Browser Newsletter 1128
Best of the Moment
I’d Rather Be Dissected
Brooke Borel | Aeon | 4th October 2013
You can arrange to have your body buried or cremated. You can offer specific organs for transplant. But probably the best thing you can do for the well-being of humanity is to leave your whole body for scientific study. "To study the human body, nothing but a real one comes close. There are usable proxies — computer models and crash-test dummies, for example. But neither replaces the real thing". And the real thing is always in short supply
And Then Steve Said: Let There Be An iPhone
Fred Vogelstein | New York Times | 4th October 2013
"It’s hard to overstate the gamble Jobs took when he decided to unveil the iPhone back in January 2007. Not only was he introducing a new kind of phone — something Apple had never made before — he was doing so with a prototype that barely worked. In truth, the list of things that still needed to be done was enormous. A production line had yet to be set up. Only about a hundred iPhones even existed" (Metered paywall)
Immigration And Morality
Kenan Malik | Pandaemonium | 5th October 2013
Review of Exodus by Paul Collier. "For Collier, there is a moral case for rich countries to impose immigration controls as a way of helping the poor. Suppose, though, that poor countries were able to prevent their citizens from leaving. Would it be moral for them to do so? [And] if it is immoral for poor countries to prevent their citizens from leaving, why is it moral for rich countries to do that job for them?"
His Master’s Voice
Jerome Preisler | Bookish | 3rd October 2013
Ghost-writing for Tom Clancy: "I had to be more disciplined than ever about my work schedule; after the first book was turned in, I would have approximately 10 months to plot, research and write each novel. The deadline left no wiggle room — my publisher had pre-sold the books to retailers as holiday releases. Nor was there room for error when it came to the factual details of technology, ballistics and geography"
How Traffic Actually Works
Jason Liszka | A Gentleman And A Scala | 1st October 2013
Rules for efficient driving: Buy a short car, and don't let anyone merge in front of you ever. "Every time a car merges in, that adds 2 seconds to your trip. If one car merges in every 2 seconds, your trip gets longer by 2 seconds every 2 seconds, which means you are not moving (or will soon not be moving). Zipper merging is only beneficial insofar as it reduces confusion on the road, the way any convention does"
Video of the day: How To Create Chocolate
Thought for the day:
"Hatred is the anger of the weak" — Alphonse Daudet