On a scale from “1” to “listeria” the amount of stomach trouble I would expect a bowl of rice to give me falls around a “2,” but apparently the seemingly innocuous grain can inflict a lot of pain if it’s not stored properly.
Author: Reading List
One of many authors on a long list of things Chris has read.
👓 Why American Farmers Are Hacking Their Tractors With Ukrainian Firmware | Motherboard
A dive into the thriving black market of John Deere tractor hacking.
In praise of quinoa | The Economist
The spread of exotic grains is evidence that globalisation works
How to Curate Better Podcast Feeds
Originally, I just browsed for new stuff by scrolling through the top picks list on the iTunes Podcasts app. But that was time consuming. After trying out the search functionality on the app, I wished I could search a little better. I decided to look for other resources that I could use to further dial in my selections. Turns out there are some pretty good websites/apps out there to help you do just that. Here are a few of the best ones I’ve found.
My thoughts on what the article leaves out:
For podcast discovery, I love using Huffduffer. It has a simple browser bookmarklet which allows you to bookmark audio to listen to later and creates iTunes or other feeds you can quickly and easily subscribe to on most of the major podcatchers.
Even better it allows you to search for topics and people. Almost everything on the site (including individuals and even the lists of people you’re following) has audio RSS feed as well as other subscription services that you can subscribe directly to. Love Elvis? Search, subscribe, and listen.
As an example, want to know what I’ve been listening to? Check out my feed where you can see a list, listen to it directly, or even subscribe.
The Transparency Bills That Would Gut the EPA | The Atlantic
Two proposed laws would sever the agency from scientific experts, and scientific expertise—all under the guise of honesty and openness.
The Last Bookbinder on the Lower East Side | Literary Hub
Our comment quiz module is now Open Source | NRKbeta
Our quiz module is now open source on GitHub. After launching our comment quiz module, we’ve received a lot of questions about whether it’s available for download. Now it is.
Ben Carson Just Got a Whole Lot Wrong About the Brain | Wired
TODAY, IN HIS first speech to his staff at the Department of Housing and Urban Development, newly minted Secretary Ben Carson delivered an extemporaneous disquisition on the unparalleled marvel that is the human brain and memory. “There is nothing in this universe that even begins to compare with the human brain and what it is capable of,” he began. “Billions and billions of neurons, hundreds of billions of interconnections.” It was a tangent in a speech about how in America, anything is possible.
The problem with frozen beef | Flash in the Pan
There is an unfortunate stigma attached to frozen meat, a widely held assumption that it’s inferior to fresh meat. This prejudice runs deep enough that fast-food chain Wendy’s tried to capitalize on it in 2008 with a promise that its burger meat was “Always fresh, never frozen.”
A new fossil could push back the start of life on Earth | The Economist
The putative fossils formed just a few hundred million years after Earth itself
A judge blocks Donald Trump’s revised travel ban | The Economist
If Mr Trump’s executive order reaches the Supreme Court, it may find a friendlier reception
I invented the web. Here are three things we need to change to save it | Tim Berners-Lee | Technology | The Guardian
It has taken all of us to build the web we have, and now it is up to all of us to build the web we want – for everyone
Hillbilly sellout: The politics of J. D. Vance’s “Hillbilly Elegy” are already being used to gut the working poor | Salon.com
Conservatives and the media treated Vance's memoir like "Poor People for Dummies." Watch his damaging rhetoric work
Study debunks old concept of how anesthesia works | Phys.Org
Anesthesia induces unconsciousness by changing the function of proteins that reside on the surface of a thin membrane that forms a barrier around all cells, according to new research from Weill Cornell Medicine scientists. The findings challenge a century-old concept of how anesthetics work and may help guide the development of new agents associated with fewer side effects.