This seems incredibly racist. There could be low level employees of other ethnicities or countries of origin leaking information. That’s like saying ban all muslims from entering the US due to their ‘track record’
Except that China has a state sponsored IP exfiltration program (like Alexander Hamilton funded for the US in the 1700s). So the same logic doesn’t apply to Indian, Turkish, etc. employees.
Remember that 95% of the stuff on Amazon is manufactured in China. There’s a demand in China for sensitive information that is beneficial to the folks running the factories. Sometimes for commodity products are priced pennies apart —losing a contract can put the factory out of business.
That doesn’t mean that Chinese are inherently more risky. It’s just far more likely than an employee in China is a risk for certain types of corruption than an employee in Munich or Brazil. A warehouse manager in New Jersey might be accepting bribes, but for a different reason and different impact.
> That’s like saying ban all muslims from entering the US due to their ‘track record’
No, it absolutely is not. That is explicit race-based discrimination carried out by the government. Companies can, and do, decide not to give certain privileges to remote offices. It is not comparable to businesses refusing to staff certain positions or give certain responsibilities to remote offices. Furthermore, companies can require certain positions to be filled by US citizens (common practice in defense and aerospace companies).
In my experience things like "ban all muslims" end up being more race-based in the sense that they target any brown-ish West Asian or South Asian people. How many Sikhs have been targeted because people think they're Muslims? Regardless the point is not that explicitly religiously based or race based policies are okay, it's that refusing to staff certain positions in offices abroad or to require that employees be US citizens is not comparable to the government banning Muslims from entering the country.
Apparently it was an actual policy that the current United States administration wanted to implement, but I think it got shot down by the Supreme Court or Congress for being unconstitutional. So I guess the point is that it is a genuine example of a thing that governments might want to do...
IG content isn’t nonsensical IMO. The content on IG is generally of higher quality and visually curated. It’s also a better platform for showcasing your brand if you’re in the ecommerce space than FB Pages for example.
Granted, there are accounts that are dedicated to memes and other ‘nonsensical’ content, but you get much more of that on FB. Putting IG in the same trash pile that FB is in is unfair.
It’s only for ecommerce. You are either selling a product or selling yourself for likes. Every post is an ad. The amount of sharing that happens the today on IG is the same amount of sharing that happens when you watch a TV commercial.
It’s nuanced, but fundamental different from the photo sharing sites that came before it like Flickr.
The share button may as well be replaced with “Promote” because that’s what it is.
However, Instagram's reliance on the number of views, likes, followers, and so on still puts it in the same category as Facebook and its likes, Twitter and its retweets and favorites, LinkedIn and its likes and comments, YouTube and its upvotes and comments and subscribes... and so on. It's still a metric-driven network, even if the content happens to be better. And what is showcasing your brand if not grinding for better numbers?
Why bother with offices at all then? Why are companies paying tons of money for office space on prime real estate in SF, or dishing out free lunches and dinners, if people are more productive working from home? Google and Facebook should just mandate that people work from home.
Do the new sippy cup lids take more plastic to make though?
What they need to do is get rid of the plastic cups altogether. It’s summer and I’m starting to see more and more plastic starbucks cups in the garbage, as well as littered on the streets. Cities and states need to start banning plastic cups, or at least make it an additional 50c per use of plastic cup
When will US cities do the same? Most restaurants offer plastic togo containers, which ends up in the landfill. Some restaurants even use plastic bowls and plates for dine-in customers, arguably so they don’t have to invest in equipment and labor to wash dishes.
With The China recycling ban, this becomes more of a pressing issue. I’m surprised cities aren’t outright banning or imposing a tax on the use of plastics at restaurants.
It needs to become fashionable to basically carry lots of reusable stuff with you. We “sort of” have this for coffee containers and shopping bags but it would be good if people could also always carry a metal fork, plate, cup, and even a reusable napkin at all times.
It’s one of those things that would remain weird if only a few people did it but wouldn’t be weird if most people did.
It would also require eating establishments to be set up for reuse, e.g. washing stations for people to clean off their stuff.
Let's take going to a salad bar or buffet. Many health rules say that only clean plates may be used. For example, from http://EzineArticles.com/1402314 :
> There must be clean plates and other tableware at or adjacent to the buffet or salad bar and customers should be reminded, or notified if need be, that only clean tableware is to be used when returning to the buffet.
Most restaurants are "set up for reuse", i.e, they wash the utensils, plates, and cups already. They are set up to do this wholesale, and there are health codes concerning the quality of the cleaning. Eg, quoting from https://www.oregon.gov/oha/ph/HealthyEnvironments/FoodSafety... :
> If hot water is used for sanitization in manual warewashing operations, the sanitizing compartment of the sink shall be: (A) Designed with an integral heating device that is capable of maintaining water at a temperature not less than 77oC (171 oF); Pf and (B) Provided with a rack or basket to allow complete immersion of equipment and utensils into the hot water.
The hot water temperature in most homes is under 120 degrees F.
If you have "washing stations for people to clean off their stuff", then it will either use chemical treatments, or it will be at too low a temperature to meet health standards, or it will require specialized equipment and time - who is going to wait, say, 5 minutes for their dirty dishes to go through a commercial dishwasher, get cleaned, and cool down again?
I just don't see the benefits or even practicality of what you propose.
With enough pressure I could see a reusable-dishes-as-a-service type company. A restaurant could pay this service $x per month and the service would come daily to drop off clean containers and pick up used containers for cleaning and sterilization. Restaurants could have a deposit upon getting a meal, say $3. When you bring your containers back you get your $3 back (or $3 towards your next meal there?).
If multiple restaurants in your area used the same service, or if the dishes were standardized enough, then you could drop off your used dishes at multiple different places whenever you get take-out again.
Obviously this is "in an ideal world" thinking, but it seems like with enough economic pressure on the take-out industry it could start being feasible.
The earlier comment was about people bringing their own silverware, dishes, and cups, with a washing station at the restaurant.
I think you've switched it to takeaway containers for take-out? That's a rather different topic. Certainly we know that recycled glass containers worked for decades.
But the main issue is non-biodegradable objects. Why would we worry about returnable-reusable boxes to replace, say, cardboard pizza boxes?
I've been to upscale food courts where each vendor has their own clean plates and utensils. Food is served on these clean plates, and when you're done, you dump your dirty dish in a container which is later washed.
That’s not very convenient. I like another suggestion in this thread: standardised components. Have shops hand out reusable metal cutlery rather than disposable plastic cutlery with a deposit scheme. You pay a few quid for the cutlery, but can return it anywhere and get your money back. The key is to make it ubiquitous, which makes it effortless for people.
You could still offer plastic disposable cutlery for those that needed it for some reason - but have a (small) charge. That should be sufficient to massively cut down the plastic waste. The UK introduced a 5p plastic bag charge which was really effective despite it being so cheap.
I realised I’m writing this as I’m eating a take-out lunch with a plastic fork. I have to trash it, but could very easily have used a returnable fork. It came in a paper bag which I can take back to the office and recycle.
Edit: Thinking about it, if having your own cutlery is a habit then it might not be so inconvenient.
Not sure I understood. Do you suggest that everybody carries their own cutlery to restaurants? Why? What's the relation with disposable stuff? Can't (don't most) restaurants have their own reusable stuff?
I like plastic banning, as soon as it's in place all around, we'll see another non-contaminant material (only a little more expensive) replacing plastic.
I've seen restaurants where they serve most of their food in plastic containers even for dine in customers. Most poke places for example always use a plastic bowl that patrons just throw away after they're done, along with plastic cutlery. Some restaurants serve water in cups with a plastic straw, which is also totally unnecessary.
Oh, I see... that's very unfortunate. The only kind of "restaurant" that does this shit over here is McDonalds (and similar US franchises) and it makes me shake my head. Do you know what's infuriating? They're now going all "green" in some spots. But instead of avoiding creating all the trash to begin with, they put it on you, providing four of five different cans for every type of trash, and patronizing signs on the walls so you work for them classifying and cleaning their shit.
The issues with the different cans, is that they need to be re-sorted manually anyway (usually by the city), since not everyone puts the right stuff in the right bins. All it does is it just gives the impression that the business is 'green'
Cutlery I would imagine being for takeout food, or fast food where there’s often plastic cutlery (around here at least). Even when dining in, though, my wife and I have been trying to remember to bring our own Tupperware containers for bring home any leftovers, instead of using the typical provided styrofoam packaging.
I don't quite understand why plastic cutlery for takeout food is necessary. Maybe if you're bringing it back to your office for lunch where you don't have access to cutlery (although you could always bring your own). I see families taking out food for home where they have cutlery and yet they take the plastic cutlery from the restaurants. It's ridiculous and it just highlights how humans value the convenience of just eating with plastic cutlery and throwing it away after eating, over the environment
An American family I visited a while ago would use paper plates and plastic forks for every meal at home to save on dishes. I was shocked, but they seemed to think it was standard behaviour in the US. Is it?
It's not really normal, but it's probably more normal than it should be.
Growing up, my family rarely used paper plates except in a few circumstances - parties where there are more people than you have plates for, and when going on a picnic. Aside from that we never used paper plates.
I wouldn't say it's standard but it doesn't surprise me. People who work late, have too much on their plate (pun), would probably not shy away from using a single use plate. I know I've done it myself (shame on me) but hey, I'm trying now!
You're most likely to see paper plates and plastic forks at picnics/cookouts and occasionally large gatherings where you may not have enough non-disposable dishes to serve everyone.
It's common in the rural southern United States.
Big box stores sell hundreds of plates and napkins for a few dollars.
The justifications I've heard is that it's a lot of labor saved if the family is sufficiently large and the woman is expected to do all the cooking and cleaning.
This was a first-hand experience of a German guy who lived as a exchange student in Florida. His host family would serve food in plastic plates to avoid doing dishes.
Well, if you are comparing to a dishwasher. A cheap paper place costs about 2-3 cents. A dishwasher cycle is "pricy" if you consider the wear and tear, water usage, energy, and detergent.
Interesting that they decide to publish this now. Also interesting that this is not a full audit, and while it might show Tether is backed 1:1 to USD, the timing is right before the BTC pump in Oct 2017.
What Tether needs is a full audit of its accounts from Oct - EOY 2017, where number of Tethers tripled.
Hopefully they do put this away once and for all with an actual full audit so everyone can move on
