"Unfettered, unrestricted capitalism is a fantasy" - only because any time it shows up, regulation follows along behind. (Similar dilution happens with other "pure" implementations of economic theories.)
"only in the last couple of decades"? what about the great big monopolistic empires of the late 19th Century? Standard Oil? United Steel? J P Morgan and Carnegie? The railroads? These are the reasons the original anti-trust laws were passed. (And before that, go back to the East India Company and the other government-licensed charter companies.)
Corporatism is a political system which is not at all at odds with "pure" or even regulated capitalism (an economic system).
People are always going to label people or arguments they dislike with names for other things they dislike, whether it's "you poopoo-head!" on the playground, "communist" or "Nazi" (or "capitalist") for adults. Are you hoping that's a "sign of the end days of this world view"? Keep hoping, 'cause people have been dismissing (or attacking) other people as "socialist" or "communist" pretty much since those terms were coined.
I'm astonished that nobody's objected yet to the idea of implanting microchips in alpacas - without their consent, obviously, since they can't give it - and then using the chips to make sure they can't cross borders.
Replace "alpacas" in the above sentence with "immigrants" (or "the mentally handicapped") and there'd be a huge outcry about evil government conspiracies. As it is, the only real debate seems to be "will it work?"
"But alpacas aren't people!" C'mon, what happened to the good ole' slippery slope?:) It's not Slashdot without kneejerk opposition to implanted tracking chips!
Yeah, it's found naturally (in some ores, not "native"), but not necessarily as 30 nm particles with catalytic activity... there may well be extensive use of chlorine (etc.) in converting it to pure nanoparticles. (For instance, silica particles are usually produced by converting regular SiO2 to SiCl4, and then turning tiny droplets of SiCl4 back into SiO2.)
Even so, titania is in a bunch of stuff anyway, and the problems of controlling pollution are (mostly) well-solved already. So yeah, it does require a production process, but it's not some evil, soul-destroying process that poisons entire nation-states.
How is this "insightful"?? The article points out that no, the paint does NOT absorb the NOx, it catalyzes the conversion of NOx to nitric acid - which then either gets neutralized by the calcium carbonate particles in the paint, or washes away in the next rain. So no, entire neighborhoods will not become "big cubes of smog".
And yes, the article also addresses the problem that the calcium carbonate will eventually get used up, and the acid produced will attack the polysiloxane base/carrier, causing it to turn "LA-brown" - but not quite from the simple "soaking up" of smog. Guess what? standard paint still gets weathered/discolored right now.
The paint converts NOx to nitric acid (HNO3), rather than simply adsorbing it (which would quickly make the paint "full" and leave it useless). This conversion depends, as the article says, on ultraviolet light, water, and oxygen (it's an oxidation reaction, there's gotta be somewhere for electrons to go). Now, I dunno about you, but there's not much UV light in my lungs, so it's not likely the particles would work too well inside me.
This is aside from the fact that the particles themselves may well be active enough to trigger an immune response or mechanically abrade lung tissue. Plus there's all those wonderful paint vapors, as you pointed out.
Maybe instead you should look for a shirt with fiber that entrains/encapsulates similar particles - might work nicely as long as you wear it in the sunshine.
Slashdot Mirror
"Unfettered, unrestricted capitalism is a fantasy" - only because any time it shows up, regulation follows along behind. (Similar dilution happens with other "pure" implementations of economic theories.)
"only in the last couple of decades"? what about the great big monopolistic empires of the late 19th Century? Standard Oil? United Steel? J P Morgan and Carnegie? The railroads? These are the reasons the original anti-trust laws were passed. (And before that, go back to the East India Company and the other government-licensed charter companies.)
Corporatism is a political system which is not at all at odds with "pure" or even regulated capitalism (an economic system).
People are always going to label people or arguments they dislike with names for other things they dislike, whether it's "you poopoo-head!" on the playground, "communist" or "Nazi" (or "capitalist") for adults. Are you hoping that's a "sign of the end days of this world view"? Keep hoping, 'cause people have been dismissing (or attacking) other people as "socialist" or "communist" pretty much since those terms were coined.
I'm astonished that nobody's objected yet to the idea of implanting microchips in alpacas - without their consent, obviously, since they can't give it - and then using the chips to make sure they can't cross borders.
:) It's not Slashdot without kneejerk opposition to implanted tracking chips!
Replace "alpacas" in the above sentence with "immigrants" (or "the mentally handicapped") and there'd be a huge outcry about evil government conspiracies. As it is, the only real debate seems to be "will it work?"
"But alpacas aren't people!" C'mon, what happened to the good ole' slippery slope?
Yeah, it's found naturally (in some ores, not "native"), but not necessarily as 30 nm particles with catalytic activity... there may well be extensive use of chlorine (etc.) in converting it to pure nanoparticles. (For instance, silica particles are usually produced by converting regular SiO2 to SiCl4, and then turning tiny droplets of SiCl4 back into SiO2.) Even so, titania is in a bunch of stuff anyway, and the problems of controlling pollution are (mostly) well-solved already. So yeah, it does require a production process, but it's not some evil, soul-destroying process that poisons entire nation-states.
How is this "insightful"?? The article points out that no, the paint does NOT absorb the NOx, it catalyzes the conversion of NOx to nitric acid - which then either gets neutralized by the calcium carbonate particles in the paint, or washes away in the next rain. So no, entire neighborhoods will not become "big cubes of smog". And yes, the article also addresses the problem that the calcium carbonate will eventually get used up, and the acid produced will attack the polysiloxane base/carrier, causing it to turn "LA-brown" - but not quite from the simple "soaking up" of smog. Guess what? standard paint still gets weathered/discolored right now.
The paint converts NOx to nitric acid (HNO3), rather than simply adsorbing it (which would quickly make the paint "full" and leave it useless). This conversion depends, as the article says, on ultraviolet light, water, and oxygen (it's an oxidation reaction, there's gotta be somewhere for electrons to go). Now, I dunno about you, but there's not much UV light in my lungs, so it's not likely the particles would work too well inside me.
This is aside from the fact that the particles themselves may well be active enough to trigger an immune response or mechanically abrade lung tissue. Plus there's all those wonderful paint vapors, as you pointed out.
Maybe instead you should look for a shirt with fiber that entrains/encapsulates similar particles - might work nicely as long as you wear it in the sunshine.