There
Posts that focus on and link to the doings of others.
525 Posts
The Center for Science in the Public's Interest (CSPI) offers up a Chemical Cuisine database rates additives — used to preserve foods or affect their taste, texture, or appearance — from ‘safe' to 'avoid.'
A direct link to the ratings is here. You can make a bookmark and save it on your phone's desktop. Come across an ingredient on a package and you want to know if it's safe? Check the database.
Eno, the Gary Hustwit-directed generative documentary that I mentioned in July gets its world streaming premiere tomorrow:
This livestream event is more than just the movie, it's a 24-hour curated film, art and music experience with multiple unique versions of the documentary generated around the clock and much more.
Streaming schedule and tickets ($24) are available at Anamorph.
You may know that in the 80s, Martin Scorsese directed Robert De Niro in a movie called The King of Comedy. It's the story of a comic so desperate to get on television that he kidnaps a Carson-esque talkshow host (played by Jerry Lewis after Carson declined the role) and refuses to release him until he's given a slot on the show.
But did you know that the film's screenwriter, Paul D. Zimmerman, who wrote the script in 1973, then called The Late Show with David Letterman asking for a slot? Letterman's producers agreed as long as Zimmerman's was willing to do some stand-up. As the Lewis character says in the film, "You don't just walk onto a network television show without any experience." It goes about as well as you'd expect. Stick around until after the credits for a bonus.
Molly White's guide to editing Wikipedia covers the basics in this ~30 minute video:
White is the person behind the newsletters and sites [citation needed] and Web3IsGoingGreat.
If you have a pet you know how Vet costs have been soaring in recent years. Part of the reason is lack of competition due to consolidation. Here's CBC's Marketplace on How the corporatization of vet clinics is driving up prices across Canada.
You can also search on this page to see if your vet is owned by one of the the Big 3. (Use the search box rather than scrolling.)
Personally, I find the Vet situation in Canada to be dreadful, and I don't just mean the pricing. I had a friend take her dog to Dundas West Animal Hospital for teeth cleaning and a few hours later the dog was dead because they failed to hook him up to oxygen during the procedure. The dog died of cardiac arrest and after a months-long investigation proving their incompetence, the clinic was given a slap on the wrist. The vet still practices and there's no public record of the incident for people searching. Google even deleted the dog owner's review, presumably at the request of the clinic. They offered my friend a "maximum of three hours of grief counselling" and refunded her for the procedure that killed her perfectly healthy dog. It's a disgraceful industry with no accountability and the governing body has no teeth to make meaningful change.
Following up on my post about Social Media, I give you: Critical Ignoring as a Core Competence for Digital Citizens, which I found over on Kottke. The difference is that I decided to do it offline as well.
The Nokia Design Archive is a graphic and interactive platform that allows you to explore behind-the-scenes design processes at Nokia.
Wow. I absolutely did not see this coming and thought it would not happen in my lifetime (or Leonard's): Indigenous Activist Leonard Peltier Granted Clemency by President Biden.
The President's statement read in part:
Tribal Nations, Nobel Peace laureates, former law enforcement officials (including the former U.S. Attorney whose office oversaw Mr. Peltier’s prosecution and appeal), dozens of lawmakers, and human rights organizations strongly support granting Mr. Peltier clemency, citing his advanced age, illnesses, his close ties to and leadership in the Native American community, and the substantial length of time he has already spent in prison...
The extradition of Peltier to the US in 1976 is one of the great disgraces and injustices of the Canadian Government. Those interested in learning about Peltier should check out the documentary Incident at Oglala. It's not the easiest to track down, so here's a bit of a primer from The Fifth Estate:
In Hong Kong, skilled armies of scaffolders can erect enough bamboo to engulf a building in a day — even hours — using techniques that are thousands of years old, and have been passed down through generations.
Absolutely fascinating deep-dive page on Bamboo Scaffolding in Hong Kong.
