I guess you could run lab experiments to see if mice in a plastic free environment live longer and happier than ones chewing plastic things all day long. At least, that should reveal any acute symptoms. Who knows what happens after decades of exposure. Studying those types of questions is very difficult, but in recent years there have been more and more studies indicating potential carcinogenic effects in various chemicals.

As far as I now, humans have been exposed to wood particles for thousands of years, and they could have similar effects as far as the physical particles are concerned. Obviously they leach off very different compounds, so that part of the net effect won’t be comparable at all. If the presence of tiny particles in the bloodsream or elsewhere in the body is harmful, we would probably already know about it. What if the effect could also be so subtle, that you won’t notice anything out of the ordinary in a society where people rarely live past their 40s.

One of the lakes had normal units, but everything else was in fantasy units.

I’ve only seen that if a fish eats massive amounts of plastic chunks, it’s going to end badly. I’ve also seen lots of evidence, that tiny plastic particles can be found literally everywhere. You could name any place, look at it under a microscope, and find microplastics in there.

The long term effect of microplastics is still very unclear to me. If it were as deadly as mercury or lead, we should have noticed something already, but we haven’t, so I guess we can rule that out. All the other kinds of effects are still on the table though.

It was a pretty large empire, so I can imagine it must have been useful for everyone to know what’s official and what’s not. Besides, it also makes Rome stand out from other organizations who didn’t care about consistency.

Thanks for the explanation. That clarifies things.

But in the picture it was described as a gut punch! What’s going on here?

IMO and IMHO acronyms exist for a reason. Occasionally, it’s important to make that distinction extra clear. Instead of typing out “In My, Not Particularly Humble, But Always Objectively Correct And Entirely Justified Opinion” you could just go with IMNPHBAOCAEJO instead. So handy.

I’ve never seen that thing before, but I immediately thought: “That thing looks oddly roman, now doesn’t it.” Then, I read the headline, and concluded that Romans knew about consistent branding.

I’m out of the loop, so what’s the big deal with this? What kind of promise does that break?

If he wants to keep American companies in American hands, isn’t this exactly the kind of thing he should be doing? Still probably not the smartest thing to do but, isn’t this kind of period of isolationism exactly what he has promised.

On the other hand, I recall hearing something about him protecting American jobs, but these two goals are in conflict here. Either you fund your industry yourself or accept foreign investments. If the former isn’t possible, then the latter remains the obvious choice.

Keep an eye on the interest rate of some relevant central banks. When interests are low, investors have money to spare, and they can even make large rocks float. Once inflation gets out of hand, interest rates respond accordingly, suddenly investors disappear, and rocks begin to sink. That’s exactly when the CEO of SinkingFast Inc. has to make some quick decisions about strategic enshittification.

The real unpopular opinion is in the comments.

There is no end. Kinda essential part of the definition of infinity.

Does a real-life pimp dress like the stereotypical pimp you see in the movies? You know, leopard jacket, wide brimmed hat, cane etc.

So, apparently there are people who can’t get laid, even if they are willing to pay for it. That should be a proper wakeup call for those creeps. If get a no from multiple prostitutes, you know you have some serious problems.

Sure, no problem. That’s only going to take an infinite amount of time, so we’re all good.

Fair enough, as long as it’s a countably infinite amount of chocolate.

Infinite calendarception… but do you get any chocolate in this setup?

Yeah, that Christian stuff can get in the way at times.

Destin also made a nice video about the same topic. These thighs are pretty amazing.

Our current “forcefields” are super picky. They refuse to work with anything other than that one thing they were specifically designed for and the list of options is very short.

If you want to deflect things with a magnetic or electric charge, we already have the right kind of “forcefield” for that. However, it’s not exactly the kind of shell you put around a space ship to keep it protected, so even in this limited sense we still have a long way to go. The magnetic field of the Earth directs some of the incoming particles to the poles, which isn’t really ideal if your goal is to deflect all incoming fire.

If you want to protect the ship/planet from physical projectiles, we have no forcefields at all. That sort of stuff is just pure sci-fi at the moment.