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Tuesday, January 1, 2013

The Browser daily newsletter [1 Jan 2013]

1 January 2013

 Best of the Moment

The Life Of Pi, And Other Infinities

Nathalie Angier | NYT | 31 December 2012

There is no single entity called Infinity, but many of them: "Some are tailored for mathematics, some for cosmology, others for theology. There are flat infinities, hunchback infinities, bubbling infinities, hyperboloid infinities" Comments

Better Than Human

Kevin Kelly | Wired | 24 December 2012

Intelligent robots, coming soon. "You’ll be paid in the future based on how well you work with robots. Ninety percent of your coworkers will be unseen machines. There will be a blurry line between what you do and what they do" Comments

Leap Seconds

Randall Munroe | What If? | 1 January 2013

"Could we speed up Earth’s rotation, so that we do not need Leap Seconds?" Short answer: Yes. But the bad news is, we would die in the process. "To get enough spin, we have to hit the Earth with a billion liters of rock per second" Comments

When Memory Is Lost

Daniel Levitin | Atlantic | 31 December 2012

Oliver Sacks-ish tale of neuropsychologist who loses his memory. Can he still be considered the same person, even when disconnected from his past life? Yes, if you believe that each human being has an irreducible essence, or soul Comments

A Year In Fragments

Charles Simic | NYRB | 31 December 2012

Poet's notebook. Gorgeous. "This afternoon, I saw a store window full of manicurists at work, a green grocer on a sidewalk watering his tomatoes and peppers with a hose, and a pharmacist sell with a wink something to an old man" Comments

Obituary: Bob Munden, Shooter

Anonymous | Telegraph | 31 December 2012

"He could whip out his revolver, shoot a target and replace the gun in his holster in .0175 seconds. He could split playing cards, edgeways. Audiences sometimes needed slow-motion action replay to convince them it was not a trick" Comments

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