“spicy pillow” jokes aside, I think @flowerkrone’s tags deserve a serious reply:
#my old phone looks like this on my shelf lmao #im too scared to touch it to throw it away #idk what trash this even goes into when its at this point
The pillow-shaped object here used to be the phone’s battery. It’s not a battery anymore. Now it’s a balloon full of corrosive, pyrophoric chemicals and hydrogen gas and it’s one puncture away from burning your house down. I am 100% serious. You should be scared to touch it.
But you gotta touch it, because you gotta get it out of your house before the pressure builds up to the point where the balloon pops. This isn’t going to happen soon – there is no need to panic – but it will happen eventually.
And, indeed, it doesn’t go in the ordinary trash. You put this in the ordinary trash and you’re gonna set the garbage truck on fire. Don’t do that to the garbage collectors, their job is hard enough already.
The first thing you need to do is get a fireproof container. The most common household item that qualifies as a fireproof container is a cast-iron cookpot with a cast-iron lid – often sold as a “Dutch oven.” Any other cooking container that’s unreactive, has a very high melting point, and has a lid made of the same materials will also work: enameled or stainless steel, Pyrex with glass lid, etc.
However: Do not use a pot with a PTFE-based non-stick coating. If the battery does explode, the fire will probably be hot enough to degrade a PTFE coating, producing toxic smoke. (Not that you should breathe the smoke from the battery fire either, but PTFE breakdown products are worse.) Do not use a pot made of aluminium or copper. The fire might even get hot enough to melt those.
Whatever container you use, you might have to throw away along with the phone, so don’t use your good Dutch oven for this. Go to a thrift store and buy a cheap one.
Once you have the fireproof container:
Gently pick up the phone and put it in the fireproof container. If possible, gently tape the phone to the bottom of the container to prevent it from bouncing around. Don’t put any padding in there, that’ll just make a fire worse if it does happen. Put the lid on and tape it shut.
Put a label on the container, something like “DEFECTIVE LI-ION BATTERY – FIRE HAZARD”.
It is now reasonably safe to move the container around. However, if the battery does explode, the container is very likely to leak smoke and get hot, so keep it in a well-ventilated area and away from things that will be damaged by heat. Don’t leave it exposed to the weather, either.
You need to find either a hazardous waste disposal site, or an e-waste recycler that
will accept defective Li-ion batteries. I can’t help with that because I
have no idea where you live.
However, your local fire department, if you have one, will probably be happy to help. Call their non-emergency number. Nothing is on fire yet, so this isn’t an emergency, but things that can easily start a fire are still within the fire department’s responsibilities. Tell them you have a phone with a bulging lithium-ion battery, you put it in a fireproof container, and you want to know how to dispose of it safely.
If the fire department tries to tell you this isn’t dangerous or it’s okay to throw it out in the regular trash (with or without fireproof container), hang up on them and write a cranky letter to your local government representatives, then keep looking for a proper disposal site.
When you do find a a hazardous waste disposal site or an e-waste recycler, call them and make sure they will take defective Li-ion batteries, before showing up. That’s also a good time to ask if they will let you have the fireproof container back.
It should be noted that this battery swelling process takes quite some time before it gets to the point it shows in this photo - and the sooner you deal with it, the easier it is. For example, if your phone or laptop isn’t that old and the battery swelling isn’t severe (maybe the case is just flexing a bit, or has just popped open) you can generally transport it safely to an electronics store (ideally where you bought it) and recycle it there.
The big thing is to never puncture the battery (lithium burns on contact with air!), apply pressure to it (no squeezing! It looks fun but burns aren’t!), and keep it cool (don’t leave it in your car while you run an errand on your way to dispose of it).
If you live in the USA, EPA’s Earth 911 database can help you find places to dispose of this or any other household hazardous waste: just visit the site and search for “Household Hazardous Waste” plus your zip code. Most areas have drop off sites that are free and are equipped to safely dispose of anything like this - and they’ll let you keep your pot!
Remember, if it’s been at least 2 months since your last covid vaccine (whatever it was), and you are over 18, you qualify for the new covid bivalent booster. This booster specifically targets Omicron B.A.4 and B.A.5., which are the dominant strains in the US, and account for over 98% of new covid infections.
As of a couple days ago, this was authorized for emergency use in the US. Your local vaccination place should be getting these in stock within a week or two.
Covid is still a threat. Get vaccinated if you can.
Excellent info!
Here is an article in case people want to read more about that sort of thing.
I hate hbo max. I hate Disney +. I hate Amazon prime. I hate streaming platforms that treat their staff and creators like donkey shit. I hate that they don’t compensate for rewatches or popularity and can’t even take out the fucking commercials. I hate our monthly fees for media that can just be put in the vault and written off as if it never existed. I hate our reliance on mega corporations for our daily serotonin. I want weekly shows where I can theorize with my friends. I want dvds to be popular again. I want no commercials and for my favorite creators to be paid to imagine a better world than this.
so let me get this straight. hbo aquires sesame street (an educational television show that was publicly broadcasted and free that has impacted millions of children), put it behind a paywall, and has now taken 200+ episodes off of its service which are now effectively “lost”
in all seriousness sesame street is such an important piece of living media. it has been around for DECADES and from day 1 shined the importance of diversity empathy and education for children in a fun way. their mission statement is “Helping Kids Everywhere Grow Smarter, Stronger, and Kinder”. it’s literally been such an influence for so many people at a formative age. it’s creators made it w the intention of “television could help prepare disadvantaged children for school.” it is meant to be accessible !!!
Established regulars maintain the atmosphere and tone and communicate it to newcomers
Examples in the world include bars, barber shops, sewing circles, bingo parlors, game rooms, 90s malls, Elk lodges, book groups, student rec centers, D&D, and Tumblr.
I actually wrote a really long post about it one time if you want to see my hypothesis
And capitalism hates them because people with strong Third Place connections have less need to buy shit to keep themselves from being lonely and bored.
(See also: Bowling Alone, Putman’s book about the collapse of US American communities.)
Hi! I really don't understand America's legal system - obviously I understand Alex Jones' lawyers fucked up, but could you explain the situation in a way that an idiot might understand? What's a subpoena?
Okay despite it’s biases, the American legal system is actually pretty comprehensible, this is just uncharted legal territory. I don’t think I could explain what is happening with Alex Jones in any sort of simple way. Even as a Professional Conspiracy Understander, this case is what we in the business like to call “Cuckoo For Fucking Coco Puffs.”
A subpoena is when a court says “the court has decided that X is crucial to the case, you have to bring X to court or there will be legal penalties.”
A person can be subpoened, meaning they have to show up to testify or face legal penalties.
Information and objects can also be subpoenaed, meaning “If you have access to this, you must bring it to court and enter it into the record of evidence or there will be legal penalties for you.”
So basically, the people suing Alex for defamation subpoened some information from Alex’s lawyers, and it looks like Alex’s lawyer sent over FAR more information that was intended, including DEEPLY incriminating evidence. Alex’s lawyer could have issued a sort of “legal oopsie” and declared the irrelevant information “privileged” but he did not, either out of ignorance or incompetence or some other unknowable reason.
Oh no my friend. The texts WERE requested for discovery, FOUR LAWYERS AGO, in the actual libel trial, the trial Alex lost in default.
We are currently in the DAMAGES trial, and it turns out that actually, Alex HAD the texts the entire time and DIDNT turn them over to the court which is VERY ILLEGAL.
NOW the text have been SUBPOENAED by the fucking January 6th hearing.
All strength to the workers to keep unionising; what are they gonna do, close every store?
I’m from Ithaca. The store they closed is right next to Cornell University. The place was packed every time I drove by. And rightly so, it’s right next to a college that takes up half the city. They’d have to be fools to shut this store down - or retaliating against unionizing labor.
Come to think of it, there’s a large storefront on the other corner that’s been empty for going on a decade now. I wouldn’t be surprised if they open up a new store in the old Green Cafe location not long after they close the current one.
On July 18th, the Ithaca DSA sent out this email regarding the Collegetown store:
Image descriptions in alt text.
Links in article:
“Definitely it’s retaliation,” linked in original post
ALT
![If a job needs doing, the workers deserve to be well paid for it, to enjoy benefits, to be treated with respect. If you can, please support these brave workers to help them see the struggle through. If Starbucks crushes the union here, it has gone a long way toward breaking the union everywhere. [Link: Support Starbucks Workers United]](https://64.media.tumblr.com/8019617fb68a985d406f33eb5124bd38/4d184000983c1e0f-e8/s500x750/4e1ee58e4d5b4f0431996280826b741342dc63a1.png)
