capitalism.png: Living Wage as a Service (LWaaS)

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Paladinus: Jan 11, 2014; heyHEYYYY!!!

spacemang_spliff posted:

i'm pretty sure there are bacteria that break down plastics they just don't do it very fast

Nobody wants to work anymore.

# ? Jan 23, 2024 15:56

Adbot: ADBOT LOVES YOU

# ? May 27, 2024 11:38

ArmedZombie: Jun 6, 2004

Paladinus posted:

It's us, humans.

crimes of the future is a documentary

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MCAnQIs_kAs

# ? Jan 23, 2024 16:00

Real hurthling!: Sep 11, 2001

Shame Boy posted:

Every ton of crude oil that gets turned into single-use plastic and then buried forever in a landfill is a ton that would otherwise with 99% certainty have been burned as fuel and wind up in the atmosphere, makes u think

we get to dig it up later for fuel whenever we want.

# ? Jan 23, 2024 17:47

poemdexter: Feb 18, 2005; Hooray Indie Games!; College Slice

A million years from now, wars will be fought by humanoid species for rights over the landfills chock full of plastic to use as energy.

# ? Jan 23, 2024 20:56

Subjunctive: Sep 12, 2006; ✨sparkle and shine✨

poemdexter posted:

A million years from now, wars will be fought by humanoid species for rights over the landfills chock full of plastic to use as energy.

this isn�t too far from the plot of My Time at Sandrock

# ? Jan 23, 2024 23:15

Panfilo: Aug 27, 2011; EXISTENCE IS PAIN😬

Subjunctive posted:

this isn�t too far from the plot of My Time at Sandrock

Have you heard the tale of the dancing robot?

# ? Jan 24, 2024 01:06

mawarannahr: May 21, 2019

welp
The U.S. just sold its helium stockpile. Here�s why the medical world is worried.

www.nbcnews.com - Thu, 25 Jan 2024 posted:

On Thursday, the U.S. government sold the Federal Helium Reserve, a massive underground stockpile based in Amarillo, Texas, that supplies up to 30% of the country�s helium.

Once the deal is finalized, the buyer � which will likely be the highest bidder,�the industrial gas company Messer � will claim some 425 miles of pipelines spanning Texas, Kansas and Oklahoma, plus about 1 billion cubic feet of the only element on Earth cold enough to make an MRI machine work.�

Regulatory and logistical issues with the facility threaten a temporary shutdown as it passes from public to private ownership, and hospital supply chain experts worry the sale could have serious consequences for health care down the road � especially when it comes to MRIs.�

To be sure, a Federal Helium Reserve shutdown wouldn�t mean that MRIs would suddenly power down across the country, said Soumi Saha, senior vice president of government affairs at Premier Inc., which contracts with helium suppliers on behalf of 4,400 hospitals in the U.S. �But we are stressing about this shortage. From a health care perspective, MRI machines are the No. 1 concern.�

American patients undergo an estimated 40 million MRI scans each year to help diagnose cancer, brain and spinal cord injuries, strokes and heart conditions. The superconductive magnet-powered imaging machines give doctors clear, high-resolution images of areas inside the body they can�t see on X-rays and CT scans. But without liquid helium, the Earth�s coldest element, MRI machines can�t keep their magnets cool enough to generate these images.�

The sale of the government�s stockpile of the nonrenewable element could exacerbate an existing supply shortage, Saha said.�

A number of factors could trigger a shutdown of the facility that could last as long as three years, said Rich Gottwald, CEO of the Compressed Gas Association, a trade group that represents companies, including Messer, that buy up helium and sell it to hospitals, semiconductor manufacturers, NASA and other customers.
https://www.nbcnews.com/now/video/helium-shortage-raises-concerns-around-mri-machines-151831621849
The facility spans three states, each with its own laws. The federal government didn�t need to reconcile state-specific rules, but a private buyer would, he said. Another issue is that helium must be enriched before it can be used, and a separate system is needed to do that. That enrichment system isn�t part of the federal reserve, but is privately owned by four private companies, including Messer; unlike the pipelines and helium itself, it wasn�t for sale.�

�A new owner will need to create some sort of lease to use the enrichment unit, or build their own unit to enrich the helium,� Gottwald said. �There�s a whole host of issues that need to be resolved and the concern is, until they�re resolved, the system will need to shut down.�

In a letter in October urging the White House to delay the sale, the CGA and four other trade associations laid out what they see as the most critical issues at the facility. Two of the trade associations behind the letter, AdvaMed and the Medical Imaging and Technology Alliance, represent MRI manufacturers.�

�Timely, critical patient care would suffer if helium supplies constricted further,� Scott Whitaker, AdvaMed�s CEO, wrote in an email to NBC News. �AdvaMed urges the White House to delay the sale and privatization of the Federal Helium Reserve until outstanding issues identified by the Compressed Gas Association are resolved.�

The sale has been in the works for more than a decade. Congress first mandated it through the Helium Stewardship Act of 2013. It was initially supposed to occur in 2021, but a series of delays � in part due to the same logistical and regulatory issues threatening shutdowns today � postponed the auction to Thursday.��

In an emailed statement, a spokesperson from the U.S. Interior Department said the sale would not constrict helium supply.

�Sale of the reserve to a private party, as Congressionally mandated by law, is not expected to meaningfully change the availability of helium,� the spokesperson wrote.�

## Other sources of helium

There�s a finite amount of helium on Earth. The largest reserves are in massive underground pockets in parts of Algeria, Qatar, Russia and the U.S.�

While the�Texas stockpile is the largest source of helium in the U.S., it�s not the only one. There are a number of smaller, privately owned facilities � some of which are in Colorado and Wyoming � according to Gottwald.�

Sourcing helium inside the U.S. or from Canada is the easiest and cheapest option. Transit time is an important factor: If the shipment takes longer than 35 to 48 days, the liquid helium will evaporate.�

The two other biggest helium reserves are in Qatar and Russia.

�Shutting down the U.S. helium reserve would force a situation where we would have to increase our reliance on foreign sources, like Qatar and Russia,� Saha said. �Given the ongoing geopolitical concerns and tensions in those regions and shipping delays, it would increase concerns around potential shortages on U.S. soil.�

According to Phil Kornbluth, president of Kornbluth Helium Consulting, the U.S. hasn�t been able to tap into Russia�s helium supply because of strained trade relations and the war in Ukraine. Meanwhile, attacks on ships in the Red Sea by Yemen�s Houthi rebels have forced Qatar to send liquified natural gas shipments, which contain helium, around the Cape of Good Hope, a route that adds at least 20 days to the journey.�
## Helium in health and science

Helium was already in short supply before the government sale. Currently, Kornbluth said, three out of five U.S. helium suppliers are rationing the element to prioritize life-or-death uses like MRI machines ahead of less-essential helium uses, like keeping party balloons afloat.�

Across the University of California system, for instance, which includes 10 research campuses and six medical schools, the shortage has already hit scientists.

�We�ve been on and off allocation for a while from our helium suppliers,� said Jeremy Meadows,�its executive director of strategic sourcing. �There�s a priority of allocation where health care goes first and research goes second.� This has been difficult for scientists whose laboratories use magnetic imaging for medical research, he said.

�Our helium-dependent research is only growing,��he added. Should the available supply decline further, he said, �I just don�t know how we position ourselves to get that supply.�

In a letter to the U.S. government last spring, the University of California�s chief procurement officer, Paul Williams, lamented that the cost of helium had already increased more than 400% in five years.�

Further supply constriction, he wrote, �leaves the research and medical communities at a greater risk.��

For instance, the University of California has a powerful helium-reliant magnetoencephalography, or MEG, scanner, that doctors use to plan pediatric brain operations. Statewide, Williams said,�there were only two of these scanners.�

�If it runs out of helium, it will require multiple weeks to recool, delaying surgeries, or, in some circumstances, compelling surgeons to operate without detailed brain maps,� he said, adding that the MEG scanner has barely averted shutdown dozens of times over the past 10 years.�

## MRIs of the future

MRI manufacturers have responded to the uncertain future of helium with their own solutions. Both Philips and Siemens Healthineers recently started selling alternatives to traditional MRI machines, which hold 1,700 to 1,800 liters of liquid helium and require constant replenishment. Some models now require just 1 to 7 liters of helium and don�t need any replenishment. Spokespeople from both companies touted these newer models as cost-effective for hospitals, especially if helium prices keep rising.�

But an MRI machine is a long-term investment, and many hospitals have been counting on their current, helium-dependent MRI equipment to last years, if not decades, more.�

�Using the same magnet for 20 or 30 years is not unheard of,� said Dr. Scott Reeder, chair of the University of Wisconsin�s radiology department.�

Premier�s Saha said uptake of lower-helium MRIs has been slow.�

�There are capital costs associated with removing the old MRIs and installing new equipment, plus the manufacturers don�t have the capacity to switch out all MRI machines at 6,000 U.S.-based hospitals overnight,� she said. �There�s time required for that, and you can�t take off every MRI machine in the country, because that would impact patient care.�

Still, the uncertain helium supply has brought an uptick in interest in these newer models, Saha said. �We�re seeing health care providers trying to get ahead of this by inquiring about MRI systems that use minimal to no helium,� she said.�

As the health care industry worries about what the Federal Helium Reserve sale could mean for meeting the existing MRI demand, Reeder said the demand keeps rising, too.�

�MRI is playing an increasingly important role in detection, treatment, monitoring and prognosis of so many diseases, and we�re going to have to think carefully as a field about how to ensure the supply chain doesn�t get to a state of crisis,� he said.�

That state of crisis hasn�t hit yet, experts stressed. Patients across the U.S. won�t suddenly face canceled MRIs and missed cancer diagnoses once the sale goes through.�

But the future of this critical, lighter-than-air element is certainly in flux, Saha said, and the medical world is watching closely.�

�Our hope is that health care will be prioritized, but that�s never a guarantee during any shortage of any item,� she said.�

For now, Reeder suggested, helium consumers must be judicious. �It�s probably not good to use helium for party balloons anymore,� he said.�

# ? Jan 26, 2024 07:50

Coolness Averted: Feb 20, 2007; oh don't worry, I can't smell asparagus piss, it's in my DNA

GO HOGG WILD!
🐗🐗🐗🐗🐗

lmao isn't this the second admin biden's been a part of that sold off the reserve? Do you think he remembers it?

# ? Jan 26, 2024 08:02

Real hurthling!: Sep 11, 2001

hydrogen party balloons lets loving go!

# ? Jan 26, 2024 12:33

ArmedZombie: Jun 6, 2004

if there is a Helium shortage it seems like the government should be confiscating it from for profit companies instead of selling it to them :thunkher:

# ? Jan 26, 2024 12:42

Fitzy Fitz: May 14, 2005

quote:

The sale has been in the works for more than a decade. Congress first mandated it through the Helium Stewardship Act of 2013.

This was overwhelmingly bipartisan btw, and one of the stated reasons for privatizing it was that it would increase the price. I'm the joker (from inhaling helium)

# ? Jan 26, 2024 15:39

DR FRASIER KRANG: Feb 4, 2005; "Are you forgetting that just this afternoon I was punched in the face by a turtle now dead?

yesterday my wife went to the pharmacy to renew our son's epinephrine prescription. the first thing she was told was to go to a website online and get a coupon which brings the price down by like $120.

so she goes and gets the coupon but it takes a separate process to redeem it. $120 is a lot of money so she sits and waits for like 30 minutes while they process the one refill they could get (we need two refills, one for school and one for home).

the whole time she and I are asking ourselves "it wasn't this kind of a nightmare three years ago, was it?"

# ? Jan 26, 2024 15:47

F_Shit_Fitzgerald: Feb 2, 2017

Always the mark of a healthy, functioning system when you need to obtain a $120 rebate on crucial meds like epinephrine.

# ? Jan 26, 2024 16:23

Fitzy Fitz: May 14, 2005

DR FRASIER KRANG posted:

yesterday my wife went to the pharmacy to renew our son's epinephrine prescription. the first thing she was told was to go to a website online and get a coupon which brings the price down by like $120.

so she goes and gets the coupon but it takes a separate process to redeem it. $120 is a lot of money so she sits and waits for like 30 minutes while they process the one refill they could get (we need two refills, one for school and one for home).

the whole time she and I are asking ourselves "it wasn't this kind of a nightmare three years ago, was it?"

Was it goodrx? The coupon thing has been building for years, but that particular site seems to have made it ubiquitous.

# ? Jan 26, 2024 16:30

ram dass in hell: Dec 29, 2019

The Oldest Man posted:

plastic is actually just the devils material and was put on earth to tempt us to ruin

nope george carlin was right and humanity is an evolutionary dead end that the earth allowed to temporarily thrive because it wanted plastic and couldn't produce it itself

# ? Jan 26, 2024 16:35

DR FRASIER KRANG: Feb 4, 2005; "Are you forgetting that just this afternoon I was punched in the face by a turtle now dead?

Fitzy Fitz posted:

Was it goodrx? The coupon thing has been building for years, but that particular site seems to have made it ubiquitous.

lol yep. the pharmacist had it ready to go with the recommendation.

# ? Jan 26, 2024 16:37

mawarannahr: May 21, 2019

F_Shit_Fitzgerald posted:

Always the mark of a healthy, functioning system when you need to obtain a $120 rebate on crucial meds like epinephrine.

it seems like it's not epinephrine itself but the auto injector that makes it so expensive. in Turkey you can get 2 auto injectors for $100 without insurance or 10 ampoules for $1.91. Wikipedia says "As of 2005, epinephrine autoinjectors were not available in most of the developing world" (of course, it's been a while since then). this product was only introduced to Turkey in 2019. so what do most of the people in the world do when only ampoules are available?

# ? Jan 26, 2024 17:00

Real hurthling!: Sep 11, 2001

mawarannahr posted:

it seems like it's not epinephrine itself but the auto injector that makes it so expensive. in Turkey you can get 2 auto injectors for $100 without insurance or 10 ampoules for $1.91. Wikipedia says "As of 2005, epinephrine autoinjectors were not available in most of the developing world" (of course, it's been a while since then). this product was only introduced to Turkey in 2019. so what do most of the people in the world do when only ampoules are available?

learn how to draw and give a shot while dying from peanut exposure i guess

# ? Jan 26, 2024 17:04

Panfilo: Aug 27, 2011; EXISTENCE IS PAIN😬

Huff em like whip-its?

# ? Jan 26, 2024 17:04

Nevil Maskelyne: Nov 11, 2023; by Fluffdaddy

it's an intramuscular shot, they're pretty easy to do. dunno how easy it is if you're mid-reaction but pretty much anyone can do it in normal circumstances

# ? Jan 26, 2024 17:10

mawarannahr: May 21, 2019

people outside of America just let their kids die or what?

# ? Jan 26, 2024 17:38

Pepe Silvia Browne: Jan 1, 2007

just eat a little bit of peanut until you can do it without getting puffy and red, or bee if you're allergic to bee, and then keep upping the amount you eat until you're not allergic anymore

# ? Jan 26, 2024 17:40

Shame Boy: Mar 2, 2010

F_Shit_Fitzgerald posted:

Always the mark of a healthy, functioning system when you need to obtain a $120 rebate on crucial meds like epinephrine.

Quit complaining or we'll bring back the $8000 epi-pens

# ? Jan 26, 2024 17:42

aw frig aw dang it: Jun 1, 2018

Pepe Silvia Browne posted:

just eat a little bit of peanut until you can do it without getting puffy and red, or bee if you're allergic to bee, and then keep upping the amount you eat until you're not allergic anymore

yep. 3 sets of peanut pieces to failure, 3x/week. gotta put in the work

# ? Jan 26, 2024 17:44

Shame Boy: Mar 2, 2010

ram dass in hell posted:

nope george carlin was right and humanity is an evolutionary dead end that the earth allowed to temporarily thrive because it wanted plastic and couldn't produce it itself

Earth doesn't care about timescales under 100,000 years and I bet the crude oil that the layers of plastic we're burying will eventually turn into in like 60 million years is gonna be super fuckin' cool and weird and earth will be able to show it off to the other planets and make them mad jealous

# ? Jan 26, 2024 17:47

Shame Boy: Mar 2, 2010

"Yeah you remember that loving weird-rear end rash I evolved a while back that really did a number on me? No don't worry it's not contagious anymore (still sorry about that, moon, but I'm glad it didn't spread and you recovered quickly), but man y'all should come check out the rad fuckin' scar it left." - Earth at 4.6 billion years old

# ? Jan 26, 2024 17:51

Rigged Death Trap: Feb 13, 2012; BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP

Rich veins of fordite

# ? Jan 26, 2024 17:54

HashtagGirlboss: Jan 4, 2005

Shame Boy posted:

Earth doesn't care about timescales under 100,000 years and I bet the crude oil that the layers of plastic we're burying will eventually turn into in like 60 million years is gonna be super fuckin' cool and weird and earth will be able to show it off to the other planets and make them mad jealous

I�ve read before that in 100 million years or whatever this era will be preserved in the stratus as a thin black line from all the carbon residue, and that sounds kind of cool

But secretly I hope that with all the microplastics and everything it�s like somehow just a layer of cellophane wrapped around the planet

# ? Jan 26, 2024 18:00

jetz0r: May 10, 2003; Tomorrow, our nation will sit on the throne of the world. This is not a figment of the imagination, but a fact. Tomorrow we will lead the world, Allah willing.

HashtagGirlboss posted:

I�ve read before that in 100 million years or whatever this era will be preserved in the stratus as a thin black line from all the carbon residue, and that sounds kind of cool

But secretly I hope that with all the microplastics and everything it�s like somehow just a layer of cellophane wrapped around the planet

we can already see the layers of microplastics in river sediment. our long term legacy is a layer of artificial radio-isotopes, and speckled trash.

https://blogs.egu.eu/divisions/ssp/2019/01/09/the-plastocene-plastic-in-the-sedimentary-record/

# ? Jan 26, 2024 18:20

Shame Boy: Mar 2, 2010

HashtagGirlboss posted:

I�ve read before that in 100 million years or whatever this era will be preserved in the stratus as a thin black line from all the carbon residue, and that sounds kind of cool

But secretly I hope that with all the microplastics and everything it�s like somehow just a layer of cellophane wrapped around the planet

I read this book a while ago and loved it (though I'm a geology weirdo and it's geology-heavy): https://www.amazon.com/Earth-After-Us-Legacy-Humans/dp/0199214980

It's a geologist predicting what traces of humanity will remain in 100 million years. Like how the fact that we're making the oceans rise so fast means in geologic time they're basically instantly teleporting to a higher point, which means there's not enough time for them to significantly (again, in geologic terms) erode all trace of our coastal cities, so we're basically creating conditions that are perfect for fossilizing us and our civilization.

Unlike other books like The World Without Us or whatever the gently caress that crazy-rear end sci fi future evolution book was, this one's written by an actual scientist and he's very careful not to speculate on poo poo he isn't already reasonably sure of just based on how we know the physical systems of the earth work which is refreshing.

Shame Boy has issued a correction as of 18:34 on Jan 26, 2024

# ? Jan 26, 2024 18:31

The Oldest Man: Jul 28, 2003

ram dass in hell posted:

nope george carlin was right and humanity is an evolutionary dead end that the earth allowed to temporarily thrive because it wanted plastic and couldn't produce it itself

# ? Jan 26, 2024 18:39

Shame Boy: Mar 2, 2010

jetz0r posted:

we can already see the layers of microplastics in river sediment. our long term legacy is a layer of artificial radio-isotopes, and speckled trash.

https://blogs.egu.eu/divisions/ssp/2019/01/09/the-plastocene-plastic-in-the-sedimentary-record/

Oh the radioisotopes thing is real interesting too because they're actually really scientifically useful, since almost all the ones we dumped into the air happened in a very narrow span of time called the "bomb pulse" we can use their decay rate to date stuff that happens on way shorter time scales than isotope dating usually works on, like silt depositing in a river.

# ? Jan 26, 2024 18:40

Shame Boy: Mar 2, 2010

Oh it's ending sooner than I thought, huh

quote:

Around the year 2030 the bomb pulse will die out. Every organism born after this will not bear detectable bomb pulse traces and their cells cannot be dated in this way. Radioactive pulses cannot ethically be administered to people just to study the turnover of their cells so the bomb pulse results may be considered as a useful side effect of nuclear testing.

Better get blastin'

# ? Jan 26, 2024 18:42

pentyne: Nov 7, 2012

mawarannahr posted:

welp
The U.S. just sold its helium stockpile. Here�s why the medical world is worried.

Helium supplies have been a critical concern for the better part of a decade, and the only country planning to set up a massive helium mine to address the need is Russia.

# ? Jan 26, 2024 18:43

In Training: Jun 28, 2008

Shame Boy posted:

I read this book a while ago and loved it (though I'm a geology weirdo and it's geology-heavy): https://www.amazon.com/Earth-After-Us-Legacy-Humans/dp/0199214980

It's a geologist predicting what traces of humanity will remain in 100 million years. Like how the fact that we're making the oceans rise so fast means in geologic time they're basically instantly teleporting to a higher point, which means there's not enough time for them to significantly (again, in geologic terms) erode all trace of our coastal cities, so we're basically creating conditions that are perfect for fossilizing us and our civilization.

Unlike other books like The World Without Us or whatever the gently caress that crazy-rear end sci fi future evolution book was, this one's written by an actual scientist and he's very careful not to speculate on poo poo he isn't already reasonably sure of just based on how we know the physical systems of the earth work which is refreshing.

So Atlantis probably is real??

# ? Jan 26, 2024 18:44

Shame Boy: Mar 2, 2010

pentyne posted:

Helium supplies have been a critical concern for the better part of a decade, and the only country planning to set up a massive helium mine to address the need is Russia.

I assume that's more just a side effect of their already massive natural gas extraction rather than a deliberate helium mine but good for them anyway.

Also I only realized this recently but even though helium that gets released into the atmosphere eventually escapes into space, it takes long enough (and nuclear decay is constantly producing a diffuse new supply everywhere on earth all the time) that the concentration in the atmosphere is... not unreasonably low, it's around ~5.3 PPM. For comparison xenon is 0.086 PPM and we still extract that in industrial quantities so the helium shortage is probably more of a "it's just going to get way more expensive" kinda thing than a "literally all physics and medicine stops functioning" kinda thing at least.

# ? Jan 26, 2024 18:47

Shame Boy: Mar 2, 2010

In Training posted:

So Atlantis probably is real??

Well it sure will be soon

# ? Jan 26, 2024 18:49

Paladinus: Jan 11, 2014; heyHEYYYY!!!

jetz0r posted:

we can already see the layers of microplastics in river sediment. our long term legacy is a layer of artificial radio-isotopes, and speckled trash.

https://blogs.egu.eu/divisions/ssp/2019/01/09/the-plastocene-plastic-in-the-sedimentary-record/

And it's beautiful.

# ? Jan 26, 2024 19:35

Carthag Tuek: Oct 15, 2005; Tider skal komme,
tider skal henrulle,
sl�gt skal f�lge sl�gters gang

mawarannahr posted:

it seems like it's not epinephrine itself but the auto injector that makes it so expensive. in Turkey you can get 2 auto injectors for $100 without insurance or 10 ampoules for $1.91. Wikipedia says "As of 2005, epinephrine autoinjectors were not available in most of the developing world" (of course, it's been a while since then). this product was only introduced to Turkey in 2019. so what do most of the people in the world do when only ampoules are available?

is it the epipen? i think a danish company (novo nordisk?) has or had a patent on that and literally boosted our entire economy by several percent. shits gonna gt hosed

# ? Jan 26, 2024 19:47

Adbot: ADBOT LOVES YOU

# ? May 27, 2024 11:38

ArmedZombie: Jun 6, 2004

jetz0r posted:

we can already see the layers of microplastics in river sediment. our long term legacy is a layer of artificial radio-isotopes, and speckled trash.

https://blogs.egu.eu/divisions/ssp/2019/01/09/the-plastocene-plastic-in-the-sedimentary-record/

in a 100 million years new bacteria will evolve and this will all be broken back down into crude oil and then in another 100 million years intelligent life will have evolved to the point where it can be exploited and the cycle will begin anew.

# ? Jan 26, 2024 20:09

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > C-SPAM > capitalism.png: Living Wage as a Service (LWaaS)

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