Nearly 70 petrochemical companies across the nation,
including 30 in Texas,
are sending millions of pounds of pollutants into waterways each year
due to weak or nonexistent regulations,
according to a report published by the watchdog group Environmental Integrity Project.

The report analyzed wastewater discharges from petrochemical companies that produce plastics across the U.S,
finding that a majority of the facilities had violated Clean Water Act permits
and few were punished.

In addition, only a few states are regulating some of the hazardous chemicals or substances of concern,
and there are currently no limits set from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for these contaminants in effluent water guidelines for the plastics industry.
ehn.org/petrochemical-plants-s…

Daniel has a sudden realisation: "WE can have a brat summer!"

This is from our latest episode with @grammargirl.bsky.social Mignon Fogarty and all the patrons in chat. So much fun!
becauselanguage.com/111-words-…

A drone view shows a car driving through a flooded street after Hurricane Milton made landfall in South Daytona, #Florida, U.S., October 11. REUTERS/Ricardo Arduengo

@photography
#flood

bsky.app/profile/warren.senate.gov/post/3ldttd7lbic2c

When you order your morning coffee, you want to know that your barista is paid a fair wage. But Starbucks isn’t just short-changing their baristas — they’re also stalling negotiations and union-busting. Starbucks Workers United: We’ve got your back. …

Flames rise as a #wildfire burns next to the village of Ano Loutro, near Corinth, #Greece, September 29. REUTERS/Vassilis Psomas

@photography

Star Trek III: The Search for Spock - The Making of the Classic Film is an upcoming book by @titanbooks (September 2025).

And given how great the first two books devoted to this movie series were, I'm glad these films are getting such a treatment four decades later.

Residents sift through the rubble as they recover their belongings after the Nairobi river burst its banks and destroyed their homes within the Mathare Valley settlement in Nairobi, #Kenya, April 25. REUTERS/Monicah Mwangi

@photography
#flood

A drone view shows boats stranded on the Rio Negro as the river reached its lowest point in its history during the most intense and widespread #drought the country has experienced since records began in 1950, in Manaus, Amazonas state, #Brazil, October 4. REUTERS/Bruno Kelly

@photography
#rivers

HELP ME, MASTO-NERD KENOBI!

My dual-boot #Ubuntu system was running fine until, I think, the last Ubuntu update.

Normal boot: black screen on one monitor (with an occasional graphical X at the lower right), somehow even less on the other.

Safe mode ("Linux 6.8.0-51-generic"): fine, but when I try to continue to a normal boot, I just get a blinking underscore at upper left.

I've tried a few variations of "reinstall the nvidia drivers" that I found online, but nothing seems to help.

#linux

A general view of Kaweni, in the aftermath of #Cyclone Chido, in #Mayotte, France, December 18. REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes

@photography

Events for the 22nd of December from Wikipedia:

• 1944: World War II: Battle of the Bulge: German troops demand the surrender of United States troops at Bastogne, Belgium, prompting the famous one word reply by General Anthony McAuliffe: "Nuts!" en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_o…
• Birth (1957) of Peter Mortimer, Australian rugby league player en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Mo…
#history #events #historical #today @histodons

#Parrots fly through the smoke caused by the forest fires in the community of Palestina, in Concepcion, #Bolivia, September 13. REUTERS/Ipa Ibanez

@photography
#wildfire

Any good, open source, software for karaoke out there?

#wled #opensource #Christmas

A man throws an object while standing on a section of a #bridge destroyed during the aftermath of tropical #storm Sara, in La Ceiba, #Honduras, November 16. REUTERS/Esau Ocampo

@photography

Hi, moOde 9.2.0 is available in the Media Player OS section of the Raspberry Pi Imager or as a direct download at moodeaudio.org. Visit the Forum for more information moodeaudio.org/forum/showthrea…

#audio #foss #linux #raspberrypi #music #moodeaudio #opensource #supporter

22 December 1901 | A Czech Jewish woman, Hana Mandlová, was born in Prague.

She was deported to #Auschwitz from Theresienstadt ghetto on 6 September 1943. She did not survive.