Weekly newsletter 45


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]Obama, Explained
    Links:
      5. http://b.rw/yDrgfJ

James Fallows | Atlantic | 9 February 2012

Monumental retrospective of US president's first term. Should we think
  of him as the "chess master", able to think 10 moves ahead of his
  opponents? Or as a mere pawn? Fallows considers in this 12,000-word
  essay [6]Comments
    Links:
      6. http://thebrowser.com/articles/obama-explained

[7]The Way Greeks Live Now
    Links:
      7. http://b.rw/wuOGZ1

Russell Shorto | NYT | 13 February 2012

A glimpse into harsh reality of life in Greece, where half of all under
  25s are now out of work. And yet despite economic turmoil "somehow
  everyday life rumbles on, in a collective trance, shot through with
  gallows humor" [8]Comments
    Links:
      8. http://thebrowser.com/articles/way-greeks-live-now

[9]The Boy Who Played With Fusion
    Links:
      9. http://b.rw/xT2jmw

Tom Clynes | Pop Science | 14 February 2012

"Someone like him comes along maybe once in a generation. He’s not just
  smart; he’s cool, articulate. I think he may be the most amazing kid
  I’ve ever met." Indeed. For at the tender age of 14, Taylor Wilson
  achieved nuclear fusion [10]Comments
    Links:
      10. http://thebrowser.com/articles/boy-who-played-fusion

[11]Equations That Rule Your World
    Links:
      11. http://b.rw/ymfxHc

Ian Stewart | New Scientist | 13 February 2012

Some equations are simply more important than others. Here's a reminder
  of seven, that enabled many of the technologies we now rely on: The
  wave equation, Maxwell's four equations, the Fourier transform and
  Schrödinger's equation [12]Comments
    Links:
      12. http://thebrowser.com/articles/equations-rule-your-world

[13]The Doom Loop
    Links:
      13. http://b.rw/y7iWRa

Andrew Haldane | LRB | 16 February 2012

Masterful essay on history of equity, leverage, risk-taking incentives
  in the banking system. From 19th century to present day. "In
  evolutionary terms, we have had survival not of the fittest but the
  fattest." It's time for change [14]Comments
    Links:
      14. http://thebrowser.com/articles/doom-loop

[15]King Of Pain
    Links:
      15. http://b.rw/vZV4JF

Algis Valiunas | Claremont Institute | 10 February 2012

Fine, detailed evaluation of troubled life, and works of David Foster
  Wallace. "With the benefit of time, it will be recognised that Wallace
  had less in common with Eggers and Franzen than he did with Dostoevsky
  and Joyce" [16]Comments
    Links:
      16. http://thebrowser.com/articles/king-pain

[17]In Conversation With Adam Curtis
    Links:
      17. http://b.rw/xz2L0T

Hans Ulrich Obrist & Adam Curtis | e-flux | 11 February 2012

Absorbing interview with BBC documentary maker. "If you had to reduce
  what I do, I look at how ideas have consequences, not necessarily what
  the promoters of them intended." Fascinating on power, individualism,
  populism [18]Comments
    Links:
      18. http://thebrowser.com/articles/conversation-adam-curtis

[19]Sophia’s Choices
    Links:
      19. http://b.rw/AvNCcY

Sam Kashner | Vanity Fair | 14 February 2012

Rare interview with movie star Sophia Loren. Still irresistible at the
  age of 77. "Head her in the direction of a camera, set her Etruscan
  eyes dancing, and Sophia is one of the most magnificent women in the
  world" [20]Comments
    Links:
      20. http://thebrowser.com/articles/sophia’s-choices

FiveBooks Interview

[21]Christina Romer on Learning from the Great Depression
    Links:
      21. http://thebrowser.com/interviews/christina-romer-on-learning-great-depression

The former chair of President Obama’s Council of Economic Advisers says
  we’ve learned that terrible downturns can still occur, but also that
  the right policy response can make a huge difference to the outcome
  [22]Read on
    Links:
      22. http://thebrowser.com/interviews/christina-romer-on-learning-great-depression

Featured Topic

[23]American Prisons
    Links:
      23. http://thebrowser.com/reports/american-prisons

An epidemic of incarceration. A prison system that provides neither
  retributive justice nor rehabilitation. Is this America's moral
  catastrophe? [24]Read on
    Links:
      24. http://thebrowser.com/reports/american-prisons

Reader Recommendations

@lookatluca Nice read on Shane Warne's endless second-last over
  [25]t.co/qmlBQggV and a fine Oz website too @TheGlobalMail
  [26]#browsings [27]More like this
    Links:
      25. http://t.co/qmlBQggV
      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/travels-ibn-battutah-by-ibn-buttutah

[29]The Travels of Ibn Battutah by Ibn Battutah (edited by Tim
Mackintosh-Smith)
    Links:
      29. http://thebrowser.com/recommended/travels-ibn-battutah-by-ibn-buttutah

[30]Tim Mackintosh-Smith says: “In a sense he hasn’t been bettered
  since the 14th century. The complete diversity of the Muslim world is
  there. He is the traveller of the Islamic world” [31]FiveBooks Archive
    Links:
      30. http://thebrowser.com/interviews/tim-mackintosh-smith-on-travelling-muslim-world
      31. http://thebrowser.com/fivebooks

Video of the Week

[32]Hotel Bills And Hospital Bills
    Links:
      32. http://thebrowser.com/videos/what-if-your-hotel-bill-was-hospital-bill

What if hotel bills were like (US) hospital bills. A good point well
  made [33]More videos
    Links:
      33. http://thebrowser.com/videos

Quote of the Week

[34]Tim Vine, on domain names
    Links:
      34. http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/mediamonkeyblog/2012/feb/09/tim-vine-award-winning-joke

"Conjunctivitis.com. That's a site for sore eyes"

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

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