Newsletter 800
Best of the Moment
Unrest Drags Spain Towards Buried Unpleasant Truths
Paul Mason | BBC | 2 October 2012
Spain dealt with the aftermath of civil war and Franco's rule with a "pact of silence". But now that pact is falling apart. Signifiers of crisis are mounting: Acute class divisions, street violence, outright civil disobedience Comments (http://thebrowser.com/articles/unrest-drags-spain-towards-buried-unpleasant-truths)
Why We Can’t Stop Watching The Stupid Presidential Debates
Jack Shafer | Reuters | 28 September 2012
"Although the networks, newspapers and Web obsess about what the candidates say in the debates, the battle is largely visual. The best, and in many ways the intended, way to watch the presidential debates is with the sound off" Comments (http://thebrowser.com/articles/why-we-can’t-stop-watching-stupid-presidential-debates)
King Ludd Is Still Dead
Kenneth Rogoff | Project Syndicate | 1 October 2012
Philosophers and economists have long predicted that technological progress will bring mass unemployment. Instead it generates new jobs, new markets. For example: Computer chess has led to booming demand for chess professionals Comments (http://thebrowser.com/articles/king-ludd-still-dead)
The Energy-Water Nexus
Tom Murphy | Do The Math | 2 October 2012
Water. Do you know how much you use? You might be horrified if you did. Physicist Tom Murphy takes a measuring stick to personal and public usage. Don't worry, your survival's not at stake. But the way you live might have to change Comments (http://thebrowser.com/articles/energy-water-nexus)
Out There: Digging Up The Early Universe
Sean Carroll | Discover | 1 October 2012
Cosmologists have reconstructed the history of the universe back to a few seconds after the Big Bang 13.7 billion years ago. Now the push is on to go back further still, to within a fraction of a second of the beginning of time Comments (http://thebrowser.com/articles/out-there-digging-early-universe)
At Home In The World
Lawrence Osborne | WSJ | 27 September 2012
Portrait of the late Patrick Leigh Fermor, "war hero, self-made scholar, greatest travel writer of his generation". Max Hastings called him "the most brilliant conversationalist of his time, wearing his literacy light as wings" Comments (http://thebrowser.com/articles/home-world)
(http://www.amazon.com/Best-of-FiveBooks-2011-ebook/dp/B007GAM6RC?tag=thebro-21)
FiveBooks Interview
(http://thebrowser.com/interviews/edward-skidelsky-on-virtue)
Edward Skidelsky on Virtue
The British philosopher tells us about virtue from Plato to the modern day, and says Jane Austen got it right when she wrote about passion
Read on (http://thebrowser.com/interviews/edward-skidelsky-on-virtue)
Featured Special Report
(http://thebrowser.com/reports/democracy)
Democracy
Are Western states true democracies? Has democracy become a casualty of the financial crisis? Can you have too much democracy? Read on to find out Read on (http://thebrowser.com/reports/democracy)
Reader Recommendations
@rszbt (http://twitter.com/rszbt) She never needed to unwind anything: MT @Ian_Fraser (http://twitter.com/Ian_Fraser) : @felixsalmon (http://twitter.com/felixsalmon) on the downfall of JPMorgan's Ina Drew t.co/7fekFpXt #browsings (https://twitter.com/search?q=#browsings) More like this (http://thebrowser.com/browsings)
Book of the Day
Book of the Day (http://thebrowser.com/recommended/becoming-justice-blackmun-by-linda-greenhouse)
Becoming Justice Blackmun by Linda Greenhouse
Dahlia Lithwick says (http://thebrowser.com/interviews/dahlia-lithwick-on-us-supreme-court-justices) : “This book tells us a lot about the court today. Blackmun most famously was the author of Roe v Wade” FiveBooks Archive (http://thebrowser.com/fivebooks/archive)
Video of the Day
32 Metronomes
(http://thebrowser.com/videos/32-metronomes)
The key is being on a flexible platform. Explanation here: http://b.rw/SWuIbH
More videos (http://thebrowser.com/videos)
Quote of the Day
W.H. Auden, on weddings (http://www.theparisreview.org/interviews/3970/the-art-of-poetry-no-17-w-h-auden)
"Marriages should be celebrated quietly and humbly, because they are the beginning of something. Loud celebrations should be saved for successful conclusions"
More quotes (http://thebrowser.com/quotations)