DL Open Thread: Sunday, November 17, 2024

First trip around the usual news resources didn’t reveal much.  Gives me a chance to explore the more ‘esoteric’ media side streets.

Everything You Wanted To Know About Cow Colostrum.  More than I wanted to know, actually:

Colostrum is a form of milk that mammals produce in the days after they give birth. What does this mean for the body? According to one popular brand, their bovine colostrum supplement can “strengthen your skin, lung and gut barriers, rebuild your microbiome, and activate cellular health and performance to revive whole body health”.

Whole body health! That’s the dream. But can an aesthetically packaged powder actually achieve all of that?

Colostrum does have many health benefits, experts say. As with most supplements though, companies tend to overpromise what supplements can achieve, and a lack of regulation means that you can never be entirely sure about what you’re consuming.

According to Stanton and Linehan, current studies suggest that because of its unique bioactive components, bovine colostrum supplements offer multiple benefits for adults, “particularly those looking to enhance immunity, protect gut health or improve recovery and skin health”.

This comes with a couple of major caveats. First, there’s still a lot we don’t know, including how much of it one must consume to reap the benefits.

“There is not enough evidence for scientists to reach a consensus on the safety, effectiveness and optimum dose of bovine colostrum supplements,” says Laing.

Second, supplements are not regulated by the Food and Drug Administration. This means there is no standardized practice for how any given product is manufactured.

Going out on a limb: RFK Jr. likes colostrum, doesn’t want it scientifically evaluated.

Is This Why Kids Can’t Read?  Didn’t even know about this.  We learned via phonics when we were in school:

Until a couple of years ago, Lucy Calkins was, to many American teachers and parents, a minor deity. Thousands of U.S. schools used her curriculum, called Units of Study, to teach children to read and write. Two decades ago, her guiding principles—that children learn best when they love reading, and that teachers should try to inspire that love—became a centerpiece of the curriculum in New York City’s public schools.

In Sold a Story, the reporter Emily Hanford argued that teachers had fallen for a single, unscientific idea—and that its persistence was holding back American literacy. The idea was that “beginning readers don’t have to sound out words.” That meant teachers were no longer encouraging early learners to use phonics to decode a new word—to say cuh–ah–tuh for “cat,” and so on. Instead, children were expected to figure out the word from the first letter, context clues, or nearby illustrations. But this “cueing” system was not working for large numbers of children, leaving them floundering and frustrated. The result was a reading crisis in America.

The backlash against Calkins strikes some onlookers, even those who are not paid-up Lucy partisans, as unfair. “She wouldn’t have been my choice for the picture on the ‘wanted’ poster,” James Cunningham, a professor emeritus of literacy studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, told me. Indeed, over the course of several days spent with Calkins, and many more hours talking with people on all sides of this debate, I came to see her downfall as part of a larger story about the competing currents in American education and the universal desire for an easy, off-the-shelf solution to the country’s reading problems.

Interesting piece, no easy answers.

Trump Cabinet Haven For Sex Offenders.  We already know about Matt Gaetz.  Check Out Pete Hegseth:

More details are emerging about a 2017 sexual assault allegation made against Pete Hegseth, Donald Trump’s secretary of defense pick.

News of the allegation came to light Friday, when The Washington Post reported that members of Trump’s transition team had been made aware of the incident in a memo and were worried about its implications.

According to the Post, the alleged assault took place in a California hotel after a California Federation of Republican Women conference, and a complaint was made by the victim’s friend.

On Saturday, the publication received a statement from Hegseth’s lawyer Timothy Parlatore, confirming that the Fox News host had paid his accuser out of fear that he would lose his TV gig.

Speaking of NDA’s:

Parlatore maintains that a nondisclosure agreement was drawn up and signed more than two years after the ordeal, and a cease and desist was later sent after the woman threatened to sue.

This is the guy arguing for a ‘Christian Crusade’.  A perfect fit.

How Self-Styled ‘Art Hoe’ Rachel Baiman Dealt With the Election.  I’m kinda doing the same thing.  I included this especially because she’s reading a book that I read this year.  Didn’t think anybody else had read it:

While considering the problems with my own short story one morning, I fell down the rabbit hole of George Saunders, and decided to listen to his book “A Swim in the Pond in the Rain”, which is an analysis of seven Russian short stories, read by the Saunders and guests. I have to admit that I have been severely underslept this week with 7 AM van calls and midnight hotel arrivals, so a few of these beautiful and scenic Russian stories had me snoozing on the bench seat. But I loved hearing Saunders’ analysis of each author’s work, and it gave me ample fuel with which to tackle my own story.

Raise Parking Rates, Lose Business.  It was foreseeable, Newark didn’t foresee it:

Sasha Aber has owned Home Grown Cafe in Newark since it opened in 2000, but said the business has run into new challenges less than two years after a parking rate increase.

Aber told Newark City Council this week she has seen several customers cut back from 3 visits a week down to 1 as a result of the 2023 parking rate doubling hourly lot rates to $2.00, and putting on-street parking at $2.25/hour.

It was Newark’s first parking rate increase since 1999.

Newark traditionally halves those rates when most University of Delaware students are in session from December 16-January 15 and June 16-August 15, going to $1.25/hour on-street and $1.00/hour in municipal lots.

This year, however, the city is considering sticking with the primary rates, but offering free parking on Saturdays and Sundays between December 16 and January 20.

She said in what can be a competitive dining environment, a $4 parking bill for lunch or dinner can be enough to change choices.

“They can go to Newark Shopping Center, they can go to The Grove, they can go to Suburban Plaza, they can go a mile in any direction, and while they won’t be getting what I offer, they can get something similar or different, and it’s cheaper, and they think they’re getting a better deal.”

What do you want to talk about?