read | Chris Aldrich

👓 Remix, Mashups, Aggregation, Plagiarism oh my | Clint Lalonde

Read Remix, Mashups, Aggregation, Plagiarism oh my by Clint Lalonde (ClintLalonde.net)

I am about to criticize and show examples from a copyright poster (or, for you new-fangled kids, an infographic) I received in the mail today from Turnitin, the anti-plagiarism company. Fair dealin…

Clint you’re dead on in your analysis here. Some of these things are definitely not plagiarism. Worse, they seem to be resorting to fearmongering.

I’m hoping that the marketing department of the company was just trying to round out a list of 10 things for their handy, but improper, infographic. Shame on them for spreading bad information in hopes that increased fear will help to sell their product.

To help fight poor information and to promote the raw power of remixing and extending, I’ll reference this excellent video from Matt Ridley:

👓 Twitter Is Banning Anyone Whose Date of Birth Says They Joined Before They Were 13 | Motherboard

Read Twitter Is Banning Anyone Whose Date of Birth Says They Joined Before They Were 13 (Motherboard)

According to the company, it can't separate content posted before and after the age of 13.

Another solid reason why to be a member of the IndieWeb.

Here’s a reminder to export or back up your social data, or better yet post it to your own site first and syndicate it to social silos you don’t have direct control of second.

👓 Twitter Banning Users That Signed Up Before They Were 13 | Fortune

Read Twitter is Banning Users That May Have Signed Up Before They Were 13 (Fortune)

The bans include users who are currently over the age of 13.

🎧 ‘The Daily’: When Democratic Newcomers Challenge the Party Line | New York Times

Listened to ‘The Daily’: When Democratic Newcomers Challenge the Party Line by Michael Barbaro from nytimes.com

Alarm over the election of Donald Trump spurred dozens of first-time candidates to run for Congress. Some of those candidates now present a problem for the Democratic Party.

On today’s episode:

• Mai Khanh Tran, a Democratic candidate for a United States House seat in California.

• Alexander Burns, who covers national politics for The New York Times.

Background reading:

• National Democrats, fearing that crowded rosters of primary candidates could fracture the party, have begun to intervene by urging some to bow out of the election.

• The party views the California midterms as a particular risk. The state’s nonpartisan primary system — in which the top two vote-getters advance to the general election, regardless of party affiliation — could propel two Republican candidates to the November race.

• Here’s what to watch for in the California primaries, which take place on Tuesday.

🎧 Food Safety | Eat This Podcast

Listened to Food safety and industry concentration: How the back seat of a car is like a bag of leafy greens by

Jeremy Cherfas from Eat This Podcast

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 16:02 — 13.2MB)

Subscribe: Android | RSS | More
In the previous episode, I talked to Phil Howard of Michigan State University about concentration in the food industry. Afterwards, I realised I had been so taken up with what he was telling me that I forgot to ask him one crucial question.
Is there any effect of concentration on public health or food safety?

It seems intuitively obvious that if you have long food chains, dependent on only a few producers, there is the potential for very widespread outbreaks. That is exactly what we are seeing in the current outbreaks of dangerous E. coli on romaine lettuce and Salmonella in eggs. But it is also possible that big industrial food producers both have the capital to invest in food safety and face stiffer penalties when things go wrong.

Are small producers and short food chains better? Marc Bellemare, at the University of Minnesota, has uncovered a strong correlation between some food-borne illnesses and the number of farmers’ markets relative to the population.

Phil thinks one answer is greater decentralization. There’s no good reason why all the winter lettuce and spinach in America should come from a tiny area around Yuma, Arizona. Marc says consumer education would help; we need to handle the food we buy with more attention to keeping it safe. Both solutions will take quite large changes in behaviour, by government and by ordinary people.

Right now, it probably isn’t possible to say with any certainty whether one system is inherently safer than the other. But even asking the question raises some interesting additional questions. If you have answers, or even suggestions, let me know.

Notes

Phil Howard’s work on food-borne illness is on his website.

Marc Bellemare’s work on farmers’ markets and food-borne illness has gone through a few iterations. He’ll email you a copy of the final paper if you ask.

An episode early last year looked at aspects of food safety in developing countries. Spoiler: shorter food chains are safer there.

Banner photo, norovirus. Cover photo, E. coli. Both public domain to the best of my knoweldge.

👓 Why keeping The Economist’s style guide up to date is a battle | The Economist

Read Why keeping The Economist’s style guide up to date is a battle by Ann Wroe (The Economist)

The editor of our style guide on new rules, older folk and the plurality of data

👓 Teens Are Abandoning Facebook. For Real This Time. | Slate

Read Teens Are Abandoning Facebook. For Real This Time. (Slate Magazine)

Facebook is no longer the dominant social network among teens, according to Pew’s survey of 743 U.S. residents aged 13 to 17, conducted between March 7 and April 10, 2018. In fact, it’s no longer even in the top three. (A Facebook spokesperson declined to comment on the survey.)

👓 A university's closure and its implications for online learning, adult student markets | Inside Higher Ed

Read A university's closure and its implications for online learning, adult student markets (Inside Higher Ed)

The story of an innovative university's shutdown says as much about the landscape for online learning as it does about one campus's decisions.

I didn’t expect institutions like this to begin closing for several more years, but apparently a perfect storm of circumstances and competitive forces is starting to see some smaller, old institutions begin to close.