This is what caused the loss of the Columbia. Those falling chunks knocked off enough heat-shielding tiles that the shuttle didn’t survive re-entry.
No harm done indeed. The piece of foam that fell off on Columbia was from a section of foam that was excluded from the EPA mandate, so it was completely unaffected by the removal of CFCs. Environmental concerns did not cause the Columbia accident.
The first few launches had white paint on the outside of the foam. This was due to thermal concerns, the tank was painted to reject heating from sunlight, but after a few launches they determined the paint wasn’t needed and just flew the tanks unpainted. The tanks require insulating foam on the outside to prevent the buildup of ice on the tank, since chunks of ice falling off the tank would be far, far more dangerous than chunks of foam falling off.
Also, the EPA regulations had nothing to do with the Columbia accident.
It didn’t knock heat-shielding tiles off. What it did do was blow a huge, gaping hole in the leading edge of the left wing.
Per the OP’s question, was nylon rope marketed as a safer alternative to something else?
A suggestion: next time you want to pull a stump, use steel chain or cable to avoid a repeat of your situation.
Environmentalists have advocated for people to use reusable shopping bags. Hey great, less plastic and paper headed for the landfill, it’s all good, right? Wrong. Studies are now showing that contamination of reusable bags with bacteria is resulting in an increase of foodborne illness.
Thanks for educating me on that! I had no idea.
that’s not the fault of the reusable bag. if the shopper cleans the bag then there isn’t the problem.
Did this actually cause health problems? I’d imagine that the amount of filter material inhaled is negligible.
I know at one point researchers realized that women smokers were getting more of a certain subtype of lung cancer than men - one not associated with tobacco chemicals, but with particles from filters. It was hypothesized that our generally longer fingernails, paired with a tendency for some smokers to “ash” their cigarette by dragging a fingernail along the filter end (as opposed to tapping the side of the cigarette) might be loosening the filter fibers and allowing more of them to be inhaled than the manufacturers anticipated.
Not sure if the hypothesis still stands or not. But I sure became self-conscious of my ashing technique after reading that!
One example given in the Wikipedia article on unintended consequences (which is what this sort of thing is generally called) is that in the Australian state of Victoria, the government mandated bicycle helmets. However, kids viewed them as uncool, so they ride less, and therefore get less exercise.
Actually according to this source (which quotes the external tank program manager), the white paint was not to protect against solar heating while fueled; rather, it was to protect the foam against UV damage while the assembled vehicle was parked on the launch pad for extended periods.
Skipping the paint saved 600 pounds of weight.
A classic problem is the occasional safety device that does not actually improve safety, but makes things worse, or introduces a new problem.
Such was recently discussed on this board – introduction of the front passenger airbag, being dangerous to infants in the front seat, resulted in infant car seats being moved to the back – where a small number of them get overlooked and forgotten, leaving a few children each year to die in overheated parked vehicles.
Going from memory, another example occurred at Three Mile Island. One of the enormous bank of controls, dials, and switches had a tag containing critical information…that hung down over a warning light, obscuring it from view. That may have been moot anyway, as some large number of alarms and warning lights were going off at the same time (my memory says “90” alarms and lights triggered, but I can’t source that at the moment). Anyway, most of those warnings and alarms were minor, but the enormous number of them saturated the responders with information at a time when they needed to focus on only a few key processes.
That’s just not true. With a small weapon like the 20 ton W54, the real threat was the prompt radiation, which for small weapons outstrips the heat and blast. (really big ones are mostly heat and blast, with the prompt radiation not being an issue).
Sometimes I think 98% of child safety devices fall into this category. Outlet covers and doorknob covers and toilet seat latches and cabinet locks and drawer locks and cushions for the edge of the coffee table and and and…
At some point, I think over-babyproofing leaves parents with a false sense of security, and reduces their direct awareness and supervision of their kids. And it’s astounding how hellbent some toddlers are on killing themselves. They will find ways you and the babyproofers never dreamed of to risk their life and limb. Nothing replaces an attentive caregiver.
Not sure if there are any actual studies to back me up, mind, just a sense I have of the world that may or may not be accurate.
There is constant debate about how safety devices make the user act more recklessly, and end up causing more injuries or deaths - e.g. motorcycle helmets. It’s extremely hard to prove it conclusively though. And it doesn’t help that these arguments usually come from people who are opposed to those safety devices for idealistic or personal reasons.
(And please, let’s not have that debate here, at least take it to GD if you must.)
No studies, just anecdote. My younger daughter gave herself a gash on the forehead when she was a toddler by falling into the corner of a table. I was about a foot away from her at the time. These things can happen SO fast. When my granddaughter was approaching that stage, I bought a very nice set of padding for the edges of her parents’ coffee table.
I spoke to a Ford engineer who proposed (I think it’s an old idea) that the best safety addition to a car would be exposed razor blades affixed to the dashboard.
Nuclear hand grenades.
“1. Pull pin.
2. Release spoon.
3. Throw at least 3,500 meters.”
I don’t know how true that is these days but back when the bike helmet laws were first being introduced the Stackhat was the helmet promoted by the various state governments as the first to meet the new safety standards.
The kids did have a valid point 
(my parents got me one and it was bloody uncomfortable and hot as hell during summer. I only wore it until I was out of sight).
I want to point out that the toilet latch is to protect the Kindle, not the baby. But I do agree that a false sense of security is dangerous.
That seems to have been the design philosophy of all school buses I rode as a kid. (Huge, thick steel bars right in front of the kid’s face where, in a sudden stop, they’re guaranteed to ram their foreheads into them.)
In my high school years they started putting padding on the backs of the seats. Kids these days, so coddled.