The thick plastic player with the ridges is pretty resilient, but above that is a reflective layer for the laser, and a protective lacquer layer (often printed on). If those layers get damaged and delaminate due to harsh handling, UV / heat, and / or moisture getting between them then the laser will have difficulties focusing and thus reading a disc.

Should still last years in such an exposed public free library setting where long-term preservation is probably not a goal, and get way more use out of them than sitting in personal closets where they’d last longer.

The CxU (among others) is working on making those clowns a viable coalition partner by taking them seriously and talking to them on TV. Maybe that’s not their intention, but it will be the result if it continues.

“Eliminates” is a bit misleading. Calcium carbonate in the water traps the particles, some in the layer that builds up in the pot, the rest can be filtered out easier because the resulting particles are bigger.

If possible I prefer voting for a small party / candidate even if they have no chance at winning. That way it actually takes away votes from the big options, while blanks are just ignored in the reported results. At least that’s how it works here, the first thing ignored are the non-voters, next invalid / blank votes, and the only thing that matters and gets reported on are valid votes.