Weekly newsletter 76

5 Oct 2012 • 3 min read

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

Weekly Newsletter

Best of the Week

Mass Revolt

Jason Schwartz | Boston Magazine | 29 September 2012

Mitt Romney was governor of Massachusetts just six years ago. Yet today he's so unpopular there he's barely bothering to campaign in the state. Why did the voters became so alienated? Comments (http://thebrowser.com/articles/mass-revolt)

Economics Of Video Games

Brad Plumer | Washington Post | 28 September 2012

Massive multiplayer online games have economies so big and complex that they need full-time economists to run them. Eve Online has eight. Valve has hired a top eurozone analyst to organise a monetary union across its various games Comments (http://thebrowser.com/articles/economics-video-games)

Creative Blocks

David Deutsch | Aeon | 3 October 2012

Laws of physics tell us that artificial intelligence must be possible. So why does it have such a long record of failure? What is it that may unblock our understanding? And is there a role for philosophy here? Comments (http://thebrowser.com/articles/creative-blocks)

Karen Russell | GQ | 3 October 2012

A year ago, a famous Spanish matador received one of the most horrific injuries in the history of bullfighting. Amazingly, he survived the severe facial goring. Even more amazingly he's now back in the bullring Comments (http://thebrowser.com/articles/blind-faith-one-eyed-matador)

Corporate Welfare Queens

James Surowiecki | New Yorker | 1 October 2012

Mitt Romney assails those "dependent upon government". He means people on Medicaid, Social Security and those who receive earned-income tax credit. But what about those companies reliant on government assistance for their profits? Comments (http://thebrowser.com/articles/corporate-welfare-queens)

Diary: Philby In Beirut

Tom Carver | LRB | 4 October 2012

Travels in the footsteps of Kim Philby, who spent seven years in Beirut before defecting to Moscow. Wrote for The Economist, freelanced for the British secret service, drank heavily, ran off with a friend's wife, kept a pet fox Comments (http://thebrowser.com/articles/diary-philby-beirut)

It’s My Birthday Too, Yeah

Steven Strogatz | NYT | 1 October 2012

How many people do you need to assemble before there's a 50-50 chance that two of them share a birthday? You know that the number is counter-intuitively low (it's 23). But do you know why? If not, invest a couple of minutes here Comments (http://thebrowser.com/articles/it’s-my-birthday-too-yeah)

Let's Start The Foodie Backlash

Steven Poole | Guardian | 27 September 2012

Rambling but enjoyable diatribe against foodism. "Western civilisation is eating itself stupid. We are living in the Age of Food. Food becomes not only spiritual nourishment but art, sex, ecology, history, fashion and ethics" Comments (http://thebrowser.com/articles/lets-start-foodie-backlash)
(http://www.amazon.com/Best-of-FiveBooks-2011-ebook/dp/B007GAM6RC?tag=thebro-21)

FiveBooks Interview

(http://thebrowser.com/interviews/jonathon-green-on-slang)

Jonathon Green on Slang

It’s dirty, grubby and doubting. And us at our most real. The lexicographer takes us inside the world of “rough, truthful language” from rhyming slang and cant to the streets of Baltimore and an etymology of the f-word Read on (http://thebrowser.com/interviews/jonathon-green-on-slang)

Featured Topic

(http://thebrowser.com/reports/steve-jobss-legacy)

Steve Jobs's Legacy

He was a giant of American business, driving Apple to become the most valuable company in the world. But how should we remember Steve Jobs? Read on (http://thebrowser.com/reports/steve-jobss-legacy)

Reader Recommendations

@rszbt This: RT @TeraEuro: RT @TimHarford: Unicorns, Higgs Bosons, and the state of macroeconomics by @diane1859 t.co/lzCDRZGH" #browsings (https://twitter.com/search?q=#browsings) More like this (http://thebrowser.com/browsings)

Book of the Week

Book of the Day (http://thebrowser.com/recommended/american-psycho-by-bret-easton-ellis)

American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis

Jay McInerney says (http://thebrowser.com/interviews/jay-mcinerney-on-essential-new-york-novels) : “It’s a brilliant satire of greed and the mindlessness of popular culture, of American life and of New York in the 80s” FiveBooks Archive (http://thebrowser.com/fivebooks)