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People are lazy. Never underestimate how lazy they are, and what they will pay to have mundane tasks done for them. This is how you get rich in today's society.
Well, yes. I am still floored that Doordash and the like remain in business as well. I've had groceries delivered to my home exactly twice in my life. Both times I was recuperating from surgery or hospitalization for a traumatic injury.
2 weeks to flatten the curve really had a dramatic and lasting effect on the domestic retail and service economies.
CDC statistics reveal that male construction workers in the US have a suicide rate 75% higher than the general population, with 53 suicides per 100,000 workers and 6,000 deaths in 2022.
"So what are you going to build with? And it's really expensive to take already-built habitats."
He says the concept that most researchers are looking at is called ISRU - In-Situ Resource Utilisation - "which means you build with what you have there, and what you have there is going to be water, maybe, and regolith (lunar dust)".
As it turns out, these meagre resources are more than enough to feed some fungal species, which can then be fashioned into surprisingly tough building materials which are stronger than concrete and come with an array of additional benefits.
...In Namibia, for example, redhouse runs a programme that uses mycomaterial to build housing for climate refugees while simultaneously growing edible mushrooms to address food scarcity issues...
On Earth, Maurer's team makes myco "bricks" by simply feeding organic matter from plants or construction waste to various fungal species. The resultant material is then heated and compacted into blocks that are more resilient than concrete and exponentially better for the environment.
"The strongness doesn't really matter on the moon or Mars because gravity is much less and the building forces are going to be outwards because you're in a pressurised vessel," explains Maurer. "Instead of gravity pushing down on your building, you have air pushing out, so you don't need a good material for compressive strength, but for tensile strength that can hold that pressure." In other words, in space, buildings don't fall down, but out.
The plan is to start with an inflatable mould in which mycomaterial is grown using a combination of Earth-sourced fungal spores and algae, which will feed off the water and regolith already on the moon.
As the research got off the ground, more essential benefits were soon discovered. As it turns out, the mycomaterial is also incredibly good for insulation from cold as well as protection from micrometeorites and deadly radiation.
"Radiation is the show-stopper for any manned missions," says Maurer. "That's why we haven't been back since the '70s - because it's too dangerous to send people. We were pretty cavalier back in those days because we wanted to beat the Soviets to the moon, but astronauts were in great danger the entire time." A single blast of solar wind, he explains, would have almost certainly resulted in cancer.
The melanin in mushrooms, however, has proven to be highly effective at shielding cells and DNA from harmful electromagnetic radiation, while the mycomaterial also slows and scatters particle radiation via a mechanism that is still yet to be determined. Whatever the cause, Maurer says that researchers at NASA have found that they can block more than 99 percent of radiation with just 8cm (3 inches) of material - a dramatic improvement over regolith, which takes 3 metres (10 feet) to provide the same level of protection.
WTF is a climate refugee? I find it amusing that someone has to insert something about the climate in a discourse about how they will be able to provide shelter cheaply on another planet. That basically has no climate to speak of.
For hundreds of years the Indians on the Great Plains were experts at predicting upcoming weather patterns. The modern Farmers Almanac picked up on some of that and use some of these methods to do their predictions.
One year not long ago on the 9th day of the 9th moon a chief on the great plains woke up at sunrise and knew it was time to determine what kind of winter was on the way.
He sniffed the air, scratched the dirt, and licked some bark but there was nothing there, just nothing.
He gave it 2 days and again sniffed the air, scratched the dirt, and licked some bark but there was nothing there, just nothing.
To be safe he sent a party out to start gathering wood.
A few days later he once again sniffed the air, scratched the dirt, and licked some bark but again there was nothing there, just nothing.
So, he did what any modern-day chief would do and called the National Weather Service and asked what kind of winter was expected on the Great Plains.
Oh, it's going to be a cold one they said.
The next day he gathered his tribe and said go gather more wood.
A week later nothing was happening, so he sniffed the air, scratched the dirt, and licked some bark but still there was nothing there, just nothing.
He called the Weather Service again and asked what kind of winter was on the way.
Oh, it's going to be a horrible winter, very cold, could break records they told him.
Curious he asked: How do you know this?
They said: Satellite images are picking up images of people on the great plains gathering wood.
Someone displaced from their home by drought, flooding, etc. Envision the dust bowl era in the American Great Plains region of the 1930s.
That would be a weather refugee or a seasonal refugee. Climate would be if the dust bowl lasted hundreds of years or more (modern "science" reduced that number to 30 years to fit their narratives). But don't tell anyone.
That would be a weather refugee or a seasonal refugee. Climate would be if the dust bowl lasted hundreds of years or more (modern "science" reduced that number to 30 years to fit their narratives). But don't tell anyone.
In industrializing 19th-century cities like London and New York, horses played a key (and evolving) role in both transportation and pollution.
By the 1860s, horsecars (horse-drawn streetcars on rails) had gained traction against more limited horse-drawn carriages.
Horsecars offered a smoother ride for passengers and required less work for horses, allowing two animals to pull a car with up to 20 people. Operating in two-horse, four-hour shifts, eight animals were needed per vehicle. Their popularity led to ever more manure littering city streets — a problem felt by cities around the world.
Manure Takes Manhattan
By the 1870s, New Yorkers were taking over 100 million horsecar trips per year and by 1880 there were at least 150,000 horses in the city. Some of these provided transportation for people while others served to move freight from trains into and around the growing metropolis. At a rate of 22 pounds per horse per day, equine manure added up to millions of pounds each day and over a 100,000 tons per year (not to mention around 10 million gallons of urine).
Per one observer at the time, the streets were “literally carpeted with a warm, brown matting . . . smelling to heaven.” So-called “crossing sweepers” would offer their services to pedestrians, clearing out paths for walking, but when it rained, the streets turned to muck. And when it was dry, wind whipped up the manure dust and choked the citizenry.
For a time, the economics of excrement as fertilizer helped keep streets clean, but as more supply stacked up the incentive to clear it started to dwindle and smelly piles began to build up in empty lots.
Horse refuse and the remains of dead horses littered the streets and provided a breeding ground for (by some estimates) billions of flies a day across the nation. These, in turn, spread diseases, elevating the problem from a nuisance to a public health crisis.
Pressures were felt outside of the city as well. Each horse needed over three tons of oats and hay per year, in turn requiring tens of millions of acres of rural land for their food supply.
Horses in cities were not a new problem. In ancient Rome, Julius Caesar banned horse-drawn carriages due to gridlock and pollution. In New York City, though, that seemed implausible — horses were just too essential for urban transportation and shipping.
Cleaning Up the Big Crapple
In the late 1800s, the city hired drainage engineer George E. Waring Jr., who had worked on Central Park, to start cleaning things up. He pushed for new laws forcing owners to stable horses overnight (instead of leaving them in the streets) and mobilized crews to gather manure and horse corpses to be sold for fertilizer and glue, respectively. What they couldn’t sell was transported and dumped instead.
And by the early 1900s, other factors were in motion — electric streetcars and internal combustion vehicles were gaining traction. Rising land pricing (for stables and farmland) coupled with higher food costs increasingly made these new options more economical, too.
But the rise of private cars was the final nail in the horse-drawn coffin. By 1912, cars outnumbered horses on the streets of NYC and by 1917 the last horsecar was put out of commission and the issue of horse droppings slowly disappeared into history.
Some cite this paradigm shift as an example of how technology will always provide new ways forward for seemingly intractable problems. But that understanding overlooks the fact that cleanup and cars were not truly solutions to the fundamental issue of urban pollution — they simply shifted the disposition and type of dangerous waste.
This is called a tangential tool holder. It's to hold the cutter nearly tangent to the stock when cutting on a lathe. Design copied from pictures I saw on the web.
Driving in colder climates where snow, slush, and ice are a constant reality during the winter months can prove treacherous without the right equipment. GM thought it had a magical solution to vexing problem of insufficient traction using regular street tires in winter wonderlands: Liquid Tire Chain. Introduced to the market in 1969 as option V75, shoppers could get the Liquid Tire Chain Traction Dispenser on pretty much the full Chevrolet model lineup.
The way the Liquid Tire Chain Traction Dispenser system worked was actually pretty advanced for the time. The driver could activate a control on the instrument panel, which would turn on two aerosol canisters, each mounted over the rear tires. Contained in those canisters was a polymer developed in the wonders of the space age, designed to make the tire tread pliable enough to grip the cold, slippery surface again.
You might be wondering why people back then didn’t just buy snow tires, which today is the sensible thing. Well, if you lived back then you already know snow tires weren’t all that desirable, or so we’ve been told, and that meant a lot of people skipped them. GM though the Liquid Tire Chain would appeal to people as a viable alternative.
If you don’t know, the key to modern winter tires is the compound they’re made of. Contrary to what most might believe, winter tires are softer than all-season or summer tires, which is why driving with them in warmer temperatures means they’ll wear much faster. They also don’t freeze easily, so the tires stay nice and pliable even when water on the road hardens, which in turn means they still grip instead of slipping uselessly. Snow tires also have different tread patterns, extra siping, and other designs to address the challenges of driving in the wintertime.
It’s not entirely clear whether GM’s Liquid Tire Chain solvent actually improved the grip of regular tires in winter conditions. Some claim it was a marvelous invention, but others say it was just snake oil. You should know only about 2,600 people ordered option V75 for the 1969 Chevrolet model year. Not shockingly, it was those buying full-size models who paid extra for the luxury.
When the 1970 model year debuted, the Liquid Tire Chain Traction Dispenser was nowhere to be found on the options list. Nobody seems to know why the technology was dropped, but it was mostly forgotten. Had GM forged ahead with the concept, would we have banished road salt entirely, saving untold numbers of car chassis and rocker panels? We’ll never know.
Today, people who must deal with snow, slush, and ice on the road might simply depend on government snow plows which spread salt or maybe something else gritty like sand on the road. Others rely on four-wheel or all-wheel drive, but that doesn’t really address traction. Many modern cars have traction control onboard, and while that does help a little, nothing really substitutes for some snow tires, unless you happen to have a magic solvent to spray on your other tires.
This is called a tangential tool holder. It's to hold the cutter nearly tangent to the stock when cutting on a lathe. Design copied from pictures I saw on the web.
Chemically it is a polymer (Styrene butadiene latex) dissolved in a solvent (primarily methanol). Instructions are to apply while rotating the tires (best if tires were a little warm from spinning or driving), let stand a few minutes (to evaporate the solvent and adhere the polymer) and then slowly drive away. Worked fairly well if conditions were right, best on ice. Was not as good as studded snow tires (which were introduced about the same time).
On April 21st, 1859, an incredible thing happened in London and thousands of people came out to celebrate it. Women wore their finest clothing. Men were in suits and top hats, and children clamored to get a glimpse…of the very first public drinking fountain.
Image from the London Illustrated News
The fountain was used by thousands of people a day. And to understand its mass appeal, you have to understand that city life in London was a nightmare for the poorer classes in the 19th century, and a big part of that nightmare was the drinking water. Most people did not have access to water in their homes. Instead, many got their water from the nasty cesspool known as The River Thames. The Thames was essentially a common sewer — full of feces and chemicals.
Faraday giving his card to Father Thames. via Wellcome Library, London.
Those that did not get their water directly from the Thames often got it from wells that were dirty and contaminated with disease.
Cholera was rampant. Outbreaks of the disease in 1847 and 1854 killed 58,000 people in London, and the accepted theory at the time was that diseases, including Cholera, were spread through bad-smelling air. But some people were skeptical of this, including a scientist named John Snow.
John Snow
Snow thought that Cholera might be spread through drinking-water. He created a map of Cholera sufferers and tied a particularly brutal outbreak to one water well. He then went and removed the pump handle at that well so that people couldn’t access the water, and the epidemic in that neighborhood ended. Snow subsequently became known as the father of modern epidemiology.
Snow’s Cholera map. Black bars indicated cases of the disease.
Shortly after Snow’s discovery, The Metropolitan Free Drinking Fountain and Cattle Trough Association was formed. By 1879, The Association, which was made up of wealthy, mostly Christian philanthropists, had built almost 800 drinking fountains in London. The group had a couple different agendas in building drinking fountains: clean, safe drinking water for poor people and temperance.
Gin palace, London.The temperance movement — a social movement that opposed the consumption of alcohol — was an early supporter of this new beverage called “water.” There was a terrible epidemic of alcoholism at the time, both in London and in the United States. Alcoholism was destroying families, but until there was clean, safe drinking water, the temperance movement didn’t have an alternative to offer people in place of booze. Coffee and tea were expense, milk was for babies and many people drank alcoholic beverages simply by default.
Temperance fountains were constructed at churches and in public parks, and often, right outside the local pub. The architectural style of these fountains varied greatly depending on who commissioned them, but they weren’t like the drinking fountains you grew up with. They were generally made of stone or granite and some were elaborate structures — not just drinking fountains, but symbols of philanthropy. In the late 1800s and early 1900s, temperance fountains were constructed all over London and in the United States.
While drinking fountains were a huge step forward for public health, their design still posed problems. For one thing, early fountains were generally used via a common cup. It was actually a pretty big battle to get rid of the common cup. Public health officials knew it was spreading disease, but people weren’t in the habit of carrying their own cup. Passed in 1912, the first federal regulation on drinking water in the United States banned the common cup at public fountains.
Drinking fountain with common cup.
Meanwhile, a drinking fountain was designed didn’t require a cup. It was similar to the drinking fountains we use now, the difference being that the water came out in a vertical jet that shot straight up (the drinker’s backwash fell straight back down onto the spout.) Furthermore, many drinkers were found placing their lips directly on the spout, again creating a health hazard.
A so-called Sanitary Drinking Fountain.
Finally, the drinking fountain we all know today was developed — one that created an arced stream and included a guard to keep people from placing their lips directly on the spout.
The design that stuck. With arced jet and spout guard.
For a lot of Americans, the public drinking fountain conjures an image that has nothing to do with the arced jet, or the common cup, or with temperance — it’s an image of segregation. All over the Jim Crow era South, drinking fountains and public pools were separated. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 ended segregated public facilities including drinking fountains, although a handful hung on in the south for a few more years.
Segregated water fountains via the Levine Museum of the New South
Even with that darkest period of the drinking fountain’s history over, it’s never really been as beloved as it was when they opened the first one in London in 1859. Recently public drinking fountains have met their most formidable opponent: bottled water.
That was pretty interesting. Living in modern America having safe drinking water isn’t usually a front-of-mind issue.
Remember some years ago when Hakan did a TV show about bringing water to African villages?
In 2002, Canadian photographer Christopher Herwig started working on his very unique series dedicated to the often overlooked architectural marvels of Soviet bus stops. Herwig captured the essence of these peculiar pieces of architecture and featured their images in two books: 'Soviet Bus Stops' and 'Soviet Bus Stops Vol. 2'. Another interesting project Herwig worked on and showcased in the book is 'Soviet Metro Stations'. All three of them were published by FUEL.
After that, the photographer worked on a film, documenting his journey through former Soviet Republics from Ukraine to Uzbekistan, Armenia to Far Eastern Siberia, and all points in between, in a decades-long bus stop treasure hunt across more than 50,000 kilometers. 'SOVIET BUS STOPS - The Poetry of the Road' had its premiere in 2022.
Today we would like to present you with an impressive collection of photographs featuring some of the most bizarre bus stop designs you have ever seen.
#1 Jil-Aryk, Kyrgyzstan
As we read on the website dedicated to the film documenting the work on the series, Herwig tells more about what initially sparked his interest in taking on this project: “Wondering why they existed was one of the driving forces that had me fascinated with the bus stops (...) It was totally unexpected. Every time you’d see one you’d wonder, ‘What was the plan here?’ Or, ‘What was the purpose?’”
Bored Panda reached out to Christopher Herwig to find out more about his photo series “Soviet Bus Stops”. We wanted to know if, during all the years of shooting for the documentary, there were any particular bus stops or regions that left a lasting impression on the photographer. Herwig shared with us: “So much of it was amazing because it was a brilliant road trip. Armenia stands out for its stunning landscapes. Georgia and Ukraine in the snow were also a joy to explore and a magical experience at the time.”
#2 Pitsunda, Georgia
#3 Pitsunda In The Disputed Region Of Abkhazia/Georgia
Throughout his journey, Christopher mentioned encountering suspicion and accusations of being a spy (read our previous post). We were wondering how Herwig navigated these situations, and if they influenced the way he approached his photography and documentation. We found out that: “There were many instances where local people questioned why I was stopping and photographing the bus stops. To them, they were nothing new and special and often neglected and run down. They feared I was photographing them to make their community look bad. I would try and explain that they were something unique and special. To me, they showed creativity and were beautiful. Sometimes I would show them the other pictures on my camera to give them the context of the project. Sometimes I would convince them my intentions were genuine but not always. The odd person did accuse me of being a spy but that was just a ridiculous joke to me or, in one case, a scam by a taxi driver to extort money from me. As the project went on, my belief that the bus stops were beautiful and should be photographed grew and so it did not influence me so much what others thought as I knew I did not mean disrespect with my work.”
#4 Nova Lyubomyrka, Ukraine
#5 Borjomi, Georgia
We know that some of the bus stops' creators were tracked down during Herwig’s documentary work. On the “Soviet Bus Stops” website we can find a couple of firsthand relations from people involved in designing some of the stops. One of these creative minds was Konstantinas Jakovlevas-Mateckis, who from 1968 to 1986 was the Head of the Environmental Architecture section of the Institute of Technical Aesthetics in Vilnius, Lithuania. The bus stops were one of the projects Konstantinas worked on. As we read on the website: “Speaking about the minor architecture, there weren’t any regulations or rules, everything was based on the architects‘ knowledge and ideas, which were implemented.”
“The uniqueness of a bus stop was also based on regional differences between different republics. Belarus had its own solutions, we Lithuanians had others and some Caucasian republics were also different.”
#6 Ivannya, Ukraine
#7 East Of Aralsk, Kazakhstan
Over the years, many of these bus stops have been demolished or disregarded. We were interested in how this affects the photographer’s mission to memorialize them through his work. Christopher Herwig told us: “The fact that they are disappearing made me want to work harder to find as many of them as I could. The urgency made it not only more effective but a bit exciting when I would find them; however, the reality of them being destroyed and driving thousands of kilometers to find them gone was frustrating.”
#8 Lithuania
#9 Kozhukhivka, Ukraine
Lastly, we asked what efforts are being made to preserve the legacy of these unique architectural pieces, and we learned that: “In some places, a few of the exceptional ones are being saved by people who see their value, like in Georgia, but otherwise very little to my knowledge is being done to save most of them.”
I learned something today. Without researching it, can anyone here tell me what Sirhan Sirhan, Ted Kaczynski, Whitey Bulger, and Charles Manson had in common aside from killing people?
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