Hi there. A bit tired today, so an abbreviated edition. See you next time.-Kat
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1. Prodigy, world-beater, queen — Humpy’s career arc is complete - Nice feature from The Hindu about Koneru Humpy, who has been among the top women chess players.
2. Why Twitter May Be Ruinous for the Left - (paywalled:
The Atlantic) Nice read about online dynamics on Twitter.
Second, it suggests an axiom so puritan that I hesitate to express it: On Twitter, ideas are so commodified that to say something is simultaneously to amplify it. You’re never “just saying” on Twitter. You’re always doing.
3. Upgrading Photosynthesis - A blog post by a company called Ruby Plants about how to make photosynthesis better.
4. Unprecedented study finds NZ universities paying woman academics $400,000 less than men - The $400k amount is in New Zealand dollars, and it’s a lifetime amount, not an annual one. The difference, when adjusted for age and difference in expertise, prowess etc., is $200k.
5. Everyone Wants to Be a Bank
6. Hit the Mute Button: Why Everyone Is Trying to Silence the Outside World - Nice piece from the Guardian.
7. What Listening Means in a Time of Climate Crisis
8. 11 Reasons Not to Become Famous (or “A Few Lessons Learned Since 2007”) - Wow. This is from Tim Ferriss, a blogger and podcast host. He’s not ultra-famous, but he is quite famous. He talks in detail about the pitfalls of said fame.
9. The People of Las Vegas - Lovely essay from the Believer.
Yet the deeper truth is something far more complicated. As a writer, as a human, no place has ever captured my attention, my imagination, and my concern as this city has. There’s certainly plenty of mundane shit here—I have spent many lonely nights zombie-ing around the Target on Flamingo and Maryland—but I have also seen and heard things here that I’ve never witnessed anywhere else. Some of them are beautiful, some hilarious, some perplexing, dark, and disturbing, but they are all blessedly out in the open. “What is hidden elsewhere exists here in quotidian visibility,” to quote Dave Hickey again.