The goal of this newsletter is to keep the aggregate information health of my readers as high as possible and keep you aware of how to read smarter. Also to just let me rant a bit.
Another day, another example of how the Facebook ecosystem is dirty beyond belief.
This Twitter thread explores how Facebook (the app) would repeatedly prompt users for their phone number, under the guise of security (Two-Factor Authentication). Facebook (the company) then is able directly link your WhatsApp and Instagram accounts to your Facebook (the app) via your phone number, even if youāre trying to keep them separate.
Thatās shady enough. There is, naturally, suspicion around your phone number being pushed to advertisers as well. Letās watch where this story goes. Also, there is very reasonable speculation that this could be part of the upsurge in spam phone calls. That one Iām very curious about.
An interesting piece on how Rotten Tomatoes ratings are calculated.
In a major change, Rotten Tomatoes will no longer allow users to post audience reviews before a film hits theaters, the Beverly Hills company told The Times on Monday. Users will now have to wait until a movieās actual release to review and rate a film. The company is also changing the way it polls moviegoers about whether they want to see a film.
Iāll admit, I have been a longtime adherent of the Tomato-meter. When my wife and I are choosing which movie to rent, its been a nice āmathematicalā data point that brings a purported neutrality to the decision-making.
Goodhartās Law tells us, āWhen a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measureā. All inluential data will be gamed, if allowed. It kind of blows my mind that people were ever allowed to review moviesā¦before they could actually see the movie, but before these ratings carried the weight of the entire industry, maybe it just didnāt matter.
Amazon reviews, Yelp reviews, Google search results, Youtube recommendations, etc. etc. etc. These magical numbers that at one point reliably helped guide us in our decision-making are becoming more and more questionable.
A Video
Iāve been on a bit of a George Carlin kick recently.
A Product
This olive oil spray canister is one of the most useful cooking āgadgetsā I own. For spraying a pan, using on a salad, coating an item before roasting, the use cases are endless. And it looks pretty cool too.