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Show Me the Seas of Plastic!
All of this kerfuffle over plastic straws, pollution of plastics, etc… hides a fundamental problem: the oceans do not have a problem with plastic! There are no massive floating islands of plastic bottles and straws or anything else. The ocean breaks plastic down, bacteria live on the stuff, and it all goes back into the food chain, with no lasting impacts at all. Arguably, as plastics sustain other life forms, putting plastic into the ocean may well enhance aquatic life. And it all happens very quickly — days and weeks, not millennia.
Here’s my challenge: Are there any satellite or aerial photos showing the seas choked with human-produced garbage? (There are some staged photos.) Or has the “Party of Science” once again created a crisis from whole cloth? And if so, we should be making this the core argument: Just as CO2 is plant food, plastics may be sea food.
Published in General
Moldy hay makes good mulch in the vegetable garden. I don’t have any, but I do have a lot of lawn clippings for that purpose, which are perhaps a better source of nitrogen anyway, depending on just how the hay got moldy.
I have forgotten more about geometry and math than you’ll ever will!
There’s nothing to be sorry about.
Wait a doggone minute! Doesn’t pool involve both beer, geometry and physics?
Mr. Turmel, I herebye challenge you to a best of five games of 8-ball at the next Rico MeetUp. I’d even be willing to place a wager or two on the outcome if gambling is legal in that State (of mind).
…or darts if pool ain’t your thing.
Yep, both.
We try to have mini-meetups in Atlanta every month. I’m not doing well on attendance lately, but this fall might have some good opportunities.
No, I’ve been known to hurt myself with sharp pointy things.
I believe it. Until I learned this new bit from OtLC, about the Bosch stuffing moldy hay into artillery shells and firing at our lads when the wind was drifting toward our trenches, I myself had had a good impression of moldy hay.
My error. It was over 40 years ago. Phosgene smells like fresh cut grass or hay.
Update: Interesting. Wikipedia’s Phosgene article says “fresh” but its Chemical Weapons in World War I article says “moldy.” Since I generally do better with my first answer on multiple choice tests, I’ll go with moldy. I’m not going to verify it empirically.
It’s nasty stuff. Caused most of the deaths from chemical weapons in WWI; it’s useful in chemistry because it’s really reactive and activates other chemicals. The same sorts of processes in the body are not good.
If black humor involving science is your cup of caffeine, theobromine, theophylline, theanine, and various polyphenols, you may find Derek Lowe’s blog In the Pipeline to your taste, especially Things I Won’t Work With and Things I’m Glad I Don’t Do.
That could be dangerous and confusing, then. Because fresh cut grass or hay has a very pleasant smell. Even better is fresh cut clover. Sweet!
I’ll bite. This is on purpose, right?
Oxford comma joke.
Am hoping to be in your neck of the woods in a few months.
Will work (kill snakes, rats, commies, and such) for room & board.
How much did you want to lose, specifically concerning our beer & geometry challenge?
Oh, good…Thinking about what a wonderful OP this might make, please and thank you, gentlemen?
Can we talk about my honorarium?
But, of course…Name it. :-)
Don’t want to hijack (another) thread. Sorry for any damage already done.
Roger that, sir…Sorry, too. Peace out.
Considering my lack of practice, just a token. Say, the beer consumed during the contest.
Fair warning: That could be more than “just a token.” just sayen’
Understood. But that might make it possible for me to win. (-: