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MeowZedong

@ MeowZedong @lemmygrad.ml

Posts
4
Comments
368
Joined
2 yr. ago

(Any/Comrade, Tankie for the unserious)

Marxist-Leninist with Meowist leanings (cat supremacy, but love all animals)

Labor organizer. USian.

Scientist, experience in vaccines/drug delivery/chemistry/analytics/biochemistry/protection of eggs dropped from tall structures

  • Lol, lmao even.

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  • Slight correction based on my experience and because even without a PhD, people regularly put in the time to become subject matter experts:

    Someone with a PhD isn't inherently more intelligent than other humans. They are able to put up with the institution abuse and bullshit required to be given a title that designates them as a subject matter expert in a field.

    No shade to PhDs, I feel your pain.

  • Does "Stalinism" actually exist?

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  • Pot-head

    How have I never heard this term in this context? Too good.

  • something disturbingly American about having to specify that the beans are vegetarian

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  • Honestly, whatever is cheapest. I don't eat them very often these days because I'm the only person in my household willing to eat beans.

  • something disturbingly American about having to specify that the beans are vegetarian

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  • Makes sense.

    It's kind of funny, a Mexican friend was the one who turned me on the vegetarian refried beans and insisted that we never get the ones made with lard. He wasn't a vegetarian or anything, but it's what his family used and he said it tasted better.

  • something disturbingly American about having to specify that the beans are vegetarian

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  • Idk if it's traditional, but cooked with lard vs not is the distinction.

  • Ultrasonic device dramatically speeds harvesting of water from the air

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  • It's possible, but not as much risk as other factors. I would expect the sorbent needs to be replaced mostly due to atmospheric exposure than the sonication. Sonication could accelerate environmental degradation. This conclusion would vary by the sorbent used.

    Risk 1: degradation of the sorbent supramolecular structure.

    The paper uses a hydrogel made from polyacrylamide and lithium chloride (PAM-LiCl) that is placed on top of a sonicator and typically treated <10 min at a time. I'm not familiar with PAM-LiCl hydrogels specifically, but many polymeric hydrogels have self-healing properties for the super molecular structures that could reform after disruption by something like sonication or shear-stress. This is addressed in the supplementary info of the paper and the conclusions sections say they didn't see the structure break down from the treatment based on SEM images. I did not look at this figure to double check that statement.

    Risk 2: degradation of the polymer/molecular structure.

    PAM is relatively resistant to the mechanical and temperature stresses it would be exposed to under these conditions, so I expect little risk from the sonication treatment. To assess that, we should consider the nature of that treatment.

    They designed their sonicators themselves, so I can't directly compare them to what I'm familiar with using, but the frequency they use is relatively high (>100 KHz) with relatively low power (1.5 W) compared to the types of sonicators used to break apart nanomaterials and the energy from the treatment does not appear to be focused, meaning the energy transfer is spread throughout the material relatively well. At higher frequencies, sonication treatment is not particularly well suited to breaking apart materials. You would want closer to 40 KHz to effectively break apart materials in the microparticle to nanoparticle range (typical size range for hydrogel supramolecular structures). The power used here is also relatively low and unfocused, so even if the frequency was lower, it wouldn't have much power to break apart the sorbent material a d the energy is well distributed. Any focal points created could experience higher rates of degradation if they exist within the material.

    If the treatment is not risky, then the main risk for PAM degradation is exposure to the atmospheric environment. This would be necessary for water extraction, but could expose PAM to conditions where it would begin to degrade or become contaminated and lower the water extraction efficiency. Acidic or alkaline conditions, exposure to oxidizers, free radicals, etc. would be the main contributors to degradation. Exposure to all of these would increase with time exposed to the atmosphere (and oxygen).

    Conclusion:

    My guess is that the sorbent would eventually need to be replaced, but even if the sonication doesn't contribute to this, exposure to the atmosphere will be a big factor in contamination/degradation of the sorbent material. What sonication treatment would likely do is contribute to speeding this degradation up. I could also see something surprising happening like the sonication process protecting the material by helping clear contaminants that lead to faster degradation via "washing" with the water pulled from air too, so maybe it could even be beneficial.

    The authors discussed applying this to other sorbents, so my answer would change with different materials, but where it would be viable to apply this technology, you could engineer the sonication to be minimally fatiguing to the sorbent.

    Sources:

  • China has planted so many trees it's changed the entire country's water distribution

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  • All of their freedom. They are an explicitly authoritarian country run by what they refer to as a "dictatorship of the treeletariat" wherein the trees own the means to production (water) and solely decide how it is distributed. No more tanks, just trees.

  • Stalin shouldnt have stopped at Manchuria.

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  • Anyways, I don't see anything special here. Just standard western nationalism-exceptionalism if that makes sense.

    I think it's more than that.

    Symbols associated with colonial projects can bring up a lot of generational trauma in countries that were on the receiving end of the atrocities performed by past colonizers. This is something that is easy to overlook for outsiders from countries without that history.

    The effects of Imperial Japan on the East Asian countries were significant, particularly for China. Remember, WWII began in the 1920s for China and arguably half of the fighting for the entire war occurred in China along with war crimes and atrocities or imperialism that were never repaired and are largely overlooked in the West. Some countries in the region managed to eject imperial Japan just to have the Western Allies bring the same Japanese officers right back to run their new colonial projects after "liberating" the East.

    The hard feelings toward Japan are deeply rooted in a bloody and violent history of subjugation that has never seen apologies or reparations made. While US POWs can say they too experienced trauma from imperial Japan, it's nothing compared to what the people of East Asia experienced every day in their homes. The trauma has a different, deeper nature and this is easy to overlook from an outside perspective when viewing the original post.

  • It's always about dat math

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  • Are you saying we should be tolerant of judgements placed upon large groups of people divided along arbitrary lines? Does the accuracy and universality of those judgements about each group hold up to the test of scrutiny and are they even based upon concrete evidence? If those judgements are accurate and universally true across those groups, should we be passing judgement upon each group for their differences? Is this a universal application of empathy?

    Should we be tolerant of intolerance? I think not.

  • Pro tip, just ask for a veterans discount.

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  • They've migrated north too, but mostly just big box hardware or sporting stores.

  • A word of encouragement

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  • I hope you find the same blessings in your own life and work, comrade!

  • A word of encouragement

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  • I think online spaces are good for learning, blowing off steam, and potentially getting a wider spectrum of views, but I wouldn't say it's a replacement for joining an organization. Reading and discussing theory is important, but the final step of learning is putting it into practice, which requires real-world application of theory.

    I can't speak to organizations that tend not to respond to people seeking membership (looking at you PSL), but if there are any other organizations in your local area that you can get involved with, even if they are socialist, but not explicitly ML, I would encourage you to get involved.

    Even if your views don't fully align with what the organization states on its surface, you'll probably find there is a range of beliefs within those orgs and you may even find some other MLs. Give them a shot and see what work they are actually doing before you pass judgement. An org that perfectly matches your views but that does little work toward changing material conditions is less useful than an org that feels slightly misaligned but actually makes an impact. Even a social democratic group will have some crossover with socialists that may lead you to meet the people you seek. It's easier to join an org when you know members than a cold-call email.

    Sorry, I went on a bit of a tangent after this, but I'll leave it here in case it helps you or someone else. I hope this helps and you are able to find some comrades to work with locally! It took me well over a year to be convinced the group I joined was the correct choice and despite that, I'm still reaching out to other organizations and making connections to collaborate on projects.

    An important part of being a socialist is learning to work with left allies across a range of beliefs. Not that you should never draw lines, but if you refuse to work with anyone but MLs, you will never get anything done. Hell, no socialist movement ever would have had success if they were unwilling to collaborate across ideologies.

    This is often an opportunity to discuss beliefs and I think you'll find that if you approach these relationships from a desire to reach a common goal with some ideological flexibility, the people you work with will naturally gravitate toward what works with time. Being an ML isn't about being dogmatic, it's about recognizing how our material reality shapes our lives and how we can use the lessons of history to make better decisions. Not everyone is at the same point and has the same beliefs. Some of the most effective organizers I know do not consider themselves Marxists, but tend toward Marxists approaches over time as they are convinced of their efficacy. Sometimes that means trying things I don't have much faith in before moving to what I actually think will work. You could view it as wasted time and energy, but I view it as a chance for people to learn. Not everyone is willing to be a theoryhead and there are a lot of barriers to getting people to adopt a Marxist approach throughout most of the world. Not everyone involved in the revolutions we've seen succeed was a part of the vanguard party.

    Our goal as MLs isn't to convert everyone to our ideology, but to help lead people towards approaches to changing our world that are effective and practical. Even the best-read ML will have a lot to learn from someone who has a lot of practical organizing experience, but rejects Marxism. We need to not only learn history and theory, but how to work with people in reality, not just some theoretical party that always agrees on everything. Dogmatism is rooted in idealism. There is no reality where everyone is ideologically aligned and perfectly consistent.

  • Comradeship // Freechat @lemmygrad.ml
    MeowZedong @lemmygrad.ml

    A word of encouragement

  • Yo, the mods of chapotraphouse@hexbear.net. Did I get banned or something? why is it not showing up on my account?

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  • Concrete evidence that the evil tankies love censorship and live in echo chambers like bats.

  • Matty has concerns about Nazi skulls.

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  • It’s just a fairly unique design, it’s like telling apart a Nazi eagle or an American eagle

    Different design, similar goals. Amerikkka is just catchier than Amerinazis.

    These photos are the same.

  • US deploys aircraft carrier towards Venezuela

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  • The US prefers to bomb people who struggle to fight back. They know China would pose a serious challenge and that's too great a risk to take head-on. Just look at how quickly they gave up against Yemen, and they aren't even close to the same level of military power as China.

    Rather than engage with China directly, they will attempt to attack indirectly as they did with the Soviet Union. China can attack the US mainland, Venezuela would struggle to do so.

  • History memes is healing?

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  • New Horseshoe Theory about to drop!

  • If You're Stuck on Windows 10, Don't Skip the Free Extended Security Updates Program

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  • Not a big fan of lotteries at this scale. I propose an alternative, voucher-based system where everyone gets one voucher per year. One voucher = one punch.

  • title

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  • Yeah, these are all critiques i've had of these protests, I just never thought of them as supporting ICE. When you put it in the context of false solidarity or lacking solidarity, that makes sense.

    Thank you!

  • title

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  • they're a protest against the very idea of solidarity against ICE

    Maybe it's that I'm tired or maybe I haven't paid enough attention, but could you explain this for me?

  • ProleWiki @lemmygrad.ml
    MeowZedong @lemmygrad.ml

    Suggested Edits on Library Entries

  • Comradeship // Freechat @lemmygrad.ml
    MeowZedong @lemmygrad.ml

    Posts commemorating the Tiananmen Square Massacre are rooted purely in Western Chauvinism

  • Cuba @lemmygrad.ml
    MeowZedong @lemmygrad.ml

    The People's Forum is raising funds to send emergency food aid to Cuba

    secure.givelively.org /donate/peoples-forum-inc/let-cuba-live-bread-for-our-neighbors