We take Uncorked: Wine-Business-Life on the road to Alpen Rose for a wide-open conversation with chef-restaurateur Michael Schulson. Michael traces his path from his Nana’s matzo ball soup on Long Island to Philly institutions like Le Bec-Fin and Susanna Foo, then to Stephen Starr openings (Buddakan, Pod) and his own breakout with Izakaya at Borgata and Sampan in Center City. For more, click here

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"Skinner would randomly vary the intervals between food availability. One time there'd be food available again in 60 seconds. The next, it might be after five seconds, or 50 seconds, or 200 seconds. Under these unstable conditions, the pigeons went nuts. They'd peck and peck. One pigeon hit the Plexiglas 2.5 times per second for 16 hours. Another tapped 87,000 times over the course of 14 hours, getting a reward less than 1 per cent of the time." These pigeons were part of one of B.F. Skinner's psychology experiments. Flash forward a few years. You're the one pecking. And while the pigeons were after food, you're refreshing your email. Aeon's Michael Schulson: User Behavior. (via NextDraft)

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-10-29/five-chefs-upgrade-your-k-cup-chicken-soup

Michael Schulson, 'What Robot Theology Can Tell Us about Ourselves’ (2014), Religion Dispatches

I'd like to see Schulson do a follow-up piece on this issue, which probably needs to be unpacked separately and needs more research and less ranting. (FWIW, a strong anti-GMO proponent did change his stance not too long ago, comparing his former stance to being a climate change denier.) — Ernie @ SFB