Get Over It

#my old phone looks like this on my shelf lmao #im too scared to touch it to throw it away #idk what trash this even goes into when its at this point

The pillow-shaped object here used to be the phone’s battery. It’s not a battery anymore. Now it’s a balloon full of corrosive, pyrophoric chemicals and hydrogen gas and it’s one puncture away from burning your house down. I am 100% serious. You should be scared to touch it.

But you gotta touch it, because you gotta get it out of your house before the pressure builds up to the point where the balloon pops. This isn’t going to happen soon – there is no need to panic – but it will happen eventually.

And, indeed, it doesn’t go in the ordinary trash. You put this in the ordinary trash and you’re gonna set the garbage truck on fire. Don’t do that to the garbage collectors, their job is hard enough already.

The first thing you need to do is get a fireproof container. The most common household item that qualifies as a fireproof container is a cast-iron cookpot with a cast-iron lid – often sold as a “Dutch oven.” Any other cooking container that’s unreactive, has a very high melting point, and has a lid made of the same materials will also work: enameled or stainless steel, Pyrex with glass lid, etc.

However: Do not use a pot with a PTFE-based non-stick coating. If the battery does explode, the fire will probably be hot enough to degrade a PTFE coating, producing toxic smoke. (Not that you should breathe the smoke from the battery fire either, but PTFE breakdown products are worse.) Do not use a pot made of aluminium or copper. The fire might even get hot enough to melt those.

Whatever container you use, you might have to throw away along with the phone, so don’t use your good Dutch oven for this. Go to a thrift store and buy a cheap one.

Once you have the fireproof container:

Gently pick up the phone and put it in the fireproof container. If possible, gently tape the phone to the bottom of the container to prevent it from bouncing around. Don’t put any padding in there, that’ll just make a fire worse if it does happen. Put the lid on and tape it shut.

Put a label on the container, something like “DEFECTIVE LI-ION BATTERY – FIRE HAZARD”.

It is now reasonably safe to move the container around. However, if the battery does explode, the container is very likely to leak smoke and get hot, so keep it in a well-ventilated area and away from things that will be damaged by heat. Don’t leave it exposed to the weather, either.

You need to find either a hazardous waste disposal site, or an e-waste recycler that will accept defective Li-ion batteries. I can’t help with that because I have no idea where you live.

However, your local fire department, if you have one, will probably be happy to help. Call their non-emergency number. Nothing is on fire yet, so this isn’t an emergency, but things that can easily start a fire are still within the fire department’s responsibilities. Tell them you have a phone with a bulging lithium-ion battery, you put it in a fireproof container, and you want to know how to dispose of it safely.

If the fire department tries to tell you this isn’t dangerous or it’s okay to throw it out in the regular trash (with or without fireproof container), hang up on them and write a cranky letter to your local government representatives, then keep looking for a proper disposal site.

The big thing is to never puncture the battery (lithium burns on contact with air!), apply pressure to it (no squeezing! It looks fun but burns aren’t!), and keep it cool (don’t leave it in your car while you run an errand on your way to dispose of it).

If you live in the USA, EPA’s Earth 911 database can help you find places to dispose of this or any other household hazardous waste: just visit the site and search for “Household Hazardous Waste” plus your zip code. Most areas have drop off sites that are free and are equipped to safely dispose of anything like this - and they’ll let you keep your pot!

As of a couple days ago, this was authorized for emergency use in the US. Your local vaccination place should be getting these in stock within a week or two.

Here is an article in case people want to read more about that sort of thing.

Get your booster!

Important aspects of the Third Place are

Informal, playful tone

Nobody is required to be here

Conversation is the main activity

Established regulars maintain the atmosphere and tone and communicate it to newcomers

Examples in the world include bars, barber shops, sewing circles, bingo parlors, game rooms, 90s malls, Elk lodges, book groups, student rec centers, D&D, and Tumblr.

Okay despite it's biases, the American legal system is actually pretty comprehensible, this is just uncharted legal territory. I don't think I could explain what is happening with Alex Jones in any sort of simple way. Even as a Professional Conspiracy Understander, this case is what we in the business like to call "Cuckoo For Fucking Coco Puffs."

A subpoena is when a court says "the court has decided that X is crucial to the case, you have to bring X to court or there will be legal penalties."

A person can be subpoened, meaning they have to show up to testify or face legal penalties.

Information and objects can also be subpoenaed, meaning "If you have access to this, you must bring it to court and enter it into the record of evidence or there will be legal penalties for you."

Oh no my friend. The texts WERE requested for discovery, FOUR LAWYERS AGO, in the actual libel trial, the trial Alex lost in default.

We are currently in the DAMAGES trial, and it turns out that actually, Alex HAD the texts the entire time and DIDNT turn them over to the court which is VERY ILLEGAL.

Image descriptions in alt text.

Links in article:

“Definitely it’s retaliation,” linked in original post

“and it made national news:”

(From the former mayor)

BLUE BEE BLUE BEE