"If you’ve interviewed for programmer jobs a few times you will probably recognize some of these patterns. If you are just beginning your career as a programmer learn these patterns to prepare yourself."
The numbers that control your life. You're identified by dozens of numbers. Your phone number, your driver's license number, your social security number, your zip code, your license plate, your credit card numbers. I find these numbers fascinating. Who distributes them? What can they be used for? How can you use them? How are they issued?
This story is also the story of the decline and fall of the British university and the corruption of the academic ideal . That is why this essay carries two titles - a personal one and a social one.
from Hauser, Robert M. 2002. "Meritocracy, cognitive ability, and the sources of occupational success." CDE Working Paper 98-07 (rev). Center for Demography and Ecology, The University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin