I Have not used one, but I have a friend who has used a microwave kiln with success. This is a small specially made container that can be placed inside a regular microwave to fire low range clay ( cone 04 ) or to slump glass. Here is an article that gives a few pointers: https://www.soulceramics.com/pages/microwave-kiln-things-to-...
I have lived in South Florida, close to the Atlantic ocean for close to 40 years. In the time I have lived here, the insect populations have noticeably dropped. I have also queried relatives from the midwest. It used to be every summer your car would get covered with dead bugs, not so any more.
As for plastics in the ocean, every time I go to the beach I see a lot of macro plastics.
Thank you for your personal testimony. It's good to hear that in your experience it seems that the insect populations really have dropped. Of course, there may be other reasons - eg if there are highways where it used to be small roads, you would expect insects to stay clear of the area. Also, litter you can see, is not microplastics - you can't see the microplastics.... But they are there! Apparently.
One has to ask oneself, is it better to have a comforting story, that is likely leveraged for someone, somewhere's benefit, or to start with the honest position, which is that "I don't know". One can of course become more certain of whatever-it-is, but not without attempting some personal research. Or, one can just defer all personal responsibility and parrot whatever the consensus view is.
So then, obviously, you've been personally responsible and tried to replicate all of the studies that led to the conclusion that microplastic concentrations in reservoirs are increasing, as well as the ones that concluded that bioaccumulation of microplastics have deleterious effects on human health, and then got them peer reviewed, right? And you also decided that 'personal responsibility' is actually tacitly accepting that when petrochemical lobbyists write op-eds that deny these scientific consensuses and that you don't need to make any lifestyle adjustments and their clients don't need to make any changes to their supply chain, they're telling the truth. Truly heroic that you still have time to shitpost on HN after all that.
And demanding that everyone else adopt this policy of radical individualist solipsism, built on a deliberate misunderstanding of what scientific consensus is. The net effect of which is basically indistinguishable from being contrarian for its own sake because to do otherwise is actually quite discomforting.
Well to be honest, we don't truly 'know' anything, we can only make best guesses. My best guess based on what i've read from who i perceive as smart people is that microplastics are everywhere, not enough exercise makes you ill, looking in the sun kills your eyes and doing drugs is no good. Are you just can say "I don't know"
Yes, we don't truly know much (not nothing). We can, on occasion, drill into whatever is being claimed, look at the data and see if we agree with the conclusion.
If you personally sample test studies, comments or whatever you then get a handle on how many assumptions you feel are being made, whether you always/occasionally/never agree with what is stated.
I have always wanted a compressor to liquefy air. No real good reason, except I thought it would be fun to play with. Every time I go to look, they seem to pricey to justify. I wonder about the fact that Tesla was playing with this stuff back in the 1920s.
This is where it really helps when people who can affect state budgets can really help. I am guessing the Governor of Texas would like more Tech investment. This would be a great time to speak up and tell him that killing innocent people for political gain might keep some ethical people away. Sorry for my rant, but this kind of thing is so surreal it shakes me.
This doesn’t deserve down votes. Any person that has a higher chance of making a difference should take action. E.g. The President could make a phone call, etc. If Texas is lobbying then why not urge those people to speak up.
The entire business case for Texas is its lack of ethics and regulation, that's the whole reason startups want to invest to begin with. For every 'ethical' company that might balk at Texas' brutal policing and justice system, there's ten in line behind them wanting to know who to pay to rough up unionists and troublemakers.
And I promise you - earnestly, on a stack of Bibles if you want - that no amount of money can make Greg Abbott give a single rat fuck. This man's administration booby-trapped the Rio Grande with buoys outfitted with saw blades and razor wire then threatened civil war when the Biden administration complained about it. He once said the only reason Texas doesn't shoot anyone crossing the Mexican border on sight is that the federal government would consider it murder, and I strongly suspect he was making air quotes when he said "murder."
Texas harbors neither the governor nor the government you come to appealing to common decency or empathy, and Big Tech is mostly fine with that. This whole line of inquiry is a farce.
Ah yes, "NO U," an example of the high quality deeply intellectual riposte and political commentary that makes Hacker News so much better than the rest of the internet. My pants are quite literally aflame from the heat of that burn.
When I started at Siemens in Boca Raton, FL ( of course it was Broken Sound Blvd) There were a lot of older PBXs with 8" floppy drives. When they threw one out, they allowed me ( a co-op at the time) to take it home. I still have the floppy drive. I wish I had thought to get a few of the floppy disks for it.
I suggest you check out clayart mailing list:
https://lists.clayartforum.com/mailman/listinfo/clayart
You can get great feedback from some of the best potters in the world. Also the authors of one of the definitive books on Cone 6 glazes hang out there.
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