Les Liens du Lundi

[highlyeccentric]

Short pieces, current affairs, hot takes:

• Jason Burke and Amantha Perera (Guardian), Sri Lanka death toll expected to rise: leaders condemn killings. I was initially impressed with the government line, which was to officially Not Speculate on the motives of the bombers or comment on their religious alliegance, but it looks like that has started to fracture overnight (with the police circulating information they hadn't previously shared). And given the Sri Lankan govt's track record, I'm... not convinced the social media blackout and enforced curfew will be a net good.

Longer pieces - essay, memoir, natural history, other

• Amanda Oliver (LA Times), Working as a librarian gave me post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms
  
• Anna Spargo-Ryan (The Big Issue AU) City of Chocolate, a reminiscence on Haigh's chocolate as an Adelaide institution
  
• BBC world news video: Once destroyed by the Taliban, the Bhudda statues live again. I just read 'A Thousand Splendid Suns' and was struck by the author's grief for these statues (not surprised, but struck), and am glad to hear they're being preserved by the National Museum in Kabul.
  
• Ferris Jabr (The Atlantic), Is Dentistry a Science?. Another 'America is a hellscape' piece. A lot of what Jabr describes does apply elsewhere, but the discussion of 'prophylactic extraction' of wisdom teeth really threw me. I've never heard of that one happening in Aus.

Comments policy: Everything I said in the caveats to this post applies. I teach critical thinking for a living, but I'm not *your* teacher, and this blog is not a classroom. That means I don't have to abide by the fallacy of 'there's no such thing as a bad contribution to discussion'.

Comments

[conuly]

Australia doesn't remove wisdom teeth as soon as they come in?

[highlyeccentric]

Not unless they’re causing problems! I’ve experienced other forms of dental up-selling, but everyone I know who’s had their wisdoms out had them out because they were impacted. It’s possible some dentists do overstate minor issues (like if the wisdom tooth is clear through but not straight), but I saw Americans on twitter talking about this piece like wisdom tooth removal is just a thing everyone does unless they’re uninsured.