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Monday, August 20, 2012

The Browser daily newsletter [20 Aug 2012]

20 August 2012
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 Best of the Moment

Schmooze Or Lose

Jane Mayer | New Yorker | 20 August 2012

Bill Clinton was a past master at cosying up to billionaire donors. But President Obama doesn't like it. Good for him. He believes he has more important things to do and wants to reform campaign finance. But what will it cost him? Comments

The Panic Over Fukushima

Richard Muller | WSJ | 18 August 2012

Physics professor argues that Japan's nuclear accident was a great human tragedy but that its long-term health effects have been exaggerated. The "hot spots" in Japan showed radiation at a lower level than Denver Comments

The Paradox Of Blackmail (Part One)

John Danaher | Philosophical Disquisitions | 20 August 2012

"This is the essence of the so-called paradox of blackmail. Two acts are innocent in and of themselves, but when they are combined in the form of a conditional demand they become criminal. Why is this?" Comments

Siberia’s Crying Cannibal

Aleksei Tarasov | OD Russia | 17 August 2012

Even in the Russia of the 1990s, Vladimir Tatarenkov's team of assassins stood out. They worked for free. Mowing people down with machine guns in broad daylight made a change from the boredom of everyday life in Krasnoyarsk Comments

Why Waiting Is Torture

Alex Stone | NYT | 18 August 2012

On the psychology of queuing. We prize fairness above all. "People will wait twice as long for fast food, provided the establishment uses a first-come-first-served, single-queue ordering system as opposed to a multi-queue setup" Comments

Obituary: Tony Scott

Anonymous | Telegraph | 20 August 2012

Former ad director who followed his brother Ridley to Hollywood. Made name with Top Gun. Had no interest in ideas or morality. Instinctively understood power of images. One critic called his films "visual amphetamines" Comments

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