This week on curious bends we have a story about learning the English language, one of the world’s most clever thieves, one of our human follies that allows us to progress, the joys of a start-up and the power of mobile phones.
The Express Tribune - Riaz wanted to learn English by Asad Ali. The story of a ten-year old Pakistani boy who took 11 years to learn English on his own.
Time - Optimism Bias: Human Brain May Be Hardwired for Hope by Tali Sharot. Believing that things will be better than they are may just be necessary for our survival. This systematic tendency to expect better outcomes is called the optimism bias.
WIRED - Art of the Steal: On the Trail of World’s Most Ingenious Thief by Joshua Bearman. Gerald Blanchard story might read as if it has been taken out of a Hollywood story writers cupboard. He stole anything he set his eyes on. Found flaws in security systems like dry leaves on a tree. Master thief. The judge involved in hearing of his pursuits remarked, “The banks should hire him and pay him a million dollars a year.”
The Economist - A webless social network: Mobile phones in India. The articles charts the success story of Just Dial as it went through the telecom revolution, the dot com bubble and ongoing the mobile phone revolution in India.
Why founding a three-person start-up with zero revenue is better than working for Goldman Sachs by Antonio Garcia-Martinez. Confessions of a Berkeley PhD student as he graduated from the cash-loaded job of a quant at Goldman Sachs to that of a start-up where he worries about paying the next credit card bill. And how that made him happier.
This week’s featured image is a screenshot from a new product in the Google Labs called the Body Browser. Learn about the what different bones are called or just explore what exactly is our beautiful body hides beneath its skin. The body browser makes great use of the power of the modern web browsers.
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This is such a brilliant collection….I am so impressed!!Will eagerly look forward to more!