Newsletter 862
Best of the Moment
The Plight Of The Alpha Female
Kay Hymowitz | City Journal | 3 December 2012
"Can I e-mail you later? I’m in labor." Would changes to maternity leave, child care and flexitime help women reach the occupational 1%? Or do the sacrifices still required mean that for many women it's simply not worth it? Comments (http://thebrowser.com/articles/plight-alpha-female)
Just Because Mohammad Morsi Is Paranoid Doesn't Mean He Doesn't Have Enemies
Nathan Brown | New Republic | 3 December 2012
"The question can be asked of all of Egypt’s leading political actors: Are they purposely trying to destroy the country’s democratic hopes or merely doing so by accident?" Comments (http://thebrowser.com/articles/just-because-mohammad-morsi-paranoid-doesnt-mean-he-doesnt-have-enemies)
No One Likes A City That's Too Smart
Richard Sennett | Guardian | 4 December 2012
The trouble with new, architect-designed cities: There's not enough room for randomness. "A city is not a machine. We want cities that work well enough, but are open to the shifts, uncertainties, and mess which are real life" Comments (http://thebrowser.com/articles/no-one-likes-city-thats-too-smart)
The Wrong Solution To The Wrong Problem
Kenan Malik | Pandaemonium | 1 December 2012
After the Leveson Inquiry. "The trouble with a more regulated press is that it is likely to become more, not less, tame and conformist, less willing to get itself into trouble, less prepared to confront those who hold power" Comments (http://thebrowser.com/articles/wrong-solution-wrong-problem)
Threat Level
Richard Beck | n+1 | 3 December 2012
Against Homeland. "Gordon and Gansa like to describe their new project as confessing the sins of its fascistic pro-torture predecessor, 24. In practice, however, Homeland indulges many of the same fantasies" Comments (http://thebrowser.com/articles/threat-level)
Every Man His Own Shopping Channel
Mark O'Connell | Dublin Review | 3 December 2012
On the rise of the unboxing video: "A visual document of the consummation of the purchaser–product relationship, that apex of possibility and anticipation right before the slow, inevitable decline into disappointment and neglect" Comments (http://thebrowser.com/articles/every-man-his-own-shopping-channel)
(http://www.amazon.com/Best-of-FiveBooks-2011-ebook/dp/B007GAM6RC?tag=thebro-21)
FiveBooks Interview
(http://thebrowser.com/interviews/richard-beeston-on-spies-lies-and-foreign-correspondents)
Richard Beeston on Spies, Lies and Foreign Correspondents
The former foreign correspondent takes us on a gloriously anecdotal ramble through the history of war reporting, espionage and journalistic half-truths, and recalls his encounters and friendship with "the third man" Kim Philby Read on (http://thebrowser.com/interviews/richard-beeston-on-spies-lies-and-foreign-correspondents)
Featured Special Report
(http://thebrowser.com/reports/american-prisons)
American Prisons
An epidemic of incarceration. A prison system that provides neither retributive justice nor rehabilitation. Is this America's moral catastrophe? Read on (http://thebrowser.com/reports/american-prisons)
Reader Recommendations
@maisonneuvemag (http://twitter.com/maisonneuvemag) "To question capital punishment necessitates questioning the political context in which it takes place." t.co/5gfO98He #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/bleak-house-by-charles-dickens)
Bleak House by Charles Dickens
Peter Ackroyd says (http://thebrowser.com/interviews/peter-ackroyd-on-london) : “Bleak House is the work which most powerfully suggests the darkness of London. It conveys a haunted city, half pantomime-half graveyard” FiveBooks Archive (http://thebrowser.com/fivebooks/archive)
Quote of the Day
Warren Buffett, on confirmation bias (http://www.farnamstreetblog.com/mental-model-confirmation-bias)
"What the human being is best at doing is interpreting all new information so that their prior conclusions remain intact"
More quotes (http://thebrowser.com/quotations)