Newsletter 292

[1]Predicting The Improbable
    Links:
      1. http://b.rw/fTIZIY

Claus Bjørn Jørgensen et al | Vox | 22 April 2011

Gamblers with a "system" for picking lottery numbers tend to lose more than
  those who do it at random. Not because their systems are worse than random,
  but because they over-estimate their chances of winning, and buy more
  tickets [2]Comments
    Links:
      2. http://thebrowser.com/articles/predicting-improbable

[3]Message To American Atheists
    Links:
      3. http://b.rw/i2z8pD

Christopher Hitchens | Richard Dawkins Foundation | 22 April 2011

Beautifully turned letter of apology for absence. "Nothing would have kept
  me from joining you except the loss of my voice (at least my speaking voice)
  which in turn is due to a long argument I am having with the specter of
  death" [4]Comments
    Links:
      4. http://thebrowser.com/articles/message-american-atheists

[5]Art In The Time of War
    Links:
      5. http://b.rw/dGQkkT

Richard Evans | National Interest | 20 April 2011

On the looting of artworks. It's been going on since Jason and the Argonauts
  grabbed the Golden Fleece. It's clearly a condemnable crime—except when
  one's country does it. Ask France about Napoleon. Or Britain about Lord
  Elgin [6]Comments
    Links:
      6. http://thebrowser.com/articles/art-time-war

[7]The Really Smart Phone
    Links:
      7. http://b.rw/fl511v

Robert Lee Hotz | WSJ | 23 April 2011

Data from mobile phone use gives "a god's-eye view of human behaviour".
  Patterns of human dynamics invisible by other means. You have it with you
  all day. Service providers know who you're calling, when, where, how long,
  how often [8]Comments
    Links:
      8. http://thebrowser.com/articles/really-smart-phone

[9]China Misunderstood
    Links:
      9. http://b.rw/eakNNI

Ian Thompson | NYRB | 22 April 2011

Ai Weiwei was a fine artist who morphed into a dissident. Westerners
  lionised him as he confronted China's government over the Beijing Olympics,
  the Sichuan earthquake. But did he, or we, understand how badly it was bound
  to end? [10]Comments
    Links:
      10. http://thebrowser.com/articles/china-misunderstood

[11]Israel, Extraordinary Rendition, And The Strange Case Of Dirar Abu Sisi
    Links:
      11. http://b.rw/epGeHt

Richard Silverstein | Truthout | 21 April 2011

On a cold February night in Ukraine a Palestinian civil engineer was pulled
  out of his bunk on the sleeper train to Kiev and spirited away to Israel.
  Blogger who broke the story gives fullest account yet of what happened, and
  why [12]Comments
    Links:
      12. http://thebrowser.com/articles/israel-extraordinary-rendition-and-strange-case-dirar-abu-sisi

FiveBooks Interview

[13]Timothy Garton Ash on The History of the Present
    Links:
      13. http://thebrowser.com/interviews/timothy-garton-ash-on-history-present

Historian and journalist Timothy Garton Ash describes the "mongrel genre"
  between reportage and scholarship and says using the historian’s tools to
  analyse the present is a vital undertaking

Featured Topic

[14]Israel Palestine
    Links:
      14. http://thebrowser.com/topics/israel-palestine-0

Browse interviews with Arab-Israeli specialists from Stephen Walt to Michael
  Goldfarb, and read selection of articles and lectures that our specialists
  have chosen to give an in-depth understanding of the conflict

Reader Recommendations

@nuzav Nyiragongo Crater: Journey to the Center of the World – The Big
  Picture – Boston.com [15]t.co/vU2mAOl #Browsings
    Links:
      15. http://t.co/vU2mAOl

Book of the Day

[16]The English Garden (World of Art) by Edward Hyams and Edwin Smith
    Links:
      16. http://thebrowser.com/recommended/english-garden-world-art-by-edward-hyams-and-edwin-smith

[17]Andrew Lawson says: “I think a successful photograph incorporates a love
  of  the  subject.  Edwin Smith loved everything English and gardens in
  particular”
    Links:
      17. http://thebrowser.com/interviews/andrew-lawson-on-garden-photography

Video of the Day

[18]Budweiser: Coming Home
    Links:
      18. http://thebrowser.com/videos/budweiser-coming-home

Trust a beer commercial to say something about the American (male) state of
  mind. Everyone's tired.

Quote of the Day

[19]John Wilbanks, on knowledge
    Links:
      19. http://www.farnamstreetblog.com/massively-distilled-scientific-wisdom

"Knowledge is a public good that increases in value as the number of
    people possessing it increases"