Best of the Moment

A Unified Theory Of New York Biking | Felix Salmon | Reuters | 03 September 2010

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Cyclists behave, get treated, as though they were pedestrians. They don't feel bound by traffic rules. Drivers don't respect them. They need to jump species barrier, behave as motorists

Inside Munich Re, World's Risk Centre | Uwe Buse | Spiegel | 02 September 2010

the browser — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 11:56:13 +0000

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Reinsurance made fascinating. How Munich Re researches, prices global risk, including climate change. "What is the probability that Cologne's historic Old Town will be flooded a second time within the next year? Ten percent"

How To Get Ahead In Advertising | Peter York | Independent | 03 September 2010

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History of Saatchi & Saatchi. Founded 1970. Pioneered high-concept advertising. Bravura style. Built world's biggest agency, strongest brand. Over-reached by trying to buy Midland Bank

Nasty Book With Girly Cover | Lionel Shriver | Guardian | 02 September 2010

the browser — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 08:35:53 +0000

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Female author tells how her publishers always want to package her books for female readers, regardless of content. If you want to write a serious novel for a general audience, it helps to be a man

Obituary: Mont Liggins | Anonymous | Economist | 02 September 2010

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Clever, funny, uplifting tribute to New Zealand doctor who pioneered modern research into premature childbirth. Did most of his work with sheep. Found, happily, it worked with humans too

Michael O'Leary, Duke Of Discomfort | Felix Gillette | Business Week | 02 September 2010

the browser — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 08:13:42 +0000

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Profile of Ryan Air boss, "shabby, crappy, cheap", and enjoyable as always. Passengers as cattle. "O'Leary will call you a cow, lick his chops, and explain how he plans to carve you up for dinner"

Strange Book, By Gifted Man | Simon Heffer | Telegraph | 02 September 2010

the browser — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 12:45:11 +0000

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On Tony Blair's memoirs. "There have never been prime ministerial memoirs like this. It appears to be a book written in tune with all the most unpleasant and cynical marketing techniques of modern publishing"

Eyes On The Prize | Hilary Mantel | Intelligent Life | 01 September 2010

the browser — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 10:57:25 +0000

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Man Booker winner's view of literary prizes. They're stressful, distorting, demeaning, and wonderful to win. "It has made my sales soar and hugely boosted my royalties. It has cut me free"

Tabloid Hack Attack On Royals | Don Van Natta et al | NYT | 01 September 2010

the browser — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 09:04:41 +0000

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Painstaking investigation into alleged illegal telephone tapping by Rupert Murdoch's News of the World, with British police turning a blind eye. Ex-editor at centre of storm now adviser to British PM

Oliver Sacks's Vision, And Cancer | Steve Silberman | NeuroTribes | 01 September 2010

the browser — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 07:36:19 +0000

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Psychologist, writer, talks about recovery from eye cancer. "I still have hallucinations of a low order. They tend to be in black and white—but when I smoke a little pot, they’re in colour"

C-Section Needed For Middle East Peace | Daniel Levy | Huffington Post | 31 August 2010

the browser — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 16:14:11 +0000

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Netanyahu won't make peace so US should go over his head to the Israeli people. But if there's an Israeli 'yes' to de-occupation gestating somewhere it'll still take US surgery to bring it out

Life In America's Toughest Jail | Erwin James | Guardian | 01 September 2010

the browser — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 12:26:23 +0000

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Former prisoner in Arizona tells of gang violence, overflowing toilets, food green with mould. And a horrendous anecdote about an asthmatic cellmate and a cockroach

Island Holds Darwin's Best-Kept Secret | Howard Falcon-Lang | BBC | 01 September 2010

the browser — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 12:07:25 +0000

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Interesting, little known story of how Darwin created a fully functioning, yet total artificial, ecosystem on Ascension Island. Could it have implications for future colonisation of Mars?

Date That Will Live In Oblivion | George Packer | New Yorker | 01 September 2010

the browser — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 09:58:32 +0000

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Obama's speech, trying to put a brave face on US combat troop withdrawals from Iraq, was "rare moment of dishonesty and disingenuousness". Other troops will stay, violence will continue, Iraq is a wreck

Leaving Iraq, Remembering Roy | Blake Hall | WP | 29 August 2010

the browser — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 08:20:46 +0000

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Remarkably moving piece of writing. US officer pays tribute to brave young interpreter who joined Americans after al-Qaeda beheaded two of his classmates. Spoiler: it doesn't end happily

Tony Blair On Gordon Brown | Martin Kettle | Guardian | 31 August 2010

the browser — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 07:50:05 +0000

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In his memoirs, and in accompanying interview, ex-leader says he doesn't regret Iraq, does regret fox-hunting ban, and that Gordon Brown always had "zero emotional intelligence"

Google's Earth | William Gibson | NYT | 31 August 2010

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"Cyberspace, not so long ago, was a specific elsewhere, visited periodically. Now cyberspace has turned itself inside out, colonised the physical, making Google a central structural unit of the world"

Sarah Palin: Sound And Fury | Michael Joseph Gross | Vanity Fair | 01 September 2010

the browser — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 07:19:22 +0000

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Assassinatory, highly readable profile of right-wing heroine, portrayed throughout as mean, angry, mendacious, aggressive, cynical, borderline-unbalanced. And a bad mother

Ikeshima: Goodbye To Coal | Pachiguy | Spike Japan | 31 August 2010

the browser — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 15:18:06 +0000

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Beautiful, sad, photo-essay about near-deserted Japanese island, once home of country's last working coalmines. Twelve children in school built for 1,500. One restaurant. Lots, and lots, of rust

The Post-Modern Ear | Roger Scruton | Axess | 01 August 2010

the browser — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 14:59:21 +0000

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Short account of evolution of modern classical music. Atonality was promoted by governments and elites. Romantic tradition, infused by jazz, proved stronger. Minimalism tried to combine both, badly