Newsletter 294

[2]The Chernobyl That Nobody Wants
    Links:
      2. http://b.rw/f2b1aL

Barys Piatrovich | Eurozine | 22 April 2011

Gripping account of first month after Chernobyl's nuclear disaster. 25 years
  ago, uncertainty turned to anxiety and then panic as "virtually the whole of
  the radioactive end of Mendeleev's periodic table fell on Belarus"
  [3]Comments
    Links:
      3. http://thebrowser.com/articles/chernobyl-nobody-wants

[4]Gandhi's Inner Voice
    Links:
      4. http://b.rw/evioIo

Pankaj Mishra | New Yorker | 25 April 2011

Modern father of non-violent protest. Distrusted, disliked in his lifetime.
  Faddish, mystical. Hostile to industrialisation. Reacted against Western
  culture. Marginalised in recent decades, back in fashion with the Arab
  awakening [5]Comments
    Links:
      5. http://thebrowser.com/articles/gandhis-inner-voice

[6]Uses And Abuses Of Happiness
    Links:
      6. http://b.rw/hwg0gG

Will Davies | Open Democracy | 22 April 2011

Ideas of national well-being and happiness have become a central feature of
  British public policy. But the debate confuses four schools of thought:
  Aristotelian philosophy, social statistics, behavioural psychology, and
  self-help [7]Comments
    Links:
      7. http://thebrowser.com/articles/uses-and-abuses-happiness

[8]An Oral History Of The Playboy Clubs
    Links:
      8. http://b.rw/fJXSof

Bruce Handy | Vanity Fair | 23 April 2011

They were "as carefully planned, as routinized, as rigidly controlled as
  anything Disney ever built". Hugh Hefner, Victor Lownes and various former
  Bunnies tell the story. "The tips were wonderful. The Mafia guys tipped very
  well" [9]Comments
    Links:
      9. http://thebrowser.com/articles/oral-history-playboy-clubs

[10]Science And Religion Don't Have To Be Enemies
    Links:
      10. http://b.rw/hPPDl3

Martin Rees | New Statesman | 23 April 2011

Leading UK scientist mounts eloquent and substantial defence of his decision
  to accept Templeton Prize. Urges Darwinists to coexist peacefully with
  religious groups: "Campaigning against religion can be socially
  counterproductive" [11]Comments
    Links:
      11. http://thebrowser.com/articles/science-and-religion-dont-have-be-enemies

[12]Iranian Reaction To The Great Syrian Revolt
    Links:
      12. http://b.rw/e1Otaq

Babak Rahimi | Global Terrorism Analysis | 22 April 2011

Iran characterised Arab uprisings as anti-US "Islamic awakening", so their
  spread to ally Syria presents a problem. Response: blame Israel, Al-Jazeera,
  Lebanese Sunnis. Not convincing either, but there's much at stake for Iran
  [13]Comments
    Links:
      13. http://thebrowser.com/articles/iranian-reaction-great-syrian-revolt

FiveBooks Interview

[14]John Thorn on Baseball
    Links:
      14. http://thebrowser.com/interviews/john-thorn-on-baseball

The Official Historian for Major League Baseball explains how America’s
  national pastime has been culturally transformative, even radicalising, and
  highlights the five best books about the game

Featured Topic

[15]Moral Philosophy
    Links:
      15. http://thebrowser.com/topics/moral-philosophy

Do babies have morals? Does surveillance make us better? Is free will an
  illusion or not? Is there such a thing as evil? Get to grips with the big
  questions of right and wrong

Reader Recommendations

_@chicoxperto_  Assistance to Timor-Leste: World Bankers bearing gifts –
  [16]goo.gl/b7Ygu  _#browsings _via _@polit2k_ | The Economist
    Links:
      16. http://goo.gl/b7Ygu

Book of the Day

[17]The Search for a Vanishing Beijing by M A Aldrich
    Links:
      17. http://thebrowser.com/recommended/search-vanishing-beijing-by-m-aldrich

[18]Evan Osnos says: “This is a quirky book, organised as a series of walks.
  So you could start at the Drum Tower and walk south, passing the homes of
  China’s great writers and the little house in which Mao lived as a young
  library assistant”
    Links:
      18. http://thebrowser.com/interviews/evan-osnos-on-china

Video of the Day

[19]Jobless People Need New Computers
    Links:
      19. http://thebrowser.com/videos/jobless-people-need-new-computers

The Onion (of course). If only more television were less like this

Quote of the Day

[20]Hugh Raffles, on sex
    Links:
      20. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703597804576194850707440470.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_LEFTTopOpinion

"Reducing desire to its evolutionary effects doesn't tell us much about
    the epic and often confounding behaviors that it generates"