The Browser daily newsletter [23 Oct 2012]

Daily Newsletter       23 October 2012 Thank you to all those of you who've joined our new membership scheme. For those who haven't, please consider supporting us by becoming a member. Click here to find out about the extra benefits available to members.  Best of the Moment President Obama's Executive Power Grab Andrew Romano & Daniel Klaidman | Newsweek | 22 October 2012 After his initial bipartisan approach failed, President Obama has been expanding his own executive power. "The result is an extraconstitutional arms race of sorts: A new normal that habitually circumvents the legislative process" Comments Ask A Banker: What's A Derivative? Anonymous | NPR | 17 October 2012 Imagine a million-dimensional graph where each input is some fact about the world whose future value is uncertain. Everything in the financial world is an attempt to catch a glimpse of that graph (h/t Jacob Goldstein) Comments Healthcare And Cars Are Not Isomorphic Yichuan Wang | Synthenomics | 22 October 2012 Why competitive markets don't work in health care. It's almost impossible for consumers to know whether they're getting the optimal quantity and quality of treatment. When they most need it, they're least able to shop around Comments The Voter-Fraud Myth Jane Mayer | New Yorker | 22 October 2012 Republican lawyer Hans von Spakovsky promotes strict voter-ID laws. It's like he "gets up in the morning wondering, What can I do today to make it more difficult for people to vote? Even though there is no voter fraud to speak of" Comments A Snowball Flung On The Uppermost Slopes David Warsh | Economic Principals | 22 October 2012 This year's economics Nobel has made Al Roth famous, for his matching markets. What of co-laureate Lloyd Shapley? He's an 89-year-old recluse, a peer of John von Neumann, and maybe the greatest mathematical game theorist of all time Comments Once This Landscape Was A Pristine Wilderness Mark Duell & Ashley Cooper | Daily Mail | 17 October 2012 Striking photo gallery of Canadian tar sands mining project. "The sheer scale of devastation is almost beyond comprehension. Oily, stained ground stretches for hundreds of miles where there used to be forest." (h/t Peter Timmerman) Comments  FiveBooks Interview Gregory Long on Gardening The president of the New York Botanical Garden tells us about the books that all aspiring gardeners should have on their bookshelves, from reference works to the most fun guide to making the best of your garden  Featured Special Report The Fall of Lance Armstrong Once a hero, but now the game is up. Here's how the aggressively preserved reputation of Lance Armstrong finally crumbled  Reader Recommendations @polit2k RT @edyong209: Never Go Into the Sea, Part #38108 - the Bobbit worm t.co/qWSw53xd #browsings  Book of the Day The Book of Memory by Mary Carruthers Joshua Foer says: “This is the best study of the role that memory plays in medieval culture. We reserve the term genius for people who are creative, who are innovators, who think in ways that are entirely new. In the middle ages, the term genius was reserved for people with the best memories.”  Video of the Day Sean Carroll – From Particles To People How do we know what we think we know about how the world works?  Quote of the Day Sigmund Freud, on play "The opposite of play is not what is serious, but what is real" | Homepage | Mobile Apps | RSS Feeds | Twitter | Facebook | Privacy Policy | Contact Us | Having trouble reading this email? View it in your browser. You are receiving this email because you signed up for the Best of the Moment newsletter on thebrowser.com. Click here to unsubscribe The Browser Ltd, 106 Great Portland Street, London, W1W 6PF