Sunday Papers [2018-07-01]

I have been reading Rock Paper Shotgun and its Sunday Papers for quite some time; they are basically a recap of what has been going on in the PC Gaming world each week. I also find their reviews and previews very much unbiased and I often rely on them for uncovering interesting indie games to play on Steam (the latest being a game called FAR: Lone Sails_ by the way); even though my gaming activity the past months has dropped to nearly zero.

So, back to these Sunday Papers: I realize not everyone is interested in video games, and in fact, I don't think I've ever posted one thing related to video games for now. I would like to post my own version of it which would be about interesting (and usually lengthy) pieces of journalism I have read the past seven days, that are not on Steem (yet?). If they were on Steem, I would have resteemed them already.
I don't know if I will be able to sustain posting that on every Sunday, we'll see!
The topics might vary wildly, from travel, to politics, history, futurism, video games, etc. I am rather a curious guy and love reading about stuff that I don't know much about (which is basically everything except software development I guess!).

So here goes my little selection for this week.

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_{CC0 Creative Commons Picture found on Pixabay, shared by kaboompics.}

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How the Startup Mentality Failed Kids in San Francisco / Wired

Daniel Duane tells the story of the Willie Brown Middle School in the Bay area, which was supposed to be as good as any private school. Having received generous funds from philanthropists and private companies around the Bay, it was supposed to focus on science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). It was equipped with high-tech tools and was even proposing robotics class. Finally, one day, it opened.
It is an interesting recap of the startup mentality having been unsuccessfully applied, for now, to a school.

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The great firewall of China: Xi Jinping’s internet shutdown / The Guardian
Elizabeth C Economy talks about the sophisticated online censorship that has been put in place in China since Xi Jinping took the reigns.

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An Extraordinarily Expensive Way to Fight ISIS / The Atlantic
William Langewiesche reports about the life of B2 crew and how expensive a bombing operation is. It is incredible and chilly to learn about the costs (both human an financial) of such operations. And, did you know a B2 bomber costs $2.1 billion and that only 21 were ever built?

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Fact, Fiction, and the Future / Medium
Darren Garrett writes about how in the mid-20th century, publishers blended education and entertainment to satisfy curiosity about science. It comes with beautiful old covers of Amazing Stories and Popular Science. Some are quite entertaining like the Tele-doctor from 1955, about a surgeon operating remotely... Does it ring a bell?