Interesting Links for 20-04-2022

[andrewducker]

1. Boots to flush plastic fibre wet wipes from its shelves by the end of the year

(tags:plastic waste recycling )

2. Brexit felt all the way down in Falkland Islands as fishing exports take a hit after squid orders in EU dry up

(tags:squid trade falklands Europe uk Doom )

3. Me,a week ago "I'm not watching a five hour review of Dark Souls". Me, today "Well, I guess I'd better share that with my friends"

(tags:video review games )

4. Fake reviews to be illegal under new UK rules - subscriptions to be easier to leave

(tags:uk law reviews fraud )

5. The stories behind 10 of the roads in the Edinburgh neighbourhood - from Baltic Street to Easter Road

(tags:names edinburgh )

6. The UK population are not impressed with their government

(tags:uk Conservatives fail polls )

7. Sanctions on Russia are effective, and will get moreso

(tags:Russia )

Comments

[nancylebov]

Should there be a way to end automatic payments at one's bank?

[andrewducker]

You should be able to do that anyway.

But it shouldn't be necessary - and if you still have an active subscription that you've cancelled payments for then you're incurring a debt and they could send collectors after you. And ruin your credit rating.

1 Wet wipes

[haggis]

I completely support this (and FFS people, do not flush the damn things down the toilet. Even the plastic free kinds! Unlike toilet paper, they are designed NOT to dissolve when wet so they either have to be screened out at the sewage works OR accumulate in the sewers).

But the brand of babywipe that we use has just switched to plastic-free and it is really clear what the plastic was for. The texture is now like cottonwool and they stick together much more.

Re: 1 Wet wipes

[lilysea]

Even paper facial tissues of the sort that you use for blowing your nose (NOT wet wipes)

can clog toilets :(

because while they're a lot more soluble than wet wipes,

they are a lot LESS soluble than toilet paper...

Re: 1 Wet wipes

[andrewducker]

Yeah there'll definitely be some competition to try and make ones that hold together better while not having plastic in them

4 Fake Reviews

[jducoeur]

Sentences like:

Websites hosting consumer reviews will have to take reasonable steps to check they are genuine.

do not fill me with joy. The intent is good, but finding a balance between a policy that is ineffective and one that is unmanageably onerous isn't going to be easy. (Indeed, I don't even have much idea offhand how one would do this at all well. At best, it's basically the same arm's race as we see with spam detection.)

Re: 4 Fake Reviews

[andrewducker]

Yeah, I assume that reputable sites already don't want fraudulent reviews!

[poshmerchant]

Is it just me, or does Elden Ring look like an ugly and visually unattractive game? The environments that I've seen in videos don't make any visual sense, the world looks dead, and the colours are washed out. It's like I'm looking at a weird Quake 2 mod, but in 2022. Is it an acquired taste? Am I out of touch, or is it the kids who are wrong?

[andrewducker]

It's definitely a stylistic choice. Totally fine if it's not one that speaks to you!

[andrewducker]

I mean, I don't like the look of Bloodborne, and many many people love its aesthetic.