddit is going to <do what they did> then I am done. That is all the win I need. I will contribute it here (lemmy servers) instead.