Links

👓 Resistance is fudgeable | Jeremy Cherfas

Read Resistance is fudgeable by Jeremy CherfasJeremy Cherfas (jeremycherfas.net)
Editing the recent podcast on Antibiotics in agriculture was far harder than I expected it to be, mostly because I had to cut away stuff that is important, but just didn’t fit. Much of that was about how, in time honoured tradition, antibiotic manufacturers and veterinarians sowed doubts about who...
I love that Jeremy goes to the effort to not only analyze the charts and graphs, but finds original copies and brings them to our attention. Too often people would look at such things and take them at face value.

This is definitely a podcast “extra”, but I’m glad he spent the time to bring up the other interesting topics that didn’t make the original episode.

👓 Notre Dame Isn’t In Control Of Its Playoff Destiny | FiveThirtyEight

Read Notre Dame Isn’t In Control Of Its Playoff Destiny by Neil Paine (FiveThirtyEight)
Unlike nearly every other one-loss team, the Irish likely can’t secure a spot in the College Football Playoff just by winning out.
This has got to be depressing news this early in the football season for a team that’s doing so well. This does highlight how the committee is probably a bit too political in their choices though.

👓 Amazon Key is a new service that lets couriers unlock your front door | The Verge

Read Amazon Key is a new service that lets couriers unlock your front door by Ben Popper (The Verge)
The service is called Amazon Key, and it relies on a Amazon’s new Cloud Cam and compatible smart lock. The camera is the hub, connected to the internet via your home Wi-Fi. The camera talks to the lock over Zigbee, a wireless protocol utilized by many smart home devices. When a courier arrives with a package for in-home delivery, they scan the barcode, sending a request to Amazon’s cloud. If everything checks out, the cloud grants permission by sending a message back to the camera, which starts recording. The courier then gets a prompt on their app, swipes the screen, and voilà, your door unlocks. They drop off the package, relock the door with another swipe, and are on their way. The customer will get a notification that their delivery has arrived, along with a short video showing the drop-off to confirm everything was done properly.
There’s a lot of trust Amazon is asking people for in it’s last few products. Alexa could listen (and potentially record) anything you say, cameras in your bedroom (ostensibly to help you dress), and now a key to your house. I can see so many things going wrong with this despite the potential value.

I’m probably more concerned about the flimsy lack of security in the area of internet of things (IoT) which could dip into these though than I am about what Amazon would/could do with them.

👓 APA Agent Tyler Grasham Fired From Agency Following Sexual Assault Allegations | Deadline Hollywood

Read APA Agent Tyler Grasham Fired From Agency Following Sexual Assault Allegations by Anita Busch (Deadline Hollywood)
Updated 3:22 PM: Tyler Grasham has now been fired from APA. “Tyler Grasham has been terminated, effective immediately,” said a spokesman for the agency. The move comes as one of those who alleged he had been sexually assaulted said earlier today he was going to filed a police report with the LAPD this afternoon and he says he has. Lucas Ozarowski, a 27-year-old film and TV editor, says he also was assaulted by Grasham after Blaise Godbe Lipman first spoke up on Facebook talking about what he faced from the agent while seeking representation 10 years ago as a child actor.

👓 The Troubled Trail from CC-BY to CC-BY-NC #OpenEdMOOC | Jenni Hayman

Read The Troubled Trail from CC-BY to CC-BY-NC #OpenEdMOOC by Jenni HaymanJenni Hayman (jennihayman.com)
This week in Introduction to Open Education I was introduced to the course materials on the 5R’s, Creative Commons, and Open Licensing. This is territory that I’m comfortably familiar with, but there’s always something new to learn. One of the ideas that emerged for me, and admittedly it’s been brewing, is the need for a change in how I choose to license and share my work. I have wrestled of late with the ever-growing phenomenon of “open washing” particularly among panicked for-profit publishing companies. I have a less-than-generous view of what publishers are playing at regarding OER.

👓 Science of Slow Cooking | scienceofcooking.com

Read Science of Slow Cooking (scienceofcooking.com)

--Of all the attributes of eating quality, tenderness is rated the most important factor affecting beef palatability--

Slow cooked meals are generally easier to make and very cost effective using cuts of meat that improve in texture and flavor when cooked for long periods of time at low temperatures. These tough cuts of meat contain large amounts of collagen which require long cooking times to break down into a rich gelatin.

HOW DOES SLOW COOKING WORK?

When you cook, collagen begins to melt at about 160F and turns to a rich liquid,gelatin. This gives meat a lot of flavor and a wonderful silky texture. When cooking it is important to liquify collagen.

Denaturation of the collagen molecule is a kinetic process, and hence a function of both temperature and duration of heating. Cooking at low temperatures require long periods of time to liquify collagen.

👓 The Necessity of Questioning the Military | The Atlantic

Read The Necessity of Questioning the Military (The Atlantic)
Honoring the sacrifice of servicemembers requires understanding why they were put at risk, and demanding that those who did so hold themselves to account.

👓 7 Reasons So Many Guys Don’t Understand Sexual Consent | Cracked

Read 7 Reasons So Many Guys Don’t Understand Sexual Consent (Cracked.com)
We're still teaching boys these lessons, every day. Here's what the lesson plan looks like.

👓 Biggest drop in Facebook organic reach we have ever seen | Filip Struhárik | Medium

Read Biggest drop in Facebook organic reach we have ever seen by Filip Struhárik (Medium)
Facebook is testing radically different Explore Feed in six countries than in the rest of the world.

👓 ‘A Sort of Everyday Struggle’ | The Harvard Crimson

Read 'A Sort of Everyday Struggle' by Hannah Natanson
Women in Harvard's math department report a bevy of inequalities—from a discouraging absence of female faculty to a culture of "math bro" condescension.
A story about math that sadly doesn’t feature equality.

Oddly not featured in the story was any reference to the Lawrence H. Summers incident of 2005. Naturally, one can’t pin the issue on him as this lack of diversity has spanned the life of the university, but apparently the math department didn’t get the memo when the university president left.

I’ve often heard that the fish stinks from the head, but apparently it’s the whole fish here.

👓 Filing errors knock rent control in Glendale out of consideration — for now | Glendale News-Press

Read Filing errors knock rent control in Glendale out of consideration — for now by Jeff Landa (Glendale News-Press)
The petition hit an administrative setback.

👓 Robert Scoble has allegedly continued to sexually harass women after going sober | Tech Crunch

Read Robert Scoble has allegedly continued to sexually harass women after going sober (TechCrunch)
Venture capitalists Dave McClure, Jason Caldbeck and Chris Sacca, SoFi CEO Mike Cagney and a top Uber engineer have all been accused of sexual impropriety in the last six months as a growing number of women have come forward about the harassment they have endured by those in power. However, Robert …

👓 Convenience — not size — matters at the newly opened Glassell Park Target | The Eastsider LA

Read Convenience — not size — matters at the newly opened Glassell Park Target by The Eastsider (The Eastsider LA)
GLASSELL PARK — There are no elevators, jammed cartolators or rows of aisles that seem to stretch on for infinity. No, the new Glassell Park Target that quietly opened on Wednesday is not your typical, giant discount store. Instead, the small-format Target, which replaced a Fresh & Easy on Eagle Rock Boulevard at El Paso Drive, is built with convenience and quick-shopping trips in mind. There is still a lot of space — 32,000 square-feet. But’s that’s small compared to a typical Target, which can sprawl over 175,000-square feet for a “super” Target.