Below are simple links to other interesting stuff I've come across on the web in the last day or two; they may or may not concern literature or photography, or indeed the arts at all. You can click here to learn more about how I compile this list and what software I use, if you're interested.

The challenges of creating an "Indian Harvard"
As the BRIC countries start getting closer and closer to so-called "first-world" status, they are of course starting to tackle more and more first-world issues: Brazil for example has recently been making headlines over its attempts to become the world's newest arbiters of international diplomacy (see below for more), while India has recently started the hard work needed to make their nation a future international hub for world-class education. But this is easier said than done in a country where over half the population still lacks electricity and indoor plumbing, a place that already has 25,000 colleges and churns out half a million graduates a year, yet with only ten percent of those graduates containing the skills to work at an average American or European company. Here, a fascinating article from Foreign Policy on the issue.

Facebook founder once called members "dumb f-cks" for trusting him with their data
Ha ha ha ha! Now, granted, he was nineteen when he said this; but what better example of why we shouldn't set up systems where every stupid thing we say at Facebook at nineteen comes back to haunt us for the rest of our lives? Thank God the internet didn't exist when I was nineteen!

Chicago tourist who was allegedly stabbed in the Loop turned out to have bizarrely stabbed himself
The city's been abuzz this week over the alleged crime-related stabbing of an Iowa doctor that supposedly occurred in the beautiful and usually quite safe "Riverwalk" running along the north edge of the Loop; but now it turns out that the doctor in most likelihood stabbed himself, and that in fact he was just put under investigation back in his home state on an unrelated professional ethics matter. I have a feeling that we haven't nearly heard the end yet of all the crazy stuff related to this story.

Abu Dhabi ATM converts cash into gold bars
You know, for wealthy tourists whose home countries undergo coups while they're on vacation, devaluating the entire currency within a matter of hours.

The Stupid American's Guide to Why Britain's New Coalition Government Will Actually Work
Confused over the fact that this week, what seems to be the ideologically opposite Conservative and Liberal Democratic parties in the UK agreed to form a power-sharing coalition government? Here, a nice article from the always great Daily Beast explains to us clueless Americans how this can be -- of how the legislative branch of England's government is weaker than the American one, how the civil service there is stronger, how the country has a European-style history of coalition building, and how after two decades of Blair and Brown being Bush's lapdog, the citizenry is eager to embrace a more centrist, compromise-oriented parliament.

Brazil and international diplomacy: Too much too soon?
As mentioned, countries in the BRIC coalition (Brazil, Russia, India and China) are stepping up more and more these days into their new role as the world's latest industrialized "first-world" nations; for example, for those who don't know, Brazil's president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has recently decided to take a leadership position when it comes to the country of Iran hopefully coming to an agreement with Western nations over their burgeoning nuclear energy program, and whether or not it's actually hiding a secret nuclear weapons program. But is this too much for Lula to chew? And what happens to Brazil's fragile reputation as a "world player" if the talks fail? Here, an interesting article examining all these issues.