Weekly newsletter 37


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 Failure Of The Euro
    Links:
      5. http://b.rw/tW2Y5F

Martin Feldstein | Foreign Affairs | 15 December 2011

Outstanding essay on history of euro crisis, way forwards for single
  currency: "The eurozone is likely to continue with almost all its current
  members. The challenge now will be to change the economic behavior of those
  countries" [6]Comments
    Links:
      6. http://thebrowser.com/articles/failure-euro

[7]Bashar al-Assad, His Father's Son
    Links:
      7. http://b.rw/snSufB

Jerrold Post | Foreign Policy | 20 December 2011

Ex-CIA analyst discusses Syrian leader's trajectory from moderniser to
  mass-murderer. Parallels with Gaddafi's son, Saif al-Islam. Both spent time
  in the West, enough to learn new ideas, but not enough for deep change
  [8]Comments
    Links:
      8. http://thebrowser.com/articles/bashar-al-assad-his-fathers-son

[9]The Girl With The Father Tattoo
    Links:
      9. http://b.rw/vIArmj

Michele Pridmore-Brown | LA Review of Books | 15 December 2011

How fathers shape their daughters. "The girlish power to redeem men has a
  long tradition. But the bar on committed or 'good-enough' fatherhood has
  risen radically in recent years, and especially so with respect to girls"
  [10]Comments
    Links:
      10. http://thebrowser.com/articles/girl-father-tattoo

[11]The Wisdom Of Crowds
    Links:
      11. 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"
  [12]Comments
    Links:
      12. http://thebrowser.com/articles/wisdom-crowds

[13]Breakthroughs In Faith
    Links:
      13. http://b.rw/tmIar1

Olivier Roy | World Policy Institute | 19 December 2011

Fine essay on religion, democracy. "It does not make sense to demand
  religious liberalism or theological reform or a preliminary secularization
  as a requirement for making religion compatible with democracy." Here's why
  [14]Comments
    Links:
      14. http://thebrowser.com/articles/breakthroughs-faith

[15]On Being The Right Size
    Links:
      15. http://b.rw/vfxoiJ

J.B.S. Haldane | Farnam Street | 20 December 2011

Republished, and still well worth a read. "For every type of animal there is
  an optimum size. The same is true for every human institution. The English
  invention of representative government made a democratic nation possible"
  [16]Comments
    Links:
      16. http://thebrowser.com/articles/being-right-size

[17]Smoke Screening
    Links:
      17. http://b.rw/utlIkj

Charles Mann | Vanity Fair | 20 December 2011

Writer tests out US airport security. With a bit of help from expert Bruce
  Schneier. And a fake boarding pass. The verdict? Damning: "Not only is it
  not done right, but even if it was done right it would be the wrong thing to
  do" [18]Comments
    Links:
      18. http://thebrowser.com/articles/smoke-screening

[19]Christopher Hitchens: 'The Consummate Writer, The Brilliant Friend'
    Links:
      19. http://b.rw/t9Puef

Ian McEwan | Guardian | 16 December 2011

Wonderful, touching piece from McEwan remembering last weeks of his great
  friend. A writer, to the last: "His head would droop, his eyes close, then
  with superhuman effort he would drag himself awake to type another line"
  [20]Comments
    Links:
      20. http://thebrowser.com/articles/christopher-hitchens-consummate-writer-brilliant-friend

FiveBooks Interview

[21]Bruce Forbes on Christmas History
    Links:
      21. http://thebrowser.com/interviews/bruce-forbes-on-christmas-history

Did  you know that Santa Claus was a 4th century bishop in what is now
  Turkey? That Puritans tried to outlaw Christmas? Or Tiny Tim was originally
  Little Fred? We shed light on Christmas’s pagan past and consumerist present
  [22]Read on
    Links:
      22. http://thebrowser.com/interviews/bruce-forbes-on-christmas-history

Featured Topic

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

In the aftermath of Kim Jong-il's death, we look back at the legacy of his
  tyrannical rule over North Korea [24]Read on
    Links:
      24. http://thebrowser.com/reports/north-korea

Reader Recommendations

[25]@polit2k Simon   Johnson:   No   One   Is   Above  the  Law,  Even
  Megabanks: [26]t.co/QK2EAD0b  #[27]browsings  #[28]gfc2 [29]More like this
    Links:
      25. http://twitter.com/polit2k
      26. http://t.co/QK2EAD0b
      27. http://twitter.com/#!/search?q=#browsings
      28. http://twitter.com/#!/search?q=#gfc2
      29. http://thebrowser.com/browsings

Book of the Week

[30]Book of the Day
    Links:
      30. http://thebrowser.com/recommended/father-christmas-goes-holiday-by-raymond-briggs

[31]Father Christmas Goes on Holiday by Raymond Briggs
    Links:
      31. http://thebrowser.com/recommended/father-christmas-goes-holiday-by-raymond-briggs

[32]Father Christmas says: I don’t know how that Briggs character got a good
  look at me, but a look he’s had and that’s a fact. [33]FiveBooks Archive
    Links:
      32. http://thebrowser.com/interviews/children-best-fivebooks
      33. http://thebrowser.com/fivebooks

Video of the Week

[34]Seconds Of Beauty
    Links:
      34. http://thebrowser.com/videos/seconds-beauty

Compilation  of entries for The Beauty Of A Second short film contest.
  Absolutely breathtaking
  [35]More videos
    Links:
      35. http://thebrowser.com/videos

Quote of the Week

[36]Highdeas, on film
    Links:
      36. http://highdeas.com

"If you watch 'Jaws' backwards, it's a movie about a shark that keeps
    throwing up people until they have to open a beach"

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

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