Hello there, reader. I’m Vishal, and I’m back with another issue of Kat’s Kable. This issue, in fact, is the first issue of Kat’s Kable’s tenth year. Mind boggling. The newsletter turned nine on the 16th, I ordered a (vegan) tiramisu which Samira and I enjoyed, and also promptly took a weekend off (ha!). Anywho, we are back - and as always, ten great things to read.

1. How AI Speeds Up Forecasting for Hurricanes and Global Weather Patterns (NYT via Internet Archive):

Interesting perspective into how AI forecasting for hurricanes and other weather events is already better than specialized models run by domain experts.

2. In TN: the new ragi universe of Nagi Reddy (People’s Archive of Rural India):

I saved this one a long time ago but just read it now - it’s a really nice and long read about millet farming in India.

3. How to cut a Jackfruit (Paticheri):

I’m a huge fan of Deepa’s writing, and this 2012 piece by her on cutting open jackfruits after moving back to India from the US - lovely!

4. Does My Son Know You? (The Ringer):

Phew, I never imagined an essay from a sports magazine would make me tear up, but this one sure did. Jonathan Tjarks was a longtime Ringer writer but passed away in 2022 from cancer - he wrote this a few months before he did. It’s pretty hard hitting.

I don’t want Jackson to have the same childhood that I did. I want him to wonder why his dad’s friends always come over and shoot hoops with him. Why they always invite him to their houses. Why there are so many of them at his games. I hope that he gets sick of them.

5. The Relativity of Wrong (by Isaac Asimov):

Nice essay by Asimov about the “correctness” or “completeness” of our understanding of the universe. Einstein’s theory of relativity is wrong and Newton’s theory of gravity is wrong, but relativity is less wrong than classical gravity.

6. Spreading Slow Ideas (New Yorker via Internet Archive):

Another old article, this one by Atul Gawande. He talks about ideas that aren’t “sexy” and how to make them spread faster. The example is anaesthesia (sexy idea, easy to plug in, spread super fast) vs. oral rehydration (not so sexy, took lot of concerted community effort to spread and is still not ubiquitous).

7. 21 observations from people watching (Skin Contact on Substack):

Fun! The author paints weddings for their profession - and therefore these observations come from a unique vantage point.

8. How King Kalakaua’s World Tour Helped Save Hawaiian Culture (History Defined):

Quite cool - I find it a bit unbelievable that his tour was in 1881!

9. Dead Reckoning (Damn Interesting):

“The 18th century misadventures of HMS Wager and her reluctant crew”. A story about the frankly, insane journey that the HMS Wager undertook back in 1741.

10. How Silica Gel Took Over the World (Scope of Work):

I like these kinds of pieces where people get fascinated about common but sophisticated items or supply chains and try to get to the bottom of them.