canekicker's recent activity

  1. Comment on ‘The Pitt’ wins Drama, ‘The Studio’ wins Comedy, and ‘Adolescence’ wins Limited Series at the 2025 Emmy’s in ~tv

    canekicker
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    Surprised I'm not seeing more discussion about Adolescence. As much as I loved some of the other big winners like The Studio and Severance, Adolescence is the show that will stick with me for...

    Surprised I'm not seeing more discussion about Adolescence. As much as I loved some of the other big winners like The Studio and Severance, Adolescence is the show that will stick with me for years to come. It's heavy and gut wrenching, particularly if you have young children, but the performances are phenomenal and the cinematography is low-key amazing: it's no surprise it took best limited series, won 3 of the 4 acting awards, and won best cinematography. It's truly an amazing piece of work.

    2 votes

  2. Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games

    canekicker
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    Nier Automata - Finally bit the bullet after someone who also enjoys Kojima games and Hideaki Anno films kept talking about it. Gameplay wise it's pretty straight forward and quite enjoyable but...

    Nier Automata - Finally bit the bullet after someone who also enjoys Kojima games and Hideaki Anno films kept talking about it. Gameplay wise it's pretty straight forward and quite enjoyable but PC performance is slightly annoying (as expected for a PC port of a Japanese game) and being locked in lower res cut scenes and 60 FPS is kind of annoying as I don't feel like modding and from what I glanced, physics/timings may be locked to FPS which is the dumbest way to do it.

    I remember reading the plot of the game out of curiosity years ago and while I don't remember the details, I do kind of remember the "feeling" and the fact I'm forced to kill non-threatening robots or kill robots pleading for their lives is slightly unsettling. Curious to see where this goes but I feel that I'm definitely the audience for this kind of experience.

    4 votes

  3. Comment on US coffee prices surge in ~food

    canekicker
    Link Parent
    Yea great points and if you enjoy that specific flavor profile and want to support American coffee, Kona should be up your alley. Honestly, American production should be celebrated even if it's...

    Yea great points and if you enjoy that specific flavor profile and want to support American coffee, Kona should be up your alley. Honestly, American production should be celebrated even if it's not my particular thing. Perhaps turning towards domestic production may improve and sustain Hawaiian coffee production, allowing for more diversity of production/process.

    Personally, if I'm looking away from the typical floral or fruit profiles you see in specialty coffee, I'm enjoying what's coming out of SE and East Asia. I've had beautiful specialty coffee from Vietnam (shout out Every Half), Thai coffee from Newberry St. and the aforementioned Coffee Project NY, and really fascinating stuff coming out of Taiwan. Don't get me started on what's coming out of Yunnan, China which I can imagine will be a major player in coffee production in the future.

    I tend to be someone who really appreciates novelty so I do have to take a step back and intentionally buy coffee I wouldn't normally reach for like "darker" roasts (I'm talking second crack/full city dark, not french dark lol) vs the light even nordic style roasts I normally drink. I think it's probably time that I revisit Kona.

    4 votes

  4. Comment on US coffee prices surge in ~food

    canekicker
    Link Parent
    I think it comes down to production and perceptions. There are a ton of environmental factors to consider in coffee production and if you think wine grapes are picky about where it's grown, coffee...

    I think it comes down to production and perceptions. There are a ton of environmental factors to consider in coffee production and if you think wine grapes are picky about where it's grown, coffee cherries are even more particular. You can have vineyards in California, Australia, Chile, South Africa but there's no way you could grow coffee there. For example, altitude plays a big part in the quality of coffee and Hawaiian/Kona coffee is grown at lower altitudes compared to places in Central America or East Africa. From the production end, my experience has been pretty okish and it's coffee that for me, lacks the complexity I'm looking for: it feels like coffee I would have drank two decades ago from an independent shop.

    At the same time, labor costs in the US are much higher and so it inflates the price and likely the perception of how "good" something may be. Classic example is kopi luwak which is not only unethical (imo) but incredibly mediocre and uninteresting in the eyes of most specialty coffee drinkers. However, for those not as involved in the coffee world, they see the price and instantly assume high price = high quality. Like here's an example, I could spend $28 for 8 oz for some medium/city+ Kona coffee or I could spend the same amount and get something from Panama roasted by Coffee Project in NY spend less and get an interesting Ugandan from Perc down in Savannah or get some really interesting blends from Colorfull in Montreal. To me it's a no brainer where I want to spend my money and what I value in coffee.

    That said, if Kona is your thing, do it. Everyone should drink what they want and not be concerned about what others think, but for me, Kona is pretty uninteresting.

    6 votes

  5. Comment on US coffee prices surge in ~food

    canekicker
    Link Parent
    Yup, same. I purchase some decent stuff locally but most of my coffee is from places all across the US as I really want to support specialty roasters everywhere, particularly ones who do...

    Yup, same. I purchase some decent stuff locally but most of my coffee is from places all across the US as I really want to support specialty roasters everywhere, particularly ones who do interesting things but it is getting wild out there and I feel shipping costs are rising. I have expendable income which is nice but I know not everyone has these options.

    The one good thing I've noticed in coffee is that more people suggesting longer resting/off-gassing periods of months rather than days. So even if prices aren't changing, I may be able to get free shipping by ordering multiple bags and not worry about a dip in quality if I'm using beans that are 2 months off roast.

    6 votes

  6. Comment on US coffee prices surge in ~food

    canekicker
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    As a coffee enthusiast, this is such a predictable outcome from such a stupid policy. Coffee, esp. speciality coffee, is extremely manual labor intensive ,incredibly susceptible to climate change,...

    As a coffee enthusiast, this is such a predictable outcome from such a stupid policy. Coffee, esp. speciality coffee, is extremely manual labor intensive ,incredibly susceptible to climate change, and increasingly difficult to grow. There isn't a single place in the contiguous US that can grow coffee and the only state that can grow coffee , produces okish coffee that will never satisfy domestic demand. One of my pet theories about why there are so many experimental processes being adopted these days is because its a way for producers to offset rising costs while utilizing beans that wouldn't be subtle for more traditional processing. Not complaining as all these processes make for some interesting brews but sometimes I just want a clean washed coffee.

    Most people in America are drinking commodity coffee sourced from Vietnam or Brazil and they're all about to see some sticker shock at their local Starbucks/Dunkin/etc. IMO, coffee is already under priced but I can see a world where off the shelf brands available at your grocery store start approaching specialty prices from a decade ago (~12 to 15 for 8 oz) while specialty prices continue to rise. For context I've already seen this and regularly pay 25 for 250g/9oz ot coffee which is the norm for speciality roasters.

    28 votes

  7. Comment on Charlie Kirk shooting: US President Donald Trump says suspect in custody in ~society

    canekicker
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    Link Parent
    Thank you for clarifying, I had no idea about the Helldivers reference and also thought it related the antifascist flag. I do agree he's probably some kind of terminally online shitposter but...

    Thank you for clarifying, I had no idea about the Helldivers reference and also thought it related the antifascist flag. I do wonder if he's a terminally online shitposter I do agree he's probably some kind of terminally online shitposter but maybe it's just what kids are doing these days. Definitely agree he was not a calculated assassin though who of these lone wolf shooters are.

    My concern is how much of this dude is a left wing caricature/boogieman that the right loves to create. Like he all he would need is blue hair and present even remotely LGBTQ. I get online is not real life but the rage and violence advocated from the right, particularly from their politicians, influencers, and those in power is extremely disturbing. Sure you can say people on the "left" are celebrating Kirk's death online but they're a bunch of no ones and from what I've seen, it's been stupid jokes about how Trump/Musk/Rogan should be next. We are truly fucked

    edit : I now agree this person was a terminally online shitposter. Very much a Principal Skinner moment

    12 votes

  8. Comment on Conservative activist Charlie Kirk shot and killed at Utah college event in ~society

    canekicker
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    This is pretty fucking awful. I didn't give a fuck about the substance of Kirk's death (not going to mourn someone who's entire life was about making the world a shittier place) but the potential...

    This is pretty fucking awful. I didn't give a fuck about the substance of Kirk's death (not going to mourn someone who's entire life was about making the world a shittier place) but the potential fallout was so clear when you had right wing idiots and politicians declaring that this was an assault by the left before anything was known about the shooter.

    These fuckers are already far more prone to violence and were just champing at the bit to continue their assault on anything they see as 'left' while ignoring anything they can't use to blame their enemies e.g. MN killer, CDC shooter, Colorado shooting the same day, etc etc. We're absolutely fucked.

    edit: even if it turns out not to be the case, this factoid is out there and the right are ready to go. They didn't let go of the MN killer being on some nonpolitical board under Walz, they couldn't let go of the Trump shooter donating to ActBlue, etc etc. They just assume everyone is as mad and violent as they are, don't care about facts, and are ready to step on the necks of those they don't agree with.

    5 votes

  11. Comment on Nihilistic online networks groom minors to commit harm. Her son was one of them. in ~tech

    canekicker
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    I think a lot has changed since the early 00s and now. We had the opportunity to explore these awful spaces at our own leisure with more off-ramps available to us. Now, algorithmically driven...

    I think a lot has changed since the early 00s and now. We had the opportunity to explore these awful spaces at our own leisure with more off-ramps available to us. Now, algorithmically driven consumption mainlines this shit into everyone's brains and the line between online/offline lives is basically non-existent.

    At it's core, this is a cultural values issue but until we can as a society can figure out what the fuck we're doing, these interventions make sense in the light of the fact this child was already in therapy for depression/self harm, withdrawing while expressing hateful and suicidal thoughts, and buying a knife with "death' inscribed on it. To me, this is more than just an edgy teen and to hear medical staff state he's a moderate/high risk of suicide, being involuntary committed ( I'd argue this characterization wouldn't apply for a 14 yo) makes sense. Sure there there's embarrassment and the possibility this will follow him around but the alternative seems far worse and if he continues to get help, I can see this as an important moment in his life that informs his world view versus a burden or blemish.

    18 votes

  12. Comment on Nihilistic online networks groom minors to commit harm. Her son was one of them. in ~tech

    canekicker
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    This was a particularly difficult read given the age of the victim. These horrid spaces have existed online for quite a while but the speed and reach is something that is relatively new and even...

    This was a particularly difficult read given the age of the victim. These horrid spaces have existed online for quite a while but the speed and reach is something that is relatively new and even the term "Nihilistic Violent Extremism" or NVE appears to have been coined earlier this year. Violence as an aesthetic, violence for the sake of violence, like... the fuck are we doing. My mind always goes to my friends who have kids who are about to reach this age who are so unaware of these threats that their children are about to face.

    6 votes

  14. Comment on Nick Fuentes breaks with US President Donald Trump and MAGA over Jeffrey Epstein in ~society

    canekicker
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    Yup and it's still the case. There was nothing more infuriating to me than leaving up a bad faith, barely compliant comment but having to take down all the good but rule breaking rebuttals,...

    There were right wing people who were willing to put in so much work to make sure their gish gallop stayed within the letter of the rules and trying to counteract their bullshit was exhausting.

    Yup and it's still the case. There was nothing more infuriating to me than leaving up a bad faith, barely compliant comment but having to take down all the good but rule breaking rebuttals, usually for a lack of sourcing or addressing the user. It'll be the case with that subreddit until something drastic changes as all these ass holes employ the same tactic and anyone who tries to participate in a productive and good faith way will get burned out, myself included.

    edit: In all my years of modding, not once did anyone respond to one of my removals with this. Like that's just how shitty some of these Redditors are.

    5 votes

  15. Comment on Nick Fuentes breaks with US President Donald Trump and MAGA over Jeffrey Epstein in ~society

    canekicker
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    Yup, nothing "happened" but I have strong feelings so this will be a long one. If anyone spent time in the subreddit or it's sister subreddit /r/neutralpolitics over the last 5 years, I should be...

    Yup, nothing "happened" but I have strong feelings so this will be a long one. If anyone spent time in the subreddit or it's sister subreddit /r/neutralpolitics over the last 5 years, I should be somewhat familiar and apologize for removing your comment. I should have let all that shit fly to burn down the place. Here's the core of my issue: there's a complete inability and unwillingness to adapt procedures. When Reddit was smaller and there good faith discourse was more common, those processes worked but now, the bad faith is so easy and too common.

    The rules are so ill-equipped to handle the bullshit and shitty rhetorical tactics mostly coming from the right. To be honest, some mods care more about keeping it open to these people because they represent a political perspective (a fucking shitty one) than trying to make the place more welcoming to users acting in good faith. Why worry about the 80% when you can do everything to protect the 20% who make everyone's life worse? Any proposed change had to come about by overhauling the already complicated rule system, which required reworking procedures, pointless deliberation, and sometimes multiple votes. For example, the rules for how a new source is added? That was created by me and you know why it was created? Because I couldn't ban some fuckwad user who kept finding loopholes in our source standard to post bullshit. The only reason we made any progress on that fucko was because I threatened to quit. We also had a run in with niche crack pot Michael Harrop aka MaxamillianKohler and as the only person on the team with a background who could see through Harrop's bullshit, I argued multiple times for his ban but was denied. You know how Harrop was "solved"? He was banned from all of Reddit. Note, Harrop tried to come here and was basically banned on sight. THAT'S HOW YOU FUCKING DO IT. The fact that Reddit, a place well known for tolerating pedophilia and Qanon-cultist, found Harrop more reprehensible than members of that mod team speaks volumes. Every other reasonable subreddit just banned these users, but no, we couldn't because of "wE ArE rElucTanT to BaN uSerS". Honestly, it's a perfect place to nazi bar and I'm hoping it happens one day.

    As a mod who did the fucking vast majority of work (I want to say it was like mid 80% of mod actions for long stretches) on both subreddits for years, it fucking takes a toll on you and anytime I tried to solve an issue, I had to contort my thinking to try to get something passed. This type of mindset fucks up your thinking and solutions and never the simple or obvious one. It destroys your spirit and the veteran mods do not support you and if anything, make your life harder. I joined around a time where we had quite a few new active mods and they all burned out and became inactive long before I quit. I know for a fact that three of these mods just got tired of dealing with the bullshit without support. I was harassed multiple times in DMs, harassed in the comment section, and I had a user literally calling for my sterilization. No support, no updating of the rules, no ability to permaban users without a vote. Just suck it up, it's part of the "job". And when I left, I got a response from one of them that basically was "sorry you feel this way". It's why I deleted everything in my old account and when I saw my comments/posts weren't being deleted properly, I just nuked my Reddit account because I want nothing to do with that place and I want to destroy anything I ever contributed to it. So yea, fuck that place. Fuck some of those mods.

    TL;DR - Modding is hard. Modding a political subreddit is even harder. Modding a subreddit where other mods stick their head in the sand or work against you? IMPOSSIBLE

    14 votes

  16. Comment on Nick Fuentes breaks with US President Donald Trump and MAGA over Jeffrey Epstein in ~society

    canekicker
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    Some meta commentary on this publication from someone who used to mod a subreddit (side note, fuck that place) focused on higher quality news. There's been a few sites, namely Latin Times, Irish...

    Some meta commentary on this publication from someone who used to mod a subreddit (side note, fuck that place) focused on higher quality news. There's been a few sites, namely Latin Times, Irish Star, and The Daily Boulder that seem to exist to churn low quality, high engagement, left biased rage bait. Throw in contributor networks from notable publications like HuffPo and Forbes as well as general decline in legacy publications like Newsweek and the whole media landscape is turning to shit and the good stuff is all behind paywalls.

    Like do I believe what this article is somewhat accurate? Absolutely and Latin Times is better than it's sister site Irish Star and light years ahead of Daily Boulder but to me, they all have questionable journalistic standards and low credibility. While this singular article is probably ok, I tend to take everything from these outlets with a grain of salt. That said, fuck Nick Fuentes and that whole alt right/racist influence sphere. I hope they never find peace and live a long life suffering proportionally to the harm they cause

    18 votes

  17. Comment on The America Party in ~society

    canekicker
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    Get me off this fucking ride. I literally just looked up to see if I qualify for citizenship in my parents country of birth and turns out, I do so going to keep that in mind going forward. This...
    • Exemplary

    Get me off this fucking ride. I literally just looked up to see if I qualify for citizenship in my parents country of birth and turns out, I do so going to keep that in mind going forward. This "America Party" is just perfectly summed up in this thread a friend shared with me from David Roberts

    Tech bros get frustrated with politics, which involves painstaking, often frustrating communication & compromise with other people who have different backgrounds & perspectives, so their approach is always to wish it away....But it's as true now as ever: the choices are frustrating, slow, unsatisfying democracy ... or tyranny. And no matter how much you think you may have found the perfect tyrant or tyrant class, sorry, we've run this experiment a few times & the results are pretty clear: it doesn't work out.

    Like absolutely fuck white nationalist and Nazi salute throwing Elon Musk. Fuck AAPI hate apologist and fucking loser "politician"Andrew Yang. Fuck Mark Cuban and The Mooch.

    Maybe America needs to learn that the billionaire class doesn't give a fuck about it and have and always will be in it for their own self interests. Relying on billionaires to 'save us' is fucking insane given how they've always throw us under the bus if it keeps the line going up. Musk isn't some politically homeless centrist, he's a fucking racist / possible white nationalist whose fucking mad his shit cars are now less attractive and desperately wants to be loved. He's a child who's mad he can't eat ice cream before finishing his veggies.

    Sure, maybe this will make a dent in the 2026 midterms of 2028, though Trump not being on the ticket for either will likely do more, but the fact that margins are so thin any thing backed by this kind of money and Elon's personality cult has a real chance of making shit a lot worse for a lot of people.

    Side note, this whole thing is perfect for the left to seize upon to maybe put aside their stupid fucking internal conflicts and maybe develop a coherent strategy to capitalize on the insanity of the movement we're all living in. Just finished this good opinion piece breaking down the flaws of abundance vs populism. For all this talk of mutual aid, you'd think left populists would put aside their purity tests and you know, FUCKING TRY TO BUILD A COALITION TO ACCUMULATE POWER while the abundance left can start, I don't know, FUCKING ACKNOWLEDGE AND ADDRESS THE INSANE INEQUALITIES THAT EXIST IN THIS SHIT HOLE COUNTRY.

    20 votes

  18. Comment on Suspect in Minnesota attacks is detained, ending manhunt in ~society

    canekicker
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    I've been following this whole situation kind of closely, not just because it's an awful situation but because the speed and stupidity in the response from the right is as astounding as it is...
    • Exemplary

    I've been following this whole situation kind of closely, not just because it's an awful situation but because the speed and stupidity in the response from the right is as astounding as it is disgusting. I've seen it all over Reddit, including in a place I used to mod (aside, fuck that place) and I wanted to provide sources about what I've found about this piece of shit with the caveat that we may learn more in the future

    1. Started his own security firm however, NPR has investigated these claims and cannot verify the full legitimacy of this security firm and it's now pretty likely it was an aspiration rather than an actual functioning company. It appears he worked primarily food services and recently was delivering bodies to morgues.

    Boelter himself appears to have no history working in law enforcement, the military or private security.

    ...one long-time friend described parts of Boelter's narrative about his life as "fantasy."....NPR found no record of the firm having clients or providing any services. A call to the company's phone number connected to what appears to be a private phone line, not a business. The address listed in incorporation papers appeared to be that of a law firm specializing in divorce litigation.

    There are also claims that he has multiple advanced degrees from Cardinal Stritch University, which closed in 2023. I question the veracity of these claims since the place is closed and this fucker has a history of lying and possibly over stating his successes.

    1. Evangelical "who opposed abortion and went to church “every Sunday”. He also went on missions to Congo and delivered multiple sermons there, stating in clips that "Many churches in America didn’t listen to Jesus. They’re divided...The churches are so messed up, they don’t know abortion is wrong, many churches.” This makes his targeting of pro-choice advocates and abortion clinics more "understandable". Additional information reveals he studied practical theology at charismatic bible college. For those who are not familiar with this style of evangelicalism:

    Charismatic Christians believe in supernatural, spiritual gifts of the Holy Spirit such as speaking in tongues, prophets and divine healing.

    1. He was appointed to a MN workforce board, including an appointment under Walz. However, despite the assertions by idiots on the right, this appears to be an apolitical board that includes people "on the opposite end of the political spectrum from Walz" and the board doesn't interact with governor on a regular basis. I have questions about why the shooter was on this board if things like his security business are not as they seem

    2. Trump supporter

    Boelter’s friend and roommate David Carlson told reporters on Saturday that Boelter voted for President Donald Trump and was a “strong supporter” of the president but was “hardly ever talking about politics lately.”

    1. Random tidbit but maybe something useful to demonstrate knowledge on the material, his name is pronounced like "belter"

    “The ‘o’ is silent,” Boelter said."

    1. Bit of a doomsday prepper, an Alex Jones fan, and a gun fan

    He described Boelter as “the gun type,” saying he liked to go shooting at the range. But he said he never thought he would use guns to hurt people.

    1. Probably fits more into his conspiracy theories but in his ramblings, had mentioned killing Sen. Klobuchar and having Walz replace her? I'm sure the right will seize on this to make him seem like he's on the left.

    Despite the right spreading this stupid false narrative, what appears to NOT be the case is

    1. Boelter was not a close ally of Walz nor was he an appointee in the way a chief of staff or Attorney General may be

    2. There isn't any evidence at this point that Boelter is a Democrat. Instead there's a longer history demonstrating the opposite

    Boelter was registered as a Republican when he lived in Oklahoma in the early 2000s...The DFL also shared a survey response from Boelter in 2012 saying he would vote for Republicans down the ticket...

    and

    Boelter voted in the March 2024 Minnesota Republican presidential primary, according to records obtained by the Minnesota Star Tribune

    1. Boelter's wife was not an intern. In typical right wing fashion, they can't seem to understand that multiple people can have the same name. This appears to be more AI slop

    The Walz intern is a different person who appears to be married to someone else, the spokesperson said.

    Grok, X’s AI bot, said Vance Boelter’s wife, Jennifer, worked at CentraCare. St. Cloud-based CentraCare indeed does employ a doctor named Jennifer Boelter. However, she is not married to Vance Boelter.

    1. There's no evidence suggesting Boelter did this because of the removal of health care from undocumented adults, in fact evidence suggests the opposite

    Boelter also shot and injured Hoffman and his wife, even though Hoffman, unlike Hortman, voted against the bill to remove health coverage.

    1. Conspiratorial and appears to be a prepper.

    2. Struggling financially and it appears a lot of his ambitions never came to fruition. My personal view is Boelter is a "i have a plan" loser. You know the type, the ones who keep talking about grand ambitions but have neither the competency or ability to actually work on making those things come true. If he did any of the things he claimed he did, like "400 farmers and 500 fishermen and hoped to develop a network of 1,000 female motorcycle taxis in Congo", his resume would look completely different.

    edit : final update

    36 votes

  19. Comment on How one company secretly poisoned the planet in ~science

    canekicker
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    Personal opinion as someone who understands and has quite a bit of experience working in the drinking water industry and discussing regulatory compliance. Note I'm not disputing the health risks...
    • Exemplary

    Personal opinion as someone who understands and has quite a bit of experience working in the drinking water industry and discussing regulatory compliance. Note I'm not disputing the health risks related to PFAS but instead critical of EPA's regulatory approach discussed at the end of the video.

    EPA recently announced changes to PFAS regulation which has upset some environmental groups. One thing I want to point out is the PQL or practical quantitation level aka the lowest value defined by the EPA that can be reliably measured is 4 parts per trillion (ppt), which is equal to the PFOS MCL aka maximum contaminant level which means if PFOS is detected using method 537.1 a water system is in violation. Note most MCLs are orders of magnitude higher in the range of parts per billion rather than parts per trillion. This is very much a classic example of "dose makes the poison" but on an absolute level, detecting something at the PPT, particularly PFAS is extremely challenging as chance of cross contamination for a near ubiquitous substance is quite high. I've collected this stuff before and while I was confident in my technique, it is stressful in ways other water samples are not.

    Note as well that EPA's own presentation on treatment technologies (PDF) cites this paper whose results may not be effective at low concentrations which begs the question how effective are treatment options at levels closer to the MCL and for the amount of water some mid sized cities/water systems are able to produce. Take Omaha, NE which pushes out 90 MGD a day : how is it feasible for them to achieve compliance at this scale?

    Another thing the video doesn't discuss is the fact that removal =/= destruction and what may end up happening is the creation of concentrated PFAS wastestreams from water filtration processes: filtration plants need to get rid of this stuff but how? Incinerators are hit or miss as if the critical temps aren't met, then you end up creating a PFAS plume in what you're burning off. You can't just dump this stuff in a landfill either, you just create another environmental disaster in waiting.

    Note as well is this whole video talks about the role of Dupont and 3M but where is the federal action against these individuals? Why are water/wastewater systems being regulated for a problem they did not create? We're regulating a few dozen PFAS compounds when thousands exist, how effective is this decision by the EPA? My question is always, what viable actions are available to water systems? So far, my question has yet to be answered.

    Generally speaking I'm a huge fan of the EPA, I've built my career around understanding their decisions but this PFAS one made zero sense in the context of reality. The same goes with some of the provisions found in the former Lead and Copper Rule Revisions and the recent Lead and Copper Rule Improvements. Based on my conversations with EPA employees and other federal government officials, it appears that EPA has a lack of real world perspectives informing decisions and instead of talking to medium or small water systems about their concerns and difficulties, they're more willing to listen to shit "advocacy" groups like EWG whose objectives and goals don't really align with water systems overall goal of providing safe drinking water.

    TL;DR edit - Here are my concerns and why imo, EPA fucked this one up

    1. What technologies effectively remove PFAS for systems who produce at a level of 10s of MGD per day? So far I've seen none

    2. What is the benefit of single digit ppt reductions of PFAS for systems with low detectable PFAS levels? Does the money and environmental impact of installing treatment methods for single level actual offer benefits over known benefits like infrastructure improvement projects or source water protection efforts

    3. What technologies exist to eliminate PFAS, not just destroy it? So far it's just sequestering/removal which is an environmental justice disaster waiting to happen

    4. Where is the action on PFAS producers? Why isn't the government pursuing action against 3M and Dupont and using the penalties to fund remediation projects for water systems? Why does this fall on utilities hands? I mean I think we all know why but this is the biggest issue I have.

    22 votes