Hello, Hello,
Hope you are well. Sure, this is another edition within 2 - 3 weeks! That was because the earlier one was late. So, go back in time and blame the person I was, then.
Thanks for all the feedback to the reader survey from that post. Gave me a good perspective of what kind of content y’all are interested in - though, it was super diverse, and covered almost all sections usually you find here. Not that I intend to play to the gallery or so, but still, it was good to know.
Expect changes to the format (including pulling the curtains down, at least in the current form of a set of links sent monthly), but given the primary reader for this is a future-me, I expect it to continue as a long-term bookmarking exercise of some form, unless I find a cool bookmarking site that will serve my itch.
So, you could see this mail in a different avatar, with more content including Book/Podcast reviews and recommendations, more frequent, or going ad hoc, or simply not getting the mail at all. All options are open!
If you didn’t respond last time, here is the link, one more time
Start Survey
On to this month’s links. I do believe my future self would love these:
History (or its first draft)
If you intend to set up a cross-country organization, learn from how BJP does it for its WhatsApp groups.
A temple in Zamorin’s Calicut may have played host to Srirangam idols, taken there by Vaishnavite priests from Srirangam temple who were running away from Muslim invaders like Tughlaq. (someone make a movie on this escape man, without adding any contemporary communal color, like Sriramgam Story, ha!)
An interesting, long piece about the "new axis powers". This is a US centric article, but a good read, even if you skip parts of it (like I did).
Society
A review of the book on the origins of wokeness (in America). I don't know much of this history, but made me connect to a lot of discussions in India on reservations.
With relatively little prompting, current AI can generate texts that are not detectable by teachers, while teachers are overconfident in their source identification. Great time to be a student (not for learning, though!). In fact, Perplexity has launched something called Pages exactly to fit this purpose.
Crypto Astrologers predict the ups and downs of Bitcoin based on planetary movements, and their super-secretive clientele listens. (O.M.G)
How (and why) to teach your two-year-old to read? (My views on it as a bit mixed, due to this)
International research reveals intriguing regional differences in temperament of children – as a precursor to adult personality.
It doesn’t matter how many numbers you crunch – if the methodology is flawed, the results are meaningless. A rebuttal to McKinsey's claims on "diversity matters for business"
Instead of taking safe, well-paying jobs at Goldman Sachs or McKinsey, our young people should take the lead as the world is being rebuilt around us. (Talks about cultural differences in the UK & the US)
Interesting-Perspectives
The death (again) of the internet as we know it. Read if you want to learn about "slops", "eternal September" etc.
Welp, the demons are back. New age psychotherapy meets age-old exorcism, albeit in a cozy air-conditioned room.
An hour of memoryless lucidity - Fascinating experiment of someone, which documents the experience of getting out of anesthesia.
Aside from being a place to warehouse children while their parents are away - how to rescue the usefulness of most schooling.
Elite overproduction spotted in the wild. On History Postdocs. (Very scary, on what career choices to suggest to children of this day and age! Hope they all get interested in STEM fields)
Science & Technology
Apple to reduce motion sickness with vehicle motion cues on iPhone. (Hey, if this truly works, why was it not thought of for all these years!!!). Wonder if they would obviate a need for glasses like this.
Individualized cancer vaccines seem a promising possibility for significantly better cancer treatments
Google adds “web filter” to only show text-based links in Google Search results. (I have wanted this for long, but let me see how much I use it!)
Retailers are being urged to stop making everyday products such as drinks bottles, outdoor furniture and toys out of brightly colored plastic after researchers found it degrades into microplastics faster than plainer colors.
Perso-Dev
If you’re doing something, and it isn’t working well enough, here’s a dozen ways to generate more "dakka" (firepower).
Decision Brownout: Under chronic stress, there is no lion. The threat is really your own compounding inaction and lack of imagination and creativity to break out of it. You sense vaguely that you should make a change in your work, family, or creative life. You sense energy slowly draining away. There’s a slowly ticking countdown clock at the edge of your awareness. You’re losing life traction. Maybe you’ve even tried some half-hearted and enervated experiments to shake things up, but they didn’t work — you effed around but found out nothing. (Looks like my story)
(I am skeptical on how practical this is for my life/work, but nonetheless) It is essential to maximize your energy. You perform best when you are doing things that energize you. Try the audit in this.
From fitness to finance, the SMART goal-setting method is ubiquitous, but often detrimental. (I agree - it is more style than substance. What should be a map is considered the territory itself!)
How to write email with military precision
CAREfully structure your prompts to Generative AIs. (Context; Ask; Rules; Examples)
Random
[Video] The Fur Tea Cup, Oppenheim's Object. (Looks to be some elite-level discussion of people in a different class, but the notes about the elegance of porcelain and the roughness of fur made me think)
