Author: Chris Aldrich
I'm a biomedical and electrical engineer with interests in information theory, complexity, evolution, genetics, signal processing, theoretical mathematics, and big history.
I'm also a talent manager-producer-publisher in the entertainment industry with expertise in representation, distribution, finance, production, content delivery, and new media.
👓 How to Join Our Podcast Club | New York Times
Samantha Henig (nytimes.com)It’s like a book club, but for on-demand audio.
This ironic quote from the piece sticks out to me:
Podcast listening can be harder to crack. There are so many shows! How do you find the ones you’ll like? And once you’ve found a show, where do you start: with the most recent episode? At the beginning? Some specific gem of an episode buried deep in the back catalog?
Perhaps the New York Times could simply start with making the RSS feeds for their podcasts easily discover-able?! Why are they hiding this simple piece of functionality? I just spent 20 minutes doing some reasonably serious web gymnastics to extract the RSS feed for Caliphate out of the iTunes feed using a JSON request tactic. Why can’t the podcast’s main page have or advertise the raw RSS feed?!
Corey Doctorow complained of this type of growing issue on the web recently in a short tweetstorm as well:
I really despair for people trying to figure out how to write the web today, given how obfuscated the referents to files on the web have become; for example, I’m about to fold a podcast that I appeared in to my own podcast feed
— Cory Doctorow (@doctorow) April 14, 2018
How hard is it to add the following simple line to the header of their generally beautiful and functional Caliphate page?
<link rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml" title="Caliphate" href="https://rss.art19.com/caliphate” />
They’ve got so many advanced resources, yet somehow they’re missing some of the simplest and best supported web technology that goes back more than a decade.
By the way, that link https://rss.art19.com/caliphate is the correct one for the RSS feed of the show by the way, in case others are searching for it.
If anyone needs a one-click button to subscribe to the series in their favorite feed reader, I’ve set up a SubToMe button on the follow post I made for the podcast.
Syndicated copies to:📺 "Madam Secretary" Protocol | CBS
Directed by Charlotte Brändström. With Téa Leoni, Tim Daly, Keith Carradine, Patina Miller. When terrorists threaten to cause a flood in the Middle East that could kill millions of people, Elizabeth's hopes of getting a neighboring country to close the dam fade after the government suddenly goes dark during a coup. Also, Stevie is tasked with finding Russell an activity that will help manage his stress.
Following Caliphate
A new audio series following Rukmini Callimachi as she reports on the Islamic State and the fall of Mosul. This series includes disturbing language and scenes of graphic violence.
I’ve sampled several episodes via The Daily, so I’m officially subscribing so I can get the rest of the episodes.
Syndicated copies to:👓 The Future of Publishing | LitFest Pasadena
The Future of Publishing
May 19 @ 3:00 pm - 4:00 pm
Six small presses with a wide range of specialties—fiction, children’s books, literature in translation, poetry, cookbooks—talk about the challenges and opportunities in book publishing in the near future, and how they’re looking to innovate and look beyond the corporate Big Five publishing model.
Featured Guests: Neela Banerjee, Kaya Press; Ariana Stein, Lil Libros; Ross Ufberg, New Vessel; Tobi Harper, Red Hen Press; Julia Callahan, Rare Bird Books; Colleen Dunn Bates, Prospect Park – Moderator
Wishing I hadn’t gotten myself committed on Saturday to go to Knott’s Berry Farm so I could attend this in the afternoon.
Syndicated copies to:Following Michael Levin
Investigating information storage and processing in biological systems
We work on novel ways to understand and control complex pattern formation. We use techniques of molecular genetics, biophysics, and computational modeling to address large-scale control of growth and form. We work in whole frogs and flatworms, and sometimes zebrafish and human tissues in culture. Our projects span regeneration, embryogenesis, cancer, and learning plasticity – all examples of how cellular networks process information. In all of these efforts, our goal is not only to understand the molecular mechanisms necessary for morphogenesis, but also to uncover and exploit the cooperative signaling dynamics that enable complex bodies to build and remodel themselves toward a correct structure. Our major goal is to understand how individual cell behaviors are orchestrated towards appropriate large-scale outcomes despite unpredictable environmental perturbations.
🔖 An Introduction to APIs | Zapier
APIs (application programming interfaces) are a big part of the web. In 2013 there were over 10,000 APIs published by companies for open consumption 1. That is quadruple the number available in 2010 2. With so many companies investing in this new area of business, possessing a working understanding of APIs becomes increasingly relevant to careers in the software industry. Through this course, we hope to give you that knowledge by building up from the very basics. In this chapter, we start by looking at some fundamental concepts around APIs. We define what an API is, where it lives, and give a high level picture of how one is used.
I found this downloadable e-book a while back at Zapier’s resource page, which has some other interesting things, but this overview and layout of APIs seemed fairly simple but powerful for folks interested in the topic.
Syndicated copies to:👓 What Communities Are We Building? A Discussion With Drs. Jessie Daniels and David Golumbia | Tressie McMillan Cottom
This semester our sociology honor society, Alpha Kappa Delta, had the great fortune to hear from Dr. Jessie Daniels. Jessie is a…
Sadly, like the prior article I read, there just isn’t much here in the way of content.
Syndicated copies to:👓 Whose Speech? More From Our Chat With Jessie Daniels | Tressie McMillan Cottom
As previously mentioned, the Sociology students at VCU recently benefitted from a chance to hear from Jessie Daniels. Our informal…
This post was so sparse in information I’m not quite sure what Dr. Cottom was trying to communicate here. The post does have some well produced (and very short) snippets from the talk, but other than knowing that a talk occurred and vaguely what it was about, all the value stemming from it seems to be missing to me in this post.
Syndicated copies to:📺 Cobra Kai Ep 1 – “Ace Degenerate” – The Karate Kid Saga Continues | YouTube
Thirty years after the events of the 1984 All Valley Karate Tournament, Johnny Lawrence’s life has taken a rocky turn as he tries to forget a past that constantly haunts him. He seeks redemption by reopening the infamous Cobra Kai karate dojo. But the LaRusso-Lawrence rivalry of yesteryear is reignited when their lives become intertwined with the next generation of “karate kids.”
I half expected Daniel to be more of a bad guy here as they redeemed Johnny, but it’s actually working out better than I would have anticipated. They do a reasonable job of making the viewer sympathetic to Johnny and his mission. I’ll give this a shot.
📺 "Land of the Lost" The Sleestak God, Season 1, Episode 2 | NBC
Directed by Dennis Steinmetz. With Wesley Eure, Kathy Coleman, Dave Greenwood, Bill Laimbeer. While searching the Lost City, Will and Holly are captured by lizard-men which are known as Sleestak.
Someone asked me why Lost in Space ended up in their Netflix queue as recommendation because they had watched The West Wing but they confused it with Land of the Lost. Somehow I got sucked into watching this old episode which reminded me of my childhood. It is truly dreadful. The plot, dialogue, and acting are atrocious, but somehow the nostalgia sucks me in. Stuck in this new place and they don’t find it interesting that there’s a sign written in English saying “Beware of Sleestak”?!
Hearing Cha-ka pronounce Sleestack sounds to me more like “Slease attack-a”. I wonder if it was a political statement of some sort (but not really)?
📺 Ballpark BBQ, Season 5 Episode 10 | Food Network
Host Geoffrey Zakarian and judges Daphne Oz and Marcus Samuelsson throw the cooks and cons a curve ball in round one by tasking them with fusing corn and hot dogs. After one contestant strikes out, the remaining contestants continue to round two in hopes of making their best dish incorporating barbecue.
👓 GOP lawmaker says rocks falling into ocean to blame for rising sea levels | TheHill
A Republican lawmaker on the House Science, Space and Technology Committee said Thursday that rocks from the White Cliffs of Dover and the California coastline, as well as silt from rivers tumbling into the ocean, are contributing to high sea levels globally. Rep. Mo Brooks (R-Ala.) made the comment during a hearing on technology and the changing climate, which largely turned into a Q&A on the basics of climate research.
The headline was just so sadly painful to me that I couldn’t resist reading. Unfortunately, reading didn’t help things…
Syndicated copies to:🎧 ‘The Daily’: Gina Haspel and the Shadow of Torture | New York Times
The Central Intelligence Agency is waging an unusual campaign to make Gina Haspel its next leader, despite her polarizing past. Why do officers see her most controversial quality as her greatest asset?
On today’s episode:
• Adam Goldman, a reporter who covers the intelligence community for The Times.
• John Bennett, a former chief of the C.I.A.’s clandestine service who retired in 2013.
Background reading:
• Gina Haspel, President Trump’s nominee for C.I.A. director, is expected to face tough questions at a Senate confirmation hearing on Wednesday about her involvement in torture and secret prisons after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
• Ms. Haspel offered to withdraw her nomination last week amid concerns that her role in the brutal interrogation of a Qaeda suspect in Thailand would scuttle her confirmation.
Apparently there’s a broader story to be told about Haspel than the one that’s been circulating recently. Perhaps she’s not as pro-torture as previously indicated?
Syndicated copies to: