The Browser daily newsletter [2 Feb 2013]

Daily Newsletter       2 February 2013  Best of the Moment Northern Lights Adrian Wooldridge | Economist | 2 February 2013 After pioneering the expansion of the welfare state through the 1970s and 1980s, Sweden has turned back towards market liberalism: "The streets of Stockholm are awash with the blood of sacred cows". Public spending has fallen from 63% of GDP to 49%. Top tax rate down 27 percentage points. Other north Europeans are following suit Who Can Imagine Ed Koch Anywhere But In New York? Jonathan Mahler | New York | 1 February 2013 "Koch had no glamour when he was elected, and he managed not to acquire any during three terms in office. He was that rare politician who somehow became more ordinary, more real, even as he grew larger-than-life. He was obnoxious but not pretentious, deeply loved and deeply loathed, all of which only confirmed his essential New York–ness" Football: The Kotaku Review Tim Rogers | Kotaku | 1 February 2013 American football explained in the language of role-playing video games. "Football has been in open beta for 144 years. The original goal of the developers was to create a game that roped together more than five centuries of rugby history into a more spectator-friendly, strategically deeper game" Video of the day: How Your Brain Works Thought for the day: "Facebook is a large, inefficient engine for transforming electricity and programmers into low-value advertising" — Christopher Mims | 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

Cheat Sheet - Inside the U.S. Embassy Attack in Turkey

February 02, 2013 SUICIDE BOMBER 1. Inside the U.S. Embassy Attack in Turkey When a suicide bomber at the U.S. embassy in Ankara detonated his charge on Friday, killing himself and a Turkish security guard, authorities looked beyond the usual terror suspects like al Qaeda, blaming a long dormant far-left terror group instead. Why would the Revolutionary People's Liberation Party-Front strike now? The Daily Beast's Mike Giglio reports. Read it at The Daily Beast BABY BUST 2. America's Fertility Rate Falling Copulaters, start your engines. In Saturday's essay in The Wall Street Journal, author Jonathan V. Last makes the case that the nation's dropping 1.6 fertility rate (it's 1.54 in China, where there's a strict one child policy) is America's biggest problem. "Once a country's fertility rate falls consistently below replacement, its age profile begins to shift. You get more old people than young people," Last writes. "And eventually, as the bloated cohort of old people dies off, population begins to contract." Last argues that contrary to popular belief, growing populations actually lead to "increased growth and conservation." Read it at The Wall Street Journal UNLIKELY 3. Senator Geraldo Rivera? Come on! Geraldo Rivera wants to be a United States senator. Right. The inflammatory Fox News pundit says he's eyeing a run in New Jersey, even with his professional exploits and years of excess personal baggage. The Daily Beast's Howard Kurtz takes a look at why the dream will remain a fantasy. Read it at The Daily Beast WHAT UP, SPRING 4. Punxsutawney Phil Predicts End of Winter Hang in there chilly willys, spring is fast approaching. The frigid weather is about to come to an end, if you believe in the psychic weather powers of a rodent. Punxsutawney Phil, the famous groundhog from Gobbler's Knob, Pa., emerged from his cozy home before 20,000 people on Saturday morning to perform his yearly duty: find his shadow. After close consultation with the "seer of seers", Bill Deeley, president of Phil's "Inner Circle," announced that the fuzzy sage had not seen his shadow and winter would soon come to an end. Good riddance. Read it at Associated Press MACHO MAN 5. Photo Released of Obama Shooting It's an odd image to behold. The White House released a photo of President Obama skeet shooting on Saturday, in an effort to quiet skeptics who said he was faking enthusiasm for the hobby. In the photo, Obama wears protective glasses and headphones as he shoots a rifle. In an interview with The New Republic last week,  the president mentioned for the first time that he had picked up the hobby of shooting clay pigeons at Camp David. Cue the media freak-out, who conjectured the comments might have been an appeal to the right. But you know what they say: a picture is worth a thousand eyerolls.  Read it at The New York Times TURMOIL Egyptian Gov. Condemns Public Beating After video of police attacking protestor goes viral. STANDOFF Kindergarten Hostage Still in Bunker Taken by neighbor in Alabama. SUICIDE BOMBS Taliban Strike Kills 35 in Pakistan 13 soldiers, 10 civilians, 12 militants among the dead. CYBERSECURITY 250K Twitter Accounts Hacked Up to 250,000 users' data vulnerable. BONUS MEOWS Animal Planet Gears Up for Puppy Bowl IX Halftime show to feature kittens. GET The Cheat Sheet A speedy, smart summary of news and must-reads from across the Web. You'll love the featured original stories on politics, entertainment, and more from The Daily Beast's diverse group of contributors. GET Culture Beast Weekly cultural recommendations from The Daily Beast. Police Brutally Beat Egyptian Man WATCH: A video depicting the brutal assault of a naked 50-year-old man carried out by police at a Cairo protest surfaced on Saturday. Egypt's opposition has since called for the the resignation of the interior minister. More Videos The Robert Menendez Scandal by Caitlin Dickson Cleveland's Raven Rage by Larry Durstin How We Made '30 Rock' Funny by Alec Baldwin , Robert Carlock

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