Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

A shrub in Nepal supplies the raw material for the bank notes used in Japan

nytimes.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

71–80 of 95 posts

Re: A shrub in Nepal supplies the raw material for the bank notes used in Japan

#71

Post by pvaldes »

altilunium wrote: post #63
kragen wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

apparently https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daphne_bholua and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daphne_papyracea , the usual species for lokta paper, are in a different genus in the same family as https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edgeworthia_chrysantha ; is it possible the argeli mentioned is an edgeworthia species rather than a daphne species? edit: twic found https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40039860 that it's edgeworthi…

Found this excerpt from [1] > I dedicate this beautiful genus to Mr. M. P. Edgeworth, Esq., to whom we owe a valuable description of the vegetation and agriculture in the Sikh states in northwestern India (Hooker's Journal of Botany, II. p. 267), and I combine this with the wish to also pay tribute to his famous sister, Miss Maria Edgeworth, who has become dear to all educated people through her writings, which are m…

> I can't understand anything.

Is the typical botanical idiomatic problem.

Petiolate: Leaves join the stem by a narrow "tail".

oblong-elliptic: Shape of the leaf, self-explanatory, also indicates that the leaf is entire (blade shaped as one continuous structure)

acute on both ends: blade leaf starts and ends in a point (that is short in both cases).

glabrous above: upper surface smooth

slightly hairy below: surface below covered by tiny "bumps" or vesicles to protect from dry or chill conditions (feels hairy to the touch)

Peduncles thickened at the apex: Ambiguous, but that "tail" is more thick in one extreme (probably before to join the leaf blade).

Hemispherical capitula: Flowers "glued together" over a disk, and arranged as a half sphere. Is not exactly like a daisy, but you pick the idea.

involucre with lanceolate acuminate leaves subequal to the flowers:

That "disk" has also spear-shaped bracts (accessory small leaves) that are more or less as long as the flowers are.

Flowers subvillous-tomentose with yellowish pubescence

Flowers in this genus have a strange (and pleasant) plush texture. They are covered by a dense layer of short yellow (or red) hairs. Is very strange the first time that you see it, but also adds a lot of charm and coolness to the species.

Re: A shrub in Nepal supplies the raw material for the bank notes used in Japan

#72

Post by CyberDildonics »

cubefox wrote: post #68
CyberDildonics wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the concern was with the plastic money shedding micro plastics Show me anyone who is actually 'concerned' about that with numbers to back up that there is any significance.

Here are some numbers (points on the left): https://hn.algolia.com/?q=microplastics

This doesn't show anyone concerned about polymer money shedding microplastics and it doesn't show any numbers about how much polymer money sheds microplastics.

What did you think this was evidence of?

Re: A shrub in Nepal supplies the raw material for the bank notes used in Japan

#73

Post by livueta »

kragen wrote: post #43
cloudbonsai wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This thread is grossly missing the point. OP is writing about a foreign aid program directed at Nepali people. Nepal is a rocky country, having a large patch of lands unsuitable for farming. People in the rulal area are literally one of the poorest population in the world. Paper bush ("Mitsumata") grows well in such a rocky soil. This program is essentially an attempt to set up Japan as a longterm buyer of the materi…

i don't know if it's intended as a foreign aid program, but if it is, it's a foreign aid program whose budget amounts to a single google engineer's salary, so i'd think japan could do better

I mean, it's just one program out of many. Japan is the largest bilateral national contributor to foreign aid to Nepal: https://www.foreignassistance.gov/cd/nepal/current/obligatio... https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foreign_aid_to_Nepal

In 2019, 146.7M vs 129.0M from the U.S.

Lots of Japanese people travel to Nepal to volunteer in schools and clinics and stuff; when living in Japan I knew several different people who'd done that sort of thing. It's like U.S. doctors and contractors doing projects in Central America. Japan is very into building soft power in SEA through development assistance.

Re: A shrub in Nepal supplies the raw material for the bank notes used in Japan

#74

Post by kylehotchkiss »

Iambecomedeath wrote: post #9

We (Nepali) have been using this material to make lokta paper for a long time now. These papers (Nepali Kaagaz) are used mainly today for official documents.

That's cool, is it something tourists could buy?

Re: A shrub in Nepal supplies the raw material for the bank notes used in Japan

#76

Post by pests »

CyberDildonics wrote: post #72
cubefox wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here are some numbers (points on the left): https://hn.algolia.com/?q=microplastics

This doesn't show anyone concerned about polymer money shedding microplastics and it doesn't show any numbers about how much polymer money sheds microplastics. What did you think this was evidence of?

People concerned with _microplastics_.

They don't care where it comes from.

The point being - is money one?

Why be so dismissive?

Re: A shrub in Nepal supplies the raw material for the bank notes used in Japan

#77

Post by oniony »

pvaldes wrote: post #65
kragen wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

you're probably confusing it with the similar-looking oleander, i put daphne (laurel or bay leaves) in my soup. all parts of daphne are supposed to be poisonous but it's not in the same league as oleander oleander is an unrelated plant, being a rosid rather than an asterid, but in some languages people use the same word for both because they both have thick and leathery dark green glossy lanceolate leaves, usually gl…

> you're probably confusing it with the similar-looking oleander Not. Both are very different species. Daphne is definitely in the same league as Nerium in terms of poison. Very innocent looking, very fragrant, very toxic. I would have it otherwise. What you use in your kitchen is Laurus. But beware the internet. What you --should not-- use in your kitchen is --this-- "Laurus". http://www.paghat.com/laurel.html That…

I have this laurel in my garden. It's very hardy. It grows very fast and makes another fine mess of my garden.

Re: A shrub in Nepal supplies the raw material for the bank notes used in Japan

#78

Post by ericfr11 »

justsomehnguy wrote: post #10
wenyuanyu wrote: post #4

Sourcing the raw material of bank notes from Nepal? Seems a bit off from an environmental standpoint by hauling materials halfway across the globe from Himalaya. How about plastic notes? They are durable, recyclable, and because they are money, not likely to end up in our oceans as wastes.

> from an environmental standpoint From an environmental standpoint all banknotes should be shredded and burned and everyone should use contactless means of payment.

I agree. The impact (cost, energy...) is nothing compared to TikTok video streaming. Economy of scale

Re: A shrub in Nepal supplies the raw material for the bank notes used in Japan

#79

Post by 1jbdg »

FinalBriefing wrote: post #54
1jbdg wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Does it shed particles? In a world of absolutism yes they would. I don’t know if there are actually any studies but fyi cotton notes will also have plastic features and a synthetic, uv cured varnish to try and get some extra life (although far less than polymer) so also ’shed’. Banknotes are regularly inspected and worn or damaged notes are pulled - they really are the perfect product for plastic.

By weight though, it's a lot less plastic being put out there. Is it worse than clothing? Maybe not, but I'd continue to be skeptical about it until some studies have been done.

But the solid piece of plastic isn’t shedding, it’s encased in ink and will be removed with set levels of ink wear. The synthetic varnishes, features etc are the same with paper so you’re putting out 4x the amount of ‘at risk’ shedding material due to the longer life of polymer.

Plastic = bad is a disaster for co2 emissions and ironically microplastics since the alternatives are heavier and don’t last as long. Meaning more transport, distribution etc and tires are one of the biggest sources of microplastics.

Re: A shrub in Nepal supplies the raw material for the bank notes used in Japan

#80

Post by CyberDildonics »

pests wrote: post #76
CyberDildonics wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This doesn't show anyone concerned about polymer money shedding microplastics and it doesn't show any numbers about how much polymer money sheds microplastics. What did you think this was evidence of?

People concerned with _microplastics_. They don't care where it comes from. The point being - is money one? Why be so dismissive?

Why be so dismissive?

Because there is zero evidence of what you're saying. How much plastic are people surrounded by and how much of that weight is bank notes? How much do they shed? Show some numbers or just use some common sense that this doesn't matter.

Post reply on HN