It’s 10+ printed pages but well worth the read.

A Conspiracy of Hogs: The McRib as Arbitrage

The McRib was, at least in part, born out of the brute force that McDonald’s is capable of exerting on commodities markets. According to this history of the sandwich, Chef Arend created the McRib because McDonald’s simply could not find enough chickens to turn into the McNuggets for which their franchises were clamoring. Chef Arend invented something so popular that his employer could not even find the raw materials to produce it, because it was so popular. […]

When the Time reporter visited the kitchen, Chef Coudreaut was cooking a dish that involved celery root—a fresh-tasting root that chefs love for making purees in the fall and winter. Chef Coudreaut proves to be quite a talented cook, but Time notes that “there is literally not enough celery root grown in the world for it to survive on the menu at McDonald’s-although the company could change that since its menu decisions quickly become global agricultural concerns.”

Yep, McDonald’s can change the world’s agriculture.

Elsewhere:

• Fast Food Autopsy: McDonald’s McRib
• How to Make a McRib

#foodies

Asteroid planning gap leaves Earth ‘a sitting duck’

“Unlike the dinosaurs, we have the means to prevent catastrophic impacts,” says the B612 Foundation, which also advocates finding and tracking asteroids to learn about potential threats to the Earth decades in advance, and testing technology to deflect asteroids

The article is somewhat doomsday but the visual is good. I recommend sharks with lasers.

#cosmos

Firefox 8 is faster. Menu items are snappier and it starts cold in fraction of the time as 7.

With that said, I stopped relying on Firefox for the main browsing experience after version 5 simply because of broken extensions and I was/am unsure of where they’re headed in the name of the user.

As an example:

“All your menu items are now found in a single button for easy access”

Condensing a handful of menus into one is easier to use and navigate! .. Or is it?

Working in the web field, I still use Firefox regularly and let it continue on with its rapid release cycle. However with each release, one of the extensions that I rely on breaks. Each release cripples Firefox in such a way that its importance to me fumbles down a rung. Chrome extensions have NEVER broke for me. I have my own issues with Google but that’s another story.

On the one hand the rapid release cycle makes perfect sense: get updated software to users faster. Update in the background so as not to annoy said users. Make version numbers obsolete; you’re running the latest or you’re not.

On the other foot, it annoys me to no end. I don’t want software to auto-update, it’s creepy, it breaks shit all the time - shit I need to do my work. The major version number bumps seem only to be a browser-arms race with Chrome.

It’s just a number. If you’re innovative you won’t care what others are doing. Could a few of these major releases simply been point releases? There was nothing in 6 that indicated a major step forward to me. My wife is still using it only because an extension she uses frequently won’t work beyond that release.

Maybe I’m just sentimental and miss the days when a new version meant shiny new toys to play with. These days, I cringe when Firefox wants to update. Rapidly developed software tends to introduce more bugs if only because the developers are sloppily rushing to meet the roadmap. Note: this is a general statement based on my own experience and not directed at the Firefox developers in particular.

Sure, Firefox is free and I don’t have to use it. So I don’t. I don’t “Spread Firefox” any more either.

And the big question: why do I write about Firefox if it bugs me so much? Because I care and have used it for a long time, probably longer than you.

PS. Why is removing the status bar wrong? Because I need to move my mouse to the top of the window to move the window. You’ve now taken functionality away from me. Monitors are bigger than ever yet everyone seems to think that stripping the UI is a good thing.

#firefox

--- Original Message ---
Subject: You have new mail from Olga
Date: Tue, 02 Aug 2011 21:25:06 -0800
From: SAVANNAH Erickson
To: tcr!

My darling - write me - I'm waiting for a long time already, soon, my patience is over, I want to see you again.

http://dateriitm.ru/

#email #spam

Whatever made you think it was your data anyway?

This is an important corollary to the law “If you’re not paying for something, you’re not a customer; you’re the product being sold”. Everyone ought to understand that any data you store on a “free” internet service isn’t yours as ownership has hitherto been understood; it’s what you’re giving to the company as disguised payment for the service it’s offering. If the company lets you access that data from one day to the next, that’s awfully nice of them; if they stop doing so, what the hell did you expect? It was “free”. Whatever made you think it was your data anyway?

Good reminder about the tradeoffs when using free services.

I’m sleeping better now that I don’t use free services for any data I care about.

#nutsandbolts

Thousands protest at White House over pipeline

The project pits environmentalists against Republicans and many top labor groups — with both sides suggesting that the president will pay politically if he doesn’t side with them. Backers of the project say the pipeline will create thousands of jobs and help reduce U.S. dependence on Middle Eastern oil.

The U.S. could easily create hundreds of thousands of jobs by building solar/wind farms and high-speed rails across the country. Both would serve the Earth and the American people much better.

In other news:

#politics

Finally. Much more functional and a bit nicer to look at, too!

Now I should plant some grass seed before winter sets in.

#webdev #tcr

It’s taking much longer than I thought but the results will be well worth it. In the meantime, enjoy:

Don’t Give Your Users Shit Work

Some people still like shit work. They can spend an hour moving Twitter accounts to special Lists, and then at the end of it look back and say “Boy, I spent an hour doing this. I really accomplished a lot today!” You didn’t. You did shit work.

Simplification is zen.

#tcr

Need an extra class for next term at Columbia College Chicago? Zombies in Popular Media will do ya just fine.

This course explores the history, significance, and representation of the zombie as a figure in horror and fantasy texts. Instruction follows an intense schedule, using critical theory and source media (literature, comics, and films) to spur discussion and exploration of the figure’s many incarnations.

More from the instructor - worth exploring this holiday season.

Also, if you have a need for a new RSS feed with gems, have a look at his blog:

I will be participating in the Canadian Broadcast Channel (CBC)’s nationally syndicated programme, The Current, on Monday morning to talk about, what else, zombies.

You can never go wrong with zombies. Speaking of, Zombieland 2 has a script.

#education #zombies

World in 2000 as Predicted in 1910

Illustrations by French artist Villemard in 1910 of how he imagined the future to be in the year 2000.

11 years past due, and I still don’t have my own set of wings.

Also, take care when using your motorized roller skates.

#science