It's #InternationalCoffeeDay2021, the whole point of which is promotion, right? So here's a link to all previous episodes of Eat This Podcast on coffee
A space for mostly short form stuff and responses to things I see elsewhere.
Very nice idea. @croptrust is offering to help seedbanks in less well-off countries financial help to duplicate their collections and store them safely in Svalbard.
What are you waiting for? Apply now. https://www.croptrust.org/svalbard-grant-call-for-proposals/
Hey @marcoarment Has something changed in Overcast back end? I am getting errors like `file_get_contents(): Failed to enable crypto` from my all data XML file. Maybe part of that root certificate thing, which I confess I do not fully understand. #indieweb
Giving up on Defeated on Netflix after two episodes. Too dark, too violent, too one-dimensional.
Looking back through some posts On This Day, I came across one about a book and CD called Jane Austen Sings the Blues. The book is still around, but I can find no trace of a recording of the accompanying interview. Maybe @GrantStovel at @ckuaradio knows where I can find one
2021-09-09
1 min read
Correctly attired for editing next weeks episode with @dianaegarvin on some fascinating aspects of coffee history. 
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@jean Thanks. I hope you find it interesting.
, Sep 10 2021 on micro.blog
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Bagged another geohash, yesterday, which miraculously was within walking distance. Not sure how best to own this contents though. [2021-09-06 41 12 - Geohashing](https://geohashing.site/geohashing/2021-09-06_41_12)
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@jeremycherfas Almost an hour later, good as new.
, Sep 04 2021 on micro.blog
@jeremycherfas Hehe, you should have seen my Ergodox after several months of cats sleeping on the keyboard!
, Sep 04 2021 on micro.blog
@bsag Heh. Much cleaner than my old Das because the keys are not enclosed. So just tipping it up and giving it a good shake gets rid of a lot of detritus.
, Sep 04 2021 on micro.blog
Great fun chatting with Amalia Sacchi for @festletteratura about food, agriculture and the climate crisis, although ashamed not to be able to do it in Italian. It will be streamed on 8 September at 14:10 CEST.
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In case you thought "organic" meant anything more than another way for industrial food to profit with no regard to any costs other than purely financial, Marion Nestle takes apart Danone's decision to abandon small organic dairies https://www.foodpolitics.com/2021/08/24686/
Looking at an old post of mine from this day in 2007 and wondering, does anyone, anywhere, host a blog carnival on any topic these days? Time for a revival?
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What’s a blog?
, Aug 08 2021 on twitter.com
@jeremycherfas I remember blog carnivals. Those were fun. And I think a revival might be interesting.
, Aug 08 2021 on micro.blog
@arush Yeah those were a lot of fun. Along with blog memes, does anyone remember those?
, Aug 08 2021 on micro.blog
@arush That was before the word "meme" was coopted for something else.
, Aug 08 2021 on micro.blog
@jeremycherfas Those, along with blog memes. Remember those?
, Aug 08 2021 on micro.blog
@jeremycherfas That was before the word "meme" got coopted.
, Aug 08 2021 on micro.blog
@jeremycherfas Not that I'm aware of. Although blog challenges are still a thing.
, Aug 08 2021 on micro.blog
@ladyhope This is true. And I'll stop now before I find myself at the end of a "Get-off-my-lawn!" type of post.
, Aug 08 2021 on micro.blog
@ladyhope @arush i could certainly resurrect one of the memes I remember from back in the day and tag the two of you. In fact two, rather than five, which is my recollection, would surely be more manageable. I’m travelling tomorrow, but watch out.
, Aug 08 2021 on micro.blog
@jeremycherfas Ooh! Great question! I loved blog carnivals.
, Aug 08 2021 on micro.blog
@jeremycherfasThat would be epic!!
, Aug 08 2021 on micro.blog
@jeremycherfas Mostly I remember the weekly and/or daily ones, though. Those were fun. Tried to start a few myself. They never really went anywhere.
, Aug 08 2021 on micro.blog
@arush Lol those posts are fun hah.
, Aug 08 2021 on micro.blog
@jeremycherfas That would be fun!! I'll have to find some other participants. I'm not sure if I know any still blogging lol.
, Aug 08 2021 on micro.blog
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Huge credit to @theMaggieAyre for a wonderful edition of BBC Soul Music on The Parting Glass. Moving stories and beautifully mixed. A real treat.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m000y6n2
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Thank you very much
, Aug 04 2021 on twitter.com
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No favourites from Marion Nestle: Unethical food marketing ad of the week: infant formula, organic no less.
https://www.foodpolitics.com/2021/08/most-egregious-food-ad-of-the-week-infant-formula/
Funny. I read Peter's post today and was so taken with it that I immediately started the process myself, before reading this post and seeing that Ton had inspired Peter.
Like the year, what goes around, comes around.
Getting a teeny bit peeved with apps that require OSX 10.14 and later. Not all of us can afford (or want) to upgrade our machines that often.
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Argh! @help I accidentally downloaded the latest micro.blog for OSX but cannot use it because I am stuck on 10.13 and I can't find the old version in the Trash. Is there any way to download a previous version compatible with 10.13?
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@jeremycherfas probably this: s3.amazonaws.com/micro.blo... 2.0 onwards are too new for us
, Jul 15 2021 on micro.blog
@jeremycherfas Tagging @help. Not sure why, but your tag didn't link.
, Jul 15 2021 on micro.blog
@cn Life saver. Thanks.
, Jul 15 2021 on micro.blog
@jean @help All good now, thanks to @cn
, Jul 15 2021 on micro.blog
@jeremycherfas Thanks @cn for sharing the download link! I've updated the help page to include a link to that version too so it's easier to find in the future.
, Jul 15 2021 on micro.blog
@help Good move.
, Jul 16 2021 on micro.blog
Wouldn't it be nice if Twitter et al. somehow indicated that a link shared by some well-meaning influencer was behind a paywall. It would save me a lot of clicks.
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@jeremycherfas That would indeed be good. Not easy to do, though. I think some sites (e.g. Medium) will present the same page to some readers as free-to-read and to others as subscriber-only.
, Jul 13 2021 on micro.blog
@artkavanagh I could live with less than 100% accuracy.
, Jul 13 2021 on micro.blog
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Eat This Newsletter 157 is now online with stories from @SejalSukhadwala @SarahTaber_bww @IrishSeedSavers @UniofExeter and others.
Read it at https://buttondown.email/jeremycherfas/archive/eat-this-newsletter-157-almost-global/ and while you're there, consider subscribing.
Latest Eat This Newsletter is at https://buttondown.email/jeremycherfas/archive/eat-this-newsletter-155-counterfactual/ with links to good stuff from @serbiaireland, @JaysonLusk, @colin_tudge, @NatureFoodJnl and, most horrifying, https://twitter.com/CeriseFlegal/status/1405939411330629634
As I said in the newsletter: read it and weep.
Every time I read pieces about banking from people who have experienced banking systems outside the US, I marvel that they put up with it at all. I'm constantly amazed at just how easy things are with the online banks I use in Europe. No wonder I'm not tempted by crypto,
Australian journo swaps one set of fibs for another.
"British forests were first subjected to clearing with the Roman conquest of AD 43." Really?
https://www.smh.com.au/environment/sustainability/like-comparing-apples-with-dried-oranges-will-aust...
A pox on both their houses.
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@jeremycherfas smh
, Jun 16 2021 on micro.blog
@artkavanagh Is that a Murdoch rag?
, Jun 16 2021 on micro.blog
@jeremycherfas I don’t believe so. My impression was that it’s considered reputable and authoritative but that’s just an impression — I’m not sure where I got it from. I was just trying to make a point about the ambiguity of the abbreviation “smh” which, as well as referring to the Sydney Morning Herald, has also been used for “so much hate” and “shaking my head”. Sometimes it’s not easy to tell from the context which sense was intended.
, Jun 16 2021 on micro.blog
@artkavanagh Ah. I wasn’t aware of that TLA.
, Jun 17 2021 on micro.blog
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Excellent Conversations with Tyler episode talking to David Deutsch (apart from the whole multiverse thing about which I am not competent to judge, and nor do I care).
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@jeremycherfas Thanks, perfectly timed coincidence that you mentioned this. Two days ago I wouldn't have known who David Deutsch was but yesterday I finished Neal Stephensons' "Fall; or Dodge in Hell" and one of the main influences he cites for the book is "The Fabric of Reality" by Deutsch.
, Jun 08 2021 on micro.blog
@MrHenko David and I were at school and college together (but mostly separately).
, Jun 08 2021 on micro.blog
@jeremycherfas Wow, you been to more impressive schools than I have. :)
Have you read David's book?
, Jun 08 2021 on micro.blog
@MrHenko I have not. I really do find the multiverse ideas just do not interest me. I might be tempted by some of his other books.
, Jun 08 2021 on micro.blog
@jeremycherfas I'm not familiar enough with those ideas to have an opinion, but I did enjoy "Fall" and if Stephenson says it owes some ideas to Deutsch than it's probably worth at least checking out the podcast episode.
, Jun 10 2021 on micro.blog
Made a start on the annual tweakage of the automatic watering system for the terrace, but the main enemy remains lack of pressure. It fluctuates through the day so need to try and find the maximum.
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@jeremycherfas would a header tank help or hinder?
, Jun 07 2021 on micro.blog
@cn I’ve thought about that. But it would need a tank and a pump. And that gets difficult. In my mind, some kind of inline pump is what I imagined, but then I don’t see how the physics would work. It’s small bore stuff, so needs pressure not to dribble.
, Jun 07 2021 on micro.blog
Never having had to deal with prescriptions and refilling them in the same way, I thought I had it bad, needing to send a fax to cancel my account with my internet service provider! This reminds me of a movie where the entire plot hinges on a fax that fell behind the machine and so was never seen. Not that I can remember the movie.
There surely has to be a better way.
Currently reading: The Arrest by Jonathan Lethem, ISBN: 9780062938787
Will the real Monday 17 May, 2021, please stand up
1 min read
* [Monday 17 May, 2021 | Memex 1.1]()
* [Monday 17 May, 2021 | Memex 1.1]()
2021-05-18
Higher blood levels of omega-3 fatty acids from prescription fish oil showed no effect on CV events
1 min read
Bummer! Or maybe not. Hard to say.
Higher blood levels of omega-3 fatty acids from prescription fish oil showed no effect on CV events
"Fish oils increase the risk of atrial fibrillation substantially, and there is no solid evidence that they help the heart in any way ... It's a sad story for cardiology."
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@jeremycherfas That story is very confusing as at first they say there’s no harm, but then they turn around and indicate it increases a-fib? And I take a EPA/DHA supplement every day, so like you I’m not sure what to make of this. 🤷🏻♂️
, May 18 2021 on micro.blog
Absolutely. Hence my Hard to say. I take 1 g of supposed omega-3 a day, but my motivation was neurofunction, not cardiac, so I'm going to just carry on. It's not that expensive an indulgence and -- who knows? -- there might even be something to it.
2021-05-15
Pockets!
1 min read
I made some trousers with unusual pockets, and I think they’re good.
I came to this via John Naughton's website (he doesn't say how he got there), and I have no idea who Sam Bleckley is, but in re-thinking the trouser pocket he has done something rather wonderful, maybe even genius.
I'd buy a pair in a flash.
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@jeremycherfas I just read a long article on pockets and was interested the whole time. Thanks. When my son was a teen he claimed to be the only person who used the pockets in his cargo pants. Doing that probably works as well as the author's more elegant design, if you're willing to be uncool.
, May 15 2021 on micro.blog
Fun to see @racheleats photo of Bonci Pizza illustrating this article, although that seems to me as far from ordinary pizza al taglio as that is from Mr Go’s pizza vendining machine.
https://www.theguardian.com/food/2021/may/07/dough-to-go-romes-first-pizza-vending-machine-gets-mixe...
If I were a winemaker in Salento, I think I'd support change to ensure that I wasn't cutting myself off from customers.
Jeremy Parzen with some rival etymologies for Negroamaro grapes and why, whichever one is "true" it might be wise to rethink.
https://dobianchi.com/2021/05/05/negroamaro-racial-slur-racist/
Terrific article on dates in SoCal.
https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2021-05-03/muslim-tradition-break-ramadan-fast-with-dates
USDA says there were about 2,019,000 farms in the US in 2020. But how many were actually farms in the usual sense of the word, growing food for sale as their primary business. I'm sure @rosenblawg said something about this recently, but I can't now find it. Help, please.
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Bryce Stucki and I should have a paper or two that touches on this in the next year or so. Tentatively, I'd estimate that there are about 1 million farms (give or take 200K) in the country that are actively seeking to turn a profit (outside of tax benefits).
, Apr 14 2021 on twitter.com
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"Scotland is a colossus in native breeds."
That's all you really need to know, but if you want to read about the "six big asks" (yuck) it is all here https://www.thescottishfarmer.co.uk/news/19213969.vote-native-breeds/
TIL that dumdum bullets were made originally in Dumdum. By design?
I have an hour or so to myself, so, Moom or Johnny.Decimal, that is the question.
Let joy be unconfined: farm share of food dollar up from 14.2 cents in 2018 to 14.3 cents in 2019. Farmers get an even lower share of eating out dollars, and eating out dollars plunged during the pandemic.
https://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/chart-gallery/gallery/chart-detail/?chartId=100802
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I've always wanted to try a sensory deprivation tank, though deprivation seems like entirely the wrong word. Floating in the Dead Sea is all well and good, but those salts sting. I would expect a proper tank to be much nicer.
"Decellularized spinach serves as an edible platform for laboratory-grown meat"
A less mouth-watering headline, you're unlikely to read.
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2021-03/bc-dss033021.php
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I agree that people should learn to protect themselves against pseudoscience, especially medical quackery. But before you ask "How is this supposed to work?" it might be even more worthwhile to ask "Does this even work?"
Without evidence of an effect, a mechanism is worthless.
Of course I am going to resurrect my podcast episode about Celebrating Passover and Easter. Maybe a bit late for tonight's seder, but plenty of time for a little didactic baking next week.
https://www.eatthispodcast.com/passover/
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I really enjoy using #loopback from @RogueAmoeba for more complex things, but I cannot seem to fathom the simplest thing. If I'm on a straightforward Zoom call using an outboard mic though a USB mixer, how can I get my mic into my headphones with zero latency?
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@jeremycherfas I encountered this same issue a while back. I will be at my desk later this morning and can review my settings to see how I solved it.
, Mar 25 2021 on micro.blog
@antonzuiker That would be really helpful.
, Mar 25 2021 on micro.blog
@jeremycherfas sorry for delay in checking Zoom settings. I vaguely recall a way to use Loopback + Audio Hijack + Soundsource + Zoom, but for the last year I've been using the director monitor feature on the Focusrite Solo & having Zoom use the Solo in/out.
, Mar 27 2021 on micro.blog
@antonzuiker OK. I’ll keep looking. My mixer goes into a Behringer USB Codec, which has headphone output. I need to keep fiddling. Rogue Amoeba help isn't much help, alas.
, Mar 27 2021 on micro.blog
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As noted in the latest Eat This Newsletter, the new Plant Humanities Lab website is absolutely terrific, and would be even better with some sort of feed of new items. How about it, @DumbartonOaks ?
https://lab.plant-humanities.org/
I'm not mad keen on subscription services myself, though I do pay for a few because they keep on delivering. Another twist to the story, though: when an app I am happy to pay offers a discount on a new version that my OS won't be able to handle until I get a new machine.
Fine episode of Gravy from @southfoodways, all about horchata. A little disappointed that @rachellaudan didn't bring English barley water into the story. Or if she did, that they cut it.
https://www.southernfoodways.org/gravy/horchata-podcast/
That was a couple of hours well spent, fixing up the PESOS from Instagram to here, via Bibliogram. Of course, it shouldn't have taken nearly that long, but I had to go slowly. And I haven't tested it from the cron job yet, only locally.
Today was a very appropriate day to learn about Grace Murray Hopper in my ongoing attempt to become a better dilettante programmer.
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@jeremycherfas You could brush up your COBOL skills in her honor.
, Mar 08 2021 on micro.blog
@JMaxB If I had any ... Meantime, I am very slowly gaining a theoretical understanding of Python, but I am determined to wait until the end of the course until I start to build anything.
, Mar 08 2021 on micro.blog
@jeremycherfas I wonder if anyone is trained in COBOL anymore. It was really big in its day, but that day is long gone. I'd guess that a fair number of ancient systems (probably some important ones) still run on COBOL, and will be in big trouble if they need to find someone to debug their code.
, Mar 08 2021 on micro.blog
@JMaxB I hear that good COBOL people can more or less name their price. For what it’s worth, I did FORTRAN at university long before BASIC tainted me forever. Hey Ho, happy days.
, Mar 08 2021 on micro.blog
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This deserves mention. An industry-funded study that doesn't entirely find what the industry would like. Whole grain oat flakes reduce blood glucose and insulin responses, but thin or instant oats do not. Funded by PepsiCo, owner of Quaker Oats.
https://www.foodpolitics.com/2021/02/industry-funded-study-of-the-week-a-rare-exception-to-the-rule/
TIL “people believed an ice cream named “Frosh” was creamier than an ice cream called “Frish”. Makes me wonder whether whiff might be a better name than Cornish Sole.
More in Eat This Newsletter later today. Sign up now at https://buttondown.email/jeremycherfas
@jeremycherfas Very nice scene! I look forward to the episode.
jean, Sep 09 2021 on micro.blog