Events

I did my undergraduate thesis on King Edward VI of England, and the coups (attempted and successful) against his two Lords Protector. A Lord Protector watches over a King basically by being acting King until the King reaches majority around age 18. Edward died at 15, so his Lords Protector were really the monarchy for the six years Edward sat on the throne. Fast forward 450 years, and it looks like we're back to that arrangement: [President Trump is] still unprincipled, ill-informed, lazy, and...

So, this might be happening at my house next weekend: The "sous vide" part of sous vide cooking refers to the vacuum-sealed bags that are often called for when you're using the technique. (The French phrase literally means "under vacuum.") However, these days, when someone says "sous vide cooking," they're generally referring to any kind of cooking that takes place in a precisely temperature-controlled water bath, whether you're actually using a vacuum-sealed bag or not. Sous vide cooking offers...

The January release of Google Chrome will prevent videos from auto-playing: Starting in Chrome 64, which is currently earmarked for a January 2018 release, auto-play will only be allowed when the video in question is muted or when a "user has indicated an interest in the media." The latter applies if the site has been added to the home screen on mobile or if the user has frequently played media on the site on desktop. Google also says auto-play will be allowed if the user has "tapped or clicked...

While not quite as viscerally grotesque as a 140-tonne fatberg, new details about the failures at Equifax that led to its massive data breach are still pretty disgusting: Equifax has confirmed that attackers entered its system in mid-May through a web-application vulnerability that had a patch available in March. In other words, the credit-reporting giant had more than two months to take precautions that would have defended the personal data of 143 million people from being exposed. It didn't. As the...

A 140-tonne blob of fat and other horrible things is blocking a sewer in East London: What has been named the Whitechapel fatberg is a rock-solid agglomeration of fat, disposable wipes, diapers, condoms and tampons. It was discovered to the east of the city’s financial district, occupying a sixth of a mile of sewer under Whitechapel Road, between one of London’s largest mosques and a pub called the Blind Beggar, where walking tours are taken to reminisce about a notorious gangland murder. Thames Water...

Historian John Schmidt posted today about the 11 most-mispronounced street names in Chicago: (1) Devon. Like those posts note—and like most Chicagoans I know—I pronounce it dee-VAHN. (2) Leavitt. Forget the part that looks like “leave.” It’s LEV-itt. (3) Paulina. Not pronounced like the girl’s name. The street is pull-EYE-nuh. That last one is part of a joke: What are the three street names that rhyme with female anatomy? Paulina, Malvina, and Lunt. It also reminds me of Yuri Rasovsky's infamous 1972...

Today is the 1 0000 0000th day of the year! Go hug a software developer.

Jeet Heer grapples with the depressing reality that we'll never be completely free of Donald Trump during his lifetime: For argument’s sake, let’s assume the best-case scenario: that we somehow manage to survive Trump’s first term and send him packing in 2020. At the moment, the odds of him winning reelection appear about equal to those of the Titanic triumphantly resurfacing under its own steam. His approval ratings are at historic lows, and he evinces no interest in finding a way to expand his base....

Deeply Trivial finds evidence for why there is little evidence about the safety of e-cigarettes: [T]he statistical sin here isn't really something the researchers have done (or didn't do). It's an impossibility created by confounds. How does one recruit people who have only smoked e-cigarettes or who at least have very little experience with regular cigarettes? What's happening here is really an issue of contamination - a threat to validity that occurs when the treatment of one group works its way into...

With only a very small group to insure, Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Illinois is leaving the Obamacare exchange for small businesses: Calling all small businesses with a Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Illinois plan through the Obamacare public health insurance exchange: Look out for an email this week informing you that the state's largest insurer is officially leaving the online marketplace. That leaves small employers looking for an exchange plan for 2018 with one option: downstate Health Alliance....