In the middle or late part of the evening yesterday we decided we’d run a brick, which is a workout where you combine two of the three elements of a triathlon. We decided to ride for an hour and then run for an hour.
So we we rode out of town as far as we could for a half hour. I went 32 minutes, which is nothing, but that got me to an intersection, a gas station and a turnaround. I thought I would race myself back, beat my time and all of that. Which is about the time my knee ligaments started hurting, so I slowed it down and still almost beat myself back home.
After which we started to run. Sometimes when you run, or when I run, at least, you just don’t feel it. You have to figure out when your body is telling you something and when your body is lying to you. Today I decided that it was not a day to run. Didn’t feel it, didn’t want it, didn’t press it.
And so that was that.
We had barbecue for dinner with a friend last night, that made it all a bit better. Tonight we dined with other friends who made jerk chicken, which was even better.
Things to read … because reading makes everything better.
If you don’t pay for it, you are the product. Or the research subject. Everything We Know About Facebook’s Secret Mood Manipulation Experiment:
And on Sunday afternoon, Adam D.I. Kramer, one of the study’s authors and a Facebook employee, commented on the experiment in a public Facebook post. “And at the end of the day, the actual impact on people in the experiment was the minimal amount to statistically detect it,” he writes. “Having written and designed this experiment myself, I can tell you that our goal was never to upset anyone. […] In hindsight, the research benefits of the paper may not have justified all of this anxiety.”
Kramer adds that Facebook’s internal review practices have “come a long way” since 2012, when the experiment was run.
There is a possibility that the sorry state of scientific research funding contributes to all of this. There’s also the possibility that, at some future date, some future lawsuits over this situation are landmark things we teach in research.
There’s more on IRB, the APA ethics and the notion of informed consent at the link.
Since we are at the 100-year anniversary of the beginning of World War I, here’s a good historical read with an Alabama hook. ‘There was never a braver lad:’ Alabama’s Osmond Kelly Ingram was first US sailor killed in WWI:
Ingram, 30, was aboard the Cassin off the Irish coast on Oct. 15, 1917 when the ship was attacked by a German submarine U-61. Ingram was cleaning the muzzle of a gun after morning target practice when he spotted a torpedo on a direct course for the ship. The Cassin began evasive maneuvers which seemed to have worked until the torpedo “porpoised,” or jumped out of the water, and turned towards the Cassin, Navy historians report.
Ingram, realizing the torpedo would hit near the depth charges at the ship’s stern, ran to release them in an effort to minimize the explosion and save the vessel.
Sadly, one of the first Americans killed at sea in World War II was from Alabama. The first American killed in Afghanistan was from Alabama too. One of the first Americans killed in Iraq was from here, too.
What will change Twitter? Twitter Rolls Out App Install And Engagement Ads, And New Click Pricing, Globally:
Twitter says that in the last quarter it made about 72 percent of all its revenues (equivalent to $181 million out of total revenues of $250 million) from mobile advertising.
On top of the app install ads, Twitter will also be expanding the kinds of reporting and analytics that app publishers will get around them.
The company says that keyword targeting in the ads will follow that of its other mobile units, with publishers able to set placement based on interest, keyword, gender, geographic location, language and mobile device, among other things.
This is all very logical. This will be very useful for those advertising in Twitter, and will refine things somewhat for consumers.
There is another plan that could come to fruition, which would be less useful. I remind you of, or introduce you to, what my friend @IkePigott said earlier this year:
TWITTER PREDICTION 1: "Mute "is meant to choke down traffic, because Facebook has an algorithm and Twitter doesn't.
— Ike Pigott (@ikepigott) May 14, 2014
TWITTER PREDICTION 2: After Mute is in play, brands will have an opportunity to "purchase" analytics showing real reach.
— Ike Pigott (@ikepigott) May 14, 2014
TWITTER PREDICTION 3: Also, brands will be able to pay for sponsored tweets that will override the Mute.
— Ike Pigott (@ikepigott) May 14, 2014
TWITTER PREDICTION 4: Individuals will slowly abandon the platform, as organic social behavior is no longer rewarded.
— Ike Pigott (@ikepigott) May 14, 2014
In their last quarter Twitter reported $250 million in revenue — and $181 million in mobile advertising. This is all very big business.
