Weekly newsletter 67


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

[6]Plasenzuela's Dirty Secrets
    Links:
      6. http://b.rw/MAMb39

Guillermo Abril | El País | 30 July 2012

Inside Spain's most corrupt village. "European, state, and regional
  funding has all disappeared without trace. Projects that never existed;
  workers that never worked; taxes imposed on salaries that were never
  passed on to the state" [7]Comments
    Links:
      7. http://thebrowser.com/articles/plasenzuelas-dirty-secrets

[8]The Narco Tunnels Of Nogales
    Links:
      8. http://b.rw/MCGzoX

Adam Higginbotham | Businessweek | 2 August 2012

"If everyone had kept quiet, it could have been the most valuable
  parking spot on earth." So begins a terrific piece on the tunnels of
  Nogales, Arizona. Some have lifts or electric railways. All have one
  purpose: Drug trafficking [9]Comments
    Links:
      9. http://thebrowser.com/articles/narco-tunnels-nogales

[10]The Brain Set Free
    Links:
      10. http://b.rw/OeJILK

Laura Sanders | ScienceNews | 27 July 2012

"In a fully set brain, signals fly around effortlessly, making
  commonplace tasks short work. A master of efficiency, the adult brain
  loses the exuberance of childhood." Could there be a way to recapture
  its youthful flexibility? [11]Comments
    Links:
      11. http://thebrowser.com/articles/brain-set-free

[12]A Crass And Consequential Error
    Links:
      12. http://b.rw/R6Jmf2

Roger Cohen | NYRB | 31 July 2012

Anglo-American coup to oust Mossadegh as prime minister of Iran in 1953
  was colossal own goal. Yes, he had nationalised the oil industry. But
  he was a pro-Western democrat. Far better than the feckless Shah or the
  ayatollahs [13]Comments
    Links:
      13. http://thebrowser.com/articles/crass-and-consequential-error

[14]Conservatives And The State
    Links:
      14. http://b.rw/QpDfU5

Francis Fukuyama | American Interest | 28 July 2012

Author calls for reinvention of American Conservatism on Hamiltonian
  model, which requires a strong state as defender and promoter of
  private property, market economy, fiscal responsibility, foreign policy
  based on national interest [15]Comments
    Links:
      15. http://thebrowser.com/articles/conservatives-and-state

[16]Face The Music
    Links:
      16. http://b.rw/Pm8Crv

Tim Falconer | Maisonneuve | 1 August 2012

Reporter stumbles across surprisingly complex science of tone deafness.
  Turns out he is genuinely amusic. Then the expert confesses: “I am
  stunned. And I’ve seen many amusic cases. I would love to be in your
  brain.” Here's why [17]Comments
    Links:
      17. http://thebrowser.com/articles/face-music

[18]Get A Job: The Craigslist Experiment
    Links:
      18. http://b.rw/N7cQ6U

Eric Auld | Thought Catalog | 23 July 2012

Eric Auld is 26, with a Master's degree in English. Looking for a
  full-time job in a major US city. And getting nowhere fast. So he puts
  a fake job ad on Craigslist to get a sense of the competition out there
  (h/t Daniel Lippman) [19]Comments
    Links:
      19. http://thebrowser.com/articles/get-job-craigslist-experiment

[20]The Body Olympic
    Links:
      20. http://b.rw/Rgi8yw

Anthony Lane | New Yorker | 1 August 2012

Lovely, light-hearted spin around the Olympics from women's
  weightlifting to "whippet with sideburns" Bradley Wiggins. "Like most
  of those against whom he races, he appears to have dispensed with the
  standard human need for fat" [21]Comments
    Links:
      21. http://thebrowser.com/articles/body-olympic

FiveBooks Interview

[22]Jerry Coyne on Evolution
    Links:
      22. http://thebrowser.com/interviews/jerry-coyne-on-evolution

Conventional prose fiction falls short of the mark, says the English
  author, who tells us about his modernist novel Umbrella, what the real
  character of London is, and why he can’t stand the Olympics [23]Read on
    Links:
      23. http://thebrowser.com/interviews/will-self-on-influences

Featured Topic

[24]Human Modification
    Links:
      24. http://thebrowser.com/reports/human-modification

Scientists are experimenting with different ways to enhance humans.
  What's possible? And what may be possible in the future? Does messing
  with Mother Nature raise ethical questions? [25]Read on
    Links:
      25. http://thebrowser.com/reports/human-modification

Reader Recommendations

@[26]rszbt A little less hubris ...: MT @[27]ProSyn: In "The Battle for
  Churchill's Bust" by Ian Buruma [28]t.co/FadxEaG1 [29]#browsings
  [30]More like this
    Links:
      26. http://twitter.com/rszbt
      27. http://twitter.com/ProSyn
      28. http://t.co/FadxEaG1
      29. https://twitter.com/search?q=#browsings
      30. http://thebrowser.com/browsings

Book of the Week

[31]Book of the Day
    Links:
      31. http://thebrowser.com/recommended/damned-lies-and-statistics-by-joel-best

[32]Damned Lies and Statistics by Joel Best
    Links:
      32. http://thebrowser.com/recommended/damned-lies-and-statistics-by-joel-best

[33]David Spiegelhalter says: “There is a nice quote from Best that all
  statistics are social products, the results of people’s efforts. He
  says you should always ask, 'Why was this statistic created?'”
  [34]FiveBooks Archive
    Links:
      33. http://thebrowser.com/interviews/david-spiegelhalter-on-statistics-and-risk
      34. http://thebrowser.com/fivebooks

Video of the Week

[35]'Fictitious Capital' With Michael Hudson
    Links:
      35. http://thebrowser.com/videos/fictitious-capital-michael-hudson

"There has been so much fraud as a result of deregulation that nobody
  has any idea how much collateral is there"
  [36]More videos
    Links:
      36. http://thebrowser.com/videos

Quote of the Week

[37]J.G. Ballard, on imagination
    Links:
      37. http://www.theparisreview.org/interviews/2929/the-art-of-fiction-no-85-j-g-ballard

"Imagination is the shortest route between any two conceivable
    points"

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

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