Quotes

Apparently vodka is an effective treatment for ethylene glycol poisoning in pets

Vodka; is there anything it doesn’t do?

The two antidotes for ethylene glycol poisonings are 1) a medication called fomepizole or 2) ethanol, the type of alcohol found in alcoholic drinks. Commercially made pharmaceutical antidotes (i.e., fomepizole) are the preferred treatment choice; however, this drug can be expensive and some veterinary hospitals do not carry it. Because of its low cost and ease of availability, alcohol (ethanol) is the antidote of choice for some veterinarians. Both antidotes work the same way by blocking the formation of ethylene glycol’s toxic metabolites that lead to acidosis and kidney damage.

Source: Antifreeze Poisoning… Vodka as an Antidote? | Pet Poison Helpline

The Smallest Town in Every State

A list of the smallest town in every state in the union. Here’s New York’s:

Dering Harbor, N.Y. — Population 11

This tiny, old-money village on the north side of Shelter Island is nestled between the forks ofLong Island‘s east end. Rent a kayak and paddle through the gorgeous Mashomack Wildlife Preserve, keeping an eye out for ospreys and the endangered piping plover. Residents of Dering Harbor can also brag that no one who calls the tiny village home lives below the poverty line, and in fact most live far, far above it, as the median family income is $98,750.

Source: MSN: The Smallest Town in Every State (via Deslidified – because I hate slideshows)

Defense of Gwyneth Paltrow’s Goop offers case study on how to sell snake oil

In case you’re unfamiliar—or just need an empowering refresher—Goop is a site directed mostly toward affluent women that peddles pricey products and overuses the word “empower” while dabbling in many forms of pseudoscience and quackery—everything from homeopathy to magic crystals and garden-variety dietary-supplement nonsense. Despite all logic and much hope for humankind, Goop has proven successful. With a posh, new-age vibe and Paltrow’s celeb status, it raised $15 to $20 million in venture capital last year alone. This year, the Goop group teamed up with Condé Nast to begin publishing a quarterly print magazine as well as digital content.

Amid the success, journalists, medical professionals, and public health experts have thrown swift, science-powered punches against this brand of high-end hocus pocus. There are blogs, news stories, and even a book titled “Is Gwyneth Paltrow Wrong About Everything?,” slamming Goop’s products and advice.

Source: Defense of Gwyneth Paltrow’s Goop offers case study on how to sell snake oil | Ars Technica

Efficency Gap, The algorithm that convinced SCOTUS to take the Wisconsin gerrymandering case

For more than three decades, the Supreme Court has recognized that severe partisan gerrymandering can violate the Constitution. But until Whitford, not a single federal court had struck down a map on this basis. Early litigants lost because the standard the courts used prior to 2004 was so demanding it could never be met. Since 2004, the courts haven’t even been able to agree on a test, rendering most lawsuits hopeless. However, in a 2006 case, five justices expressed interest in statistical metrics that show how a plan benefits (or handicaps) a given party. The efficiency gap is such a metric.

Source: The research that convinced SCOTUS to take the Wisconsin gerrymandering case, explained – Vox

Hey, remember when MongoDB was a thing?

NoSQL databases were the future. MongoDB was the database for ‘modern’ web engineers and used by countless startups. What happened?

I was on the Mongo hype-train for awhile and what happened was the rise of data as a resource and companies rediscovering that your databases aren’t just for storing data but that they are for discovering new things lurking there-in. Mongo, with it’s really piss-poor joining capabilities just doesn’t play well in that world. RDBMS do.

Source: Why Did So Many Startups Choose MongoDB?!

Liberal arts majors are a dying breed

The share of new bachelor’s degrees awarded in the humanities dropped below 12% in 2015 for the first time since 1987, according to a recent analysis released by Humanities Indicators, a project of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences which tracks data on the state of humanities fields. The drop comes after 10 years in a row of declines, including a 5% drop from the previous year and a 9.5% decline from a recent high point in humanities degrees in 2012.

Source: Liberal arts majors are a dying breed – MarketWatch

Happy 51st Birthday to the Freedom of Information Act

An Act to amend section 3 of the Administrative Procedure Act, chapter 324, of the Act of June 11, 1946 (60 Stat. 238), to clarify and protect the right of the public to information, and for other purposes.

Fifty one years ago today Lyndon Johnson signed FOIA into law, letting us safeguard our freedoms.

So go ahead and celebrate America by making the government give up some of it’s secrets: FOIA machine makes it easy. After all, sunlight is the best disinfectant.

Source: Freedom of Information Act (United States) – Wikipedia

The problems of policing with Artificial Intelligence

‘Thankfully we barely have any reports of human trafficking. But someone at intel got a tip-off and looked into cases at car washes, because we hadn’t really investigated those much. ‘But now when we try to model human trafficking we only see human trafficking being predicted at car washes, which suddenly seem very high risk. So because of increased intel we’ve essentially produced models that tell us where car washes are. ‘This kind of loop is hard to explain to those higher up.’

Source: The problems of policing with Artificial Intelligence | AiiA IQ