Idk Man

Miners working in Kentucky, Virginia and West Virginia who’ve had at least 25 years underground have the worst rate of coal workers’ pneumoconiosis, or black lung disease. One in three — 32.5% — tested positive in X-rays conducted by NIOSH during the last five years.

The last time the rate of disease was that high for miners with the same work history was 1978. In 2018 when NIOSH last reported rates of the disease, the rate was 20.6%.

The new research shows that even miners with as few as 15 years underground have higher rates of black lung — rates not seen in nearly 40 years.

“I’m disgusted,” said Dr. Scott Laney, a NIOSH research epidemiologist who is the lead author of the research letter.

“This is not going to get better because of all the disease that’s already in the pipeline. These guys are being treated like disposable widgets, not human beings … We’re watching them die right before our eyes.”

The story of these two… And I’m still looking for my go-to rendering method (one that doesn’t take ages and years off of my lifespan 🫠). This partially translucent one is nice for more pastel palette, but for deeper tones I think nothing beats grayscale+gradient map method yet.