Opal, elder millennial, she/her I write jellyfish fic on ao3 under Oparu (header by aleksandrachaev) Ask me and I will happily tag. Agents of SHIELD, Star Trek (Disco, TNG SNW PGY and VOY), Farscape, Stargate Atlantis, the Expanse. baby fic specialist - "what if this... but someone was giving birth in unpredictable conditions."
What about the final version of the flag by the original creator?
Gilbert Baker added a 9th stripe shortly before his death, with the new stripe representing diversity. He added this stripe in reaction to the 2016 US election. It’s unfortunately not as well known as the 8 and 6 striped versions.
Here’s an image of him sewing together the 9 striped rainbow flag.
[image description: the epic handshake meme. one arm is labelled gay people and the other is labelled lesbians. in the middle it says "fuck yeah bro". end id]
hey guys, quick reminder! this post is about uplifting other people!!! tags like 'ugh, but men are gross lol' or 'op has never met a man' are not welcome and will recieve an insta block! men are cool! women are cool! thank you for coming to my fucking ted talk! :-)
[The artist, putting a simple cake next to a much fancier one: “Aw man, that guy’s cake is way better than mine.” The Audience, gleefully holding up a knife and fork “HOLY SHIT! TWO CAKES!”]
"Creatives deserve to be paid" and "We desperately need community spaces for creatives that aren't focused on trying to make money or advance careers where we're allowed to make connections and experiment" are two statements that can and should coexist.
The slimy strings from okra and the gel from fenugreek seeds can trap microplastics better than the slightly-toxic synthetic polymer in use.
"The substances behind the slimy strings from okra and the gel from fenugreek seeds could trap microplastics better than a commonly used synthetic polymer.
Texas researchers proposed in 2022 using these sticky natural polymers to clean up water. Now, they’ve found that okra and/or fenugreek extracts attracted and removed up to 90% of microplastics from ocean water, freshwater, and groundwater.
With funding from the U.S. Department of Energy, Rajani Srinivasan and colleagues at Tarleton State University found that the plant-based polymers from okra, fenugreek, and tamarind stick to microplastics, clumping together and sinking for easy separation from water.
In this next stage of the research, they have optimized the process for okra and fenugreek extracts and tested results in a variety of types of water.
To extract the sticky plant polymers, the team soaked sliced okra pods and blended fenugreek seeds in separate containers of water overnight. Then, researchers removed the dissolved extracts from each solution and dried them into powders.
Analyses published in the American Chemical Society journal showed that the powdered extracts contained polysaccharides, which are natural polymers. Initial tests in pure water spiked with microplastics showed that:
One gram of either powder in a quart (one liter) of water trapped microplastics the most effectively.
Dried okra and fenugreek extracts removed 67% and 93%, respectively, of the plastic in an hour.
A mixture of equal parts okra and fenugreek powder reached maximum removal efficiency (70%) within 30 minutes.
The natural polymers performed significantly better than the synthetic, commercially available polyacrylamide polymer used in wastewater treatment.
Then the researchers tested the plant extracts on real microplastic-polluted water. They collected samples from waterbodies around Texas and brought them to the lab. The plant extract removal efficiency changed depending on the original water source.
Okra worked best in ocean water (80%), fenugreek in groundwater (80-90%), and the 1:1 combination of okra and fenugreek in freshwater (77%).
The researchers hypothesize that the natural polymers had different efficiencies because each water sample had different types, sizes and shapes of microplastics.
Polyacrylamide, which is currently used to remove contaminants during wastewater treatment, has low toxicity, but its precursor acrylamide is considered toxic. Okra and fenugreek extracts could serve as biodegradable and nontoxic alternatives.
“Utilizing these plant-based extracts in water treatment will remove microplastics and other pollutants without introducing additional toxic substances to the treated water,” said Srinivasan in a media release, “thus reducing long-term health risks to the population.”
She had previously studied the use of food-grade plant extracts as non-toxic flocculants to remove textile-based pollutants from wastewater and thought, ‘Why not try microplastics?’"
You should read PERSOPOLIS. You should, quite frankly, go visit a country with actual Iranians, Arabs, Muslims and other Middle Eastern people living there.
You should actually humanize these people, not pedestalize them.
Like, nothing will expand your brain quite like visiting Dubai. Not just good things, although there are SO many…but the neutral and bad things too. Because the world is actually complicated, and it’s not possible to divide it into “good countries/people” and “bad countries/people”.
Dubai is beautiful. It was built with what’s basically slave labor. Hearing the call to prayer played over loud speakers all over the city was incredible. The city is able to afford desalination of ocean water to supply drinking water because oil is cheaper than fresh water. Dubai operates under Sharia law. I saw women in everything from “western” clothes to full burqa in a Sephora buying makeup, and even the women in burqa had cool shoes. The women in burqa were accompanied by male family members and didn’t shop alone. There are amazing sights to see. There are prayer rooms in malls and mosques all around.
It’s COMPLICATED. They are people just like you. Some of them are kind. Some are cruel. Most are a mix of both, just like you and me.
I love the randomness of the kudos email. It’s the fic I wrote this week. The one that’s 13 years old. The one that I don’t remember what it’s about or even what fandom it is.
Thanks lovely readers. <3 your taste is mysterious and wonderful.
vaporwave
kianamaiart
ellievsbear
titsay
origamiaround
