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Friday, January 20, 2012

The Browser daily newsletter [20 Jan 2012]

20 January 2012

 Best of the Moment

Does Austerity Promote Economic Growth?

Robert Shiller | Project Syndicate | 18 January 2012

"The outcome of government deficit reduction is never entirely predictable, so we can ask only how likely such a plan is to succeed in restoring economic prosperity." Which Shiller does, by looking at available historical data Comments

The Years Of Stagnation And The Poodles Of Power

Adam Curtis | BBC | 18 January 2012

Typically provocative blog post compares West of today with Soviet Union of 1980s. Clearly many differences but similarities Curtis finds are striking – disillusion with politics, economics, corrupt technocrats, vacuous society Comments

The New Philosophy Of Cosmology

Ross Anderson | The Atlantic | 19 January 2012

Fascinating. Interview with Tim Maudlin, a philosopher at forefront of a whole new field – the philosophy of cosmology. Where science runs out of answers – what is time, what happened before the Big Bang – is where his work starts Comments

Swallowed By A Whale

Ben Shattuck | Salon | 15 January 2012

Could it happen? Yes, but you wouldn't live to tell the tale. "You would first be chewed. Sperm whales’ teeth are 8 inches long." If you survived that, you'd be suffocated in the throat. Or liquefied by acids in the stomach Comments

Good King John

Graham Seel | History Today | 19 January 2012

Belated attempt to rescue reputation of John, often described as worst king in English history. Monastic chroniclers who criticised him had axes to grind. Other sources paint surprisingly different picture Comments

The Sound Of Silence

Virginia Morell | Condé Nast Traveler | 4 January 2012

Lovely piece of travel writing on joy of tranquility. “In cities, we want to shut out the noise; we turn on our iPods and make our world smaller. In a national park, people do the opposite: They expand their world by listening" Comments

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