Day: October 24, 2017

When you start comparing computers, you probably pit Windows against macOS—but Linux rarely gets a mention. Still, this lesser-known operating system has a strong and loyal following. That’s because it offers a number of advantages over its competitors.

Whether you’re completely new to Linux or have dabbled with it once or twice already, we want you to consider running it on your next laptop or desktop—or alongside your existing operating system. Read on to decide if it’s time to make the switch.

What is Linux?

If you’re already familiar with Linux, you can skip this section. For everyone else, Linux is a free open-source operating system, which means the code is available for anyone to explore. Technically speaking, the term “Linux” refers to just the kernel, or the core, of the code. However, people often use the name to talk about the whole operating system, including the interface and bundled apps.

Because anyone can tinker with it, Linux is incredibly customizable, encouraging programmers to make their own distributions—better known as distros—of the system. Each one of these different flavors of the OS comes with its own programs and interfaces. Some of the most well-known distros, which work much like the familiar Windows or macOS operating systems, include Ubuntu, Linux Mint, and Zorin OS. When you’re ready to choose a distro, check out those websites—and see if free trials are available—in order to determine which is right for you.

To code and maintain these Linux distros, a huge number of developers volunteer their time. In other cases, for-profit companies develop their own versions of Linux with specific features in order to sell the software to other businesses. For example, Android—although it doesn’t count as a full Linux OS—is based on the Linux kernel, which is why it comes in different variations. Many computer servers and data centers also run on Linux, so there’s a good chance the OS hosts the webpage you’re reading.

What are the benefits?

For a start, Linux is free and open source, which means you can add it to a computer or laptop you already own—or a machine you’ve built yourself—without paying anything. The system also comes with similarly-available software, including a web browser, media player, image editor and office suite, so you won’t need to fork out extra cash just to work on photos or documents. And of course, you get all future updates for free too.

Linux also offers stronger malware protection than its competitors, strong enough that you won’t need to run an antivirus program. Developers built it, from the ground up, with security in mind: For example, the OS only works with trusted software. Plus, very few malware programs target the system—for hackers, it’s just not worth the effort. Linux isn’t invulnerable, but the average home user sticking to approved apps doesn’t need to worry about security.

This operating system also requires fewer hardware resources than the more data-heavy Windows or macOS. Distros have fewer components than their more famous cousins, and developers have specifically written some, such Puppy Linux and Linux Lite, to be as lightweight as possible. That makes Linux a particularly good choice for those who own older computers. If your ancient laptop is wheezing under the strain of a corporate operating system, try installing Linux on top, and the machine should speed up. You don’t have to ditch your old OS if you don’t want to though, as we’ll explain in the next section.

Although you may take a little time to adjust to your new operating system, before long, you should find the Linux interface easy to use. So people of all ages and levels of technical know-how can come to grips with the software. And the online Linux community offers plenty of help and support. Speaking of the community, downloading Linux also supports the open-source software movement: developers who work together to make better programs, without chasing a profit, for users across the globe.

How do I get started?

Linux has a reputation as software that only specialists might install. But getting the operating system up and running is much more simple than it was only a few years ago.

To get started, head to the website of the distro you prefer, and follow the installation instructions. You’ll usually have to burn a DVD or set up a USB drive with the necessary code, then reboot your machine to run that code. In fact, one of the operating system’s advantages is that you can store it on a portable USB stick—read more in our full guide to putting a computer on a USB drive.

If you want to run Linux without completely ditching your old operating system, you can either run Linux from that DVD or USB drive or partition your computer’s hard drive (split it into chunks to run two operating systems alongside each other). Several Linux distros will take care of the partitioning for you during the installation process. Or you can partition it yourself using Disk Management (for Windows) or Disk Utility (for macOS).

These instructions may sound vague, but don’t panic: Individual distros provide much more detailed instructions, although the procedure is pretty similar in most cases. For example, if you want to install Ubuntu—one of the most popular Linux distros for home users—follow the guide here. (Before you install it, you can also give it a trial run.) You’ll need to download the latest version to a computer, put it on a DVD or USB stick, then use that disc or drive to boot up your computer, following the instructions in the setup wizard. Where you need extra software to complete the steps, the Ubuntu tutorial will guide you to the right tools.

If you’re installing Linux on a completely new machine, you don’t have much to worry about. But if you’re installing a new system alongside an existing one, we’d recommend that you first back up all your stuff. During the setup process, also take care to choose the dual-boot option to avoid wiping out your existing OS and files. The tutorials for your distro of choice will explain this in more detail: You can find full tutorials for Zorin OS here, for Linux Mint here, and for other distros on their own websites.

And that’s it! So, are you ready to give Linux a try?

Entomologist Vera Krischik has a bee and butterfly garden bursting with Mexican sunflowers, goldenrod, salvia and black-eyed susans. But when she has problems with aphids or Japanese beetles, she’s careful to get rid of them responsibly.

“We think that if we have a bug it will destroy the plant forever,” she says. “It’s easy just to cut out the insected area.” She also removes and squishes bugs by hand, or, in extreme situations, uses a contact-only pesticide, like Neem. She doesn’t use neonicotinoids, pesticides that seem to impact bee behavior, reproduction and mortality.

But not everyone is so careful. In a study published recently in Science, Swiss researchers found that neonicotinoids are ubiquitous—they analyzed 198 honey samples from all over the world and found at least one kind of neonicotinoid in 75 percent of the samples, and at least four in ten percent of the honey.

Edward Mitchell, a biologist at the University of Neuchatel in Switzerland, says that the research team tried to test samples from remote regions, but they found the pesticide almost everywhere. Even honey from the isolated Swiss town that they chose as their control—a place surrounded by forests and organic farms, which they hoped to use as a baseline against which to compare more heavily contaminated sweet secretions—contained neonicotinoids. “This was really a striking result,” says Mitchell, the lead author on the study. “We were surprised by the magnitude. We thought, where could these pesticides come from? The only response was the city itself, and gardens.”

Mitchell and his colleagues realized that Swiss gardeners were growing ornamental flowers, some of which still contained neonicotinoids from during their cultivation on farms elsewhere. That’s a troubling conclusion, given the fact that many homeowners around the world hope to help pollinators by planting flowers they’ll find tasty. All flying insects are on the decline, but the dip in populations of bees and butterflies that help pollinate our crops is especially worrisome. “Some people may plant flowers not just to make their gardens pretty, but to helps bees. But if they’re contaminating these bees with poison, they’re not doing any good,” he says.

The team urges plant buyers to take advantage of their power as consumers; some companies are already responding to this pressure. The garden care company Ortho, a division of Scotts Miracle-Gro Company, has pledged to drop neonicotinoids from eight of its products by 2021. Bayer and Syngenta have faced criticism in Europe and the U.S. over neonicotinoid use. Some states are taking individual action: Maryland and Connecticut have banned consumer neonicotinoids outright.

Krischik says that neonicotinoids especially affect native bee populations, like the endangered rusty patched bumblebee. Many ornamental flowers commonly planted in beds are less attractive to bees than native and heirloom plants, so Krischik urges extra caution with these leafy gems. “Pollinators are hugely important,” she says, and the thought never leaves her mind as she works on her garden.

An apology up front: this is not a free pass to eat raw cookie dough. It may be uncommon for Salmonella to find its way into your eggs, but that doesn’t mean there’s no risk. Even the raw flour can harbor bacteria, so there’s no escape in an eggless mix. It’s just a gooey, buttery risk that you will sometimes take on—because you are human, and to err when faced with a spoonful of snickerdoodle dough is the human-est thing of all.

The good news is that eggs are mostly not to blame for foodborne illnesses, and neither is chicken. The bad news is that there’s not a ton you can do about avoiding the true hiding places of these bacterial pathogens.

We tend to think of food poisoning as a meat-based problem. Too-warm sushi, undercooked chicken; these are the classic culprits on which we blame midnight diarrhea. But beef, pork, and poultry combined only account for 21.8 percent of all foodborne illnesses, which is less than the cases caused by the single top offender. The devil, as it turns out, is in the leafy greens.

Salmonella loves melons

Most foodborne illnesses are bacterial, and of those most are caused by Salmonella enterica. It’s probably the one you hear about most because it causes so many outbreaks, and every time the Centers for Disease Control announces an outbreak you hear about it on the nightly news. This happens once every few months, which is infrequent enough that it’s easy to miss the pattern. It’s not eggs; it’s produce.

The other stereotypical Salmonella culprit, the humble chicken, delivers 19 percent of the nation’s cases, but it’s not quite even with the other top contender: vine and stalk produce. We’re talking cucumbers and melons of all kinds, here. Together, they account for 20.7 percent of Salmonella afflictions, and when you combine those fleshy veggies with other produce you get up to 28 percent.

Leafy greens cause the most illnesses, but chicken is the big killer

There’s a similar fresh-produce trend for a lot of other foodborne ailments. It can be difficult to tell that just from paying attention to periodic outbreaks, especially since plenty of cases occur sporadically. So a few years ago, the CDC set out to find the root causes of 120,321 illnesses from 1998 to 2008. Here’s what they found:

Leafy greens wreak by far the most havoc on Americans’ digestive systems, which is not to say these vegetables are the most murderous foodstuffs. That honor goes to chicken.

Okay, so technically the award goes to “undetermined,” but as far as identifiable food sources go, it’s chicken all the way. The disparity in cases as opposed to deaths (or even hospitalizations) arises from the subtle differences between the types of diseases you get from each food. Listeria and certain types of Salmonella tend to be fatal, and those bacteria generally infect poultry. Produce makes people sick more often, but often with less severe symptoms.

Now what? Should I wash my spinach more?

If you’ve been worried about undercooked meat and eggs this whole time and are now feeling silly—don’t. You’re doing the right thing.

Much of the food safety burden falls on the consumer when it comes to meat, poultry, and eggs. Since those are all things we cook, we have it in our power to eliminate dangerous bacteria like Salmonella, E. coli, Staphylococcus*, and Clostridium. By cooking to a hot enough temperature, you can nearly eliminate your risk—even though a significant fraction of poultry is contaminated.

It’s not so with lettuce and spinach. Most of the produce you buy at the supermarket won’t make you sick, but the stuff that is contaminated probably won’t get cooked. Lots of salad fixings have bacteria and viruses on them, and rinsing with water won’t remove the little buggers. Cooking would kill them, but when was the last time you sauteed a papaya?

If you fail to cook your chicken to 165 degrees Fahrenheit and get sick, that’s arguably your own fault. But if you don’t heat up your lettuce—that’s on the farmers. Produce often acquires its bacterial sheen from the water it’s showered with, which can be contaminated with fecal matter from nearby animal farms. Industrial-strength chemicals kill a lot of potential pathogens (though sometimes not all) but you have no idea what type of disinfecting procedure your tomatoes went through.

Unfortunately, there’s not a helpful set of tips that can help you eliminate your produce-associated risk. You should always store cut up fruits and veggies in the refrigerator to minimize any bacterial growth, and for the love of all that is holy do not chop them just after you cubed some chicken. Beyond that, just rest assured that the benefit of a diet full of fresh produce far outweighs the risks of a foodborne illness. And eating some cookie dough once in awhile (probably) won’t kill you.