Democratic New York City lawmakers are weighing banning detergent pods to reduce the microplastics entering the city's waterways‚ the New York Post reported Monday.Last week‚ City Councilman James Gennaro (D) introduced new legislation‚ the "Pods are Plastic Bill‚" which would ban "the sale of laundry and dishwasher pods and sheets using polyvinyl alcohol." If passed‚ the measure would take effect in 2026.Polyvinyl alcohol‚ also known as PVA‚ is a synthetic resin that is water-soluble and biodegradable‚ according to Science Direct. PVA is used as a film to create detergent pods that dissolve during the wash cycle. Blueland‚ a company making "eco-friendly" cleaning products‚ claims that the plastic polymer used to create the detergent pods and laundry sheets "does dissolve‚" but "it doesn't always biodegrade‚" based on a study published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. The company argues‚ according to the study's findings‚ that while PVAs can be biodegradable‚ they require "extremely specific" conditioners. Otherwise‚ the synthetic plastic polymer dissolves into microplastics."In order for PVA to fully biodegrade it requires the presence of very specific microorganisms and enzymes to aid in the degradation process. In addition to these microorganisms‚ it also requires a specific amount of time in the wastewater water treatment facility‚" the company stated.Blueland is backing Gennaro's proposed legislation. The company's co-founder‚ Sarah Paiji Yoo‚ told Fast Company‚ "Companies should not be allowed to put microplastics into products that are designed to go down our drains into our water."Yoo noted that most consumers do not realize that dissolvable laundry pods are made from plastic."It did bother us that this whole industry was built on consumers not realizing that this material was plastic‚" Yoo told the news outlet.If passed‚ the bill would impose a $400 fine for selling the pods and $800 for a second violation‚ and fines max out at $1‚200 for additional violations. The legislation would also "require education and outreach to retail and wholesale businesses on compliance with the requirements of this law."Gennaro told the Post that PVAs "are the most concerning of emerging contaminants.""It's important for people to know I'm being very cautious and we're taking a science-based approach.‚" Gennaro continued. "But I think the science is ultimately going to bear out this is something council should act upon.""I need a little more [information]‚ but I put the bill out to get everyone's attention‚" he noted.According to a recent study conducted by New York University researchers‚ "forever chemicals" found in microplastics are causing $250 billion per year in health care costs in the United States‚ Blaze News previously reportedThe chemicals‚ also referred to as PFAS‚ or per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances‚ are found in many everyday products‚ including non-stick cookware‚ cleaning supplies‚ and cosmetics. PFAS have been linked to many health issues‚ including liver disease‚ kidney disease‚ cancer‚ and lower fertility.The American Cleaning Institute‚ a trade association representing P&;G‚ Clorox‚ Unilever‚ and Church &; Dwight‚ called the proposed legislation "unnecessary" and noted it would limit the companies' ability to create "significant sustainable solutions that are delivering positive environmental impact and progress in cleaning sustainability." The organization further accused Blueland of attempting to discredit the use of the polyvinyl alcohol "despite decades of proof on safe use.""Once again we are seeing a disappointing and disingenuous misinformation campaign launched against polyvinyl alcohol use in products like laundry packets and automatic dishwasher tabs‚" the ACI stated. "And as in the past‚ the campaigners – led by Blueland – are relying on shoddy science and intentional distortions about this."The ACI called the water-soluble pods "a sustainability success story."Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors‚ sign up for our newsletters‚ and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

The internet today is similar to a Big Gulp: a huge cup of colorized water that can come in any flavor you want‚ with an infinite slurp of sugary dopamine hits.After I woke up from the sugar coma‚ where did I go? Is there an exit door in this Wonka nightmare factory? Does Hotel California serve something else besides fentanyl-laced feedback loops of identity politics? I tried to escape‚ and the last thing I remember is that I was running through the tabs‚ as I had to find that post back on the page I was on before. "Relax‚" said the night man‚ "we are programmed to receive great targeted ads. You can check out your cookies any time you like‚ but you can never leave."And we don't have to build places to be "non-addictive." I'm asking if we could have something that isn't one giant high-fructose corn syrup fountain. The question is whether there is the possibility we can have a nice wine instead of a world in which there's only soda.For instance‚ can we build dating apps that don't cater to our base impulses with successions of one-night stands? Is there a way to reconfigure the whole format toward long-term monogamy? French fries are a great example of addicting food – they hit all the sensors on your tongue. They're soft on the inside‚ fried on the outside; though mostly salty‚ with the proper dipping sauce‚ whether ketchup or a Wendy's Frosty‚ they can also be sweet. This is one of the formulas to make a product addictive – hit as many sensors as you can. When talking about digital products‚ many savvy entrepreneurs would ignore the idea of making non-addictive products because you would lose all user retention. Here‚ I'm not advocating for discontinuing all addictive digital products in favor of non-addictive ones. What I'm saying is that all we have in the digital realm is french fries; we don't have the wine equivalent‚ which can be very addictive as well‚ and a great business‚ but it is at least more rarified. This is a matter of high culture against low culture; software developers are not building products that could achieve high culture.Digital calories For instance‚ can we build dating apps that don't cater to our base impulses with successions of one-night stands? Is there a way to reconfigure the whole format toward long-term monogamy? An app so improved would not let you chat with more than one match at a time. The filters for a user's preferences would make room for nuance and realistic expectations as opposed to aspirational platitudes. Swiping can become a habit‚ like rushing through a lurid wax museum. Few apps seem intent on breaking that habit and letting their users find the one person they can build a life with.Social media apps generally rely too much on documentation. Users attend a concert with phones ready for the right moment to take ownership of what should be a collective experience. What if we could use social media to regain that original intention? Let's say someone designs a party event app that lets people in a given area and with shared interests meet in person‚ so much so that they forget the very device that brought them together in the first place. Some of the most interesting innovations come from dissatisfaction with rather than an appreciation for a medium. I believe we'll see founders that hate social media so much that they will start party apps with the intention that people throw the best parties and get a bunch of different people to have a great time – all so people stop staring at their phones.We have seen hardware products for reading books and taking notes that embody this approach‚ and in the realm of software tools for thought‚ apps are carrying out this ethos. But I think there's the possibility of rethinking and redesigning most of our software to have digital monuments.Can we build platforms for data infrastructure and feel confident that they'll be looked at with the amazement with which today we look at the aqueducts from ancient Rome? Can we build streaming channels that channel glory like the Colosseum? The answer is uncertain. Modern architecture has taken on a sameness that software developers would do well to avoid. Glass slabs and black monoliths have taken over the financial districts in Frankfurt‚ São Paulo‚ Mexico City‚ Shanghai‚ and London. Indeed‚ their resemblance to the black glass monolith we carry in our pockets‚ which consumes much of our waking life‚ seems hardly coincidental.A worldwide cultural wastelandIt would be a tragedy to have a unilingual internet‚ a world in which all local traditional clothing gets washed away and every meal is the same generic recipe as everywhere else. It would be tragic to see all the digital content go toward the same direction of being candied. Even if our deep-fried digital content became the finest of wines‚ it would still be tragic. But still more tragic‚ the digital world is a great distance away from the vineyard and subsists entirely on Big Gulps.There are some signs of hope‚ such as long-form podcasting. Yet even here‚ the podcasts have to be promoted through these sugary clips to entice you to listen to the whole thing. When was the last time you were sold a wine by taking a shot of a sugar-laced version of the product? This illustrates how the current market is so oversaturated with sugary mediums that you must engage in it to pull people into a long-form medium that doesn't destroy your attention span.The new paradigms of computing‚ virtual reality‚ and audio assistants offer entirely different options. One is a completely encapsulating medium strapped to your face‚ maybe with headphones or even a sensory deprivation tank‚ all to set up walls against the intrusions of external stimuli. On the other hand‚ the audio assistants offer a technology that completely fades into the background to the point of formless ambience. The sounds are more humane and non-intrusive‚ enabling relaxation and focus‚ even as privacy implications lurk beneath the noise.Maybe there's a third‚ narrower way out. Perhaps we don't submerge ourselves into the experience machine‚ theorized by Robert Nozick‚ floating around aimlessly for the rest of our lives‚ but instead use virtual reality to augment certain areas of our remote work. Maybe we don't bug all our rooms with intelligent devices that listen to us every waking hour (both smart speakers and smartphones)‚ but we have devices with removable microphones and cameras to be plugged in when needed. Maybe we can have private keys to our locally encrypted smart speakers that don't need to connect to the internet but to a locally stored memory. Perhaps that way‚ we can have this medium without total loss of privacy – that would be closer to the idea Vannevar Bush thought of back in 1945:Consider a future device for individual use‚ which is a sort of mechanized private file and library. It needs a name‚ and‚ to coin one at random‚ "memex" will do. A memex is a device in which an individual stores all his books‚ records‚ and communications‚ and which is mechanized so that it may be consulted with exceeding speed and flexibility. It is an enlarged intimate supplement to his memory.Maybe we can figure out a way to build beautiful places‚ both in the real world and the digital realm‚ that resist the cold uniformity of our financial districts. Consider a digital realm that breaks from base habits‚ isolation‚ and empty calories and engenders more stable behaviors akin to the contemplation felt when walking into a museum or a church that is more human and less remote. Maybe we can build places online that serve content that doesn't feel like fast food and finally enjoy the equivalent of a glass of wine in our digital-content diet.

The comedy trio known as the Danger Cats had four separate shows canceled by an international comedy club chain after a joke regarding residential schools resurfaced.Yuk Yuk's‚ an iconic international stand-up comedy chain‚ was set to host the group of comics for four shows at its Winnipeg‚ Manitoba‚ location at the end of February 2024.However‚ comedians Brendan Blacquier‚ Brett Forte‚ and Sam Walker found themselves without a venue after the club fielded complaints from unhappy social media users.The cancelation allegedly stemmed from a resurfaced clip posted to Facebook‚ in which Blacquier made a joke directed at another comedian. The joked referenced an "unmarked grave" and "a dig site at a residential school."The unmarked grave was in reference to the alleged discovery of the remains of native children near or underneath residential schools‚ which were operated by the Catholic Church in Canada. The would-be revelations of the unmarked graves have yet to result in any human remains found in either Kamloops‚ British Columbia‚ or Pine Creek‚ Manitoba.The video clip in question was posted by Sherry Lynn Mckay‚ who has described herself as an "Indigenous content creator‚ stand up comedian‚ motivational speaker‚" and "influencer‚" along with being a "mom of 4" and a "tiktokker."Mckay gave an interview on the subject to CBC Radio's "Up to Speed‚" which is broadcast by Canada's state-owned media."I first seen [sic] the video in 2022 ... I was absolutely disgusted and it was actually at the beginning of my stand-up comedy career‚" she told the radio host.When asked why she thought the joke was so hurtful‚ Mckay said that it was because of "how easy it was for some one to say those things in a public setting and make light of a really dark situation.""We as indigenous people‚ we are still doing a lot of healing ... it's just one of those things‚" she added. "It really hurt me and hurt a lot people who watched it ... Indigenous people‚ and our allies‚ too."Comedian Forte got word of the cancelation from Yuk Yuk's over the phone‚ who told him that the group's shows were being immediately removed due to controversies surrounding the event.Blacquier told Blaze News that he was surprised at how easily the comedy club backed down."I don't think it's necessarily a good thing for comedy if a club is going to cave to online noise; I don't think anyone would protest a comedy a show based on a joke like this." My office is a little different. — (@) In screenshots shared with Blaze News‚ Yuk Yuk's Winnipeg appeared to have responded to Facebook posts and email inquiries stating that the shows had been canceled."Please note‚ effective this morning‚ the Danger Cats will no longer be preforming at Yuk Yuk's Winnipeg in the Fort Garry Hotel. Sincerely‚ Yuk Yuk's Comedy Club Winnipeg‚" the messages read.Yuk Yuk's Winnipeg and Yuk Yuk's head office did not respond to request for comments. This publication will be updated with any relevant responses.For the Danger Cats however‚ this was not the first time they have been canceled over allegedly offensive jokes‚ and they are continuing a country-wide tour.

Climate alarmists have long suggested that human industry‚ farming‚ and the consumption of affordable energy would amount to environmental ruin and possibly extinction. It turns out that humanity's much-lamented carbon dioxide emissions are actually doing a great job feeding plants and greening the world. Global greening‚ in turn‚ is apparently diminishing the impact of so-called global warming as well as weather extremes. A peer-reviewed study recently published in the journal Global Ecology and Conservation underscored that "global greening is an indisputable fact" and has accelerated over the past 20 years across over 55% of the globe. The global leaf area index — the measure of the amount of leaf area relative to ground area — based on satellite observations has shown the world to be greening since the early 1980s. Researchers from Australia and China endeavored to confirm with remote sensing data whether this trend has continued in recent years‚ especially in the face of recent suggestions that the world is alternatively browning. The researchers found that "the global greening was still present in 2001-2020‚ with 55.15% of areas greening at an accelerated rate‚ mainly concentrated in India and the European plains‚ compared with 7.28% of browning." Multiple linear regression analyses indicated that the "dominant driver" for this trend was carbon dioxide. A 2019 paper published in the journal Nature Reviews Earth &; Environment and taken up by NASA indicated greening slows global warming. The paper stated‚ "Vegetation models suggest that CO2 fertilization is the main driver of greening on the global scale‚ with other factors being notable at the regional scale. Modelling indicates that greening could mitigate global warming by increasing the carbon sink on land and altering biogeophysical processes‚ mainly evaporative cooling." Shilong Piao of Peking University‚ lead author on the 2019 paper‚ said‚ "This greening and associated cooling is beneficial." "It is ironic that the very same carbon emissions responsible for harmful changes to climate are also fertilizing plant growth‚" said co-author Jarle Bjerke of the Norwegian Institute for Nature Research‚ "which in turn is somewhat moderating global warming." Another recent study published in the sustainability journal One Earth found that greening "has mitigated day time and nighttime hot temperature extremes." Despite the upsides of global greening‚ climate alarmists tend to cast it in a negative light. Upon reviewing the recent study indicating more than half the world is getting greener‚ Vox concluded greening is "not inherently good. Sometimes it's very bad." Carl Zimmer of the New York Times claimed in a 2018 article that a greener world is "nothing to celebrate." Zimmer quoted an environmental scientist from the University of California‚ Santa Cruz‚ who suggested carbon dioxide "only accounts for a small fraction of the increase." Contrary to the suggestion by Zimmer's expert‚ a 2016 study published in Nature Climate Change made clear that satellite data from NASA's Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectrometer and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer instruments showed carbon dioxide fertilization accounts for 70% of the greening effect. While cynical about the good of greening and ostensibly willing to downplay the impact of carbon fertilization‚ Zimmer noted that plants remove an estimated 25% of the carbon humans emit; plants are apparently taking out more carbon dioxide every year; and with greening‚ the world will have more plants to help out. Nevertheless‚ Zimmer characterized the carbon emission-driven phenomenon thusly: "It's a bit like hearing that your chemotherapy is slowing the growth of your tumor by 25 percent." Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors‚ sign up for our newsletters‚ and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) argued on Monday that a $50-per-hour minimum wage is mathematically coherent. At a debate for candidates vying for the late Dianne Feinstein's U.S. Senate seat‚ Lee tried to justify her demand that the U.S. government mandate that businesses pay their employees a minimum of $50 per hour."In the Bay Area‚ I believe it was the United Way that came out with a report very recently: $127‚000 for a family of four is just barely enough to get by‚" Lee said. "Another survey very recently: $104‚000 for a family of one — barely enough to get by ... because of the affordability crisis."California's cost-of-living problems‚ especially in the Bay Area‚ are no secret. But how would Lee's proposal be paid for?"Just do the math!" she argued. The other two Democrats on stage — Reps. Adam Schiff and Katie Porter — support minimum wages of between $20 and $25 per hour. The lone Republican‚ former MLB star Steve Garvey‚ however‚ delivered a reality check explaining why Lee's demand is counterproductive."If you look at what California has done to fast-food franchises right now: increasing the minimum wage to $20. Then what's going to happen? That's going to increase costs for hard-working Californians to go to a franchise‚" he pointed out. "Instead of a Big Mac for $9‚ it's going to be $15."Indeed‚ California businesses have done the math.Their calculations of the increased cost of labor from minimum-wage hikes show business owners must make a decision when the government forces them to raise wages: they pass along that cost to the consumer or reduce the size of their workforce to offset the payroll increase.That is exactly what is happening in California right now after Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) signed into law a bill forcing national fast-food chains that operate restaurants in California to raise their minimum wage to $20 per hour‚ effective April 1‚ 2024. Pizza Hut operators responded to the law by announcing plans to eliminate their delivery driver workforce — thus laying off more than 1‚000 employees — while McDonald's and Chipotle announced plans to offset the cost by raising menu prices.Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors‚ sign up for our newsletters‚ and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

If you've never heard of Free Stars: The Ur-Quan Masters before‚ you'd be forgiven for thinking it was a pretty unfortunately named throwback space game in the vein of classics like Star Control‚ Starflight‚ or Starcom. As it turns out‚ that's more than a coincidence. Free Stars: The Ur-Quan Masters is actually the new name for 1992's Star Control 2: The Ur-Quan Masters‚ freshly re-titled and now set to be launched on Steam for free next Monday February 19. Continue reading Classic space exploration game gets new name and free Steam launch

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