michieldotv

7 ms·

1.
by michieldotv 6mo ago
I get that in the West we are generally conceiving at a later stage in life than before, and that this does not improve odds of conception. However, with fertility, just as with so many things, we are individualising the problem. Here too t
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by michieldotv 6mo ago
From speaking with others, I will say that, on average my peers seem not to have learned from the energy crisis following the invasion of Ukraine. It's business as usual. Consequently those learnings have not permeated society up to th
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by michieldotv 8mo ago
This EU free-rider behavior is unfortunately typical of French public sector policy. European energy markets were famously liberalised in 1996, allowing French state-owned EDF to acquire the previously state-owned monopolist Electrabel in B
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by michieldotv 3y ago
I don't have an answer for you, because I haven't found it myself. I have been struggling with burnout for a while now, but I was unable to really put my finger on what was wrong. Maybe it was the job, maybe it was the management,
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by michieldotv 4y ago
I've been going through another episode of sleeplessness lately. Just like it had before, it has serious detrimental effects on my overall wellbeing. I'm less trusting of others, more inclined to shirk social situations, more sens
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3M’s PFAS Crisis Has Come to Europe(bloomberg.com)
180 points by michieldotv 4y ago|94 comments
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by michieldotv 5y ago
I feel you. I was on escitalopram in my twenties too for a depressive episode. It wrecked my libido and 10 years down the line there is hardly any sign of improvement in sight. I have a very understanding spouse, luckily, but I'm hones
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by michieldotv 5y ago
PFOS/PFAS are such a shit fest. An unholy coalition politicians, gov't administration, scientists and corporate interest tried to cover up historical PFOS pollution around the 3M production site in Zwijndrecht (BE). They were caug
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by michieldotv 5y ago
Talking about Belgium, 40.000 additional homes are being connected to the gas grid every year (2020/2021). That's astounding. We stopped mandating new connections. Great. Insidiously, though, Big Gas successfully lobbied for a pri
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by michieldotv 5y ago
Electricity price (A) + Distribution network fees (B1) + Transmission network fees (B2) + Excise taxes on electricity (C) ──────────────────────────────── Subtotal +
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by michieldotv 5y ago
> What is it that would make it so expensive? I know €200K sounds like a lot, but if you strip out unavoidable costs such as VAT, architect's fees, misc hidden fees, what you are left with is a whole lot less. Let's say they ac
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by michieldotv 5y ago
Belgium chiming in. For the longest time, the electricity bill was this kind of back door for politicians to sneak in stuff they wanted to keep out of the General Budget. It started harmless enough, but it has spiraled out of control. Of co
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by michieldotv 5y ago
Quite expensive? That's understated. My understanding now is that it comes at the cost a modest new house. Our family bought a house in the immediate periphery of a smaller city. Since most city housing here is old, the consequence of
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by michieldotv 5y ago
As a Belgian having worked in Denmark, my access to Danish e-government services through NemID was revoked pretty soon after I left the country. This was quite a frustrating experience. Some time after leaving the country I got e-mails sayi
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by michieldotv 6y ago
I see two reasons: Increased nuclear safety. Proponents often tout nuclear's relative safety. Good, but that safety is hard won through regulation. Compliance is costly, and improved safety has been subject to diminishing returns. Econ
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by michieldotv 6y ago
This coal spiel is getting so old. This shift to coal in the German energy mix hasn't materialized. This is counter to what many predicted (or hoped?) would happen as the nuclear share weaned. The facts: In the time frame 2010 to 2020,
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by michieldotv 6y ago
Atmospheric nitrogen is a big source of environmental and human harm in the Low Countries. The nitrogen deposits are literally smothering what little nature is left. It already led to a full-blown crisis in The Netherlands where constructio
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by michieldotv 6y ago
As far as I know, there's only one nanobody-based drug on the market today, caplacizumab, and it isn't administered through aerosols, but rather subcutaneously. I know Ablynx was working on an inhaled one as a treatment for RSV, b
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by michieldotv 6y ago
The PDF spec has everything on board to support text reflow. A good PDF library will typically have the option to output what is called a Tagged PDF. Annotating the structure of the document allows readers to reflow the text. It's what
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by michieldotv 6y ago
It's called just that: Tagged PDF. It was added to the ISO spec quite some time ago and allows you to annotate your documents structurally.