Post AithkoRmkacGdEX0Km by tomjennings@tldr.nettime.org
(DIR) More posts by tomjennings@tldr.nettime.org
(DIR) Post #AithkoRmkacGdEX0Km by tomjennings@tldr.nettime.org
2024-06-13T21:34:33Z
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Lol great! The same man developed leaded gasoline additives and chlorofluorocarbons. And he died by strangulation from a machine he made to help him get out of bed (he has childhood polio).https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Midgley_Jr.?wprov=sfla1CNN has this rather appropriately lurid story about him. https://www.cnn.com/2024/05/24/world/thomas-midgley-jr-leaded-gas-freon-scn
(DIR) Post #Aitj9zaAaRsaMR1WIy by Affekt@hachyderm.io
2024-06-13T21:50:18Z
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@tomjennings Dude knew that lead was bad (because every fucking chemist for the last 2000 years knew that), got lead poisoning, knew about deaths related to leaded gas manufacturing and still decided it was better to make a buck off it. Fuck people like that. As an engineer I've stayed away from creating, supporting or working on anything that is clearly a risk to health or life. Like, I could make my life a lot easier working for a military contractor but then I'd have to live with myself.
(DIR) Post #Aitt4oo0E7aT1xfJbs by tomjennings@tldr.nettime.org
2024-06-13T23:41:28Z
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@Affekt Oh man I'm with you 100%. As an uneducated, self taught programmer in 1980 I took a job with Avco Everett Research Lab to do 808x programming and design. I quit at 6 months. I was 25. The immediate work was ok but the customer was the Air Force... At a party I was offered a job at a subcontractor doing secret work (taking atmospheric wiggle out of ground images of space objects) OH MAN neato bit slice fast CPU etc.... but the people involved creeped me out. There was something very off, to me. I quit and never worked near anything like that again. Fuck those people. Yes, you have to live with yourself first.