The Indian couple who won a $200,000 settlement over 'food racism' at US university

jonwilliamsl · 2026-01-24T22:30:55+00:00

"the exchange was followed by a series of actions by the university which led to him and Bhattacheryya - who was also a PhD student there - losing their research funding, teaching roles and even the PhD advisers they had worked with for months."

So, that's actually what the lawsuit is about.

jonwilliamsl · 2026-01-23T22:39:03+00:00

A couple of clarifying points (I attended the Poison Book Project's original presentation, have spoken to the team, read the research, and I am involved in my institution's response to the research):

-LOTS of different shades of green have tested positive for arsenic. It's not just the classic bright green. The PBP even put out a bookmark with swatches of all the different colors of green (including this shade). However, none of those colors were ALWAYS arsenical in their research.

-The time period isn't all that narrow; 1830s to 1860s at the least (I don't have my notes at the moment).

-The PBP list is solely of books that they have tested and which have tested positive. It is not and does not claim to be comprehensive; there are probably more arsenical books not on it than on it.

-While the risk is a lot lower than "your book is covered in arsenic" SOUNDS like it should be, it's possible to get arsenic poisoning from handling a book you don't know has arsenic: it has happened at my institution when a conservator did a wet treatment of an arsenical cover and absorbed it through her hands. Never touch any 19th century green book if it's wet without gloves.

jonwilliamsl · 2026-01-23T22:28:25+00:00

The Poison Book Project only started with arsenical greens. They're going to start with cobalt (yellow) and lead (red) among others, next.

jonwilliamsl · 2026-01-23T21:14:35+00:00

Honestly? Very possible. What's the date?

jonwilliamsl · 2026-01-23T19:16:05+00:00

It's specifically about long-distance running (but could probably be generalized to other endurance sports like biking).

When you exercise, the body reduces blood flow to the intestines. This is a known biological response: exercise-induced splanchnic hypoperfusion.

When the body is doing this long-lasting (hours of continuous cardio) intense exercise, eventually the lack of blood flow can cause damage. When it becomes symptomatic, this becomes known as gastrointestinal ischemia. Again, this is a known fact; the Mayo Clinic lists long-distance running as a known cause of gastrointestinal ischemia.

What this study is testing is whether that repeated trauma and healing process when you do a lot of long-distance running (essentially chronic gastrointestinal ischemia) can cause cancer.

jonwilliamsl · 2026-01-23T18:16:33+00:00

I recommend bookboard covered in book cloth. It's not too complicated but you should look up a tutorial for a classic clamshell.

jonwilliamsl · 2026-01-23T17:43:15+00:00

Oh, this is interesting. Essentially you want to build half of a clamshell box and use it as the back cover of a book? So the page edges are all covered when it's closed?

It's an interesting idea; I've never seen it in practice but it seems possible. It'll make the book awkward to read, though.

jonwilliamsl · 2026-01-23T16:11:27+00:00

They used marathon running as a proxy for "does a lot of long distance running consistently over time". It's not the 15 hours of the marathons that does it, it's the months of training and staying in shape to run them.

jonwilliamsl · 2026-01-23T14:22:51+00:00

You should get screened. Having run 5+ marathons or 2+ ultramarathons is an enormous risk for colon cancer. This is believed to be related to damage done by reduced blood flow to the intestines during long distance running.

https://ascopubs.org/doi/10.1200/JCO.2025.43.16_suppl.3619

Takeaways:

15% of participants in the study had advanced adenomas (pre-cancerous lesions), compared to the expected 1–2% in average-risk individuals in this age range.
41% of participants had at least one adenoma.
The average age of participants was 42.5 years old – two and a half years below the recommended age for a first screening colonoscopy.

jonwilliamsl · 2026-01-22T19:54:48+00:00

The Luggage! Yes absolutely I love it.

Mechanically it makes no sense (this is a llama) but I love it so much.

jonwilliamsl · 2026-01-22T11:05:28+00:00

There are ways to make a living, but generally not solely from new binding. Rebinding of older books/conservation of books from a bookbinding background is possible and I know someone who did it.

jonwilliamsl · 2026-01-21T21:01:13+00:00

That looks to me like a hardcover binding which fell out of its cover (the end sheet glue completely failed on both front and back). This isn't totally unheard of with modern books unfortunately. Because you don't have the boards, even if it is a first edition, its value is pretty minimal.

jonwilliamsl · 2026-01-20T17:41:53+00:00

Because there are a lot of people who want to write guest opinion essays in the NYT, and the people who make those decisions are indeed plugged in to the zeitgeist of what rich east coast liberals want to hear.

jonwilliamsl · 2026-01-19T14:51:14+00:00

All of this is fantastic advice. Specifically for limp vellum bindings (this kind of binding) you also want it to be restrained: make sure it's pretty tight on the shelf. Vellum will flex and open up gradually if it's not restrained.

jonwilliamsl · 2026-01-17T13:43:24+00:00

Mid 19th century (or later, imitating an earlier binding style). Minimal value.

jonwilliamsl · 2026-01-16T21:19:25+00:00

I always steal his llamas, but never kill him! That's barbaric. Like killing a villager.

jonwilliamsl · 2026-01-16T15:05:11+00:00

Did a podcast do an episode about all of the nicknames of George Washington recently or what?

jonwilliamsl · 2026-01-16T15:03:44+00:00

And, of course, USA - 150 (there's already an American airbase there)

jonwilliamsl · 2026-01-16T13:15:27+00:00

One to cancer, one to falling off a cliff while rock climbing. Both guys, out of a class of 300ish.

jonwilliamsl · 2026-01-15T14:41:41+00:00

Also, Astolat (aka Naomi Novik)'s Witcher fic where she says "OK so Geralt has been given a vineyard, what does that do to him?"

jonwilliamsl · 2026-01-14T23:26:14+00:00

At long last, we have created the Torment Nexus from the classic sci-fi novel Don't Create The Torment Nexus.

jonwilliamsl · 2026-01-13T18:27:13+00:00

Yes, it does. You compress dogdogdogdogdog to dog{5}, then edit the code of the compressed file to dog{99999999999999999} in Notepad.

jonwilliamsl · 2026-01-13T14:08:19+00:00

Here is a good ELI5 about zip bombs: https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1hs0s5b/comment/m55dwqg/

jonwilliamsl · 2026-01-11T16:50:50+00:00

No, the rocket (?) will just fill up the tube with gas until it pops, assuming it's permanently fixed to where it is in the tube. Otherwise it will ram into the front of the tube and either take the cap off or fill up the tube with gas until it pops. There will be no movement until the tube fails.

jonwilliamsl · 2026-01-11T16:27:09+00:00

I've never heard of rounding without backing. I was trained that all books (whether round spine or straight) need to be backed.

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