Here’s #31 of Kat’s Kable (estd. 2016).
- Zoom Quilt - This is very fun! One of the best things I saw all of the year. Oh wait, last year. This is essentially an endlessly zooming-inwards tapestry. I spent over five minutes staring.
- Daniel Ellsberg, Edward Snowden, And The Modern Whistle-Blower - This was very interesting to read, and written by none other than Malcolm Gladwell. Gives you a rather refreshing perspective on why whistle-blowers, who whistle-blowers and what whistle-blowers.
- The Alphabet That Will Save a People From Disappearing - As kids, two Guinean brothers invented a new script for their native language. Now they’re trying to get it on every smartphone.
- Disneyland with the Death Penalty - William Gibson, one of my favourite authors, writes about Singapore way back in 1993. As someone who’s spent a few months living there, it’s scary how much of this is still relevant. The best science fiction authors are the most prophetic and visionary.
Singapore is a relentlessly G-rated experience, micromanaged by a state that has the look and feel of a very large corporation. If IBM had ever bothered to actually possess a physical country, that country might have had a lot in common with Singapore. There’s a certain white-shirted constraint, an absolute humorlessness in the way Singapore Ltd. operates; conformity here is the prime directive, and the fuzzier brands of creativity are in extremely short supply. - How to Make College Admissions Fairer — in One Easy Step - Abolish the essay/Statement of Purpose! I have spent at least three times as long as I should have drafting an essay that, despite all my efforts, sounds clichéd and run-of-the-mill. My essay can be essentially broken down into a few words, “I want to study here, please take me.” Alternatively, this limerick.
to enter a graduate degree
I sit, working on my SoP
So much I’ve written
To get to great Britain
But all it reads is, “please please me!” - Why doing a PhD is often a waste of time - Interesting (from The Economist). It seems like the entire media is conspiring to stand in the way of anyone even remotely dreaming of doing a PhD.
- Nestlé’s Half-Billion-Dollar Noodle Debacle in India - This is an old piece from earlier this year (oops, last year) but very nice if you haven’t read it yet.
- The Man Who Cleans Up After Plane Crashes
Jensen doesn’t have any harrowing rescue stories. He’s looking for something of more abstract value—a piece of a person, literal or figurative, that he can bring back to a victim’s family to say “We tried.” He knows from experience that when a person’s life has been obliterated, even the tiniest shards can bring solace. - These Professors Make More Than a Thousand Bucks an Hour Peddling Mega-Mergers - ProPublica is a source of excellent journalism, and this is very good, too. Apparently a certain Dennis Carlton has made over $100 million in a career of anti-antitrust and merger matters. Not bad at all.
- These Are The Criminals and Corporations That Have Gotten Really, Really Rich Off The Refugee Crisis - Sigh, economics is always going to win.
- Is Urban Cycling Worth the Risk?
