Newsletter 526


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

[1]All of our Best of the Moment article recommendations, plus FiveBooks
  interviews and other selected content from thebrower.com
    Links:
      1. http://thebrowser.com

[5]The Intellectual And Politics
    Links:
      5. http://b.rw/uNJPde

Vaclav Havel | Project Syndicate | 19 December 2011

"A good politician should be able to explain without seeking to seduce. He
  should humbly look for the truth of this world without claiming to be its
  professional owner. He should alert people to the good qualities in
  themselves" [6]Comments
    Links:
      6. http://thebrowser.com/articles/intellectual-and-politics

[7]The Wisdom Of Crowds
    Links:
      7. http://b.rw/rp04cc

Anonymous | Economist | 17 December 2011

Super piece on science of pedestrian behaviour, how we negotiate space as we
  walk down busy pavements. “At low densities, behaviour is cognitive and
  strategic. At high density, it’s about mass movement and physical pressures"
  [8]Comments
    Links:
      8. http://thebrowser.com/articles/wisdom-crowds

[9]Who's King Of The Castle?
    Links:
      9. http://b.rw/s8Y4Fu

Charles Clover | FT | 16 December 2011

Conversation with chess supremo turned politician, Gary Kasparov. "I used to
  play chess expecting to win. But politics was not about winning or losing.
  It was about losing. From the beginning the position was a dead loss"
  [10]Comments
    Links:
      10. http://thebrowser.com/articles/whos-king-castle

[11]Flattery Inflation
    Links:
      11. http://b.rw/uZpP2U

Xavier Marquez | Abandoned Footnotes | 14 December 2011

The more that underlings flatter their leader, the lower their collective
  status becomes. And yet, in authoritarian regimes, they compete to do so. A
  tragedy of the commons. It's how Caligula ran Rome, and Stalin ran Russia
  [12]Comments
    Links:
      12. http://thebrowser.com/articles/flattery-inflation

[13]Drone-Ethics Briefing
    Links:
      13. http://b.rw/vhsoxN

Patrick Lin | Atlantic | 15 December 2011

Philosopher discusses morality issues surrounding robot warfare. Interesting
  throughout. "Robots can do many of our jobs better than we can, and maybe
  even act more ethically, at least in the high-stress environment of war"
  [14]Comments
    Links:
      14. http://thebrowser.com/articles/drone-ethics-briefing

[15]The Wrong Friends Might Just Sink Your Credit
    Links:
      15. http://b.rw/v77Ig9

Adrianne Jeffries | BetaBeat | 13 December 2011

Scary prospect: Banks using information from your Facebook, Twitter accounts
  to determine your credit worthiness. It may not be a nightmare vision of the
  future. A new wave of startups are building the algorithms to make it happen
  [16]Comments
    Links:
      16. http://thebrowser.com/articles/wrong-friends-might-just-sink-your-credit

FiveBooks Interview

[17]Greil Marcus on Rock Music
    Links:
      17. http://thebrowser.com/interviews/greil-marcus-on-rock-music

Time to get out your old CDs and LPs. The music journalist picks five books
  from Bob Dylan’s hinterland to confessions of a rock ’n roll groupie, and
  explains why good criticism is like writing fiction [18]Read on
    Links:
      18. http://thebrowser.com/interviews/greil-marcus-on-rock-music

Featured Special Report

[19]North Korea
    Links:
      19. http://thebrowser.com/reports/north-korea

As news breaks of Kim Jong-il's death, we look back at the legacy of his
  tyrannical rule over North Korea [20]Read on
    Links:
      20. http://thebrowser.com/reports/north-korea

Reader Recommendations

_@_[21]polit2k RT @[22]AntDeRosa: @[23]pbump: Life as a young black man in
  New York City. Damning in what it presents. Unignorable. [24]t.co/58MA1muF
  [25]#browsings [26]More like this
    Links:
      21. http://twitter.com/polit2k
      22. http://twitter.com/AntDeRosa
      23. http://twitter.com/pbump
      24. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/18/opinion/sunday/young-black-and-frisked-by-the-nypd.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all
      25. https://twitter.com/search?q=#browsings
      26. http://thebrowser.com/browsings

Book of the Day

[27]Book of the Day
    Links:
      27. http://thebrowser.com/recommended/jonathan-strange-mr-norrell-by-susanna-clarke

[28]Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke
    Links:
      28. http://thebrowser.com/recommended/jonathan-strange-mr-norrell-by-susanna-clarke

[29]Lev Grossman says: “The humour and sadness and beauty and complexity of
  this book are like nothing that came before it. It’s a magic that feels
  absolutely real” [30]FiveBooks Archive
    Links:
      29. http://thebrowser.com/interviews/lev-grossman-on-fantasy
      30. http://thebrowser.com/fivebooks/archive

Video of the Day

[31]Frost Over The World – Vaclav Havel
    Links:
      31. http://thebrowser.com/videos/frost-over-world-–-vaclav-havel

TV interview from 2008
  [32]More videos
    Links:
      32. http://thebrowser.com/videos

Quote of the Day

[33]Václav Havel, on theatre
    Links:
      33. http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Václav_Havel

"If you want to see your plays performed the way you wrote them, become
    President"

[34]More quotes
    Links:
      34. http://thebrowser.com/quotations

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