Month: June 2017

Placenta pills (credit: Dan Ox)

Some eat it raw, others cook it. Some make it into jerky, and others grind the cooked, dried remains into a brown powder and fill capsules.

However it's done, eating the placenta after childbirth is thought to ward off postpartum depression and boost milk production, among other things. There is no solid scientific evidence backing these benefits, though, and cooking it reduces the nutritional content. Nevertheless, the practice of eating the fetus-nourishing organ has strayed from the fringe in recent years, with celebrities such as January Jones and Kim Kardashian joining in. In a December 2015 blog post, Kardashian went through her thought process, noting anecdotes of other women who had good experiences. "So,” she wrote, “I thought, why not try it? What do I have to lose?"

As it turns out, the answer is the health of your newborn, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In a new case report published in the agency’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, researchers caution against the practice, noting that the commercial and at-home preparation methods could leave your DIY organ supplements contaminated with infectious pathogens.

Enlarge / Kind of a looker, no? (credit: Scott Gilbertson)

Project Sputnik has done an admirable job over the years of bringing a "just works" Linux experience to Dell Ultrabooks like the XPS 13 Developer Edition—in fact, we've tested and largely enjoyed those experiences multiple times now. But while the XPS 13 is a great machine that I would not hesitate to recommend for most Linux users, it does have its shortcomings. The biggest problem in my view has long been the limited amount of RAM; the XPS 13 tops out at 16GB. While that's enough for most users, there are those (software developers compiling large projects, video editors, even photographers) who would easily benefit from more.

Normally to get more RAM from a Dell, you'd pick up one of the various Precision laptops. These lack the svelteness of the XPS series, but the line can pack in more RAM and larger hard drives. Unfortunately, the availability of the Ubuntu-based Precision machines has traditionally been somewhat spotty. Luckily with this latest refresh, though, that's no longer the case: you can get Ubuntu-based Precision laptops in a variety of configurations from the Dell site.

Dell isn't the only manufacturer producing great Linux machines. And in fact the Oryx Pro from System 76 is another great machine that earned my previous recommendation for anyone who needed more RAM and didn't mind the additional size and weight. Naturally, Linux will probably work just fine on plenty of hardware not specifically tailored to running Linux, but, if you want a "just works" experience, I've usually suggested staying away from bleeding-edge hardware that sometimes lacks drivers.