Newsletter 322

[1]Madoff's Curveball
Links:
1. http://b.rw/jVxvqZ

Jeffrey Toobin | New Yorker | 23 May 2011

Gripping read on New York Mets owner, Fred Wilpon. Built a huge real estate
business. Then a baseball franchise which soared in value. Invested with
Madoff. Now he's lost $550m and the bankruptcy trustee wants more. Much more
[2]Comments
Links:
2. http://thebrowser.com/articles/madoffs-curveball

[3]Yes, This Is Called The Dismal Science. Why Do You Ask?
Links:
3. http://b.rw/kcyWej

Bradley Delong | Grasping Reality | 21 May 2011

It's not a good time to be an economist. Delong starts with admission of
error: "How could I ever have been so stupid; how could I have missed so
much?" Continues with sharp, if grim, analysis of current macroeconomic
issues [4]Comments
Links:
4. http://thebrowser.com/articles/yes-called-dismal-science-why-do-you-ask

[5]Sex Trafficking Of Americans: The Girls Next Door
Links:
5. http://b.rw/mNTG4b

Amy Fine Collins | Vanity Fair | 24 May 2011

Horrifying report. "A pound of heroin or an AK-47 can be retailed once, but
a young girl can be sold 10 to 15 times a day." And hundreds of thousands of
American girls are. The average starting age for prostitution? Just 13
[6]Comments
Links:
6. http://thebrowser.com/articles/sex-trafficking-americans-girls-next-door

[7]Hands-Off Training
Links:
7. http://b.rw/kQaRY6

Nick Chambers | Scientific American | 23 May 2011

Fascinating on Google's self-driving cars and problems with truly autonomous
vehicles. "Suppose 10 human-generated fatalities are replaced with five
robot-generated fatalities. Is that an ethical trade that society wants to
make?" [8]Comments
Links:
8. http://thebrowser.com/articles/hands-training

[9]Think Yourself Better
Links:
9. http://b.rw/lZLPdV

Anonymous | Economist | 19 May 2011

Years of research into alternative medicine show 95% of treatments
ineffective. Not good news for a $60bn industry. Placebos however can work
– injections more effective than pills, though neither as potent as faked
surgery [10]Comments
Links:
10. http://thebrowser.com/articles/think-yourself-better

[11]The Life And Times Of Harvey Updyke
Links:
11. http://b.rw/jCPBzP

Wright Thompson | ESPN | 23 May 2011

What happens when your support for a sports team goes too far? When
enthusiasm crosses into judgement-clouding fanaticism. A cautionary tale
from the southern US, where a 62-year-old college football fan is facing
prison [12]Comments
Links:
12. http://thebrowser.com/articles/life-and-times-harvey-updyke

FiveBooks Interview

[13]Carl Sferrazza Anthony on First Ladies
Links:
13. http://thebrowser.com/interviews/carl-sferrazza-anthony-on-first-ladies

As President Obama and his wife, Michelle, arrive for their state visit to
the UK, the historian of US presidential families considers the
contributions of first ladies, from the very first one to the present day