Weekly newsletter 34


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

[1]A selection of our best article links of the week, plus featured
  FiveBooks interviews, videos, quotations and more.
    Links:
      1. http://thebrowser.com

Weekly Newsletter

Best of the Week

[5]The Xinjiang Procedure
    Links:
      5. http://b.rw/urPQz9

Ethan Gutman | Weekly Standard | 25 November 2011

"Chinese medical authorities admit the lion’s share of transplant organs
  originate with executions, but no mainland doctors, even in exile, will
  normally speak of performing such surgery." Now one has. Prepare for a
  shocking story [6]Comments
    Links:
      6. http://thebrowser.com/articles/xinjiang-procedure

[7]The Broken Contract
    Links:
      7. http://b.rw/skMX7m

George Packer | Foreign Affairs | 1 November 2011

US in decline. "All around, we see dazzling technological change, but no
  progress." Surface of life goes on improving, but deep structures,
  institutions, processes have decayed. Elites have lost their moral compass
  [8]Comments
    Links:
      8. http://thebrowser.com/articles/broken-contract

[9]Banishing Consciousness: The Mystery Of Anaesthesia
    Links:
      9. http://b.rw/t8QyPg

Linda Geddes | New Scientist | 29 November 2011

"The anaesthetic would make me feel drowsy, I would go to sleep, when I woke
  up it would all be over. What they didn't tell me was how the drugs would
  send me into the realms of oblivion. They couldn't. The truth is, no one
  knows" [10]Comments
    Links:
      10. http://thebrowser.com/articles/banishing-consciousness-mystery-anaesthesia

[11]Yes, Virginia. The Banks Really Were Bailed Out
    Links:
      11. http://b.rw/uyVS8L

Steve Waldman | Interfluidity | 29 November 2011

Yes, banks took loans from the Fed during credit crisis, but they've paid it
  all back now. Since there were no credit losses, there wasn't really a
  bailout, right? Wrong. Here's a super post that explains why, in no
  uncertain terms [12]Comments
    Links:
      12. http://thebrowser.com/articles/yes-virginia-banks-really-were-bailed-out

[13]The Myth Of The Fourth Reich
    Links:
      13. http://b.rw/toopxZ

Richard Evans | New Statesman | 24 November 2011

Super analysis by Cambridge professor on how Germany's history affects its
  attitude to euro plight. It's not a lingering desire to control Europe that
  drives German policy, it's fearful memories of Weimar Republic [14]Comments
    Links:
      14. http://thebrowser.com/articles/myth-fourth-reich

[15]Human Nature's Pathologist
    Links:
      15. http://b.rw/tE4Z7d

Carl Zimmer | NYT | 28 November 2011

Super profile of Steven Pinker, Harvard psychologist. Anarchist at age of 15
  (“If you weren’t an anarchist, you couldn’t get a date”), student of human
  nature, linguist, advocate of evolutionary psychology, now expert on
  violence [16]Comments
    Links:
      16. http://thebrowser.com/articles/human-natures-pathologist

[17]Spaces Of Banana Control
    Links:
      17. http://b.rw/temfR3

Nicola Twilley | Edible Geography | 29 November 2011

Inside New York's biggest banana warehouse, where climate control fools the
  fruit into thinking it is still on the plant in tropical Ecuador. “The
  energy coming off a box of ripening bananas could heat a small apartment”
  [18]Comments
    Links:
      18. http://thebrowser.com/articles/spaces-banana-control

[19]The Unlikely Event
    Links:
      19. http://b.rw/tU3giY

Avi Steinberg | Paris Review | 28 November 2011

Modern airline safety cards are "spare, noiseless projections that maintain
  a zen-like neutrality to the chaos and horror of the actual event". Jollier
  in the 1950s. “Loosen your tie, but keep all your clothes on,” advised PanAm
  [20]Comments
    Links:
      20. http://thebrowser.com/articles/unlikely-event

FiveBooks Interview

[21]David Lammy on Context of the UK Riots
    Links:
      21. http://thebrowser.com/interviews/david-lammy-on-context-uk-riots

We're richer and freer as a society than we used to be but it's now clear
  there are downsides too. The MP for Tottenham, where the riots began, says
  we've created a hyper-individualistic culture and explains how we must
  change it [22]Read on
    Links:
      22. http://thebrowser.com/interviews/david-lammy-on-context-uk-riots

Featured Topic

[23]Euro On The Brink
    Links:
      23. http://thebrowser.com/reports/euro-brink

What's going wrong with the euro? Can the problem be contained? If so, how?
  And what if it isn't? Read on to find out [24]Read on
    Links:
      24. http://thebrowser.com/reports/euro-brink

Reader Recommendations

_@prospect_uk_ The crime-buster "princeling" wooing China with his red songs
  and   Maoist   texts.   Meet   Bo  Xilai  [25]t.co/c9HP53j9 _#longreads_
  [26]#browsings [27]More like this
    Links:
      25. http://t.co/c9HP53j9
      26. https://twitter.com/search?q=#browsings
      27. http://thebrowser.com/browsings

Book of the Week

[28]Book of the Day
    Links:
      28. http://thebrowser.com/recommended/blue-lotus-by-hergé

[29]The Blue Lotus by Hergé
    Links:
      29. http://thebrowser.com/recommended/blue-lotus-by-hergé

[30]Michael  Farr  says:  “The Blue Lotus is the most important Tintin
  adventure. It’s a masterpiece. Tintin is immersed in extreme realism –
  Shanghai exactly as it was in 1934” [31]FiveBooks Archive
    Links:
      30. http://thebrowser.com/interviews/michael-farr-on-tintin
      31. http://thebrowser.com/fivebooks

Video of the Week

[32]Herman Cain's 9-9-9
    Links:
      32. http://thebrowser.com/videos/herman-cains-9-9-9

Animated voodoonomics. In brief: Nothing will get cheaper, but everyone will
  be better off [33]More videos
    Links:
      33. http://thebrowser.com/videos

Quote of the Week

[34]James Surowiecki, on the eurozone
    Links:
      34. http://www.newyorker.com/talk/financial/2011/12/05/111205ta_talk_surowiecki

"This is that rarest of problems—one that you really can solve just by
    throwing money at it"

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

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