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Samson's Wig

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Posts posted by Samson's Wig

  1. 7 hours ago, Orange^White said:

    This was taken from a commentary piece in a Chicago article, but it is referencing an actual study, so take it for what it's worth.

    There’s little doubt that targeted bans can mitigate these kinds of effects by cutting down on the use of reusable bags in the first place. In Austin, for example, a post-ban survey found that single-use plastic bags accounted for only 0.03 percent of the total litter collected in the city in 2015. Assuming the pre-ban rate was closer to the 0.12 percent in nearby Fort Worth, that marks a roughly 75 percent reduction of single-use plastic bags in Austin’s landfills.

    But, as the Austin assessment pointedly notes, reducing the use of a product that’s harmful to the environment is no guarantee of a positive environmental outcome. Among the main environmental benefits of Austin’s ban was supposed to be a reduction in the amount of energy and raw materials used to manufacture the bags. To that end, the city encouraged residents to instead use reusable bags. Those bags have larger carbon footprints, due to the greater energy required to produce their stronger plastics, but the city figured the overall impact would be lower, as consumers got acquainted with the new, more durable product.

    What the city didn’t foresee is that residents would start treating reusable bags like single-use bags. The volume of reusable plastic bags now turning up at the city’s recycling centers has become “nearly equivalent to the amount of all of the single-use bags removed from the recycling stream as a result of the ordinance implemented in 2013,” according to the assessment. And those lightly used bags are landfill-bound, because recycling isn’t any more cost-effective for reusable plastic bags than for the single-use variety.

    1

    Road to hell and all that.

    The fact that this question is even being litigated is a bit silly.  Let the citizens vote.  If people in Austin or wherever want to ban plastic bags, whether it's just because it makes them feel good or because it actually benefits the environment, then let 'em vote for it and do it.  At the individual level, no one has any right to package their goods in a free shitty plastic bag.  The law was interpreted correctly by the SCOTX, but holy hell who gives a shit?  Neither side of this one has a solid leg to stand on when it comes to principled stances.  It may be the worst case of politics getting in the way of reality we've seen, which is saying something.   

    There are plenty of meaningful things worthy of one's indignancy out there.  But plastic bags, or the banning thereof, really shouldn't be on that list. 

  2. On 6/22/2018 at 11:17 AM, crash_davis said:

     re austin, i think the habit is formed.  i'll continue to bring my own bags.  sure is nice not having plastic bags littering the streets.  will be interesting to see the shitheads who start using plastic bags.  my guess is the poors and fat old white people.

    4

    Please don't forget those who are willfully indifferent to pet political causes.  Everyone always forgets those folks.

  3. On 6/14/2018 at 2:00 PM, jimmyjazz said:

    I'm not about to post the longcat back and forth to this post, but suffice it to say a warm CostCo is a BIG DEAL to some people.

     

     

     

    On 6/14/2018 at 2:49 PM, hornbri said:

    Hi neighbor!

     

    Hello neighbors!  My favorite part about that thread is every now and then an old lady will post something along the lines of, "I was in there at 3:00 this afternoon and it felt just fine to me."  Well, of course it did!

  4. On 6/8/2018 at 1:17 PM, Iconoclast Texan said:

    UH is led by one of the greatest Horns in UT history in Major Applewhite. They aren’t becoming Baylor by any stretch. Kendal Briles bears the sins of his father. If he hasn’t already, he should publicly apologize for whatever role he had in covering up rape at Baylor. Kendal Briles is a fellow Horn and has a shot at redemption. His father is a piece of shit and should never be allowed to coach again.

    lol.  Kendall Briles was the one promising all those "white women" to recruits at Baylor.  He's every bit as much of a piece of shit as his father, and likely more so.

    UH is selling what tiny bit of soul it ever had in an effort to join a big boy conference, and it probably isn't going to ever happen.  Fertitta flunked out of Texas Tech years ago, and found succor at Houston (where he still never graduated).  None of that really matters as he has obviously been wildly successful, but it helps explain in part what he's doing with Houston.  He's had a hard on for getting UH recognition he feels it deserves, while at the same time belittling Tech.  It's a weird psychosis, but those who compared it to aggie syndrome earlier in the thread were on the money.

    UH has made clear they will do anything to join the big boys, including hiring rape enablers.  They should be shamed for it.

  5. On 4/19/2018 at 6:29 PM, DaysOff said:

    Christ. AUS doesn't need more runways. It needs TRACON controllers from Chicago or NY. The spacing that AUS approach gives is laughable. Put those controllers on the scopes and you double the hourly capacity of the airport.

    Personally, I don't want to double the amount of folks funneling through there anytime soon.  It's bad enough now.

  6. 2 hours ago, Lhorn said:

    While I agree with this in theory, the "kid" looks overweight and unhealthy but has youth on his side.  Dad's got 25 more years of donut and bacon eating and likely gets winded tying his shoes.  Family probably thinks of junior as the "health nut" of the family.

     

    That "kid" looks twice the size of either of his parents.  He looks like a Sasquatch.  It's more than youth, but size as well.  I'm sure his folks are understandably a bit scared of him, but yeah, Dad should nut up.  

  7. I'm not comfortable with the notion that graduating high school should be treated as some kind of major achievement.  Someone with a semi-normally functioning brain can graduate high school simply by showing up every now and then.  Hell, graduating with an undergraduate degree  doesn't exactly require a great deal of effort either.

     

    Edit to add:  Obviously for those struggling with some kind of disability these can be major achievements which require a great deal of effort, but for the rest, we're setting the bar a bit low aren't we?

    • Fuck You 1
  8. AT&T is the worst god damn company to ever emerge from the capitalist ooze of our once great nation.  DirectTV was doing just fine, but we all knew what would happen when we heard the news of the acquisition.  I've tried running from AT&T for decades now, and they just keep swallowing up every competitor I'm doing business with.   Living in Texas again they're near impossible to avoid, as AT&T is really just SWBell run amok and they own the whole damn state, including the legislature.  It's amazing that a splinter cell of the old Ma Bell grew into an even bigger monster while a justice department that once cared about such things as antitrust regulation is whistling Dixie. 

    But the sports.  Amirite?  I can't quit you DTV.

    • Like 2
  9. On 4/20/2018 at 8:04 PM, Call said:

    Tresspassing/Landscape Theft

    “Last night, someone trespassed in our front yard and cut several blooming rose bushes. If anyone has any information, or has experienced this recently, please respond. DNA evidence was left behind. Roses have thorns, dumb ass.”

    cops will definitely be working overtime to solve this case.

    Lol.  I wonder if they ever caught that deer.

  10. I agree that teens, in general, are much more aware of the bigger picture than prior generations, but they're still kids.  And their brains are still as undeveloped as ours were at that age.  I don't adhere to the idea that kids should only speak when spoken to, but somewhere between that and the "from the mouths of babes" fallacy has to be the right spot.   

    At the individual level, I wouldn't be bothered by either of my kids walking out if they felt strongly about an issue, but looking at the larger picture I think teenagers should mostly shut up and do what they're told because they're not yet physically capable of rational thought.  

  11. All this discussion and no one has mentioned the Bike Mafia?  Let's see, a ridiculous and expensive project which benefits only a handful of idiots, all of whom ride bikes.  It's not difficult to see where the pressure is coming from.  What a coup.  I guess forcing bike lanes on residential streets that no one has ever commuted by bike through was getting boring for them.

    And someone above asked if someone on the city council has an interest in a window screen manufacturer/installer.  You think?

    We choose, through inaction, to let the nuttiest and the most corrupt run our cities.

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