Highlights: A study this summer found that using a single gas stove burner on high can raise levels of cancer-causing benzene above what’s been observed from secondhand smoke.

A new investigation by NPR and the Climate Investigations Center found that the gas industry tried to downplay the health risks of gas stoves for decades, turning to many of the same public-relations tactics the tobacco industry used to cover up the risks of smoking. Gas utilities even hired some of the same PR firms and scientists that Big Tobacco did.

Earlier this year, an investigation from DeSmog showed that the industry understood the hazards of gas appliances as far back as the 1970s and concealed what they knew from the public.

It’s a strategy that goes back as far back as 1972, according to the most recent investigation. That year, the gas industry got advice from Richard Darrow, who helped manufacture controversy around the health effects of smoking as the lead for tobacco accounts at the public relations firm Hill + Knowlton. At an American Gas Association conference, Darrow told utilities they needed to respond to claims that gas appliances were polluting homes and shape the narrative around the issue before critics got the chance. Scientists were starting to discover that exposure to nitrogen dioxide—a pollutant emitted by gas stoves—was linked to respiratory illnesses. So Darrow advised utilities to “mount the massive, consistent, long-range public relations programs necessary to cope with the problems.”

These studies didn’t just confuse the public, but also the federal government. When the Environmental Protection Agency assessed the health effects of nitrogen dioxide pollution in 1982, its review included five studies finding no evidence of problems—four of which were funded by the gas industry, the Climate Investigations Center recently uncovered.

Karen Harbert, the American Gas Association’s CEO, acknowledged that the gas industry has “collaborated” with researchers to “inform and educate regulators about the safety of gas cooking appliances.” Harbert claimed that the available science “does not provide sufficient or consistent evidence demonstrating chronic health hazards from natural gas ranges”—a line that should sound familiar by now.

    • TokenBoomer@lemmy.world
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      It really is…it’s outlived it’s usefulness and needs to go the way of the horse drawn carriage.

      • BombOmOm@lemmy.world
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        What is the better solution? What country has implemented something better than capitalism?

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          A system that fully accepts environmental realities and works against the wholesale ecocide of the planet as it’s first tenet. The rest is kinda whatever at this point. It could be a resource based economy or some sort of mixed planned/free market. Just gotta make sure that invisible hand doesn’t strangle us all in our sleep, ya know?

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            A climate-focused approach can be built into any economic system. This isn’t really an argument for ditching the economic system that has led to the least human suffering.

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              Saving the planet and endless expansion are simply not compatible. The way we are living is going to kill us all, and it’s just a fact. There are finite resources and the pollution and by products are not going away.

              I mean you ever think about how much waste there is from regular everyday things like junk mail? From having to spend fuel on a tractor to plant trees to harvest paper and then process it into paper to then print the bullshit ads on the junk mail and then it has to be delivered and that causes more pollution and then you just put it straight in the garbage.

              Or how about the plastic bag they give you with every purchase at literally any store? Those things don’t go away. And we are endlessly producing them, because that’s how capitalism works. You have to increase profits. That’s the whole point.

              You can’t reconcile capitalism and the environment.

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                We are still back at what’s the alternative? Planned Economies are notorious for not being able to predict the right things to produce, and that tended to massively misallocate resources too, arguably worse, but at best in a different way.

                Corruption also just seems to be a human thing and in planned economies people still snuggle up to politicians in corrupt ways, just with a different veneer.

                We also have tried regulation on capitalism - capture happens. We tried liberalization of communism and we got modern China.

                I think tribe based society might be the only ones I’ve heard of that focus on sustainably living, but that loses out to larger societies force / power, and I haven’t seen a way to scale that up.

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                  I really don’t think you can just point at China and completely rule out a system as a concept. It’s also worth noting that communism is the antithesis of capitalism. Why do you think that America aggressively attacked every country that’s ever tried it? If we didn’t attack them straight on, we ran a proxy war against them.

                  And just because the like 78 people that will see this thread don’t have the answer doesn’t mean that there isn’t one. This is obviously a massive and complex issue that will likely only be solved by all of the worlds power working together.

                  You can’t just say “Oh we don’t know what to do about this, so I guess we shouldn’t change anything at all”. We can still be taking smaller steps.

                  Just simple things like better public transit will do a lot. Stronger EPA restrictions on just about every industry would go a really long way.

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                  We haven’t tried the one thing everyone’s asking for. Why is it that every time someone mentioned something like this, your minds immediately go to China, the Soviet Union, etc. And not any of the successful social democracies in Europe? Programmed much?

                  You do realize that capitalism itself is only a few hundred years old. There have been any number of other systems throughout history. And objectively capitalism hasn’t been any better than many of them. There’s been lots of differing circumstances under which they’ve all operated. It’s also arguable that capitalism enables and demands the worst of human nature.

                  It’s the basic premise of capitalism that it values capital over everything else. It’s in the very name. Socialistic theories of which there are so many outside leninism. Values, society and people more. You can still have markets. You can still have currency. Those things all predate capitalism and are not tied to it in any way. But having a robust social safety net and basic provisions for society always goes much better than leaving everyone to fend for themselves as the oligarchs gorge themselves on stolen wealth.

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              I feel like least human suffering is a rather insane statement with for-profit healthcare a thing. Or, you know, slavery.

              How many people die every year to housing insecurity? To inadequate access to healthcare? How many people suffer because they can’t afford not to?

              Absolutely ludicrous.

              • jaywalker@lemm.ee
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                Or all the suffering that has been and will be caused by climate change on behalf of the shareholders

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            Regulated capitalism. Prosecuting corruption.

            Right, regulate capitalism… by regulating the capitalists that have all the money and can buy the regulators any time they feel like it.

            Sounds legit.

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              Well considering all it would take is knocking out the few corrupt people at the top that monopolized the industry that means it’s too fragile a system and bad design. So really it should be replaced. They are after all responsible for setting the pace of stolen wages, slave workers, lack of ethics and the reason why unions are a thing.

              England trying to take over the world should have been the example on what to avoid.

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              Most would not agree. Capitalism has only existed for a few hundred years. We got along fine before it. And we could get along fine after it. The fact that you think that most on Lemmy just want to throw it out and that it would be disastrous. Just really only underscores you have very little idea of what capitalism is effectively. And that is a flimsy justification for a ruling class. Decoupling divine right , or rule by blood from wealth and power. Now wealth and power is the only measure that justifies who should be wealthy and powerful. Completely disregarding the fact that those who tend to be the most powerful and most wealthy are also some of the most immoral and harmful people society has ever produced.

              But for a moment, I’ll humor this uneducated hot take of yours. What exactly is it that you think, objectively that is unique to capitalism that sets it apart and makes it beneficial from all other systems before it. Just a reminder. Currencies and markets existed thousands upon thousands of years before capitalism was even mangled malformed from the muck and sewage under the seat of merchants.

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          Well if no one else has done something, it clearly can’t be done, right?

          The main alternative is, instead of focusing on wealth accumulation, focus on societal betterment.

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            I might just not be able to see outside my capitalist culture, but I think that’s a long road to get the mass of society on board. There’s just so many tasks that need to be done that I really doubt societal betterment would get people to do it.

            There’s a reason Peter Singer’s stuff has only limited appeal.

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              It depends on what limits you put on wealth accumulation. The problem is if there’s no upper limit, everything else falls by the wayside. Because accumulating wealth gets a lot more difficult if your workforce can think for themselves.

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          Marx figured it out 160 years ago. Spend some time and learn about it. Did the Wright brothers have to fly in a plane before they built one?

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            Marxist ideas just don’t seem to work in practice. You have to have a revolution that is authoritarian to force the change, and then the people in power never give it up willingly. Almost no one ever does.

            But even if you did an ideal Marxist transformation, you have the huge economic problem of figuring out what to produce and where to distribute it. This is an impossible task for a committee to manage at a national scale. Capitalism outsources figuring that out to every transaction. Even when a company gets it wrong, it’s limited to that company or sector. But in planned economies when they get it wrong, it’s the entire economy. It’s all great depressions and no minor corrections.

            Whats worse is you lose a lot of choices - at best a good hearted technocrat is telling you what to make and what you will get. At worse you get famines because of mistakes in prediction.

            • TokenBoomer@lemmy.world
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              This has all been debunked. Particularly, Second Thought has a great video on planned economies if you are interested. Cybersyn in Chile would have worked if capitalism and the CIA hadn’t planned a coup.

              Edit: Cuba is still going strong after 60 years despite sanctions and embargoes. To say Marxism/ socialism doesn’t work is a bit superficial and certainly not true.

            • Cethin@lemmy.zip
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              It’s pretty ignorant to act like we know it doesn’t work. If you’re having a race and one racer has his shoes tied together, do you really know who was fastest? Nearly every time a leftist government has been installed the US intervenes to ensure it doesn’t succeed. For example: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1954_Guatemalan_coup_d’état

              The US feared a successful “communist” country, so they toppled the democracy and installed a dictatorship more aligned with US business ideals. If it’s guaranteed to fail, why was the US so scared of them succeeding?

              The fact of the matter is the only countries that could survive the US attempting to topple then were countries with a strong central power and cultural hegymony. Those aren’t requirements to exist, they are requirements to outlast US intervention.

              • BombOmOm@lemmy.world
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                Why would non-capitalist countries need capitalist countries to do well? We have had very large non-capitalist countries, like the USSR. Can a country that size not do well if there aren’t capitalist countries to help it economically? What size does a non-capitalist country need to be to not have to rely on capitalist countries?

                • Cethin@lemmy.zip
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                  What?

                  I’m assuming you didn’t read my comment. They don’t need capitalist countries. They just are never given a chance by capitalist countries to even try to be successful. Capitalists are scared of the status quo changing, so they undermine any non-capitalist country. Why do they always do this, without exception, if they’re so certain they’ll fail regardless? Obviously it’s because they know they aren’t guaranteed to fail.

        • driving_crooner@lemmy.eco.br
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          Feudalism is such shit.

          What is the better solution? What country has implemented something better than Feudalism?

          You, with a time machine, probably.

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          Everyone’s gonna be like, oh the USSR, or venezuela, or whatever type of fully nationalized country that’s got embargoed to shit and has either gone under or has gone the way of cuba and just kind of lives with it. And I’m not gonna waste your time trying to convince you about how all those countries are actually great or yadda yadda ya. Instead, I wanna turn you on to a couple neat things. First, would probably be the Zapatistas, who are a pretty cool kind of anarchist group that tends to function well mostly independent of the mexican government. Kind of hard to find information on them, but they’re neat and I think outside of the general preconceived notions that people have against the idea itself, it’s hard not to empathize with opposition to the mostly corrupt and totally fuckied mexican government. There’s also, for your consideration the Mondragon Corporation, a co-operative that employs 80,000 people and rivals the size of probably a mid-sized country. If you’re just taking issue with power structures themselves, rather than the monopoly on violence or the borders said to define a country as different from a corporation, than that’s kind of an interesting counterpoint to like, global capitalism. Kind of ironic that they’re, you know, a corporation, but then the structure of the corporation is different enough as to call into question whether or not the insane wealth disparities of corporations that americans are generally used to are required. But then, the surrounding stuff also has some problems, because the corporation itself has been criticized for employing contract workers, much like a state might employ immigrant labor or outsourced labor, reaping the rewards but giving none of the benefits, kind of creating an internal sense of “nationalism” in the corp. But then, I suppose, let us not let the perfect be the enemy of the good.

        • Rivers@lemmy.world
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          Capitalism is industrialised greed, it keeps the wheels turning, having people forever chase shit that they don’t need for the sake of feeling better than the man stood next to them. What an inspirational ladder to climb.

          You’re under the misunderstanding that it works.

          • BombOmOm@lemmy.world
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            You’re under the misunderstanding that it works.

            Again, what works better? What country has implemented a better economic system?

    • centof@lemm.ee
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      It’s more the sociopaths running the companies that are shit. They don’t give a damn about the people they exploit and the harm they cause. And every institution’s got their share of them, not just businesses.

      • Cethin@lemmy.zip
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        And they’re in the positions they are because of capitalism. Capitalism dictates you should exploit as much as possible to increase profits.

        • centof@lemm.ee
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          they’re in the positions they are because of capitalism.

          More specifically, they are in them because of human nature. Those who don’t care about others gravitate towards positions of power. That is not exclusive to capitalism. Any hierarchy is prone to sociopaths rising to positions of power. They seek them no matter what the economic system is.

          In other words, power corrupts. People without power who get power inevitably start to act like sociopaths.

          But feel free to blame capitalism if you like. It is the cause of many problems with our society. Any change that decreases its power should be welcomed at least in the context of American society.

          • Cethin@lemmy.zip
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            It isn’t exclusive to capitalism or caused by it, but it is exacerbated by it. It is a system that rewards the worst parts of humanity. I never claimed it to be the cause, only part of the issue.

            If it’s inherent to hierarchy, how about we work to remove as much hierarchy as possible. That’s my preference.

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            There are other forms of political economies without hierarchies. I once thought human nature was the problem like you, until I discovered David Graeber. David Graeber dismisses the notion that humans are inherently selfish. Society and culture shape our selfishness due to material needs. Capitalism shapes society and culture.

            • centof@lemm.ee
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              The recommended book The Dawn of Everything looks interesting. I’ll have to add it to my reading list.

              There are other forms of political economies without hierarchies.

              Would you mind giving some examples of them?

              I was using human nature as a catch all term for how humans act on a population wide scale in our current society. I think the term status seeking fits better than selfish. Status seeking behavior is essentially seeking power within a hierarchy. It often is selfish, but isn’t necessarily.

              Most people in a society and in an organization aren’t status seeking or selfish, but those few who are status seeking are rewarded by the going up the hierarchy faster relative to their peers.

                • centof@lemm.ee
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                  That’s a political system not an economic system.

                  There are a wide range of economic systems that I would be broadly categorized on 2 factors.

                  1. market vs planned economies
                  2. social vs private ownership

                  For example, the US would tend towards a privately owned, market economy in most sectors.

                  On the other hand, Norway (or Vietnam to a degree) would trend towards a socially owned, market economy.

                  An example of privately owned, planned economy would be China. However, China would probably claim to be a socially owned, planned economy. I classify it as privately owned because of the authoritarian control the government has over assets and people.

                  These are broad generalizations of economies that do not apply to every sector of each economy.

    • TheGalacticVoid@lemm.ee
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      I don’t think it’s going away ever. We need regulations that require companies to have greater, more powerful ethics oversight. Launching fake research like this should be criminal.

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      Because any other form of government did (and does) not have the same problem to an even greater extent?

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        Lol that you’re being downvoted.

        Everyone knows there were never any cover ups under Communism! RBMK reactor? Completely safe, comrade!

        /s

        • theneverfox@pawb.social
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          That could be pretty easily described as state-owned capitalism… Position in the party was your capital, influence, and authority all rolled into one conveniently bribed package. You could describe the whole USSR as a nation-state megacorp… Make the borders open and do better marketing, and it might as well have been called Soviet Energy Corp. Although, if we go full corpo-fuedal, that’s probably not far off the mark

          They even had the global trade and horrific externalities down - remember how everyone started to starve, and how their weapons were always disappearing onto the black market? It was all sold off - it all got shipped overseas and sold so a party member could have a nest egg stored in Switzerland. They even did the whole “Irish potato famine” thing where they kept exporting food while people starved

          I seriously have no idea what Lenin was smoking… He built a government that took all of the downsides of capitalism, and focused them in one convenient institution. It’s the perfect government system you’d make to manage humans if you’ve never actually met a human or seen a government before

          It seems to me that centralization is the key problem with every modern system… Big just has a way of going bad

        • TopRamenBinLaden@sh.itjust.works
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          Mostly because communism is not a form of government, but an economic system. A communist economy can be run by a democratic government or an authoritarian one. Same as capitalism.

          Some communist economy governments were terrible, others weren’t so terrible, but all of them were sabotaged every step along the way of changing their economic systems by Capitalist interests.

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            Sure, mostly because of that minor mistake and not because of the majority of people here liking to hear something like that. “Capitalism bad” = upvotes, regardless of how little it has to do with the topic at hand.

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    It’s like everything is lies or something, that sure is surprising in a world where the only important thing is money. It’s like its an inevitable consequence or something. Like we shouldn’t have organized our society this way

    fuckin shocking

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      I was told that the free market would naturally remove any bad actors… I guess we just have to deal with half a century of collateral damage before that happens.

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        Half a century? This kind of thing has been going on much longer than 50 years…

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          It’s a strategy that goes back as far back as 1972, according to the most recent investigation.

          Was basing it on that from OP.

          Of course these fundamental issues with capitalism are inherent to the system, and in general, began long before 1972.

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      It’s that neoliberalism is a lie. Neoliberalism which strated in the 70s with financial capitalism and then deployed fully with Reagan and Thatcher boosted disregulation to make all of this (profit before everything else) possible. Capitalism is a part of neoliberalism, but neoliberalism is more than just capitalism and free market. The fact is that both neoliberalism and capitalism have to be strongly regulated at best.

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          They should, or at least a brief summary of it. I am not going to begrudge someone for not wanting to dive into such a dry dense tome. But Marx as someone who studied sociology has many astute analysis and critique of the inherent social dis-functions and toxicity of capitalism.

          But so many of us, in the United States especially have been beaten over the head with mccarthy-ist propaganda since birth. As well as intense indoctrination to treat Leninism as a representation of all socialism. When that almost couldn’t be farther from the truth. Leninism much like fascism is much more tied to totalitarianism* or authoritarianism than it is to any particular socioeconomic model.

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                I might be incorrect, but wasn’t Leninism supposed to be a temporary stepping stone to communism because the USSR wasn’t industrialized? In already industrialized societies we might be able to start with market socialism or a type of anarcho-communism. With my limited imagination it seems the next test after overcoming authoritarianism might be the abolishment of money. If that could be done, Then we will have achieved early communism.

                • Eldritch@lemmy.world
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                  Didn’t a lot of other places industrialize without communism? You’ll hear a lot of capitalist making similar claims. It doesn’t mean that it’s true. I think that at the time the world in general was industrializing. And the extent to which capitalism or communism aided in that is debatable at best.

                  Tokens of exchange. However, I don’t see ever going away. We might be able to minimize the importance and role in society. But they aren’t going anywhere

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    I hear a lot that gas is cheaper for heating and I took that as the truth for a long time. A while ago I did the math though, and for my house is would have been nearly the same annual power bill if I replaced my 90% gas furnace and water heater with electric units. Although the price of gas is far more economical for heating, there’s a monthly gas usage fee that’s a flat rate. If you go all electric, you don’t pay that, and over the course of a year, I didn’t heat enough for the lower gas price to offset the flat fees. If instead of a regular electric furnace and water heater, they were heat pumps, electric would have been much cheaper than gas.

    This certainly would depend on your local prices and weather and how well your house is insulated, but if you need a new furnace, I’d do the math over a year to see if gas is still the most financially attractive option, especially if you can install an air or ground source heat pump.

    • Deiv@lemmy.ca
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      I believe the cost of an electric heater was a lot higher even after using available rebates. Hopefully the prices go down or rebates increase and it becomes a more viable option

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      Gas stoves are easier and more comfortable to cook, but if this study is true im definitely going electrict next.

      • LordKitsuna@lemmy.world
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        try induction stoves. they require certain pans (magnetic so test with a fridge magnet if it sticks you good) but its got INSANE temperature control on the high quality units. like, if something starts boiling and you don’t want that you adjust down and it almost instantly stops boiling. the only thing to watch for is getting a unit with variable power not duty cycles. this is a great counter top unit for trying it out tho!

        https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00GMCAM2G

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          Just got an induction cooktop and almost cried turning it from high to low and watching it stop bubbling almost instantly

      • Pulsar@lemmy.world
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        Have you tried to cook in a electric stove? I personally hate them. I just turn the exhaust on.

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      Electric costs about 3x as much in my experience, and it is extremely dry and uncomfortable. Definitely need a humidifier if you’re using electric

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    Technology connections informed me of this long ago! And it makes perfect sense. But almost every house I go in has a gas stove because apparently people think it’s better or nicer or “more professional” or whatever.

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      I find this crazy. I live in SE USA and I’ve never even seen a gas stove outside of camping. When everyone was “freaking out” online about the gas stove ban, I was just confused.

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        Haha! I go in about three houses per day for work and the majority will have gas. Also SE US. Although I’ve never had one in the places I’ve lived so if not for work I’d never have seen them either.

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          There’s a certain wealth line where they all have gas stoves. Look up the Wolf 6-burner gas range. Not something you find in a 3-2 home.

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          I grew up in a rural area, hence the no gas. I now live in a metro area and maybe it’s just my friends, but I’ve really never seen one. They always sounded dangerous to me.

          • SheeEttin@lemmy.world
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            Outside of this (and the utility fucking up, sending too much pressure, and blowing up a bunch of houses) they’re perfectly safe. Millions of homes around the world have gas service and incidents are very rare.

            But given the health implications of just normal operation, I’m still not going to get a gas stove in the future.

          • pirat@lemmy.world
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            I’m just here to let you know that in some rural areas, bottled gas is/was the viable solution.

        • TopRamenBinLaden@sh.itjust.works
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          I think this is mostly because it is what cooks are used to. The ones who go to culinary school learned on gas stoves, and the ones who learned on the job also mostly learned on gas stoves.

          Gas stoves aren’t the best option anymore. Induction stoves heat up much quicker and offer much finer heat control, but they are a bit more expensive, and many of the cooks would have to relearn how to make some of the stuff they are used to cooking.

          So not only is it what cooks are used to, but it would require an investment from the restaurant that most aren’t willing to look into. Gas stoves last for many many years, so it’s not like they break down and need replacing regularly, either.

    • RampantParanoia2365@lemmy.world
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      It’s just nicer to cook on gas. Electric is a pain in the ass and generally less efficient time-wise. Induction apparently solves a lot of issues, though.

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        Even old school electric burners typically heat water to boiling faster than gas.

        Gas is more responsive, but induction comes close. Some of the new induction burners have fake flames to indicate how high the output is visually.

      • Labototmized@lemmy.world
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        Do they? I’d check out Technology Connections videos on the subject. A couple more seconds to boil water is worth not inhaling whatever junk byproducts of combustion.

        • azertyfun@sh.itjust.works
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          Induction is cheap as shit nowadays, and faster, so no-one should install new gas stoves. When renovating I ripped out my gas line.

          HOWEVER I completely disagree with Alec on resistive electric stoves being “fine”. They’re terrible. They have ENORMOUS thermal inertia. He says “just move the pan off the heater”, but that doesn’t take into account that just getting a pan to the correct temperature is much harder on resistive electric. It takes forever to heat up an empty pan, but if you wait until the food is cooking to turn down the heat, it’s already too late and your food will be overcooked. Frying an egg is the worst, by the time that the pan is hot you gotta kill the heat entirely or the egg will be burnt so there is no margin for adjustment. Ugh. With induction it’s so much easier, you can just adjust the heat based on how the egg is frying and the pan will actually cool down or heat up enough that the egg will come out alright.

          I mean sure depending on ventilation and personal opinions on air quality then resistive may be favorable over gas, but if I’m honest, if induction didn’t exist I’d probably take my chances with cancer.

          • daltotron@lemmy.world
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            You know I wonder to what extent that is about people having old electric stoves that have bang on bang off resistive electric coils rather than like, a tuned consistent current coil that heats up and stays hot at a temperature. Cause the bang on bang off coil is probably going to have more thermal inertia, or, you’d want more thermal inertia, for a more consistent heat. I dunno about the thermal inertia of the coil in general, though, I’ve definitely cooked on shitty enough electric stoves that just an egg, butter, and a nonstick pan will cook for like 3 seconds, go back to being off for a minute, and then the coil will heat up and cook the egg for another 3 seconds, which is fuckin crazy, that shit blows.

            • 9point6@lemmy.world
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              I’m not particularly on any side of this discussion, but gas is a lot more responsive in terms of temperature changes than a resistive hob.

              You can go from full to lowest and that change will apply to the pan pretty much immediately. As the other person said, there’s thermal inertia with the element of a resistive hob, it’s going to take a bit of time to cool to a lower temperature

            • lightnsfw@reddthat.com
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              You don’t see how turning down a gas burner will lower the temperature in a pan faster than waiting for a red hot spiral of metal to cool off?

        • GBU_28@lemm.ee
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          Boiling water isn’t what id try to sell a gas stove on. If you’re a hobbyist cook you develop hobbyist, non essential task opinions.

          I bet 95% of people could happily use electric and never even wonder about alternatives.

          The last 5 want the features and cook pans used with gas, to get the hobbyist results they are after.

          To that I say go for it, but be aware of the risks.

          • NuXCOM_90Percent@lemmy.zip
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            Limited sample size, but Technology Connections did a great video where gas wasn’t even particularly better at boiling water. It looks like it should be because FIRE, but you get into a mess of needing to very carefully match pots to burners.

            Also, look in to an electric kettle for water. Even a shitty american voltage kettle is awesome relative to putting a kettle on the stove.

            • GBU_28@lemm.ee
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              For discussion, I always use an electric kettle to start water for pasta and similar.

              I also love TC and have seen this video.

              The hobbyist cook angle is qualitative though, if a home cook wants to emulate restaurant style there’s just no comparison.

              • pirat@lemmy.world
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                For acknowledgement, I always do the same thing with the kettle.

                I also love TC, and have seen this one too!

                And, if that wasn’t enough, I even agree with you on the last part.

                Now, what do we discuss?

                • GBU_28@lemm.ee
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                  I am comfortable arguing about any topic of your choice. I won’t let the possibility of my not being familiar with it reduce our sport.

              • NuXCOM_90Percent@lemmy.zip
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                Eh. Unless you ACTUALLY get a restaurant grade set up (not just the expensive stuff with Bobby Flay branding), that tend to actually need real range hoods and so forth, you are, at best, cosplaying being a restaurant chef. At the consumer grade, the BTU differences are mostly a matter of branding over technology. And the responsiveness is almost universally beat by induction.

                Don’t get me wrong. I am a sicko with a propane burner in his backyard for when I want to make a night out of my stir fry (or season some cast iron/carbon steel).

                But I’ve had gas burners and electric burners over the decades and have even had the opportunity to cook in restaurant kitchens on occasion (the joys of being friends with people having millennial weddings…).

                • Consumer grade? Electric and gas are more or less interchangeable. I feel fancier when I have a gas burner but I also end up sweating a lot more and don’t want to cook in the summer
                • The usual reason given for why electric is bad is that it is horrible for “wok hei”. Ignoring the hilarity of right wing chuds suddenly caring about east asian cuisne, “wok hei” is mostly a Cantonese thing and generally involves actually igniting some of the cooking oil which should only ever be done outside with a fire extinguisher nearby. What woks DO need is very high heat so as to fry, rather than steam, the ingredients. But… that is resolved by just cooking in batches. That is WHY home chefs should keep a resting (or even mise en place) bowl nearby. Cook a component, swap it out with the next. Or, if you are in bachelor mode, just do it all at once. Just don’t put the entire atomic family meal in the wok at the same time until the very end.
                • Gas in a restaurant is FUN. Although it is mostly about just heating pans ridiculously fast (and being drenched in sweat even in the winter…). Incredibly easy to burn just about anything, but it is also really nice that I can overcrowd the hell out of my pan or wok and barely notice.
                • I do not believe electric will ever be viable for a restaurant kitchen. Well, maybe if they adopt a model of always keeping pans on the burners and adding ingredients as needed but…
                • I think, with a bit of tweaking, induction can be VERY viable and have almost all the same properties as “restaurant gas”. With maybe the exception of giving you an open flame to char something but… I’ve always felt weird about doing that with a gas flame?
                • When I eventually have to replace my electric stove, I am going induction.
        • theragu40@lemmy.world
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          Speed to boil water is not at all the selling point of gas.

          It’s speed and precision of temperature control.

          Coils stay hot. When you turn the gas off, the heat is off RIGHT NOW. When you turn it on it’s on RIGHT NOW.

          Many coils pulse full heat to simulate different heat levels. Gas gives you very precise control over exact heat levels and it is instantly responsive to change.

          I’m not here to argue about the possible health concerns, I don’t know anything about that and would need to read more. But people who argue electric ranges are just as effective as gas simply haven’t cooked as much. I’m certain of this because I used to think that too until I switched to gas. Gas is plainly better.

          I’ve heard great things about induction and maybe that’s the way I’ll go next. Not sure yet. I’m certainly curious.

          • soloActivist@links.hackliberty.org
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            Many coils pulse full heat to simulate different heat levels. Gas gives you very precise control over exact heat levels and it is instantly responsive to change.

            You’ve got the precision factor backwards. Gas is a clear loser on that.

            When you have knob levels 0—9, if you set the knob to 3 on electric you get exactly ½ the heat energy that you get from level 6. It’s perfectly linear. This is not true in the slightest with gas. A gas flame is non-linear as you go from 0 to 9. All you can do is eye-ball the flame and guess. Even when you have a flame size in mind, it’s not reproduceable because you’re still eye-balling it every time. You can’t trust the levels on a gas knob either because they’re so non-linear that you can get a big flame difference in certain points along the scale.

            Gas also has less precision of control because of the reduced range at both ends. The lowest possible gas setting is still too hot for some tasks. So the best you can do is manually mimic the pulsing of electric by turning the burner off and reigniting periodically. The highest temp on gas is also less than the highest temp electric can achieve.

            The only “precision” task that gas wins at is at the zero (off) level, and speed, AFAICT, which is related to precision. Both of those factors can be discarded for the most part when comparing induction because it adjusts temp demand fast enough.

            • theragu40@lemmy.world
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              I appreciate your well mathed response, but this is a classic example of using a numbers argument where the eye test should prevail. It’s like people who play fantasy sports and argue that advanced stats prove a player who sucks, is actually good.

              I don’t at all think in the terms you are thinking of when I cook. I’m not looking at the flames. I’m not looking for “exactly half” when I drop the temp. I’m cooking, and watching the food I make react. Sometimes I need to raise or drop the temp just a tiny bit, and I can do that with excellent speed and resolution of change with gas. Electric pulses do not offer this. Every electric stove I have ever used is absolutely terrible at making small quick adjustments of heat. I am not thinking about the exact percentage by which I want to raise or lower it, and getting concerned about whether it’s exactly right. I’m not concerned about the linearity of change (although honestly if I’m thinking of it, my gas stove’s heat range feels fairly linear to me). I am doing this by intuition or feel, and by watching what I’m cooking to see that it is doing what I want.

              Also I have no idea what you mean about gas being too hot at its lowest setting. I have never encountered this in many years of cooking. Mine goes low enough that I can keep a sauce warm without stirring without it sticking. I have however, many times encountered food that scorched because the electric coils stayed hot for 15 minutes after being turned off.

              Ultimately, I probably incorrectly used the word precision. Someone who is a superior wordsmith may be able to direct me to the correct verbage.

      • NuXCOM_90Percent@lemmy.zip
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        Induction stoves get cheaper and cheaper every year.

        Also? It is mostly just the old exposed metal coil resistive stoves that were horrible. You know, the one we all had growing up where you had to poke the coil with a fork until it made connection again so that it would heat up.

        Pretty much any glass top resistive electric stove (so anything made in the past two decades or so?) is fine. Very easy to clean, much less prone to damage, and gets pretty hot pretty fast. You aren’t getting “wok hei” for all the cantonese stir frying you do but… you aren’t getting that with a gas stove either unless you have an ACTUAL restaurant setup (no, not just the expensive options at the Lowes) which tend to have very specific ventilation requirements too… If you want to go all out with your wok, get an outdoor propane burner.

        Now, I do actually think the drawback to resistive heating staying hot is a lot bigger than “just pick up the pot”. Not when I am making a weeknight meal for myself. But when I am cooking a larger meal for a date night or having friends over and am using multiple burners? I don’t really have anywhere to put the pot. But that is also incredibly “first world problems” of “I have too much food”

        • Semi-Hemi-Demigod@kbin.social
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          I actually prefer the coils. The glass-top ones are never as easy to clean as they claim, and the glass between the burner and the pot reduces heat transfer and causes them to heat up even slower. With the coil-type the pot is resting on the heater, which means maximum heat transfer via conduction.

          Another problem is that the cooktop stays very hot after you take it off the heat. With gas and induction the heat stops instantly, but I’ve burned a lot of food because I misjudged how long it takes for a resistive burner to cool down. And the glass tops are again worse because they have a lot more thermal mass than a coil.

          Induction solves all of these problems, though. Heat is controllable and instant, and the cooktop cools down very quickly.

          • Eheran@lemmy.world
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            The glass in-between makes them heat up much faster, it is the whole point actually. It is IR transparent, so only the heating element itself has to heat up to get things started. Then only a bit of insulation (next to no mass) has to heat up to get things to nearly 100 %.

            I have also never heard or seen this glass being harder to clean than any other type of stove, which are a pain to clean in comparison.

            • SheeEttin@lemmy.world
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              The glass is definitely more of a pain to clean. It’s easy enough to get stuff off, but visually you can see any streaks or missed corners much more than an enamel stovetop.

      • surewhynotlem@lemmy.world
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        suck ass

        I always blame my tools when I have no experience using them.

        They’re different. You’ll be fine.

        • °˖✧ ipha ✧˖°@lemm.ee
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          I do have experience with gas, induction, and traditional electric and can say with confidence that cooking on traditional electric sucks ass. Induction is good though and I’d say it’s on par with gas if you have the right pans.

              • GBU_28@lemm.ee
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                You scratching that across that glass?

                Also you can’t lift it.

                Fully agree induction is great for 95% of needs.

                My ideal kitchen would have both (and does lol), with a big vent and a big window.

                • yata@sh.itjust.works
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                  Cast iron is perfectly fine on induction. And no you wont scratch the glass with it. And yes you can lift it.

        • Semi-Hemi-Demigod@kbin.social
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          Resistance electric stoves can only get to about 1600 degrees. Gas stoves get to well over 3400. You can’t get a good a sear out of resistance electric, and water takes forever to boil.

          My next stove is going to be induction, though I will have a propane burner for when I really need to char something.

          And I’m sure you’ll be horrified to know that I have a charcoal grill like some kind of caveman.

          • OutlierBlue@lemmy.ca
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            You use the charcoal grill outside where the fumes easily disperse. A gas stove releases the pollution directly into your living space, where it hangs around. They’re not comparable.

    • GBU_28@lemm.ee
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      Well it is “better”, but it isn’t (as this article highlights) better.

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        Even against an induction stovetop though, it’s only better in some niche situations, otherwise I’d say the induction stovetop is better, especially because it can’t set stuff on fire.

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      Acklutally, up until recently gas has been far cheaper than induction. It was leagues better than electric. Even today unless you are spending a lot more on a new stove and probably upping running costs; it’s expensive to move to conduction when gas stoves last for basically forever. It’s also quite regional to natural gas areas where it’s been cheaper than electricity.

      If you want to sear meat at high temps, a powerful gas stove is still today going to outperform a induction.

      • Troooop@lemmy.world
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        I was curious about temps, according to this induction gets much hotter than gas. Wouldn’t that be much better for searing?

      • Semi-Hemi-Demigod@kbin.social
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        Gas stoves usually show up in colder places where homes would be heated with gas, and in older cities. 240V electricity was dangerous early on, and homes were usually already hooked up to gas networks for heating.

      • yata@sh.itjust.works
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        If you want to sear meat at high temps, a powerful gas stove is still today going to outperform a induction.

        Nope, that is a myth.

        • LemmyIsFantastic@lemmy.world
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          I’ve done plenty of my own testing on several mid range from 200 up to 600 and even a few full units on 250/40/50 circuits. None of them were as hot, in even half the time to get up to 700f especially on a double burner range. The cheaper 1500w portables many times didn’t even make it to 700. Being more efficient is not my concern.

          Beyond that, I’m still left with gas for using the oven vs electric, and is more efficient.

      • cantsurf@lemm.ee
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        I’ve lived in places with gas stoves and with electric stoves. I vastly prefer gas stoves. Just open a window or use the exhaust fan. I don’t see a problem. Gas is currently way cheaper than electricity where I live.

          • CraigeryTheKid@lemm.ee
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            Ok I had a similar question, but DID read the article.

            I was also wondering if using an external-exhaust hood vent helped, because it sounds like it would. You’d think it would pull the NO2 outside and reduce exposure.

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            I did read the article. What point are you trying to make? I concede that gas stoves do generate potentially harmful combustion byproducts but in my opinion, adequate ventilation minimizes the health risks.

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    I wonder if the same levels of pollutants are found in restaurants. Most if not all restaurants use gas stoves. The ventilation systems are usually multiple orders of magnitude better than what a typical household would have available.

    Having worked in a few restaurants, the vent systems are usually placed above the stoves but the vent itself is kind of high up. It’s definitely capturing the fumes from the cooking process itself, but not clear if it’s also capturing the pollutants from the stove while it’s on.

    There definitely has to be some spillage into the kitchen. More than using a laboratory grade ventilation hood but less than the typical gas stove in a typical household.

    • AngryCommieKender@lemmy.world
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      Every kitchen I have worked in, those vents are so powerful the head chef could smoke while on the line, and the kitchen didn’t smell of smoke. I wouldn’t be surprised if those fans are fully circulating the entire volume of air in the kitchen a couple times a minute.

      • malloc@lemmy.world
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        I think this assumes the restaurant is properly maintaining the ventilation system. I remember a couple of restaurants I worked at the grates were rarely changed out. The one time we did a proper cleaning the fucking things were caked with fat deposits and other crap. Took a power washer and some caustic industrial cleaner to get them to a decent state.

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      Usually there’s a make up air unit that keeps the pressure in the kitchen positive by pumping more air into the kitchen than what the exhaust fan is exhausting, so yeah the pollutants would have no way of spilling into the kitchen and missing the exhaust, as long as everything is set up properly, including having all fuel burning equipment below the hood.

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        Kitchens need to be kept under negative not positive pressure, typical make up air units supply 85% of the airflow of the exhaust. Source, I used to design HVAC systems and have done multiple McDonald’s restaurants.

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          Hmm. 4th year apprentice, and figured it would be the same as the rest of the building’s supply/exhaust balancing. Interesting, thanks

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    According to the American Lung Association, lung cancer diagnoses have risen a startling 84% among women over the past 42 years while dropping 36% among men over the same period. The overall number of cases remains fairly steady.

    […] Approximately 20% of women diagnosed with lung cancer today are lifelong non-smokers (by contrast, only 1 in 12 men with lung cancer have never smoked).

    […] These shocking statistics beg the question why?

    “No one knows,” says John C. Kucharczuk, MD, Director of the Thoracic Oncology Network of the Abramson Cancer Center at Penn Medicine. “It could be hormonal. It could be attributed to high degrees of exposure to secondhand smoke. Some data suggests that among non-smoking females who develop lung cancer, there are chances of a genetic mutation. At this point, there’s no conclusive data.”

    From: Penn Medicine

    So… is the mystery behind women’s lung cancer solved? Lovely if so (/s).

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    "Make no mistake, radical environmentalists want to stop Americans from using natural gas. The Consumer Product Safety Commission’s proposed ban on gas stoves is the latest egregious scaremongering by the Far Left and their Biden administration allies. I am pleased to partner with Senator Manchin in this bipartisan effort to stop the federal government from issuing regulations that put the interests of the Green New Deal before the well-being of American families,” said Senator Cruz.

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      We tried voting him out, we really did. Coincidentally, he beat Beto by a very small margin while there was a small percentage of voting machines that reportedly flipped votes for Beto (I think they would flip them to Cruz, and if you didn’t double check all your votes before casting them, then a Beto voter could have inadvertently voted Cruz)

      • PLAVAT🧿S@sh.itjust.works
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        If you take the larger words out of this comment it really reads like Trump wrote it.

        Supporting article below.

          • PLAVAT🧿S@sh.itjust.works
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            Is there such a thing?

            My comment was in reference to a lack of trust in voting machines, and it reminded me of someone else who thinks they “flip votes” while not providing evidence.

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              Yeah there was a whole thing about it at the time, it made news and was credible. The fix for it being of course to double check your ballot before you cast, which could easily be a miss by a first time voter or maybe an elderly one.

              My comment was in reference to the fact that Ted Cruz is a moron, and that we came really close to getting him out, but I do think there were some shenanigans with voting. Just the other way.

              Every accusation is an admission

              Here’s an article about it, a quick Google returns a ton of results

              https://apnews.com/texans-say-voting-machines-changing-straight-ticket-choices-a8825810d10441f2ad828e95d6851d55

              • PLAVAT🧿S@sh.itjust.works
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                Appreciate the response and apologize for casting aspersions. Seems like a legit issue, hope y’all get new hardware soon.

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    Aight. I must be missing something huge here.

    Here’s the formula for burning methane:

    CH4 + 2O2 → CO2 + 2H2O

    Are there other chemicals in the gas that don’t combust? Or don’t combust completely?

    EDIT: Jesus Christ I’m an idiot, and y’all upvoted this?! The end product is water and carbon dioxide. Better than straight methane in the atmosphere, at least in the long term, but damn I’m stupid sometimes.

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      It seems that the main problem is the existence of benzene in the natural gas. It’s not an additive; it exists in crude oil and comes through in the final product after cracking and refining. I haven’t been able to find anything showing the exact method for which benzene acts as a carcinogen, but there are several studies that show a strong correlation between benzene exposure and leukemia.

      Benzene is also in gasoline, so it’s also recommended that you don’t spend a lot of time huffing gasoline.

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        Benzene is what’s called in intercolating agent. Essentially it can slip into your DNA strands between the base pairs, and hang out there so to speak. When your cells attempt to replicate DNA where benzene has sidled on in, it can cause errors in the replication. When cells build up enough DNA errors it can cause cancer.

        Edit: this is an incorrect explanation, I was confusing benzene’s method of toxicity with ethidium bromide’s. Benzene metabolites are what’s toxic, usually due to oxidative damage.

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          Oh shit - thanks! I appreciate that. So how is it that benzene is able to get in there in the first place? Is it just because it’s non-polar? Or is it more that it activates certain pharmacophores on cells due to its shape, and is brought inside?

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      Yes, natural gas contains a whole bunch of stuff that isn’t pure methane. It would be impractical and expensive to try and seperate out only the methane.

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      There is some nitrogen in the air. In any combustion in the air, there is gonna be a small part of the nitrogen in the air reacting with the fuel, instead of oxygen. Why this happens when there are oxygen present? Idk. Entropy or something.

      I’m a complete novice when it comes to chemistry though. So I might be completely wrong.

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        Yeah, pretty much whatever you burn it’s going to produce some compounds that aren’t good, unless maybe you’re running off of hydrogen or something which no one is. Pretty much always it’s some kind of carbon containing compound.

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          Even then, you’re going to get NOx. The atmosphere is 70% nitrogen and with high enough temperatures, some will always react with the available oxygen.

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    The interesting part in the NPR article is:

    As the scientific evidence grew over time about the health effects from gas stoves, the industry used a playbook echoing the one that tobacco companies employed for decades to fend off regulation.

    This is the case in each industry from tabacco to at the other end Autism for example. People should do their research and look for the quality of the papers and the COI (conflict of interest).

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      Most people cannot judge the quality of scientific papers, that’s what public regulators are for, but they failed the people there.

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        That’s what gets me about the “do your own research” parrots. Ok - let me just google it and blindly trust the top SEOd results. That’s what most people’s research is going to be

        It’s good advice if the audience knew how to critically evaluate articles, but people don’t even read the articles.

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      I don’t know what the autism industry is. I agree that lots of industries use these tactics, while actively poisoning/exposing their customers to toxins. There is a big problem with the baby formula industry using big tobacco tactics to obfuscate facts about premature infants being killed by their products. Johnson and Johnson has also done this with talcum powder.

      • The thing with talcum powder was that it contained a certain portion of asbestos from the talc deposits it was mined from, which was determined to not be financially viable to separate out. So Johnson and Johnson just didn’t. Some of their baby powder was found to contain asbestos and they recalled a bunch of it. Then J&J claimed at the time they stopped selling talc based baby powder that this was due to “misinformation” surrounding its product.

        Yeah, okay, sure.

        The stuff you buy as baby powder now is corn starch based. This was news to me because I used to use the stuff to help mount inner tubes in motorcycle tires. The corn starch based stuff doesn’t work for that. Like, at all. I use soap or Windex now instead. No idea how well it works as actual baby powder.

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          J&J hid the fact that there was asbestos in their talc products and even continued to advertise it for use by women in their ‘sensitive areas.’

          https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/johnsonandjohnson-cancer/

          "In 1976, as the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) was weighing limits on asbestos in cosmetic talc products, J&J assured the regulator that no asbestos was “detected in any sample” of talc produced between December 1972 and October 1973. It didn’t tell the agency that at least three tests by three different labs from 1972 to 1975 had found asbestos in its talc – in one case at levels reported as “rather high.” "

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      This is the case in each industry from tabacco to at the other end Autism for example.

      Ah, yes. The autism industry strikes again!

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        There is a lot of money dumped by organizations like Autism Speaks into research geared toward “curing” Autism, and running ad campaigns about how Autism is lurking in every corner waiting to destroy your family, whereas other studies demonstrate that neurodivergent folks just need to be treated like human beings to gain access to a meaningful life. This is what I assumed they were talking about when I read their comment.

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    Laughs hysterically in South African… where we now have no choice but to use gas for almost everything because our electrical grid is collapsing due to IMF-approved neoliberal shitfuckery.

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      Don’t people blame it on ANS ANC short sightedness about banning new powerplants by Escom and failing to expand the grid and ANC’s corruption?

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        ANC short sightedness

        What ANC short-sightedness? They’re doing what all the rich people wanted them to do, aren’t they? Running everything “like a business?” I guess South Africans are now seeing for themselves how short-sighted running “everything like a business” was always going to be, huh?

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          In your opinion where did it go wrong? How should it have been prevented? What should the government/country do to get out the current crisis?

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            In your opinion where did it go wrong?

            1985… when the National Party decided to commercialise and deregulate everything in the hopes of causing socio-economic chaos in the country - which it did. They, for instance, knew perfectly wll deregulating the taxi industry would cause chaos - they literally commissioned White Papers to research the outcomes - and they did it not in spite of the findings of that research, but because of it.

            Same thing with Eskom - commercialised in 1985, and by 2002 Eskom was disconnecting more households than they were connecting - I literally have the UKZN research papers on my desktop to prove it - because Eskom was now being “run like a business.” The outcome we see today shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone, but because the media has been lying to us about the root cause of our problems we are all making surprise Pikachu faces while whining about “corruption” and “incompetence.”

            The ANC took one look at this state of affairs and went, “Oh, we’re fine with this” and they’ve been doing the bog-standard “living it up while the rich gets richer and the poor get poorer” neoliberal shuffle ever since. Don’t get me wrong… the ANC is as corrupt as fuck - but that doesn’t make them unique here in South Africa or the rest of the world. But they are not the root cause… it’s the socio-economic system that enables this shitfuckery that is.

            What should the government/country do to get out the current crisis?

            We already know how… the same people that now applaud the DA or ActionSA every time their talking heads use the word “privatisation” are the very people who remember (or rather, selectively forgets) how well our public infrastructure worked when they were actually run as public infrastructure and not profit-making “businesses.” That’s what the country needs to do - reclaim our public infrastructure. But don’t expect the snivelling racketeers (whether they be ANC, DA, EFF or any of the parasites squatting in parliament) in our political establishment to push that idea any time soon…

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    can raise levels of cancer-causing benzene above what’s been observed from secondhand smoke.

    Yeah this is fairly concerning, I usually think of benzene as super carcinogenic. They actually limit how much of it can be used in gasoline for that reason.

    I’d probably want to compare benzene content from various sources and consult the OSHA guidelines before saying how bad this is, but there’s no doubt in my mind that this decidedly bad. You’re getting directly and consistently exposed to the benzene.

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    Gas stoves rock. Rather than banning gas stoves, just require that they be installed safely.

    The answer here is simple- mandate a range hood with real outside exhaust (not the cheap ones that blow air back into the room). And require a make-up air vent with equivalent capacity.

    Maybe require the stove to automatically engage the vent at low speed (near-silent) so when you start a burner the vent runs at like 10CFM or something automatically.

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      Mandating that someone renovate their entire kitchen to have a gas stove would have worse repercussions than just outright banning them

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          I vividly remember when they required fire-retardant insulation that every contractor and worker in the biz was up in arms, I can’t imagine how well it’s gonna go for contractors building high-rise apartments that are also required to have strong ventilation systems for dumb stoves

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            Do high-rise apartments tend to have gas stoves? I’ve never even seen a low-rise apartment without an electric range.

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      Yep. I’d rather not have a propane stove, but I live in an area with a lot of power outages. We have a propane generator for backup power. Makes no sense to size to generator to run and induction stove when we can just use our, properly installed, propane stove.

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      I just had my kitchen done and asked for better ventilation, provided options. Ended up with a microwave that blows air into the fucking room. And its connected to a vent outside, its just designed to blow air into the fucking room despite that. Contractor was so clueless and products are there to deceive us.

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        I think he probably installed it wrong. I’ve seen a few of these and read the manuals, there is almost always a setup where you have to remove a baffle from the rear output and reinstall that baffle in the front output. Look up the installation manual for your microwave. I would bet money your contractor missed a step.

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    Is this natural gas, or propane, or both? The article mostly uses just “gas” but does mention natural gas once.

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    I never got this fervent obsession “i mUsT hAvE gAs StOvE, eLeCtRiC iS tHe SuCk wAhHhHh.” Geez you think an electric stove killed their puppy or something. Electric is more than fine, it’s even better because it’s not putting out all that extra heat, nevermind all the pollution, and the noise because you’re supposed to run the fan at high (but people never do). Cue the gAs crying below.

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      The only real issue is that how environmentally friendly electric is compared to gas depends on how the electricity is made. Gas effectively converts all of its potential chemical energy to heat where it is used. Electricity has to be generated from some process eg. burning fuel, nuclear energy, wind, solar, hydroelectric etc. and if it is primarily generated at coal or gas power plants, maybe 40 to 50% of the potential chemical energy in those fuels are converted into electricity. So if more than about 40% of the electricity you use is generated by burning fossil fuels, you arent really saving the environment by using electric instead of gas. But of course where that pollution ends up matters. In the case of electric, if your power is generated in power plants that burn fossil fuels, the pollution isn’t directly being vented into your house. And those power plants may scrub their exhaust to an extent. i.e to reduce Sulfur Dioxide emissions etc.

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        Scrubbers at power plants will do way more than the one you won’t have at home.

        And gas can never be converted.

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      Electric + cast iron is my favorite combo, because the heat capacity of the cast iron pretty much cancels out the uneven heat from an electric burner

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        I’m currently frying with the thinnest stainless steel pan I’ve ever seen from the 70s. Didn’t even know they could be that thin. And there is no problem with the on/off cycle. It’s a made up fake concern from who knows where.

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          Nah it’s not made up. It fucks with my sear. And by uneven, I mean some parts of the coil heat up at different rates than others / have better contact than others.