- Scientists racing to tackle plastic pollution have created a surprising new contender: a biodegradable packaging film made partly from milk protein. Researchers at Flinders University blended calcium caseinate with starch and natural nanoclay to form a thin, durable material designed to mimic everyday plastic. In soil tests, the film fully broke down in about 13 weeks, pointing to a realistic alternative for single-use food packaging.
Thursday, March 5, 2026
This plastic is made from milk and it vanishes in 13 weeks | ScienceDaily
Leopards adapted to South Africa's Cape so successfully that they're genetically unique
Well. What do you know? These leopards evolved and adapted, based on their environment.
Shocking. Said no one with half a brain ever.
Disney's Disability Assistance Program
As I've noted in the past, Disney has always been inclusive, and had a program to make it easier for people with specific issues (like, say, autism) could get a pass to have a return time, so they didn't have to wait in line ... because in some cases that would be impossible.
Knuckleheads abused the system, and they changed it to be more complicated - but still made it so that people with certain conditions didn't have to wait in lines. But.... Disney doesn't like the way the current system is setup, given all the technological innovations they've put in place and the fact that the system can (and is) still be abused.
Couple that with the very weird climate around any sort of "differences" in people that we have in society today, and Disney wants to rethink their strategy.
They are asking shareholders to weigh in on whether they should create a sort of executive review panel to look into this further and come up with better solutions.
And one might assume that the outcome might be that they will find a way to provide a better solution - for a price. It might be more inclusive, but surely will ask people to spend more.
Paramount Won't Say Whether Middle East Money Is Funding Its WBD Deal - Business Insider
The FCC wants to "quickly approve" the merger of paramount and Warner brothers. But how did this come to pass?
Why three nations in the Middle East funded it! So it's not US based media anymore. Now it's all owned by T-rump loving countries.
I guess we don't have independence anymore.
The 2026 World Cup faces big challenges with 100 days to go : NPR
The future - as it extends to the World Cup - remains kind of uncertain.
There are questions about security at games and around the venues (the images from last year of the game in Miami still come to mind), and fan events are getting cancelled due to lack of structure, stability, and money.
Homeland security blames the shutdown and assorted things, but yet still has plenty of money to round people up and fly them to a third world prison. Go figure.
Meanwhile, we have the ongoing conflict in Iran that surely will prevent fans from attending … and there are questions about whether the team can/will participate.
Mexico also has a host of issues - mainly because the US helped kill a drug lord which caused chaos that has been spiraling.
And countries from Europe and Africa are voicing concerns.
Under 100 days until the games kickoff. And nothing is certain.
Wednesday, March 4, 2026
Stupid is as stupid does
The orange menace opts to attack another sovereign nation for reasons that make no sense. Iran didn't do anything to incite the US, but he attacked purportedly to make a regime change. That's a war crime, something he should be held accountable for. Innocent people are dying at his hands.
But what makes this so much worse is that there really is no plan here. The objective and end game are unknown. Heck, apparently many allies were caught off guard, too. That's a contributing factor to why Kuwait shot down some US planes; they had no idea what was happening.
And there is this oddity too. The US is making statements about how the Iranian military needs to surrender. Except that this message is not getting through. The internet was suppressed in Iran by their government. And the US made no effort to turn it back on or provide another means to get online. Also, in all his cost cutting, T-rump cut funding for Air America and other propaganda tools. Meaning that no one is relaying information to Iranians on our behalf.
Telling people to surrender has no effect if they can't hear you.
There's also the matter of people traveling anywhere in that region and getting stuck. They are paying for an "extended vacation" with no end in sight, missing work and their families, with no means to get home. Heck, there's not even a plan. Often, the US government would alert people to leave or not travel, and / or have an evacuation plan for citizens (which the citizen must reimburse the government for).
And because of this surprise war, the markets don't know how to react, and thus go down. And because it's a Middle East conflict, gas prices go up… which affects our economy.
It's all just nuts.
Monday, March 2, 2026
Kryptos - the sculpture at CIA headquarters.
Back in 1990, artist Jim Sanborn created a sculpture for the CIA that was appropriate in that it had 4 parts which had a code embedded on them. The codes were all different and he challenged anyone to decipher them all.
3 were deciphered fairly quickly by cryptographers at the CIA, though the results were kept secret for a few more years.
But the 4th one remained unbroken. Until a couple of reporters figured out a way to break the code via a side door - at the national archives.
They're not saying what the answer is, and the code itself remains undeciphered still.
And the person who owns the key to all of it tells us that there is a 5th cypher that hasn't revealed itself yet.
This is kind of amazing and the article breaks it down for us.
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