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Tuesday, December 20, 2011

The Browser daily newsletter [20 Dec 2011]

20 December 2011

 Best of the Moment

The Great Economic Divide Makes Everyone Poorer

Mark Thoma | Fiscal Times | 20 December 2011

A simple thought experiment reveals why disparities in wealth, in a divided society, hurt everyone. "The rich live in one world, the poor in another, and mutually beneficial arrangements between the two groups fail to occur" Comments

Breakthroughs In Faith

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 Comments

Trials And Errors: Why Science Is Failing Us

Jonah Lehrer | Wired | 16 December 2011

Provocative essay on limits of reductionism in complex science, how we tend to jump to conclusions about causality, and why this stymies progress. Put simply, why it is that "the more we know, the less we seem to understand" Comments

I'm A Pedestrian In My Dreams

Markus Feldenkirchen & René Pfister | Spiegel | 19 December 2011

Model interview with German finance minister Wolgang Schäuble, crippled by madman in 1990. Pushy but polite. Focus on disability and political life. First question: "Is this the right job for a 69-year-old wheelchair user?" Comments

The Great Train Robbery

Mark Pulham | Crime Magazine | 19 December 2011

How British gangsters stole $70m (in today's money) from a mail train. And how a fanatical detective tracked them down. Almost a perfect crime: 120 mailbags offloaded in 40 minutes. But their fixer failed to clean up afterwards Comments

There’s Nothing Like A New York Hack

Hanna Rosin | New York | 11 December 2011

Taxi driver's daughter, on tricks of the trade. "He knew where the drug deals were made and the best place to have sex in the afternoon. He knew which deli made the best sunnyside up on toast and where you could find a bathroom" Comments

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