this post was submitted on 14 Dec 2025
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Science Memes

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top 38 comments
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[–] AlligatorBlizzard@sh.itjust.works 42 points 1 week ago (2 children)

How else am I supposed to remove the ice from my sidewalk???

[–] Zozano@aussie.zone 51 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (2 children)
[–] ayyy@sh.itjust.works 27 points 1 week ago

But it’s my fault for global warming because I left a light on that one time.

[–] 0ops@piefed.zip 15 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Just don't get too close to any load-bearing steel beams

[–] msage@programming.dev 1 points 1 week ago

Russian snowblowers can't melt steel beams!!1!

[–] FundMECFS@anarchist.nexus 3 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Some places have heated sidewalks for this lol

[–] DioramaOfShit@lemmy.world 8 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Some places.... like where rich folks live

[–] FundMECFS@anarchist.nexus 6 points 1 week ago

Or places where there is critical infrastructure like Train platforms in some european countries

[–] affenlehrer@feddit.org 20 points 1 week ago (3 children)
[–] fossilesque@mander.xyz 23 points 1 week ago (1 children)
[–] affenlehrer@feddit.org 27 points 1 week ago (4 children)

Sorry, I still don't get the part about "salting the earth". Is that something people do to get rid of weeds?

[–] saltesc@lemmy.world 45 points 1 week ago (2 children)

Yep. Did this recently actually lol.

But also commonly known as a war thing, done to render the enemy's land infertile. Can't grow food for a while and stuff.

Neither of these things really make much sense in context, though.

[–] affenlehrer@feddit.org 3 points 1 week ago

We (in Germany) use salt in winter to defrost the pavement and streets but it doesn't have a big effect on the weeds. They still appear from any crack they can find.

[–] artifactsofchina@lemmy.world 1 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I remember hearing that the Sahara desert was created by Romans salting the earth.

That can't possibly be true?

Also I wonder how it is connected to Jesus saying 'you are the salt of the earth'. That seems like am entirely different thing, but then again maybe not?

I feel like the most modern equivalent is Vietnam.

[–] Saapas@piefed.zip 19 points 1 week ago (1 children)

No, Romans didn't make the Sahara. The myth is usually that they salted the earth when they destroyed Carthage but that isn't true either

[–] MajorMajormajormajor@lemmy.ca 2 points 1 week ago

Carthago delenda est!

[–] BartyDeCanter@lemmy.sdf.org 13 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

“Salting the Earth” is an idiom that references possibly apocryphal stories of ancient warfare where an invading army would literally put large amounts of salt or salt water in the enemy’s fields so that they wouldn’t be able to grow crops. This was done to make sure that the population couldn’t rebuild and become a threat in the future. Nowadays it is used to mean that someone is making really, really sure that something is destroyed and not coming back.

Edit: Part of the meaning is going out of your way in a big way to do it, because enough salt to actually have an effect, or digging a trench to get the ocean to fill the fields would have been astoundingly expensive.

[–] fossilesque@mander.xyz 5 points 1 week ago (1 children)
[–] affenlehrer@feddit.org 1 points 1 week ago (2 children)

And it's just as bad / good as glyphosate?

[–] quediuspayu@lemmy.dbzer0.com 15 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

No, salt is not toxic. But makes it hard for most things to grow until the sodium washes up.

[–] ryedaft@sh.itjust.works 3 points 1 week ago (1 children)

The handy men did manage to kill one of our roses by salting our sidewalk against weeds.

[–] quediuspayu@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

Salt (sodium) messes with the ability of plants to absorb certain nutrients from the soil, so if that soil wasn't very rich to begin with it can easily starve whatever is nearby.

I personally tried to kill weeds with salt in certain spots of my backyard and failed because it has plenty of nutrients and good drainage, salt doesn't last long after a couple rains.

[–] alternategait@lemmy.world 1 points 1 week ago

It also changes the osmolarity of the water in the soil, changing how water can move into their root system.

[–] marcos@lemmy.world 4 points 1 week ago

It's way worse than glyphosate. Nothing grows until it washes up, what can take many years.

[–] Aquila@sh.itjust.works 16 points 1 week ago

Monsanto did some fucked up shit

[–] Tollana1234567@lemmy.today 4 points 1 week ago

salting the earth, prevents plants from growing.

[–] Randelung@lemmy.world 9 points 1 week ago (2 children)

I've always wondered about the whole "you are the salt of the earth" thing. Did they mean it in a positive or negative way?

[–] baka@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 points 1 week ago

I didn't realize until you said that

[–] Cethin@lemmy.zip 1 points 1 week ago

I'm pretty sure it's positive. Salt is (was, but still is to a lesser extent) extremely valuable. It's literally where the word "salary" comes from. Every person, and animal, needs salt to survive, and it used to be much harder to obtain than today. It's only bad in extremely high amounts in a field you're planning to grow crops.

[–] DaddleDew@lemmy.world 6 points 1 week ago

Vinegar works faster

[–] corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca 5 points 1 week ago (2 children)
[–] MajorMajormajormajor@lemmy.ca 2 points 1 week ago

Maybe they mean they're at the brimstone till to buy some brimstone.

Or, maybe they're a brimstone farmer and need to till the land specifically for brimstone.

We'll just never know...

[–] psud@aussie.zone 1 points 1 week ago

I don't think they know they're trying to abbreviate 'until'

[–] friend_of_satan@lemmy.world 5 points 1 week ago

But Brawndo has electrolytes! It's what plants crave!

[–] sem@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 points 1 week ago

Brimstone. Girls would never take him home,

[–] Shayeta@feddit.org 1 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

A fitting fate for Carthage I say! Right after we destroy it!

[–] humanspiral@lemmy.ca 1 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

glycophosate

is that supposed to be glycophosphate? If not what is that?

edit: nvm... I may have been saying it wrong all these years.