Friday Finds, XVI
What makes dogs so special and successful? Love. (Washington Post)
If you show dogs in MRI scanners objects that remind them of either food or the presence of their owners, you can see how their brains light up. And the reward centers of the brain light up more strongly to signals that say “Your owner is nearby” than to signals that say “You’re going to get a piece of sausage.” That’s really strong evidence inside the brain that the presence of a beloved human is rewarding to a dog in itself.
Everyone who knows me and Amy knows how much we love Louie. It helps that we really believe he loves us back, and that belief is reinforced by his behavior. Dogs are unique among non-human animals because when they look humans in the eyes, oxytocin levels go up. That experience alone makes for a special bond between dogs and humans.
You may have heard us say it before: dogs are way better than humans. Their love is unconditional. Don't take dogs for granted.
Does anyone else find it mind-blowing that much of Christianity went from subversive, anti-imperialist, non-triumphalist, grassroots, and organic to... this? Just me? OK.
These people can legit bust a move, though.
The Great American Eye-Exam Scam (The Atlantic)
When I last went to an eye exam at a storefront optician in the United States, for example, the staff gave me the hard sell on glasses that would have cost hundreds of dollars, as well as on contact lenses that were much more expensive than identical ones sold by online retailers. Thankfully, I knew that two laws, one passed in 1997 and the other in 2003—which had, incidentally, been loudly opposed by the AOA—gave me the right to demand a copy of my prescription. I stood firm, and later went online to order perfectly fine glasses and contact lenses at a fraction of the price. But how many customers give in to heavy-handed sales tactics?
The kicker:
It is little wonder, then, that American optometrists spend a lot of money on lobbying. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, for example, the AOA spent $1.8 million on lobbying and another $1.4 million on campaign contributions in 2016.
FBI says FaceApp is a ‘potential counterintelligence threat’ because of its ties to Russia (9to5Mac)
The FBI considers any mobile application or similar product developed in Russia, such as FaceApp, to be a potential counterintelligence threat, based on the data the product collects, its privacy and terms of use policies, and the legal mechanisms available to the government of Russia that permit access to data within Russia’s borders.
Unless app developers in Russia or China expose their app's code for public review, I don't knowingly download apps from those countries. Yes, it's a burden, but a few clicks before downloading apps like this to determine the country of origin is a good practice. As soon as I saw FaceApp show up in the news, the first thought I asked was, “This is perfect fodder for face data collection.”
Crying in H Mart (The New Yorker)
My grief comes in waves and is usually triggered by something arbitrary. I can tell you with a straight face what it was like watching my mom’s hair fall out in the bathtub, or about the five weeks I spent sleeping in hospitals, but catch me at H Mart when some kid runs up double-fisting plastic sleeves of ppeong-twigi and I’ll just lose it. Those little rice-cake Frisbees were my childhood: a happier time, when Mom was there and we’d crunch away on the Styrofoam-like disks after school. Eating them was like splitting a packing peanut that dissolved like sugar on your tongue.
Michelle Zauner is a popular indie rock musician, who goes by the moniker Japanese Breakfast. Ironically, she's half-Korean. I'm a fan and a supporter. This is one of my favorite songs of hers, and it's best played loud. I've followed her emotional and cultural journey after her mom's passing in writing and interviews, and it's endeared me to her and made me more proud of Korean culture. I read her piece last year, but thought I'd share it here again. It's a tearjerker. She has a book coming out (psst Esther) that fleshes this journey out.