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The Saturday Selection, Vol. 96

2026-03-14 · 11:25 UTC ·Why is this interesting? ·3 min read

Brief

The Saturday Selection, Vol. 96 (Mar 14, 2026), assembled by Louis Cheslaw for Why Is This Interesting, curates 11 links that span culture, sport, tech and oddities. Standouts include The Guardian’s investigative 'Hair Apparent,' which estimates more than one million people fly to Istanbul annually for hair transplants; Aeon’s essay 'The Six-Second Hug' on how instrumentalisation strips intrinsic value from intimate acts; and The Spinoff’s report on Selena Gomez’s limited-edition horchata Oreos being pressed into service against New Zealand possums. Cultural trend pieces surface too: The New Fatherhood tracks a surge of nuanced 'movie dads' during the 2026 Oscar season, GQ Sports analyses rising NBA absences as a product of load-management and strategic withdrawals, and Monocle calls SXSW Austin’s annual soft-power moment a 'secular Davos.' The roundup mixes reported figures, cultural analysis, and offbeat reporting.

Cleaned source text

Featuring six-second hugs, movie dads, and Captain Sandy Sandilands.

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The Saturday Selection, Vol. 96

Louis Cheslaw

Mar 14| | | ∙| | Preview

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Every day, WITI ’s group chats buzz with fresh links. As part of our Saturday send for paid readers, we round up 11 of the best.

It ’s WITI, on the weekend.

A ‘Sentimental Value’ still, via IMDB

Why are these interesting?

Hair Apparent: Inside the Transplant Capital of the World _(The Guardian)

It is estimated that every year more than one million bald people fly to Istanbul. The Guardian went, with a camera.

The Six-Second Hug (_Aeon_)

From art to religion to sex, instrumentalisation has drained away intrinsic value. But life is about more than material benefits.

Our Possums Are a Problem. Could Selena Gomez’s Horchata-Flavored Oreos Be The Solution? (_The Spinoff_)

How one pop star’s limited edition Oreo flavour became a vital weapon in the war against one of New Zealand’s biggest pests.

The Movie Dad Had a Big Year. We Need to Talk About It. (_The New Fatherhood_)

If you’ve been paying attention this Oscar season, you’ve noticed something: dads are everywhere. Not the cartoonish deadbeat or the overbearing patriarch—but something more honest and multidimensional than ever before.

The Real Reason So Many NBA Stars Keep Getting Injured (_GQ Sports_)

In today’s NBA, you can’t simply turn on a game and expect to see your favorite players on the court. The modern NBA is just as much about strategic withdrawals and managing injuries as it is about hitting threes and grabbing rebounds.

How South by Southwest became Austin’s Soft-Power Showpiece (_Monocle_)

“There is a moment every March when Austin stops being a mid-sized Texan city and becomes, briefly, a kind of secular Davos with better music.”

Taste Test: Encrusting the Tortoise (_An Enfant Terrible_)

AI gave everyone a generative engine. It also revealed who had nothing to say...

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