OPEN THREAD 20191224

Open Thread 1 Minute

Basically, all legal free speech is allowed. We will assist the authorities in dealing with illegal speech. You are each other’s moderators. Have fun. And don’t forget to MAGA at nuclear levels.

Citizen U

Day 48 – CADMIUM.

Unknown's avatar

Published by Wolf Moon

Currently @wolfmoon1776 on WordPress.com sites and theqtree.com Reinstated as @WOLFM00N on Twitter, thanks to @elonmusk Also @WOLFM00N on Gab (YAY, GAB!), Truth Social, Gettr, Parler, Keybase, etc. Still @wolf_moon on Disqus.

Published

24 thoughts on “OPEN THREAD 20191224”

  1. Cadmium is a sort of super-zinc, unsurprising as it is right below it on the table. Apparently it can be used to galvanize steel, for instances where you REALLY don’t want corrosion to happen…like the bolts in an aircraft engine. But it’s also toxic, like it’s neighbor on the row below, mercury. In many cases, it’s considered an unresource–something you can’t use for much and you can’t get rid of (you can’t break an element down, like you could with toxic organic chemicals).

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

  2. After hovering around 20,000 tonnes for a few years, worldwide cadmium production has actually been ramping up since 2014 — hitting about 23,000 tonnes in 2018. Cadmium is normally a byproduct of zinc purification, so this may-or-may-not be because anybody wants it [you can get about 6.5 pounds of cadmium by refining enough zinc ore to get a ton of zinc].

    Cadmium was once immensely popular in the production of rechargeable batteries — anyone remember Ni-Cads? If so, you can call me up on a corded phone and we can discuss swapping VHS tapes.

    Cadmium was one of the substances banned by the EU’s RoHS directive of 2003. Of course, that bunch of socialist killjoys would ban the proles using electricity if they thought they could get away with it.

    And, of course, (for anyone who’s dealt with a budding artist) —
    https://www.amazon.com/Grumbacher-Academy-Acrylic-Cadmium-C034/dp/B0006SJTBM
    https://www.amazon.com/Grumbacher-Academy-Acrylic-Cadmium-Medium/dp/B0006SJTCG
    https://www.amazon.com/Grumbacher-Academy-Acrylic-Cadmium-Orange/dp/B0006SJTBW

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

    1. Cadmium was one of the substances banned by the EU’s RoHS directive of 2003. Of course, that bunch of socialist killjoys would ban the proles using electricity if they thought they could get away with it.

      You’ve reminded me of something…

      Some environmentalist nutters years back noticed that a lot of the nasty chemicals that kept popping up in the news had chlorine in them. So they wanted to ban ALL chlorine compounds.

      Apparently someone got to them early enough to explain table salt to them (though they’d probably want to ban that too, bad for blood pressure donchyaknow).

      That didn’t start me from (tongue in cheek) suggesting that maybe we should ban ALL of the halogens (fluorine, chlorine, bromine, iodine and astatine). When someone pointed out how phenomenally rare astatine is (and I knew this) I was ready with my answer: “See, we’ve ALREADY had our first success!!!!”

      File it in the “DHMO-level satire” file.

      Liked by 2 people

      Reply

  4. Cadmium has been linked to bioaccumulation, and elevated cadmium levels in a body has been statistically linked with a wide variety of ill health and cancers…..but an actual direct link between the elemental metal and harm has been slightly more elusive. I think that most of us know that inhaling metal dust is bad, even if human metabolism is built to deal with that metal (e.g. iron). Inhaling metal fumes is bad, not least because your lungs might be damaged by heat. There are a whole bunch of organic chemicals that are not good when found inside you…..regardless of what metal they’re attached to. Similarly (and this sounds like an echo), tobacco accumulates all sorts of metals in its leaves depending on the soil it is grown in — is it right to ascribe a smoker’s cancer to cadmium when there’s a dozen other candidates in there?

    That said, I’d probably leave a cadmium doorstop outside until I’d thrown on a couple of coats of polyurethane……and would give a pass to someone who offered me a cadmium sunscreen with a DMSO base.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

      1. Eh, there’s lots more funnier Dylan Moran out there — I was dodging around to find something uncensored by YouTube.

        The first episode of Black Books is just solid comedy that gains depth when rewatched.

        Liked by 2 people

        Reply

        1. Totally agree.

          Black Books is comedy genius. Have watched the three series many times, especially over Christmas. Dylan Moran never fails to make me laugh. I can totally relate to his character, Bernard Black.

          https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Books

          Bill Bailey is hilarious, too. His one-man stand up routines are great, especially when he plays a little original ditty of his on the keyboard. Very good musician — and witty lyricist.

          He explores chords and tones beautifully in ‘Doorbell’ — very funny:

          Like

          Reply

          1. YouTube says that it’s not available in my country (US). Fine for me, since I have it on DVD…..but to watch it you probably have to VPN to the UK.

            Liked by 2 people

            Reply

  11. Black Books — Dylan Moran at his best as Bernard Black.

    One of the best is the bit at 4:29, when a customer complains about ‘secondary smoke’ and Bernard just waves his cigarette in the guy’s face: ‘Don’t worry, just buy me a drink sometime’. Hilarious set of ‘best of’ clips:

    Like

    Reply

Leave a comment