The unimportant news thread

[MusicTurner]

Wow!  I had heard a news story the other day about the amount of energy it took for all of the "Thank you" emails that are sent.

https://www.pcmag.com/news/reduce-your-carbon-footprint-dont-send-thank-you-emails

Yes, it's quite astounding, adding to the dubious dimensions of the whole Bitcoin thing ...

As for avoiding sending Thank You emails, I'm less for it, but I guess it's worth reflecting on aspects of it, for a start. I'd suppose spam and irrelevant commercials add more ...

[Pohjolas Daughter]

Yes, it's quite astounding, adding to the dubious dimensions of the whole Bitcoin  thing ...

As for avoiding sending Thank You emails, I'm less for it, but I guess it's worth reflecting on aspects of it, for a start. I'd suppose spam and irrelevant commercials add more ...

The article was more about useless = non-actionable emails that people send out in general.  Question is:  how to be polite without wasting a lot of energy.   

PD

[DavidW]

The article was more about useless = non-actionable emails that people send out in general.  Question is:  how to be polite without wasting a lot of energy.   

PD

They didn't even talk about the #1 huge waste in emails... long signatures.

[Todd]

277 pounds of contraband bologna found in floorboards at N.M. border, agents say

[Todd]

France's former president Nicolas Sarkozy sentenced to prison in corruption trial

[Todd]

Bye, Bismarck: 144 cities could lose status as metro areas

[DavidW]

Digital outsells vinyl in US

Key takeaways:
(a) vinyl outsold cds by revenue, but...
(b) cds outsold vinyl by volume...
(c) and cds and digital downloads collectively outsold vinyl

And to no one's surprise streaming outsold all of them by a very wide margin.

[Todd]

The real takeaway is gross revenue for all media, which went poof.



Hence, ridiculous prices for so many pop music concert tickets and the severely reduced number of big name, big band recordings by the erstwhile majors in the classical space.  Since I have access to more recorded music at a lower inflation adjusted price than at any previous time in my life, it's all good.

Napster really did kill the record business.  Yay!

[DavidW]

That is shockingly small.  No wonder performers are financing their own recordings.  Nobody spends money on music anymore!  This makes me think that publishers do have the right idea in avoiding Kindle Unlimited.

[Todd]

JPG File Sells for $69 Million, as 'NFT Mania' Gathers Pace

[DavidW]

A bipartisan group of senators is once again trying to make daylight savings time permanent year round.

[steve ridgway]

A bipartisan group of senators is once again trying to make daylight savings time permanent year round.

Bah, it's bad enough claiming noon occurs at nine minutes past one in the summer.

[JBS]

Bah, it's bad enough claiming noon occurs at nine minutes past one in the summer.

If it's the midpoint of the solar day (sunrise-sunset) noon will usually not be at 12 noon. In my locale it was at 12:30 PM today, and will be at 1:30 PM on Sunday because of the switch to DST.

(I have an app that gives me this sort of information.)

[steve ridgway]

If it's the midpoint of the solar day (sunrise-sunset) noon will usually not be at 12 noon. In my locale it was at 12:30 PM today, and will be at 1:30 PM on Sunday because of the switch to DST.

Exactly. I like to remain aware of the discrepancy between human convention and physical reality.

[MusicTurner]

A recent survey here in DK has shown that for each kilometer motorway/freeway, the car tyres will typically release two tonnes of microplast - per year.

That is 60% of the total, annual pollution of microplast here, and 600 times of that constituted by cosmetics.

[Pohjolas Daughter]

A recent survey here in DK has shown that for each kilometer motorway/freeway, the car tyres will typically release two tonnes of microplast - per year.

That is 60% of the total, annual pollution of microplast here, and 600 times of that constituted by cosmetics.

 

[DavidW]

A recent survey here in DK has shown that for each kilometer motorway/freeway, the car tyres will typically release two tonnes of microplast - per year.

That is 60% of the total, annual pollution of microplast here, and 600 times of that constituted by cosmetics.

Makes me feel better that I walk everywhere except the grocery store.

[MusicTurner]

Yes, those are quite incredible data ...

[Florestan]

I commute every weekend --- and sometimes even during weekdays --- back and forth between Bucharest and a village 120 km away. I mean, I, my wife and our son plus the corresponding luggages. Tell me we could do it as fast and convenient by public transportation instead of by our car., especially in these times of social distancing 

[DavidW]

I commute every weekend --- and sometimes even during weekdays --- back and forth between Bucharest and a village 120 km away. I mean, I, my wife and our son plus the corresponding luggages. Tell me we could do it as fast and convenient by public transportation instead of by our car., especially in these times of social distancing 

Oh that is not that bad.  I know people who make that same distance commute Monday through Friday for work!