Web Reads: Secrets of the SAT and birthing new identities

Taking the test. Reporter Elizabeth Kolbert retakes the SAT as an adult so she can write about the experience as part of her discussion of Debbie Stier’s The Perfect Score Project: Uncovering the Secrets of the SAT. The College Board announced yesterday that it is once againrevamping the SAT, eliminating the mandatory essay and making other changes.

Healthy heroin? Retired physician Theodore Dalrymple writes in City Journal about The New York Times’ reporting on heroin’s resurgence. The Times attributed one woman’s death to an overdose, leading Dalrymple to write: “This reminded me of when a woman who had drunk bleach was admitted to my hospital and the admitting doctor wrote ‘Overdose of bleach’ in the admission notes. ‘What is the correct dose of bleach?’ I asked him.”

Word nerds. Those who love diagramming sentences will enjoy this poster: A Diagrammatical Dissertation on Opening Lines of Notable Novels. It uses the Reed-Kellogg system to diagram opening sentences from 25 novels, including Old Man and the Sea, Moby-Dick, and Anna Karenina.

Birthing identity. New York city doctor David Ores removes for free the hand, face, and neck tattoos that often keep ex-cons and former gang members from getting jobs. The author of the article includes strong obscenities in his piece describing how “in canceling out a man’s marks, the doctor is midwife to a new identity.”