Browser Daily Newsletter 1342


Hic sunt camelopardus: this historical edition of The Browser is presented for archaeological purposes; links and formatting may be broken.

What Really Happened in Iran

Ray Takeyh | Foreign Affairs | 19th June 2014

A BROWSER BONUS: Our content partnership with Foreign Affairs allows us to bring Browser subscribers the full text of selected FA articles. This piece from the July-August issue draws on newly declassified papers to argue that the CIA's role in overthrowing Mosaddeq was exaggerated; domestic politics and MI6 played larger parts  (4,850 words)

The End Of Sleep

Jessa Gamble | Aeon | 10th April 2013

Imagine a disease that cuts your conscious life by one-third. You would clamour for a cure. There is no cure yet for sleep, but the palliatives are getting better. Take 400mg of modafinil every eight hours and you can sleep just one night in three. Mild electroshock therapy cuts optimal nightly sleep from eight to four hours. Winner of the 2014 Best Feature Award from the Association of British Science Writers (3,900 words)

Good Times, Bad Times

Jack Hamilton | Slate | 18th June 2014

Appreciation of Led Zeppelin pegged to the re-release of the first three albums. “These are three of the most perfect sounding rock albums ever made". These remastered sets include the rough mixes of II and III, which are "a revelation, casting light on Jimmy Page’s immense talents as a producer". To say nothing of Page's guitar-work: His solos may be over-rated, but he was the heir to Hendrix as a technical innovator (3,600 words)

Post-Crash Economics

Robert Skidelsky | Project Syndicate | 18th June 2014

"Mainstream economics is a pitifully thin distillation of historical wisdom on the topics that it addresses. It should be applied to whatever practical problems it can solve; but its tools and assumptions should always be in creative tension with other beliefs concerning human wellbeing and flourishing. What students are taught today certainly does not deserve its imperial status in social thought" (900 words)

Fire Phone At The Farmers’ Market

Robin Sloan | Medium | 18th June 2014

Amazon's new Fire phone is inspiring, in a way: You point it at an object, it recognises the object. But it's also spiritually depressing: The things it recognises best are manufactured goods, preferably with a bar code. It recognises a frozen bag of chips in the supermarket; it doesn't recognise fresh kale. All the more reason to load up Pete Warden's app, Deep Learning, which will teach your Fire phone about real life (880 words)

Video of the day:  Kodama

What to expect: Poppy music video, with Wes-Anderson-influenced visuals

Thought for the day:

"No matter what technology is used, your monthly phone bill magically remains about the same size" — Douglas Coupland

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