Plaidboy

joined 1 year ago
[–] Plaidboy@sh.itjust.works 5 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Maybe RFK really is just meaning vaccines when he says "environmental contaminant," but couldn't he mean microplastics or PFAS or PCBs or any of the other extremely common, poorly understood (in terms of health effects) actual environmental contaminants?

This article takes a very narrow view of the topic in my opinion. The point is well taken that the recent increase in reported numbers does not represent a sudden spike, but there is a serious conversation to be had about the potential link between pollution and autism. From the article:

Zoe Gross, director of advocacy at the Autistic Self Advocacy Network, said some initial studies have suggested an association between autism and environmental factors such as pollution, but she was unaware of studies "demonstrating a causal link between the two."

Demonstrating a causal link takes a lot of effort! Just because there isn't a clear causal link doesn't mean there isn't an important association. And because some pollutants (like PFAS) are so widely distributed that they are in rainwater pretty much worldwide, you can't find an "unpolluted" control group, so proving that they are causing health impacts is doubly difficult. The way RFK talks about it is dumb but the topic itself is worthy imo.

[–] Plaidboy@sh.itjust.works 15 points 6 days ago

The sad thing about this is that probably for most of these folks this will only further confirm their views. Trump and his allies were pushing the idea that FEMA is corrupt and ineffective while Biden was still in office. The Trump admin will argue that this is FEMA's fault, not Trump's. His voters will eat it up.

[–] Plaidboy@sh.itjust.works 0 points 1 week ago

The bees were on a different lower down roof from the main roof (which is the one that burned). The article notes that bee wax melts at 70C and they didn't see any of that under the hives, so they know temperatures stayed below that. So the bees were likely only exposed to some smoke and maybe some slightly elevated temperatures.

[–] Plaidboy@sh.itjust.works 19 points 2 weeks ago (3 children)

If I were in your shoes, I would probably mention the change in tone/word choice to the lead on the project since you have a good relationship with them. Just mentioning that you noticed the change and aren't sure about it doesn't need to be combative, and I would be truly shocked if it cost you the job. Depending on your state it might even be illegal to fire you for something like that.

I personally would not take a stand or refuse to do the voiceover or anything like that. I would make it clear that I would do the voiceover using the script as it is written. I would think of it as providing feedback rather than making demands, which seems like it would be within the purview of a QA reviewer.

This way you can at the very least get more information about the situation - find out whether this was an intentional change. If so, it may be time to start making moves so you can eventually drop this company.