Tootfinder

Scientists identify 4,200 plastic chemicals of concern and highlight safer approaches https://phys.org/news/2025-07-scientists-plastic-chemicals-highlight-safer.html

Scientists identify 4,200 plastic chemicals of concern and highlight safer approaches
Countries are currently negotiating a global treaty to end plastic pollution and make plastics safer and more sustainable. Plastic chemicals are a core issue because all plastics, from food packaging to car tires, contain hundreds of chemicals that can leach into foodstuffs, homes, and the environment.

I wrote about why Zohran Mamdani's free bus fare policy is a good idea actually, and the difference between thinking about transit as a consultant versus as a voter and activist.
(public replies to this toot will appear as comments)
https://scott.mn/2025/06/11/consultant

Consultant's mindset, or why Jarrett Walker is wrong about free buses

I'm not saying any new shit:
"I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro's great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen's Counciler or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate, who is more devoted to "order" than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says: "I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I cannot agree with your methods of direct action"; who paternalistically believes he can set the timetable for another man's freedom; who lives by a mythical concept of time and who constantly advises the Negro to wait for a "more convenient season." Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will. Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection."
- Letter from a Birmingham Jail, MLK

Under a new cybersecurity blueprint, the European Union will work more closely with national militaries and the NATO defense alliance to respond to large-scale cyberattacks.
https://www.politico.eu/article/europe-arms-cyber-council-military-c…

Europe arms itself against cyber catastrophe
EU to train with militaries, industry and NATO to better fend off large-scale cyberattacks.

Conclusive Local State Marking: More Nonlocality With No Entanglement
Samrat Sen
https://arxiv.org/abs/2506.09415 https://arxiv.org/p…

Conclusive Local State Marking: More Nonlocality With No Entanglement
Nonlocality exhibited by ensembles of composite quantum states, wherein local operations and classical communication (LOCC) yield suboptimal discrimination probabilities compared to global strategies, is one of the striking nonclassical features of quantum theory. A variant of this phenomenon arises in conclusive local state discrimination, where the correct state must be identified with zero error, albeit allowing for inconclusive outcomes. More recently, the notion of local state marking has …

Further tests reveal Grok 4 appears to consult Elon Musk's views on a range of sensitive topics, and its answers tend to align with Musk's personal opinions (Maxwell Zeff/TechCrunch)
https://techcrunch.com/2025/07/10/grok

Grok 4 seems to consult Elon Musk to answer controversial questions | TechCrunch
Elon Musk's newly launched AI chatbot, Grok 4, seemed to reference Musk's posts on social media before answering controversial questions.

The right wing threat and a viable future
A statement from Steady State Manchester Introduction With horror we see the electoral success of POX, The party of Xenophobes and Fascists (which, without irony, actually calls itself Reform UK1). In the May election round they gained 677 more councillors, took control of 8 councils, landed a regional Mayor and gained another MP, in a formerly safe Labour seat.

The right wing threat and a viable future
A statement from Steady State Manchester Introduction With horror we see the electoral success of POX, The party of Xenophobes and Fascists (which, without irony, actually calls itself Reform UK1).…

WEBCAST JUN 12 - Atlantic Council - Why the UN’s Internet Governance Forum still matters twenty years on
#IGF2025
https://isoc.live/19443

YES!
GDP growth is effectively dead.The motor is broken.
Now it's time to face reality and share the wealth that is so evidently present.
An economy for life!
#degrowth
Blow to Chancellor as UK economy shrank unexpectedly in May

Blow to Chancellor as UK economy shrank unexpectedly in May
The UK economy contracted unexpectedly in May, marking the second month in a row of falling output and heaping further pressure on Chancellor Rachel Reeves. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said gross domestic product (GDP) contracted by 0.1% in May, following a 0.3% drop in April. Most economists had expected the economy to rebound […]

"In 2016, a chemical called PFOA, which had been used in the making of Teflon at a fabric-coating plant in Hoosick Falls, was discovered in the village’s water supply. "
Hoosick Falls, DuPont settle water suit for $27M
https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/5396389-dupont-27m-settlement-hoosick-falls-new-york-pfoa-pfas-forever-chemicals-water-contamination-lawsuit/