Discussions, summarized

Sumcast distills Slack conversations, Whimsical posts, Reddit discussions and more into a concise daily newsletter that only takes a few minutes to read. Or, listen to it in your favorite podcast app.

• Hacker News1XSLT RIPGoogle plans to deprecate and remove XSLT by 2027, their second attempt after trying in 2013. The content claims Google hates XML and RSS to control media and legislation, alleging they paid Mozilla and Apple billions for support. It urges users to fight back by promoting XSLT usage.Technical implementation and alternatives:Discussion of the site's clever use of XML with XSLT stylesheets to distinguish browser support, polyfills as alternatives, and technical approaches like server-side transformation vs client-side processing for static sites.Google's browser dominance and web standards control:Concerns about Google dictating web standards through Chrome's market position, comparisons to historical browser competition, and broader antitrust issues around tech monopolies controlling web technologies.XSLT's utility and decline:Debate over XSLT's value for RSS feed styling and static sites versus its complexity, maintenance burden, security issues with libxslt, and the broader failure of XML technologies despite their theoretical advantages.
• Reddit science1Using scented products indoors changes the chemistry of the air, producing as much air pollution as car exhaust does outside, according to a new study. Researchers say that breathing in these nanosized particles could have serious health implications.Using scented products indoors, such as flame-free candles and wax melts, can create significant indoor air pollution comparable to car exhaust. Research by Purdue University found these products release nanosized particles that can penetrate deep into lungs and potentially enter the bloodstream, posing serious respiratory health risks.Misleading title scope:Discussion about how study only focused on wax melts but title suggests all scented products, with debate about whether findings could logically extend to other scented itemsHealth concerns from chemist:A chemist's perspective against using scented products leads to sharing of personal health impact stories, from COPD to cancer cases, and debate about necessity of artificial scentsAir purification solutions:Discussion of HEPA filters and other air purification methods as solutions, with debate about effectiveness against different types of pollutants like VOCs and nanoparticles
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