stalagmites with frostfrog - Link dump, Thu 5 Oct

The Last Descent, Susan Casey

There has been a lot written about the ill-fated Titan, but this is one of the most thorough and thoughtful pieces I’ve read, by someone who knows the submersible community well and gives us a harrowing look at just how much of a preventable trainwreck this whole endeavour was.

Why I Don’t Translate Non-English Words in My Writing, Rachel Heng

Over the years I have come to take a similar approach to Heng. I used to italicise non-English words like kopitiam and conbini in my work, but the way it othered these words and implied they were not part of a standard English always bothered me, and now I don’t any more.

Inside the Mind-Boggling World of the Antiquities Theft Task Force, Hannah Barbosa Cesnik

Super interesting read on the ethics, principles and operations behind the New York Antiquities Theft Task Force, who are responsible for returning stolen, looted and otherwise illegally obtained antiquities to their home country.