#industrial regulation

[legalstudiesin1]

The M.C. Mehta v. Union of India (1986) Case: A Landmark Judgement for Environmental Protection in India

Table of Contents Introduction Background of the case Facts of the case Issues before the court Arguments Petitioner’s arguments: Respondent’s arguments: Judgement Relevant Provisions Conclusion M.C. Mehta v. Union of India (1986) is a landmark case in Indian environmental law. The case dealt with the issue of pollution in the city of Delhi caused by industries, particularly those…

[halogalopaghost]

Really extra tired of black and white thinking around COVID like can you guys activate your brain and understand that lockdown was NECESSARY to prevent massive economic and social breakdown that would have been induced by our entire population getting infected at once before we figured out how to treat it

Not to mention the whole "young people didn't need to worry about dying they shouldn't have been locked down what about their social lives!!11!!!"

Hi. Hello. I am a youth that was disabled by COVID how are you doing today. Oh, you're not disabled by COVID? Cool shut the fuck up forever.

[ponku-po]

This graphic shows the years 1982-2022 in shades of blue and 2024 in red. 2023 has been omitted to help give context for how fast things have changed. Unedited graphic below vvv

[sepiamestus]

Not to be dramatic but I think the fact that I have to be prepared to ration the meds i need to not kill myself because the pharmacy might just decide to stop giving them to me is kind of insane. Like thats insane right. Can anyone hear me

[empirearchives]

Napoleon’s decree in 1810: First regulation limiting pollution in French history

Source: Décret impérial du 15/10/1810

This comes after the creation of the Public Hygiene and Health Council of the City of Paris on 6 July 1802, and each department getting its own Health Council.

In addition, the ordinance of the Prefect of Police on 12 February 1806 concerning preliminary investigations then authorization necessary for factories, workshops and laboratories producing polluting or dangerous products.

According to Éloi Laurent (Towards Social-Ecological Well-Being):

“The first laws regulating French industrial establishments and in particular the imperial decree of October 15, 1810 was the first legislation in the world regulating pollution (it was extended by the law of December 19, 1917).”

Below is an English translation of the 1810 decree.

————-

Imperial decree of 10/15/1810 relating to factories and workshops that emit an unhealthy or inconvenient odor.

NAPOLEON, Emperor of the French, King of Italy, Protector of the Confederation of the Rhine, Mediator of the Swiss Confederation;

On the report of our Minister of the Interior;

Considering the complaints brought by various individuals against factories and workshops whose operation gives rise to unhealthy or inconvenient exhalations;

The report made on these establishments by the chemistry section of the physical and mathematical sciences class of the Institute;

Our Council of State heard;

We HAVE DECREED and DECREE the following:

Article 1 of the decree of 15 October 1810

As of the publication of this decree, factories and workshops which emit an unhealthy or inconvenient odor may not be formed without permission from the administrative authority: these establishments will be divided into three classes.

The first will include those who must be located away from private homes.

The second will include factories and workshops whose distance from homes is not strictly necessary, but which should only be set up once it is certain that the operations carried out there will not inconvenience or cause damage to neighboring homeowners.

In the third class will be establishments which can remain near homes without inconvenience, but must remain subject to surveillance by the police.

Article 2 of the decree of 15 October 1810

The necessary permission for the formation of factories and workshops included in the first class will be granted, with the following formalities, by a decree issued by our Council of State.

Permission for the operation of establishments in the second class will be granted by the prefects, on the advice of the sub-prefects.

Permissions for the operation of establishments in the last class will be issued by sub-prefects, who will first obtain the opinion of the mayors.

Article 3 of the decree of 15 October 1810

Permission for first class plants and factories will only be granted subject to the following formalities:

The request for authorization will be presented to the prefect, and posted, by his order, in all communes within a five kilometer radius.

Within this period, any individual will be allowed to present grounds of opposition.

The mayors of the communes will have the same right.

Article 4 of the decree of 15 October 1810

If there is opposition, the Prefecture Council will weigh in, with the exception of a decision by the Council of State.

Article 5 of the decree of 15 October 1810

If there is no opposition, permission will be granted, if necessary, on the advice of the prefect and the report of our Minister of the Interior.

Article 6 of the decree of 15 October 1810

If it concerns a soude[*] factory, or if the factory is to be established within the customs area, our Director of Customs will be consulted.

Article 7 of the decree of 15 October 1810

Authorization to form factories and workshops in the second class will only be granted after the following formalities have been completed.

The entrepreneur will first send his request to the sub-prefect of his arrondissement, who will forward it to the mayor of the commune in which the establishment is to be formed; by instructing him to carry out a de commodo et incommodo[**] enquiry. Once this is completed, the sub-prefect will issue a decree which he will forward to the prefect. The prefect will make the decision, unless any interested parties appeal to our Council of State.

If there is opposition, it will be decided by the Prefecture Council, except for an appeal to the Council of State.

Article 8 of the decree of 15 October 1810

Factories or establishments in the third class can only be formed with the permission of the Prefect of Police, in Paris, and the mayor in other towns.

If complaints arise against the decision taken by the Prefect of Police or the mayors, on a request to form a factory or workshop included in the third class, they will be judged by the Prefecture Council.

Article 9 of the decree of 15 October 1810

The local authority will indicate the place where the factories or workshops included in the first class may be established, and will specify its distance from private dwellings. Any individual who carries out construction in the vicinity of these factories and workshops after their establishment has been authorized will no longer be allowed to request their removal.

Article 10 of the decree of 15 October 1810

Establishments that emit an unhealthy or inconvenient odor will be divided into three classes in accordance with the table appended to this imperial decree. It will serve as a rule whenever it comes to deciding on requests for the formation of these establishments.

Article 11 of the decree of 15 October 1810

The provisions of this decree will not have retroactive effect: consequently, all establishments currently in operation will continue to operate freely, with the exception of any damages to which contractors may be liable in the event of damage to the property of their neighbors; such damages will be settled by the courts.

Article 12 of the decree of 15 October 1810

However, in the event of serious inconvenience for public health, culture, or the general interest, first-class factories and workshops causing such inconvenience may be suppressed by virtue of a decree issued by our Council of State, after having heard the local police, taken the opinion of the prefects and received the defense of the manufacturers.

Article 13 of the decree of 15 October 1810

Establishments maintained under article 11 will cease to enjoy this benefit as soon as they are transferred to another location, or if there is a six-month interruption in their work. In either case, they will fall into the category of establishments to be formed, and they will not be able to resume activity until they have obtained a new permit, if necessary.

Article 14 of the decree of 15 October 1810

Our Ministers of the Interior and the General Police are each responsible for the execution of the present decree, which will be published in the Bulletin of Laws.

NAPOLEON

By the Emperor:

Minister Secretary of State,

H. B. DUKE OF BASSANO

——————

My notes:

Attached to this decree is an appendix with

“nomenclature of factories, establishments and workshops emitting an unhealthy or inconvenient odor, which may not be set up without permission from the Administrative Authority.”

Some of the substances listed can be translated and some cannot. I recommend going to the link at the top of this post to check it out if interested.

[*] Soude definition

[**] De commodo et incommodo definition

Public Hygiene and Health Council of the City of Paris is a translation of Conseil d'hygiène publique et de salubrité de la Ville de Paris

An additional source on this legislation: Fondation Napoléon

[ar3s-r4t-qu33n]

How did my ass rawdog getting a tramp stamp as my first ever tattoo, two hours of face down, ass up, didn't drink anything, didn't eat anything and then stumbled my way to Tesco's to get me some sour Jolly Ranchers to get my blood sugar back up once I was done, and it barely even HURT, but I'm genuinely scared about getting my ears repierced for the third time 🧍

[deadrabbitjimmy]

A story in three parts:

[coochiequeens]

I've posted many times before about how surrogacy exploits vulnerable women and turns their babies into commodities. This article is about the impact of the fertility industry on the children themselves.

‘I slept with my half-sibling’: Woman’s horror story reflects loosely regulated nature of US fertility industry

By Rob Kuznia, Allison Gordon, Nelli Black and Kyung Lah, CNN | Photographs by Laura Oliverio, CNN

Published 10:00 AM EST, Wed February 14, 2024CNN — 

Victoria Hill never quite understood how she could be so different from her father – in looks and in temperament. The 39-year-old licensed clinical social worker from suburban Connecticut used to joke that perhaps she was the mailman’s child.

Her joke eventually became no laughing matter. Worried about a health issue, and puzzled because neither of her parents had suffered any of the symptoms, Hill purchased a DNA testing kit from 23andMe a few years ago and sent her DNA to the genomics company.

What should have been a routine quest to learn more about herself turned into a shocking revelation that she had many more siblings than just the brother she grew up with – the count now stands at 22. Some of them reached out to her and dropped more bombshells: Hill’s biological father was not the man she grew up with but a fertility doctor who had been helping her mother conceive using donated sperm. That doctor, Burton Caldwell, a sibling told her, had used his own sperm to inseminate her mother, allegedly without her consent.

But the most devastating revelation came this summer, when Hill found out that one of her newly discovered siblings had been her high school boyfriend – one she says she easily could have married.

“I was traumatized by this,” Hill told CNN in an exclusive interview. “Now I’m looking at pictures of people thinking, well, if he could be my sibling, anybody could be my sibling.”

Hill’s story appears to represent one of the most extreme cases to date of fertility fraud in which fertility doctors have misled their female patients and their families by secretly using their own sperm instead of that of a donor. It also illustrates how the huge groups of siblings made possible in part by a lack of regulation can lead to a worst-case scenario coming to pass: accidental incest.

In this sense, say advocates of new laws criminalizing fertility fraud, Hill’s story is historic.

“This was the first time where we’ve had a confirmed case of someone actually dating, someone being intimate with someone who was their half-sibling,” said Jody Madeira, a law professor at Indiana University and an expert on fertility fraud.

A CNN investigation into fertility fraud nationwide found that most states, including Connecticut, have no laws against it. Victims of this form of deception face long odds in getting any kind of recourse, and doctors who are accused of it have an enormous advantage in court, meaning they rarely face consequences and, in some cases, have continued practicing, according to documents and interviews with fertility experts, lawmakers and several people fathered by sperm donors.

CNN also found that Hill’s romantic relationship with her half-brother wasn’t the only case in which she or other people in her newly discovered sibling group interacted with someone in their community who turned out to be a sibling.

At a time when do-it-yourself DNA kits are turning donor-conceived children into online sleuths about their own origins – and when this subset of the American population has reached an estimated one million people – Hill’s situation is a sign of the times. She is part of a larger groundswell of donor-conceived people who in recent years have sought to expose practices in the fertility industry they say have caused them distress: huge sibling pods, unethical doctors, unreachable biological fathers, a lack of information about their biological family’s medical history.

The movement has been the main driver in getting about a dozen new state laws passed over the past four years. Still, the legal landscape is patchy, and the US fertility industry is often referred to by critics as the “Wild West” for its dearth of regulation relative to other western countries.

“Nail salons are more regulated than the fertility industry,” said Eve Wiley, who traced her origins to fertility fraud and is a prominent advocate for new laws.

Accountability in short supply

More than 30 doctors around the country have been caught or accused of covertly using their own sperm to impregnate their patients, CNN has confirmed; advocates say they know of at least 80.

Accountability for the deception has been in short supply. The near-absence of laws criminalizing the practice of fertility fraud until recently means no doctors have yet been criminally charged for the behavior. In 2019, Indiana became the second state, more than 20 years after California, to pass a statute making fertility fraud a felony.

Even in civil cases that have been settled out of court, the affected families have typically signed non-disclosure agreements, effectively shielding the doctors from public scrutiny.

Meanwhile, some doctors who have been found out were allowed to keep their medical licenses.

In Kentucky, retired fertility doctor Marvin YussmanMarvin Yussman admitted using his own sperm to inseminate about half a dozen patients who at the time were unaware that he was the donor. One of them filed a complaint to the state’s board of medical licensure when her daughter – who was born in 1976 – learned Yussman was the likely father after submitting her DNA to Ancestry.com.

“I feel betrayed that Dr. Yussman knowingly deceived me and my husband about the origin of the sperm he injected into my body,” the woman wrote in a letter to the board in 2019. “Although I realize Dr. Yussman did not break any laws as such, I certainly feel his actions were unconscionable and depraved.”

In his response to the medical board, Yussman said that during that era, fresh sperm was prioritized over frozen sperm, meaning donors had to arrive on a schedule.

“On very rare occasions when the donor did not show and no frozen specimen was available, I used my own sperm if I otherwise would have been an appropriate donor: appropriate blood type, race, physical characteristics,” Yussman wrote.

He added some of his biological children have “expressed gratitude for their existence” to him and even sent him photos of their own children. Yussman, who noted in his defense that he didn’t remember the woman who made the complaint, said his policy decades ago was to inform patients that physicians could be among the possible donors, though neither he nor the complainant could provide records that clarified the protocol.

The board declined to discipline him, citing insufficient evidence, according to case documents. Reached on the phone by CNN, Yussman declined to comment.

The story that really put fertility fraud on the national radar was that of Dr. Donald Cline, who fathered at least 90 children in Indiana. Cline’s case spurred lawmakers to pass legislation that outlawed fertility fraud but wasn’t retroactive, meaning he was never prosecuted for it. But he was convicted of obstruction of justice after lying to investigators in the state attorney general’s office who briefly looked into the case. Following that conviction in 2018, Cline surrendered his license. Cline’s lawyer did not respond to an email seeking comment.

Netflix followed up with a documentary about Cline in 2022 that inspired two members of Congress – Reps. Stephanie Bice, an Oklahoma Republican, and Mikie Sherrill, a New Jersey Democrat – to coauthor the first federal bill outlawing fertility fraud. If passed, the Protecting Families from Fertility Fraud Act would establish a new federal sexual-assault crime for knowingly misrepresenting the nature or source of DNA used in assisted reproductive procedures and other fertility treatments. The bill has found dozens of backers – 28 Republicans and 20 Democrats – amid a renewed effort to push it on Capitol Hill.

In this March 29, 2007 file photo, Dr. Donald Cline, a reproductive endocrinologist and fertility specialist, speaks at a news conference in Indianapolis.Kelly Wilkinson/The Indianapolis Star/AP/File

A group of advocates including Hill plans to go to DC to champion the bill on Wednesday.

To be sure, passage wouldn’t mean that any of the dozens of doctors who have already been accused of fertility fraud would go to prison, as the crime would have occurred before the law existed. But the measure would provide more pathways for civil litigation in such cases.

The push to better regulate the fertility industry isn’t without critics. It inspires unease – if not outright opposition – from some who fear any industry crackdown could have the unintended effect of making the formation of families less accessible to the LGBTQ community, which comprises an outsized share of the donor-recipient clientele.

“I think we should pause before creating additional criminal liability for people practicing reproductive medicine,” said Katherine L. Kraschel, assistant professor of law and health sciences at Northeastern University. “It gives me great pause … to say we want the government to try to step in and regulate what amounts to a reproductive choice.”

Some experts also point out that the advent of take-at-home DNA tests by companies such as 23andMe and Ancestry has pretty much stamped out fertility fraud in the modern era.

“To my knowledge, the majority of fertility fraud cases took place before 2000,” said Julia T. Woodward, a licensed clinical psychologist and associate professor in psychiatry and OBGYN in the Duke University Health System, in an email to CNN. “I think it is highly unlikely any person would engage in such practices today (it would be too easy to be exposed). So this part of the landscape has improved significantly.”

But activists in the donor-conceived community still want laws, in part to provide pathways for civil litigation, and also to send a message to any medical professional who might feel emboldened by the lack of accountability.

“Let’s say arguably that it doesn’t happen anymore,” said Laura High, a donor-conceived person and comedian who, with more than 600,000 followers on TikTok, has carved out something of a niche as a fertility-industry watchdog on social media. “Pass the f**king legislation just in case.

“Why not just out of the optics – just out of a, ‘Hey we’re going to stand by the victims.’ Let’s just do this. We know it’s never going to happen anymore, but let’s just make this illegal.”

Victoria Hill and her two children play with toys in the living room of her mother's house in Wethersfield. Laura Oliverio/CNN

‘You are my sister’

The lack of a law in Connecticut appears to have been a stumbling block for a pair of siblings seeking recourse for what they allege is a case of fertility fraud.

The half-siblings – a sister and brother – sued OBGYN Narendra Tohan of New Britain in 2021, saying he deceived their mothers when using his own sperm in the fertility treatments.

He has derailed the suit with a novel defense, arguing successfully that it amounts to a “wrongful life” case, which typically pertains to people born with severe life-limiting conditions and isn’t recognized in Connecticut. Tohan, who is still practicing, did not return an email or call to his office seeking comment. The siblings are appealing the ruling.

Madeira, the expert in fertility fraud from Indiana University, called the “wrongful life” decision absurd.

“In fertility fraud, no parent is saying that – no parent is saying I would have gotten an abortion,” she said. “Every parent is saying, ‘I love my child. I just wish that my wishes would have been respected and my doctor wouldn’t have used his sperm.’”

And then there is Dr. Burton Caldwell, who declined CNN’s request for an interview. One of his apparent biological children decided to sue him last year, even though she knows it will be an uphill battle without a fertility fraud law on the books. Janine Pierson and her mother, Doreen Pierson, accuse Caldwell – who stopped practicing in the early 2000s – of impregnating Doreen with his own sperm after having falsely told her that the donor would be a Yale medical student.

Half-sisters Alyssa Denniston, Victoria Hill and Janine Pierson pose for a portrait in Hartford, Connecticut. The three of them say they — and at least 20 others — all share a biological father, Dr. Burton Caldwell. Laura Oliverio/CNN

Janine Pierson, a social worker, thought she was an only child until she took a 23andMe test in the summer of 2022 and was floored to learn she had 19 siblings. (That number has since grown to 22.)

“It was like my entire life just came to this screeching halt,” she told CNN.

When she learned through one of her siblings that Caldwell was the likely father, Pierson said she immediately phoned her mom, who was stunned.

“We both just cried for a few minutes because it just felt like such a violation,” Pierson said.

Pierson said she decided to pursue the lawsuit even though she knows the lack of a fertility-fraud law in Connecticut could pose a challenge.

“It shouldn’t just be, you know, the Wild West where these doctors can just do whatever it is that they want,” she said.

Hill is watching her newly discovered half-sister’s case closely.

For her, the first surprise was learning the dad she grew up with wasn’t her biological father.  Although her mom had told her when Hill was younger that she’d sought help conceiving at a fertility clinic, she also said – falsely – that the doctor had used her dad’s sperm.

When Hill learned that the biological father appeared to be Caldwell a few years ago, she contacted lawyers to inquire about filing a suit, but was told she doesn’t have much of a case, so she didn’t pursue it. Now, she said, her statute of limitations is about to expire.

Last year, Hill was hit with another shattering revelation.

In May, she and her three closest friends were celebrating their 20-year high school reunion over dinner.

She was sharing the tale with them of how she learned about her biological father. Everyone was captivated, except one person – her former boyfriend. He looked like he was turning something over in his head. Then he noted that his parents, too, had sought help conceiving from a fertility clinic.

A couple months later, in July, as Hill was leaving for a summer vacation with her husband and two young children, the ex-boyfriend texted her a screenshot showing their 23andMe connection.

“You are my sister,” he said.

Fertility industry regulations in US lax relative to other countries

Hill’s high school boyfriend isn’t the only person she knew in the community who turned out to be a sibling.

“I have slept with my half-sibling,” Hill said. “I went to elementary school with another.”

What’s more, Hill said, back in the early 2000s, she lived across the street from a deli in Norwalk she often went to that was owned by twins who she later learned are her siblings.

Pierson, too, discovered recently that she’d crossed paths with a sibling long ago. She said she has a group photo from when she was a kid at summer camp that shows her on a stage and a boy in the audience. In 2022, she learned that he is her older half-brother.

“Within 20 feet of one another, and we have no idea,” she said.

In general, the bigger the sibling pool, the greater the risk of accidental incest – regardless of whether fertility fraud came into play.

“I don’t date people my age. I can’t do it,” said Jamie LeRose, a 23-year-old singer from New Jersey who has at least 150 siblings from a regular sperm donor, not a doctor. “I look at people my age and I’m automatically unattracted to them because I just, I go, that could be my sibling.”

With this in mind, activists also often advocate for laws that cap the number of siblings per donor – and that do away with donor anonymity. (Neither of these restrictions are included in the proposed federal bill.)

Other countries have instituted such regulations. Norway for instance limits the number of children to eight; Germany, to 15. Germany and the UK have banished anonymity at sperm banks.

The United States government has no such requirements – and the professional association that represents the fertility industry wants to keep it that way.

“What we have not done very much in this country is pass regulations about who gets to have children,” said Sean Tipton, the chief advocacy and policy officer for the American Society for Reproductive Medicine. “If you’re going to say you should only be able to have 50 children, that’s fine. But that should apply to everybody. It shouldn’t apply just to sperm donors.”

Regarding the concern among donor-conceived people about accidental incest, Tipton added, “if you want to be sure that before you have children with somebody, you can run DNA tests to make sure you’re not related.”

The ASRM, which often clashes with donor-conceived activists, has not taken a stance on the federal bill, Tipton told CNN.

The organization does offer nonbinding guidelines that address concerns about incest, recommending for instance no more than 25 births per donor in a population of 800,000.

Although most of the donor-conceived people who spoke with CNN for this story said they wanted to see legislative change, they also described an emotional aspect of the topic that no new law or regulation could begin to quell: a yearning to better understand one’s origins and identity. For Pierson, it was this desire, coupled with a mix of anger and curiosity, that compelled her to pay Caldwell an unannounced visit one day in 2022 – weeks after she’d learned he was most likely her biological father.

Confronting Caldwell

“I woke up that day and I had decided I didn’t want to call him,” Pierson said. “I didn’t want to give him the opportunity to say no. So I just drove directly to his house from work.”

Pierson, who lived in Cheshire at the time, describes an experience that was equal parts surreal and awkward.

After an hourlong trip, she pulled up to a large, stately house with a long driveway not far from the Connecticut coast. When she knocked on the door, nobody answered. But when a neighbor stopped by to drop something off, Caldwell opened the door. Seizing the moment, Pierson introduced herself. He let her in.

Laying eyes for the first time on her biological father, Pierson, 36, saw a man in his 80s with a slight tremor due to Parkinson’s, sporting a blue golf shirt.

He invited her inside and they sat at his dining room table.

Caldwell, she said, didn’t seem surprised – likely because Hill had made a similar visit a couple of years earlier.

“He was not in any way apologetic,” Pierson said, but she added that he did not deny using his own sperm when working in the 1980s at a New Haven clinic. She said Caldwell confessed that he “never gave it the thought that he should have … that there would be so many (children), and that it would have any kind of an impact on us.”

Pierson said Caldwell asked her questions that gave her pause.

“One thing that really has always bothered me is that he asked me how many grandchildren he had,” she said. “And he was very curious about my scholastic achievements and what I made of myself. … Like how intelligent I was, basically.”

She said their conversation ended abruptly when, looking uncomfortable, Caldwell stood up, which she took as a signal that the visit was over. Before parting ways, she asked if he would pose for a photo with her. He consented.

“I knew it would be the only time that I actually ever had that opportunity to take a picture,” she said. “Not that I wanted like a relationship with him in any way because – it was just like mixed of emotions of, you know, like, I despise you, but at the same time, I’m grateful to be here.”

Janine Pierson displays a selfie she took with Caldwell on her phone in Hartford, Connecticut. Pierson took the photo during a visit with Caldwell in 2022 and it is the only photograph she has with him. Laura Oliverio/CNN

[distractionactivated]

There's something very strange about how people online, usually Americans it feels like but I've seen Brits do it too, talk about natural fibres that makes me feel like we're living in alternative dimensions. In my world and the life I live, cotton is literally everywhere clothes are sold. I can walk into a nearby supermarket and get cotton clothes. Even the fast fashion retailers near me sell cotton. Most of what I can buy locally is either 100% cotton, or a blend that's largely cotton, with increasing amounts of viscose. Even linen, come summer I can easily find linen or linen blend shirts - a bit more expensive, sure, but in the same spaces.

My washing machine has three settings for cottons and one for wools. (And yes, I entrust my handknit items to whatever washing machine is available, and have always been fine.) If I go second hand shopping, it is easy to find cotton, though I will often also encounter viscose and not-infrequently other natural fibres. My iron has settings for cotton/linen, wool/silk, and synthetic. I grew up wearing cotton! It's familiar to me!

Like, it's really weird to me to treat all four 'standard' natural fibres (and their semi-natural cousin viscose/lyocell/tencel/rayon etc) in the same breath, as the same level of difficulty to find and live with and use and care for. I'm always kind of shocked that people seem to be living in the Plastic Dimension and I think yall in there should be mad about it, but it is also a really recent phenomenon and I think it's worth remembering that 'natural fibres' aren't a monolith and they may be more available and easier to handle than you think.

[thoughtportal]

poverty and capitalism

[eskawrites]

Don’t mind me just getting emotional about the WGA deal

[stolenoc]

Maushold is such a flagrant violation of league rules. "Oh yeah these four guys are family so they count as one guy. That's why I brought fully 24 fucking pokemon into this 6v6 battle

Like magnetons obviously share a brain, but maushold is legit just a family run business masquerading as one pokemon. They even have different roles; the one in front does physical attacks, and the one behind it does special.

They're different guys!!! This is such a scam

[reasonsforhope]

"How much safer has construction really gotten? Let’s take a look.

Construction used to be incredibly dangerous

By the end of the 19th century, what’s sometimes called the second industrial revolution had made US industry incredibly productive. But it had also made working conditions more dangerous...

One source estimates 25,000 total US workplace fatalities in 1908 (Aldrich 1997). Another 1913 estimate gave 23,000 deaths against 38 million workers. Per capita, this is about 61 deaths per 100,000 workers, roughly 17 times the rate of workplace fatalities we have today...

In a world of dangerous work, construction was one of the most dangerous industries of all. By the 1930s and early 1940s the occupational death rate for all US workers had fallen to around 36-37 per 100,000 workers. At the same time [in the 1930s and early 1940s], the death rate in construction was around 150-200 deaths per 100,000 workers, roughly five times as high... By comparison, the death rate of US troops in Afghanistan in 2010 was about 500 per 100,000 troops. By the mid-20th century, the only industry sector more dangerous than construction was mining, which had a death rate roughly 50% higher than construction.

We see something similar if we look at injuries. In 1958 the rate of disabling injuries in construction was 3 times as high as the manufacturing rate, and almost 5 times as high as the overall worker rate.

Increasing safety

Over the course of the 20th century, construction steadily got safer. 

Between 1940 and 2023, the occupational death rate in construction declined from 150-200 per 100,000 workers to 13-15 per 100,000 workers, or more than 90%. Source: US Statistical Abstract, FRED

For ironworkers, the death rate went from around 250-300 per 100,000 workers in the late 1940s to 27 per 100,000 today.

Tracking trends in construction injuries is harder, due to data consistency issues. A death is a death, but what sort of injury counts as “severe,” or “disabling,” or is even worth reporting is likely to change over time. [3] But we seem to see a similar trend there. Looking at BLS Occupational Injuries and Illnesses data, between the 1970s and 2020s the injury rate per 100 workers declined from 15 to 2.5.

Source of safety improvements

Improvements in US construction safety were due to a multitude of factors, and part of a much broader trend of improving workplace safety that took place over the 20th century.

The most significant early step was the passage of workers compensation laws, which compensated workers in the event of an injury, increasing the costs to employers if workers were injured (Aldrich 1997). Prior to workers comp laws, a worker or his family would have to sue his employer for damages and prove negligence in the event of an injury or death. Wisconsin passed the first state workers comp law in 1911, and by 1921 most states had workers compensation programs.

The subsequent rising costs of worker injuries and deaths caused employers to focus more on workplace safety. According to Mark Aldrich, historian and former OSHA economist, “Companies began to guard machines and power sources while machinery makers developed safer designs. Managers began to look for hidden dangers at work, and to require that workers wear hard hats and safety glasses.” Associations and trade journals for safety engineering, such as the American Society of Safety Professionals, began to appear...

In 1934, the Department of Labor established a Division of Labor Standards, which would later become the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), to “promote worker safety and health.” The 1935 National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), which legalized collective bargaining, allowed trade unions to advocate for worker safety.

Following WWII, the scale of government intervention in addressing social problems, including worker safety, dramatically increased.

In addition to OSHA and environmental protection laws, this era also saw the creation of the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH).

OSHA in particular dramatically changed the landscape of workplace safety, and is sometimes viewed as “the culmination of 60 or more years of effort towards a safe and hazard-free workplace.”"

-via Construction Physics (Substack newsletter by Brian Potter), 3/9/23

[digitalmagus]

‘Casual’ reminder about AI regulation.

If the WGA strike doesn’t succeed and get AI regulated for writing do you realize that the most unexpected thing will be affected, commercials and ads. That’s right imagine those 30s ads or 5 minute commercials and not paying a single actor/voice or writer or artist/filmer for them, probably not even a good marketer. Entirely AI written and voiced. Just imagine all that revenue and not a dime going to anyone but the top levels of the company, does that make you angry? Being forced to deal with this unless you pay premium and still no one is getting a dime but an already rich company? Does the consequential losses to all those related industries not give you pause? Support the strike and other measures.

[hoodiedeer]

i feel like if youre selling access to videos like tutorials or something the captions on your video should probably at least ATTEMPT to meet the standard quality, accuracy, formatting and availability requirements for tv/film captioning.

[lolo3hwriting]

The Squid Orange in Kelp Dome - What is it? How would it be grown?

The Squid Orange in Kelp Dome - What is it? How would it be grown?

Within The Art of Splatoon artbook, we see a lot of concept art for ideas and worldbuilding of the splatoon world. One of these concepts that I found the most interesting was the fruits and vegetables that would have been grown in Kelp Dome. They are all based on real life fruits/veggies with a few differences and usually squid themed. One of my favorites was the squid orange because of my personal interest in citrus production and because my family has tried their hand at growing citrus trees before. It got me wondering, what is it based on? And how would it theoretically grow in a greenhouse in kelp dome?

I should say that most of my knowledge of citrus production is based in America (since that’s where I study) so my writing may not reflect Japanese production styles. From what I read the general concepts are mostly the same, but intricacies like harvesting techniques may be different.

Design Origins

(A picture of a kumquat, image taken from here)

Although it is called an orange, the squid orange may be based on many different fruits in the citrus family (Rutaceae). The edible peel made me think of kumquats because they are commonly eaten fresh with the peel. However, while the peels are sweet like what was shown in the picture, the rind is often soft and rarely bitter. However, other citrus peels do fit the description of being bitter and hard, so the squid orange could be something of a hybrid between kumquats and other citrus species. 

The albedo portion reminds me of navel oranges because of the similar belly button, or navel structure. Just for clarification, the albedo is the white and somewhat papery/spongy portion of citrus fruits, considered part of the peel. Navel oranges have a primary and secondary ovary when they grow. The primary ovary gives rise to most of the fruit while the secondary ovary is reduced and becomes a bump that looks like a navel. This part is technically edible, but not preferred and is often thrown away with the rest of the peel. 

For the sake of simplicity, I’m just going to consider the squid orange under the sweet orange group (Citrus x sinensis) as opposed to other citrus crops.

The Orangery

(An orangery, from Kew Gardens in London. Image take from here)

Oranges and other citrus crops have a long history of cultivation indoors. Orangeries have existed since the 17th century were structures built specifically to grow citrus crops, usually in places where they wouldn’t naturally grow. Although orangeries can be considered distinct from other structures like greenhouses and conservatories, the terms are used interchangeably and as such I will be using the term greenhouse to describe orange production within indoor structures. Also, I will be talking about citrus production in general as opposed to specifically oranges because most of the cultivation practices are the same for many citrus species. 

Greenhouse Production

(A Valencia orange tree in a greenhouse. Image taken from here)

Citrus plants are subtropical to tropical fruits, and as such they do not tolerate the cold at all. Many fruits will be killed below freezing, and the entire tree will be killed at temperatures below 28F. However, there are some citrus varieties and rootstocks that are more cold hardy, but even then it's quite marginal. The minimum temperature to avoid damage is 50 F, but some greenhouses won’t go below 65 F. The average temperature for ideal citrus production is around 75 F, but most varieties can tolerate up to 90 F or even up to 100 F. 

Citrus trees can grow in most soils, but prefer sandy soils because they have better drainage. Most of them will not tolerate flooding and overly saturated water, so most greenhouses will do infrequent watering and soil/potting media with good drainage. Citrus require moderate humidity (around 50%), which shouldn’t be a problem in most greenhouses but they may need to supplement it with a humidifier if it is particularly dry.  Pests and diseases may become a problem in greenhouse production, especially if trees are packed close together. Proper monitoring and sanitation, like using insecticidal soap and removing infected plant material, will help ensure these problems stay to a minimum. 

The art book says that it would be eaten around June-November. While this aligns with harvesting for some cultivars of oranges, since the oranges are being grown inside a greenhouse their harvest time may be different. Oranges can be stored for about a month under the right conditions, so they could be realistically eaten any time of the year.

Just as a final note, most citrus trees in orchards grow up to 15 feet tall. Although I’m sure a big greenhouse like Kelp Dome can house a tree that tall, they may use dwarf varieties or prune the trees to make them more manageable. 

Other Concerns with the World of Splatoon 

Both inklings and octolings dissolve when submerged in water, so irrigation might be a concern. Although I mentioned beforehand that citrus trees are usually only watered sparingly, they do need to be watered eventually. I’d imagine greenhouse workers would need to wear some protective equipment when watering plants, or non-inkfish species would handle the watering. Also, I don’t know what pests would be around since a lot of the insects would be wiped out from the drastic climate change that takes place in the splatoon world, after the humans are wiped out.

Sources