Assorted Links

Seth Roberts
  • Open Source Malaria
  • Criticism of Malcolm Gladwell by The Korean, Gladwell’s persuasive rebuttal, more from The Korean, more from Gladwell. I thought the work under discussion (“ethnic theory of plane crashes”) was the best part of Outliers. Gladwell summarizes it: “That chapter in Outliers is about a series of extraordinary steps taken by Korean Air, in which an institution on the brink of collapse and disgrace turned themselves into one of the best airlines in the world. They did so by bravely confronting the fact that a legacy of their cultural heritage was frustrating open communication in the cockpit. That is not a slight on Korean culture, or any other high-power distance culture for that matter.”
  • More praise for the new TV show Naked and Afraid on the Discovery Channel. It really is riveting.
  • Ziploc omelette. Poor man’s sous vide.

Thanks to Nicole Harkin.

8 thoughts on “Assorted Links”

  1. “That is not a slight on Korean culture”: but of course it is, if by “slight” he means drawing attention to a shortcoming. It’s saying that for a particular purpose Korean culture is dysfunctional. Naturally all cultures are dysfunctional for some purpose or other; indeed for many purposes or other. That’s the human condition.

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  2. There is some evidence that spraying with DDT is the best solution to the malaria problem in Africa.

    As malaria surges once again in Africa, victories are few. But South Africa is beating the disease with a simple remedy: spraying the inside walls of houses in affected regions once a year. Several insecticides can be used, but South Africa has chosen the most effective one. It lasts twice as long as the alternatives. It repels mosquitoes in addition to killing them, which delays the onset of pesticide-resistance. It costs a quarter as much as the next cheapest insecticide. It is DDT.

    https://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/11/magazine/11DDT.html

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  3. Personally, while the omelet “sous vide” sounds like a good idea, I wouldn’t try it. Not for BOILING anything. At warm temperatures, yes.

    Seth: Good point, not a good idea to boil plastic.

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  4. “Naked and Afraid” is an awesome show. Miles above the spate of other survivalist shows. Sheer genius, makes me want to learn how to start a fire and make shoes from tree bark and find a woman who can chase down and kill an eel with a club. The show is about more than surviving in a wilderness though.

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  5. “find a woman who can chase down and kill an eel with a club”: dead easy. She takes the eel to a club, gets it to annoy the bouncers, and, bingo, it’s a Norwegian Blue.

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