#Plasticizer Market

[streetmatt]

At the flea market.

By Matti Merilaid.

[kisiel-z-kosmosu]

I CANT BREAK FROM THE ADDS

they are everywhere !!!

I am not buing shoes hgghrhrhrh.

LINK to my stl files you can download and print for only 0.000 money This is my first 3d model that i actually printed :D I choosed pink cuz it's on my discord avatar for a long time now. Honestly glueing and painting were the hardest part, but that's my mistakes, next time i def buy acrylic paint i need instead of using whatever markers/paints are in house.

[reasonsforhope]

SYSTEM 002 IN 2022

“We captured our first plastic from the [Great Pacific Garbage Patch] in 2019 with [our ship] System 001/B, and since then we’ve been refining our steering strategy and deepening our understanding of plastic behavior in the oceans.

In 2021 we introduced System 002, and having now demonstrated that our system can consistently harvest significant amounts of plastic, we’re currently in transition to System 03 – our largest and most efficient cleanup system so far.

After demonstrating Proof of Technology the previous year, 2022 was all about cleaning. It was a successful year for The Ocean Cleanup in the GPGP:

System 002: 2022 in numbers

8 trips into the GPGP on cleaning operations

Over 150 days at sea (including transit)

153,000 kg of plastic removed from the GPGP in 2022

4 consecutive trips with catch totals over 25,000 kg

99.9% of catch comprising only plastic

The continuity of cleaning operations during this transition was essential in demonstrating that we are moving towards our efficiency targets and progressing our plan for scale-up. Significant milestones such as the extraction that brought us over the 100,000 kg barrier in the GPGP are documented and shared with our growing community of supporters worldwide, aiding the visibility of our mission and highlighting the urgency of the plastic pollution problem...

PRIORITIZING THE MARINE ENVIRONMENT

We are committed to maximizing our net positive impact on the marine environment. In that light, we place particular importance on one particular figure from our 2022 data: 99.9%. This is the amount of our total catch that consists of plastic, leaving a level of bycatch of 0.1%.

While this is not perfect and we are working hard to reduce it further, we believe this data shows that our mitigation measures and animal protection procedures are working effectively so far. We have also seen a reduction in bycatch rates during the year (see our January 2022 mid-term evaluation) as we implement new learnings and modifications.

Our environmental performance is a result of the measures we have taken since we began our ocean operations. Our systems move very slowly, meaning fish and marine animals can easily swim away, and our crew always has the option of triggering the emergency release to free any animal which has become trapped in the Retention Zone; although this results in the loss of any plastic which has been captured, we keep this option available for any serious encounters.

Upgrades to be implemented during the transition to System 03 include more underwater cameras to allow us to more closely monitor encounters with marine life, and increasing the number of openings throughout the system to allow animals to swim out. We will also be trialing various new deterrent and mitigation measures during 2023, working with our in-house and third-party marine biologists to ensure that we continue to reduce any type of bycatch to the minimal level possible.”

-via The Ocean Cleanup, 12/15/22

[bajaja-blast]

ik we’re all entitled to our own opinions, but ngl some of y’all are making me feel like a wanted criminal for liking Cracker Island, Song Machine & Humanz :/

[hordeof10000horses]

cat

cat

cat

car

car

car

2008 Toyota Corolla

Ford Ranger

Car

Car

[ultraviolet-divergence]

My PA was out for like ~4 or 5 days, and I’m finding I’m going to have to work back up! Unexpected.

[wordsandrobots]

Jotting down a half-formed thought.

Some years ago, I went to an XML conference in Oxford (that makes it sound fancy but off-season college food is universally terrible) and one of the speakers was a gentleman who worked for Wikipedia. And one of the things he said was that what he aspired to, with Wikipedia, was something akin to the ship's computer in Star Trek, where you could go, "Computer tell me about pottery on Bronze Age Cyprus," and it would return all the information you could want. An aspirational idea, to be sure, and not an aim I object to, but an example of how fiction shapes what we want out of technology.

A couple of weeks ago, my workplace held one of our semi-regular informal meetings about so-called 'AI' and the impact on our industry, which I generally avoid because I am an avowed Luddite when it comes to this latest round of 'wonderful new technologies' being promoted at break-neck pace by investment capital. My contributions to the meetings when I do go are generally of a wet-blanket kind and this time was little different even though we were talking about 'fears around AI', because a well-intentioned colleague started the discussion with Roko's Basilisk and the Paper-Clip Maximiser. Politely speaking, these are two rather implausible scenarios concerning the creation of general artificial intelligences, which do not have much bearing on the subject of large-language models and supposedly-assistive automation. I bit my tongue a lot, despite finding myself talking more than usual, mostly on account of thinking that focusing on these fantasies is a distracting waste of time when 'AI' tools are being deployed willy-nilly in efforts to devalue people's labour, to say nothing of exposing the tech sector's childish disregard for creativity as a part of human experience.

I fear the loss of skill and information at scale as a consequence of another capitalistic fool's gold-rush far more than I do hypothetical non-human intelligences we are not close to creating, and that would reside within extremely vulnerable infrastructure if we did.

Nevertheless, it got me thinking about Issac Asimov and the laws of robotics, his set of impossibly vague rules created to drive stories on the basis of finding all the ways they would go wrong.

A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.

A robot must obey the orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.

A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Laws.

(Please appreciate how many philosophical concepts an AI would have to understand in order for these to be practicable.)

And that got me thinking about 'robot' stories in general, all the way back to Karel Čapek and Rossum's Universal Robots, which is of course not about thinking machines at all but rather the proletariat, 'robota' meaning as it does 'forced labour'. Decades later, Luke Skywalker and his uncle were buying slaves made from steel and gold to work on their farm. 'Robot' displaced 'automaton' in popular language, and injected its original, class-structure meaning into unthinking clockwork. Fictional metal robots become beings capable of thought. Alien, yes, yet in some measure conscious and subject to all sorts of ethical considerations and imagined horrors. We've largely left behind Čapek's conception of human-like beings assembled from separately grown organs, the production-line person, but his tale of a genocidal revolution persists.

Discussion around automation and 'AI' seems to me to be soaked in a morbid desire for a 'safe' intelligent servant. Science fiction has shaped how we hold those discussions, naturally, directing our concerns at 'robot uprisings' and being 'surpassed' in some way (or all ways). It goes without saying that a great deal of the fiction functions as metaphor. To pick an example I've just finished rereading, Ann Leckie's Ancillary books are as much commentary on real-world imperial practices as they are an exploration of personhood and how general AI might be implemented per se. Unavoidably so. Will we ever extract 'robot' from Čapek's work and the industrial models that shaped his writing?

Perhaps not, but this isn't really the question I'm concerned with here. No, what I'm grappling with is the appeal of having an intelligence serve our whims. From the simple humanisation of tools, both in the sense of 'prompts' and 'hints' taking a conversational tone, to the desire to supplant actual humans with pliable alternatives that has Elon Musk wheeling out a bloke in a leotard like he's restaging The Five Doctors, it's a thread that has become wrapped around how we engage with . . . well, with technology. With constructions meant to assist us, that more often than not cannot replace us (yet) and require us to assist them.

In reality, the ethical questions arising are blunt and ugly. Whose work do we value? By what criteria does society judge who it supports and who it discards? How is remote technology used to circumvent natural, negative human responses to violence? Did those companies pay for that data, and do we want them to be able to buy it at all?

Still the fantasy persists. "Computer, answer my question." "Robot, do my chores." "AI, you won't rise up and kill me, will you?"

This is not an original observation, to be sure. I am inclined to seek out analyses of these trends in discussion around new tech, although I fear it would mean going back to Frankenstein and working forward. It just struck me, forcibly, that the metaphors for labour discontent and slave uprisings have imposed their own logic on both the fears and the hype around 'AI', be it the real thing or the glorified spell-checkers used to pretend art can happen at the touch of a button.

I have nothing against automation as a tool for making life easier, just as I see no possibility of that promise being fulfilled while capitalistic priorities rule the world. We have to pivot to centring human good first, and that's the core of the struggle.

But I'm also beginning to think we need to seriously ask why we want our tools to be glorified. Why we would want, not just speech recognition as an assistive feature for those who can't type, but specifically something that can speak to us in Majel Barrett's voice and hold an intelligent conversation. Why we are sold objects intended to play-act being 'part of the family' and why those selling them consider it desirable.

I don't suppose the answer will be less depressing than 'owning people is the highest mark of prestige in the societies producing these discussions. Even so, it's probably worth unpicking.

[princehendir]

I'm gonna be honest with you guys, I don't think it's useful to conflate "available for other reasons, but also inadvertently ends up benefiting some disabled people" with "is an accessibility feature". I think that intention actually ends up being kinda relevant here.

[trashogram]

🖤

[subaerial-dweller]

OK it's been 2 seconds since the last one I'm still going, writing isn't working drawing is unreliable so here are my thoughts/headcanons/ideas about Generation Loss Episode 2!

PART TWO: AD BREAKS

So it's not a character I want to talk about but it's related to a character we all know and love: Squiggles. You know through the episodes where he just pops up and gives little comments about what's going on? I was watching Episode 2 yesterday, and one of Squiggle's little things made me go "oh this is certainly an Idea".

"If you're on mobile, buy a computer! Ha ha."

So I was thinking, what if some of the other comments led into little sponsored ad breaks, or TSE merch? For The World watching, I understand it's not us (because we live in a world where Ranboo is aLive and well *sobs*), but the world of Genloss, what if they got ads? They're all sitting down together watching TV with their dinners on their laps, and then Squiggles comes dancing across the screen just before the puzzle is completed (for context, this was when the audience was solving a puzzle to get GL!Niki and GL!Sneeg through the pipe maze). And everyone's enthralled, they're like oh wow they've almost made it, and Squiggles comes and goes "If you're on mobile, buy a computer! *brand name* laptops available now for 10% off if you call today, at 1800-RANBOO, I repeat, 1800-RANBOO! Now right back to Generation Loss, the Social Experiments!"

(I tried to get the 1800 number to be GENLOSS but it has too many letters)

If I could animate, and I really would like to learn just so I can do this, I would make Squiggles do his little thing, and advertise his products. Like when GL!Ranboo is cutting open GL!Slime, he goes "so that's why he's called Slimecicle!" And then, what if he launches into a toy ad targeted at kids for the Operation set of Slimecicle, as pictured in Generation Loss, for only $49.99! Like they have all these little ads, and they're so annoying for the viewer except all of them are so enthralling, so you have houses of Genloss merchandise and sponsored materials, little figurines of all the characters (Slimecicle's comes in an operating bed, and you can get the merry-go-round for an additional 20 bucks). And all of the boxes have Squiggles there in the corner, smiling and saying something either directly related to the product, or a very generic Showfall Media merch tagline.

It's sick and twisted, because you can buy all these things that are so messed up. I'm only thinking about Episode 2 right now, so I won't even go into Episode 3. But like, you can get Frank, and the figurine of Sneeg has a removable hat, and for the clothes room set you get all these customisable options with wigs and shoes and everything. You can get the revolving door that killed GL!Ethan, and it comes with fake blood! Slime kits that turn red if you download a certain mobile app, for an additional cost.

Once again, this post has evolved from "sponsorship and merch" to "fucked up action figures", but there .you go. I just really like the idea of having brightly coloured lumps of plastic designed for kids and megafans with too much money, but it's about the most fucked up things aspects of the show. But it's all haha funny and haha children, and it's a plague. It's everywhere. Target, Toyworld, supermarkets. Like Barbie or Hotwheels, it's one of the big brands. You can get Lego sets where you get two versions of Ranboo's mask. Screaming face Charlie, and happy normal "duude" Slimecicle. It's all plastic, it's all fake as fuck, but the kids love it, the adults love it, it's so marketable and they have Christmas editions, Halloween editions, and maybe ONE edition for some other holiday that doesn't have strictly Christian roots, for the media's sake. "Showfall Media Displays Diversity In Popular New Doll". Just so no one can say they're not inclusive.

[sproutbell]

wish people would understand that white veganism is bad yes but the problem with white veganism is not the vegan part. it's an intersectionality and representation problem. class, race, and nationality. there are many, many nonwhite and nonwestern cultures that are traditionally plant based. the association of whiteness with veganism is a recent development. eating meat on a daily basis is a western invention of the last century. most vegans are not vegan because "they just love animals so much". they are vegan because of the rights of people who work in slaughterhouses- who in the us and uk are overwhelming staffed by immigrants. the people who work in these slaughterhouses also develop ptsd from killing so many animals or are literally physically maimed. many of them are undocumented and have no workers rights. meat packing plants are infamous for child labor. the jobs with the highest suicide rate in the country include people who work in farming and animal agriculture. the ecological effect of the animal agriculture industry disproportionately affects people who live in the global south. there's this weird narrative that because of peta, veganism is bad, or for rich people, or for white people, and that is just not true. statistically, black people are more likely to become vegan than white people. that's just... a fact! if you cannot eat vegan for health reasons, or because you live in a food desert without access to things like vegetables, that's fine! also, no one expects you to quit meat and dairy cold turkey! it's an impossible task. no one is asking you to do that. but if you are capable of making a choice or an effort, you have to understand that you are making that choice and that choice has consequences. we know that boycotting works, we know fast fashion is bad because of the environmental impact and working conditions that one again overwhelming affect poor working class people in nonwestern countries, but when it comes to the meat and dairy industry suddenly it's totally out of our hands? we have no choice? i'm not even vegan. i still eat eggs and seafood occasionally. but i'm at least trying. i encourage you all to try to consume less meat. also- people who hunt their food are awesome. people who use every part of an animal and respect their sacrifice are awesome. i did not stop eating meat because cows are cute or whatever. i stopped eating meat because i found out about the working conditions of slaughterhouses. also before anyone says "what about soy what about soy production for VEGANS??" 1) vegans are not the only people who eat soy? and 2) 70% of all soy produced is used to feed... u guess it.... livestock! i recommend this article if you're interested in someone smarter than me talking about white veganism. there are infinite resources available online discussing the inhumane things that go on in slaughterhouses to both human beings and animals. there are endless resources detailing the environmental toll of factory farming. if you consider yourself a humanitarian or an environmentalist PLEASE please please, do your best to limit your meat and dairy consumption.

[imthebeast]

no fucking way the vape I just bought fell off my pockets absolutely no fucking way shape or form bro NO

[motsimages]

I am preparing an activity for today related to textile history and I wanted to check the good things cotton has as opposed to other fabrics like linen, hemp or wool in case someone asks. And while even wikipedia articles will list all the wonders of these three fabrics, I struggle to find the advantages of cotton.

It's not that cotton is not a good material, but from this research, what cotton has that others don't is good marketing (and well, 19th century slavery as a great support to make all the other textile industries go down).

They rarely list its flexibility, which would be the main difference with linen, for instance, and many of the good things cotton has, linen and hemp also have (but often better). And cotton is not easier to grow, it's quite delicate, only grows in certain weather and requires quite a lot of pesticides (which hemp, for instance, does not, given that it's basically marihuana).

Generally, my conclusion is that these 4 materials are very similar in a lot of ways, with wool being the most distinct of them all (but then, it comes from an animal and not a plant). It's likely there are a lot of interests into maintaining cotton as the main one for some reason that is not "it's hypoalergenic" (so is wool, who knew).

[istherewifiinhell]

[Bolts upright] the weird english person vocab quirk i was thinking of is wally world. Do you want to go to wally world. WALL MART.

[panicbones]

maybe its cuz im on tumblr and not twit which is a hot bed for just petty drama and discourse but i remember remarking that hey revice and geats sure did have a ridiculous amount of drama for their season and some1 argued that thats just what toku fandom is like. but then i havent heard a peep of drama towards gotchard. so hm! maybe it was related to the shows!

[tomatoluvr69]

In a situation that requires me to make a purchase at walmart I’m literally quaking wish me luck…