Tires are a large if not the the largest source of microplastic pollution.

https://www.thedrive.com/news/tire-dust-makes-up-the-majority-of-ocean-microplastics-study-finds

Yes by being far more numerous private vehicles are the largest source, but buses will also be contributing too.

Related sources: "The biggest source of microplastics in California coastal waters? Car tires" https://www.cnn.com/2019/10/04/us/microplastic-pollution-car-tire-trnd/index.html

"Pollution from car tires is killing off salmon on US west coast, study finds" https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/dec/03/coho-salmon-pollution-car-tires-die-off

Where you getting bloodcursed elven bullets?

( https://skyrim.fandom.com/wiki/Bloodcursed_Elven_Arrow )

Librature has a list of DRM free individuals and small presses https://libreture.com/bookshops/

Oh I forgot also if you check the details on kobo, some of the books are sold DRM free. Mostly I think it was from Tor, but could be other publishers as well.

There's definitely the genetic component too, but the scents from soap is an interesting thing to test out.

And for what it's worth some types of oil of lemon eucalyptus works reasonably well, if you don't want to use DEET. https://www.consumerreports.org/health/insect-repellent/oil-of-lemon-eucalyptus-insect-repellents-a7989538414/

Some friends really like this stuff "Repel Lemon Eucalyptus Insect Repellent2 Pump" and consumer reports also thinks it works pretty well.

There's some reports that the interaction of soaps and shampoos influence how tasty a person smells, so it might be worth trying different products.

https://www.prevention.com/health/a43863971/different-soaps-may-make-you-more-attractive-to-mosquitoes/

Write MP3s to them and use them to play one song in a modern car.

(I saw a video of someone playing a clip of music using a USB floppy drive)

I run my own XMPP server. https://joinjabber.org/ has some introductory information Snickket is a all in one service you can host or your can pay them to host https://snikket.org/start/

XMPP servers and clients are a lot lighter weight than matrix, though I think matrix has more fancy features.

They're both self hostable and are federated to share the costs of running the network.

With signal there's a non-profit that needs some pretty steam funding to stay in business. (Though they're popular so maybe they can get it) https://www.pcmag.com/news/want-to-run-an-encrypted-chat-app-youll-need-50-million-signal-says

I make black beans from dried frequently in an instant pot

I also like this chana masala recipe starting from dried chickpeas https://ministryofcurry.com/instant-pot-chana-masala-recipe/#recipe

You're welcome, and good luck with your project

Here me out. what if we build 3-5 story concrete buildings with stairs, and doors, and we don't pay for guards? Wouldn't that be even cheaper?

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

Dark Sky is a group working to protect the visibility of the night sky. https://darksky.org/what-we-do/advancing-responsible-outdoor-lighting/

They've got suggestions on both limiting use of lighting and using lights that don't point upward, automatically dim, and don't generate a lot of glare

There's some weird links between american christianity and oil. At the very least a bunch of the people who got rich off of oil also tended to be devout christians, and used their money to support evangelizing christianity and oil dominance.

There's a number of different reviews for "Anointed With Oil: How Christianity and Crude Made Modern America"

This is an especially detailed one. https://www.bostonreview.net/articles/kim-phillips-fein-anointed-oil/

I found the book and it's reviews after noticing just how biased toward the republicans the owners of the oil companies tended to be. Other large businesses tend to play both sides in politics, but the owners of the oil companies really seem to be really into the traditional gender hierarchies.

darktable used xmp, and that looks like an alternate metadata format, it looks like exiftools might be able to work with the xmp standard, and it looks like there's some face tagging features in xmp.

https://photo.stackexchange.com/questions/106410/how-does-xmp-define-the-face-region

I blame the young earth creationist christians who think that humans are incapable of destroying gods creation, and that the increasing planetary instability means that god will return and put them in charge any day now.

I feel it's unfair to be blaming phones, social media, and multiplayer video games for being the way teens get some peer socialization in a world that is so deeply unfriendly to teens having independence.

danah boyd spent a bunch of time studying teen use of earlier social media, and then for personal reasons moved on to help run teen crisis text hotline.

Her thought for why US teens are struggling are the lack of non-parent trusted adults in their lives.

"Struggling with a Moral Panic Once Again" https://www.zephoria.org/thoughts/archives/2024/04/19/struggling-with-a-moral-panic-once-again.html

There's also some evidence that it's mostly teens on wealthy English speaking countries that are the most depressed.

"America’s Top Export May Be Anxiety: English-speaking teens are spreading their problems abroad." https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2024/06/mental-health-crisis-anglosphere-depressed/678724/

I have long thought modern American kids have too little freedom to go places on their own.

"This article is more than 8 years old: The popsicle test: what makes a city good for children?" https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2015/aug/21/city-good-children-popsicle-test-crime-property-play

I think some players have used a mithril chain shirt as a sleep shirt, which i think is technically legal.