MetaFilter

I don't think labeling people who self-identify as feminists and leftists as "sexist and misogynist" or the use of snarky neologisms like "mansplaning" help maintain a healthy, respectful discussion, help further mutual understanding, or advance our common cause.

Asparagus: it's a line from the goddamn song that started the whole shitstorm. Jesus Christ on a Segway.
posted to MetaTalk by entropicamericana at 11:18 AM on June 11, 2014

its sort of ironic that as raw milk cheese consumption in France declines as well as the number of farmstead cheesemakers they manage to get an increase in Listeria
posted to MetaFilter by JPD at 11:34 AM on June 10, 2014

You can invent whatever percentage you like by defining artisinal in the way most convenient to the point you're trying to make, but the wood shelf aged cheese that we're actually talking about here represents a vanishingly small portion of the domestic market.

Then those of us who are not in a high-risk group can make our own decisions about whether or not to eat cheese aged in that way, much like we can decide to avoid factory-farmed beef and... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by winna at 11:14 AM on June 10, 2014

"The artisinal cheese market is truly insignificant to major food producers, you know what they would all love though?"

As artisanal cheese represents about 10 percent of the market and is rising, including artisanal cheese produced by major manufacturers, and that major manufacturers have cited artisanal cheese as one of the prime factors in the massive increase in American cheese consumption over the last decade, I'd stick to statements... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by klangklangston at 10:58 AM on June 10, 2014

literally no one
posted to MetaFilter by elizardbits at 10:57 AM on June 10, 2014

The cause of this selective increased incidence is unknown

Listeriosis incidence goes down (1999 to 2005) for unknown reasons and then goes up (2006) for unknown reasons is not a sound basis to make decisions. Was there increased use of wooden boards in 2006?
posted to MetaFilter by vacapinta at 10:48 AM on June 10, 2014

Is there anything we can DO about this????

Cleanse our government of dipshits and corporate moles/shills.
posted to MetaFilter by Pudhoho at 9:35 AM on June 10, 2014

Meanwhile, Foster Farms has been serving your chicken with a big side of salmonella for over a year while the the government twiddles its thumbs and hope you like e coli in your ground beef.
posted to MetaFilter by entropicamericana at 8:37 AM on June 10, 2014

JPD: She worked in food safety for a global giant of industrial cheese production, she would have been taught the "safe and correct" way of making cheese. She now works for the government saying what is the "safe and correct" way to regulate cheese production.

I'm not saying she is the boss of Big Cheese, just another cog in the machine, the end result is the same.
posted to MetaFilter by Cosine at 8:01 AM on June 10, 2014

Proof Big Cheese plays the long game.
posted to MetaFilter by MisantropicPainforest at 7:58 AM on June 10, 2014

“Wooden shelves or boards cannot be adequately cleaned and sanitized,” Metz wrote, adding that “the porous structure of wood enables it to absorb and retain bacteria.”

There's pretty good evidence that this is untrue.
posted to MetaFilter by sneebler at 7:57 AM on June 10, 2014

It will be sad day indeed if all we have left are Kraft Shingles.
posted to MetaFilter by Daddy-O at 7:57 AM on June 10, 2014

Craft beer might be a threat to Big Beer, just a year or so from taking 10% of the market, but artisanal cheese? Less than 1%, I'd guess.

Your feeling is that big business would wait until a growing trend is a real threat before stepping on it?
posted to MetaFilter by Cosine at 7:53 AM on June 10, 2014

The person that this is coming from at the FDA is Monica Metz, head of the FDA's Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition's Dairy and Egg Branch. Prior to working for the FDA Metz worked for the world's largest industrial producer of mozzarella. Yes, there really is a Big Cheese and it really is involved here.
posted to MetaFilter by Cosine at 7:52 AM on June 10, 2014

While Welch is clearly overstepping his knowledge here, if we "leave science to scientists," there'd be far fewer laws that actually do protect the public. And scientists aren't always the best judges of public policy — see Robert Kehoe.
posted to MetaFilter by klangklangston at 8:55 AM on June 11, 2014

Congressman Peter Welch (D-Vermont) plans on introducing an amendment to the Agricultural Appropriations Bill that would effectively prevent the FDA from enforcing its interpretation of the law.

"[T]his is the mother of all dumb ideas, and we've gotta stop it."

tl;dr: Dairy states got each others backs.
posted to MetaFilter by vortex genie 2 at 8:02 AM on June 11, 2014

FDA Backs Down In Fight Over Aged Cheese
posted to MetaFilter by snuffleupagus at 8:22 AM on June 11, 2014

Blasdelb - I don't think a facility that has listeria literally everywhere is the best case for "wooden ripening boards create a risk of listeriosis"
posted to MetaFilter by JPD at 10:37 AM on June 11, 2014

In a grim twist of fate, it was actually the song the Stones were playing when a fan named Meridith Hunter was stabbed to death by members of the Hell's Angels hired as security guards at the Altamont Speedway concert in 1969.

Suppose the author knows that Meredith was male?

Oh god I read that and cringed so badly in sheer horrifying secondhand embarrassment for this terrible terrible writer that I think I may have further... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by elizardbits at 11:28 AM on June 10, 2014

I am currently on holiday in Europe and only have my iPhone for photography. 5 or so years ago I lugged a Canon Rebel TXi around while on holiday. Whether my photography is any better, or worse now, is a mute point. Nonetheless the iPhone takes a pretty damn fine photo most of the time, and is infinitely more convenient to carry around by several orders of magnitude. And that's not taking into account geo-tagging, syncing with DropBox and the ease of posting the inevitable Facebook snaps for... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by vac2003 at 10:43 AM on June 11, 2014

Sorry all. I got so annoyed with the article, and my own assumptions, that I stopped reading before I got to the goods.
posted to MetaFilter by ROU_Xenophobe at 9:31 AM on June 11, 2014

Ersatz heroin? All the scare articles in the world aren't going to stop me from believing that people who need pain medicine should get it. Including Zohydrone where appropriate, and cannabis where appropriate. If our attitude towards drug addiction and abuse is that the solution is to deny medicine that's needed by people who are suffering, we've fucked up. It's like suggesting withholding insulin to prevent overeating.
posted to MetaFilter by Cookiebastard at 8:55 AM on June 11, 2014

Any chance that such a public shaming like this will tarnish Cantor's prospects in the lobbying or punditry spaces?

Lobbying and punditry spaces have no space for people who feel shame.
posted to MetaFilter by Drastic at 7:54 AM on June 11, 2014

Doesn't Fox News provide health benefits?
posted to MetaFilter by valkane at 7:42 AM on June 11, 2014

The problem for the Republicans is that they started the Tea Party as a way of bringing in the disaffected conservatives back into the party but they've largely lost control of it especially at the local and state level where it is fueled in large part by talk radio and Fox News basically spewing propaganda along the lines of "White People are Doomed - Obama is personally going to have sex with your wife and daughters".

You can't play around with extreme racism... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by vuron at 8:36 PM on June 10, 2014

Also, the House is going to get glacial on legislation.

Hey now - glaciers are actually moving along into the ocean at a pretty decent clip these days.
posted to MetaFilter by Joey Buttafoucault at 8:53 PM on June 10, 2014

He attacked the deal ending the government shutdown.

Finally, we have an example of a Republican who doesn't want to bargain with Obama. Checkmate!
posted to MetaFilter by Drinky Die at 9:21 PM on June 10, 2014

There's a certain line of liberal thinking that goes: "this will force the GOP to shift extreme right, thus dooming them among reasonable-minded Americans."

Often the reality ends up being: "this will force the GOP to shift extreme right, and they end up convincing lots of Americans to shift extreme right with them."
posted to MetaFilter by naju at 9:43 PM on June 10, 2014

My husband rides a motorcycle. In fact, despite being an extremely responsible rider, who wears full gear and is generally cautious, he was in a motorcycle accident about a year and a half ago--he lost control of his bike on some gravel and wrecked it. Boy was that a scary afternoon.

After that, everyone told him how "lucky" he was to still be "allowed" to ride but I'd rather see him (responsibly) do risky things that make him happy than live in fear... [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by PhoBWanKenobi at 7:39 PM on June 10, 2014 marked best answer

Standing is hard work.

It's very hard work, and very unnatural. As a teacher, I spend roughly half my time standing in class, and the other half of the day sitting at the computer. It's not good to just stand in one place, though. I walk at the front of class and stroll around the room as much as possible.
posted to MetaFilter by zardoz at 11:22 PM on June 9, 2014

This is pretty bad for the country as a whole, since the GOP now has apparently zero incentive to compromise on anything anymore, for any reason.

Basically, in order to win a Republican primary post-Cantor, you will need to be John-Birch-Society level conservative, which is almost proto-fascist.
posted to MetaFilter by Avenger at 6:42 PM on June 10, 2014

As a (nearly) lifelong Virginian, this outcome feels like getting to postpone my colonoscopy in order to make it in time to my IRS audit.
posted to MetaFilter by 4ster at 6:54 PM on June 10, 2014

House of Cards Season 3 sure is heating up
posted to MetaFilter by hellojed at 7:05 PM on June 10, 2014

almost proto-fascist.

Ignoring Eric Blair on fascist and instead assuming that 'old Benito was right when he talked about the the blending of State and Corporate power at what point do things move from "proto" to just straight up fascist?

Citizens United is just "proto"? The 2008 banking blow up is not quite there yet? Having BP fill out forms in pencil and given to Government regulators of BP was what.... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by rough ashlar at 7:13 PM on June 10, 2014

"The Tea Party's been a tremendously positive input, I think... certainly for our party, you see the benefit."

-Eric Cantor
posted to MetaFilter by Drinky Die at 6:31 PM on June 10, 2014

Just label it, and let me decide for myself.

Also, GMOs are okay, but cheese isn't. Fie!
posted to MetaFilter by Ruthless Bunny at 11:19 AM on June 10, 2014

JPD: "The argument is really mostly about acceptable risk. The FDA views no risk as acceptable, the French analog views a minimal risk as being acceptable."

That statement doesn't hold up when looking at the linked information. For example one of the links you refer to also states this (emphasis mine):
As in France, these increases cannot be attributed to foodborne outbreaks, and no increase has been observed in... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Hairy Lobster at 2:26 PM on June 10, 2014

in blasdelb's world, there is no regulatory capture, the FDA is as pure and public-spirited as lady justice, "industry" is the artisanal producers who challenge corporate food, and the burden of proof is on the artisans to prove that their centuries-old technques are safe.
posted to MetaFilter by bruce at 12:40 PM on June 10, 2014

here at Microsoft we acknowledge both genres of video game: Gun and Car
posted to MetaFilter by dismas at 8:52 AM on June 10, 2014

So to the "Europe does it" department: Increasing Incidence of Listeriosis in France and Other European Countries:

From 1999 through 2005, the incidence of listeriosis in France declined from 4.5 to 3.5 cases/million persons. In 2006, it increased to 4.7 cases/million persons...

Compare to the 2.9 per million mentioned by OHenryPacey above.

If you want to talk about whether 2 cases per million persons is a... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by straw at 10:12 AM on June 10, 2014

Didn't think to mention before the edit window closed, but the numbers I cited for Kraft and Unilever were their 2013 revenue totals, via Wikipedia.
posted to MetaFilter by at by at 8:26 AM on June 10, 2014

> Um, folks, before we go off on our usual anti-corporate rants here I'd just like to point out that Cabot's parent company, Agri-Mark Inc., makes close to a billion in sales each year.

Kraft Foods (US$18.2 B) makes more than that per month.

Unilever (US$67.5 B) makes more than that per week.
posted to MetaFilter by at by at 8:18 AM on June 10, 2014

Parmesan is far too dangerous to eat, but repeated concussions from football is good for kids.

It builds character.
posted to MetaFilter by Avenger at 7:47 AM on June 10, 2014

I hope they caerphilly reconsider.
posted to MetaFilter by chillmost at 7:20 AM on June 10, 2014

No wonder the SuperSonics left town.
posted to MetaFilter by whyareyouatriangle at 3:50 PM on June 7, 2014

But what if it works too well?

What happens when we detect hidden sarcasm in the US constitution? Or the Bible? I'm imagining the headlines now -- "Four out of Ten Commandments are Sarcastic, Study Says"
posted to MetaFilter by serif at 5:25 PM on June 7, 2014

the CIA now has a Twitter account. First tweet: @CIA We can neither confirm nor deny that this is our first tweet.

The Secret Service's acceptance criteria for the sarcasm detecting software is that it must properly identify whether the CIA's first tweet counts or not.
posted to MetaFilter by radwolf76 at 2:18 PM on June 7, 2014

"Oh, a sarcasm detector. That's a really useful invention."
posted to MetaFilter by strangely stunted trees at 1:35 PM on June 7, 2014

bool IsSarcastic ( const string & text ) {

    return text.find ( "{\\}" ) || text.find ( "{/}" || text.find ( "HAMBURGER" );

}

GIVE ME MONEY, US SECRET SERVICE
posted to MetaFilter by Flunkie at 1:30 PM on June 7, 2014

I think Chiastic Slide may be my favorite Autechre, perhaps just for that moment between Cipater and Rettic Ac where you're plunged into a frothing sea of noise.
posted to MetaFilter by aubilenon at 2:40 PM on June 6, 2014