{"id":230,"date":"2014-10-19T22:01:07","date_gmt":"2014-10-19T12:01:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.petersahui.com\/optimist\/?p=230"},"modified":"2014-10-19T22:01:07","modified_gmt":"2014-10-19T12:01:07","slug":"this-month-i-learned","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.petersahui.com\/optimist\/2014\/10\/this-month-i-learned\/","title":{"rendered":"This Month I Learned"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Breaking a drought of non-fiction reading, I&#8217;ve started on Francis&#8217; Fukuyama&#8217;s\u00c2\u00a0<strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/gp\/product\/B00457X7VI\/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=B00457X7VI&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;tag=petersacom-20&amp;linkId=SQXZRKHZQ6VOHIRC\">The Origins of Political Order<\/a><a id=\"static_txt_preview\" href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/gp\/product\/B00457X7VI\/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=B00457X7VI&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;tag=petersacom-20&amp;linkId=SQXZRKHZQ6VOHIRC\" target=\"_blank\">: From Prehuman Times to the French Revolution<\/a><\/strong> (2011). This is part 1 of his history of the evolution of government &#8211; the second volume (released this year) extends his argument to the present day. So far, it&#8217;s readable and interesting: here is a summary of <a href=\"http:\/\/carnegieendowment.org\/2011\/06\/06\/conversation-with-francis-fukuyama-on-origins-of-political-order\/spz\">Fukuyama&#8217;s arguments<\/a>, and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.slate.com\/articles\/arts\/books\/2011\/05\/how_to_get_to_the_end_of_history.html\">here is a useful review<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>In today&#8217;s links:<\/p>\n<p><strong>Around the world<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.abc.net.au\/landline\/\"><em>Landline<\/em><\/a>, a weekly TV programme produced by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, offers a regular, fascinating insight into rural Australia. This week is no exception. For example,<a href=\"http:\/\/www.abc.net.au\/landline\/content\/2014\/s4109955.htm\"> this 84-year-old&#8217;s home-made mill<\/a> incorporates parts from almost everything, from old bomber parts to a steam engine. MacGyver (and Mad Max) have nothing on him.<\/li>\n<li>And speaking of which, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.dailytelegraph.com.au\/news\/nsw\/photos-fni0cx12-1227041277726?page=1\">these photos offer a striking look<\/a> at outback Australia.<\/li>\n<li>Trade between emerging nations doesn&#8217;t receive anywhere near the press that it probably should. Here is a piece on <a href=\"http:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/news\/2014-07-22\/ethiopia-becomes-china-s-china-in-search-for-cheap-labor.html\">Chinese business in Ethiopia<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Technology, affecting our lives<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Based on data, this consultant guarantees elite US tertiary admissions &#8211; <a href=\"http:\/\/www.businessweek.com\/articles\/2014-09-03\/college-consultant-thinktank-guarantees-admission-for-hefty-price#p1\">for a fee<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/news\/2014-09-11\/how-big-data-peers-inside-your-medicine-chest.html\">What data miners know<\/a> &#8211; and publish &#8211; about you.<\/li>\n<li>And on a lighter note, computers and dating go back further than <a href=\"http:\/\/www.bloombergview.com\/articles\/2014-08-07\/harvard-men-seek-perfect-computer-date\">one might think<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li>For a different kind of relationship, this piece discusses how <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2014\/10\/19\/fashion\/how-apples-siri-became-one-autistic-boys-bff.html?action=click&amp;contentCollection=Asia%20Pacific&amp;module=MostEmailed&amp;version=Full&amp;region=Marginalia&amp;src=me&amp;pgtype=article\">Siri has become a friend to the writer&#8217;s autistic son<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Earning a living<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Here&#8217;s a great look at Amazon, <a href=\"http:\/\/ben-evans.com\/benedictevans\/2014\/9\/4\/why-amazon-has-no-profits-and-why-it-works?curator=MediaREDEF\">which consistently reinvests its cash into growth<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li>And <a href=\"http:\/\/www.theglobeandmail.com\/news\/national\/my-travels-with-larry\/article19557387\/\">this article breaks down<\/a> why food in a restaurant (in this case, a lobster) costs so much more than at the farm gate. Spoiler: running a restaurant is expensive.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>And finally<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>A<a href=\"http:\/\/www.brisbanetimes.com.au\/environment\/animals\/vet-saves-goldfish-from-tumour-using-microsurgery-20140915-10h09c.html\"> vet has removed a tumour from a goldfish<\/a>. Dawww!<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Breaking a drought of non-fiction reading, I&#8217;ve started on Francis&#8217; Fukuyama&#8217;s\u00c2\u00a0The Origins of Political Order: From Prehuman Times to the French Revolution (2011). This is part 1 of his history of the evolution of government &#8211; the second volume (released &hellip; <a href=\"http:\/\/www.petersahui.com\/optimist\/2014\/10\/this-month-i-learned\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-230","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-this-week-i-learned"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.petersahui.com\/optimist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/230","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.petersahui.com\/optimist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.petersahui.com\/optimist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.petersahui.com\/optimist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.petersahui.com\/optimist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=230"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.petersahui.com\/optimist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/230\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.petersahui.com\/optimist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=230"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.petersahui.com\/optimist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=230"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.petersahui.com\/optimist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=230"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}