The Browser | Best of the Moment

Why Private Equity Firms Like Bain Really Are The Worst Of Capitalism | Josh Kosman | Rolling Stone | 23 May 2012

The Browser — Fri, 25 May 2012 11:43:55 +0000

A rant, yes, but enjoyable. "Romney wants us to believe that critics of private equity are against capitalism. They’re not. They’re against a predatory system created and perpetuated by Wall Street solely to pump its own profits"

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The Time Britain Slid Into Chaos | Michael Wood | BBC | 25 May 2012

The Browser — Fri, 25 May 2012 11:30:52 +0000

Divisive inequality of wealth; rising unemployment and inflation; anarchist riots on the streets of Europe; rise of extremist political parties. 2012? No, 5th Century AD. What can fall of the Roman empire tell us about euro crisis?

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In The Beginning Was The Mudskipper? | Carl Zimmer | Loom | 23 May 2012

The Browser — Fri, 25 May 2012 11:00:56 +0000

Another magnificent piece of writing from Zimmer. This time on arctic adventurers, fish, and "one of the most crucial transitions in history of life": How the first tetrapods emerged from water, and started to move about on dry land

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Take Me To Your Lieder | Stephen Fry | New Adventures | 24 May 2012

The Browser — Fri, 25 May 2012 06:41:46 +0000

On Dietrich Fischer Dieskau, and why classical music is worth the learning curve. "You’ll hate it at first perhaps. But leave it on. Leave it on over the next few days and suddenly, it will steal into you and never leave you"

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The Primal Ache: What Adam Smith Knew About Inequality | John Paul Rollert | Boston Review | 23 May 2012

The Browser — Fri, 25 May 2012 06:36:14 +0000

"Being wealthy and feeling rich are often inversely correlated. In a room full of rich men, only one doesn’t feel poor by comparison. This lesson is often overlooked in the ongoing debate over income inequality"

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Guess What's Cooking In The Garage | Jack Hitt | Popsci | 22 May 2012

The Browser — Fri, 25 May 2012 06:32:56 +0000

Inside the world of DIY synthetic biology. Where amateurs attempt genetic engineering in homemade labs. Will it lead to a wave of scientific breakthroughs, and valuable new life forms? Or a new generation of Dr Frankensteins?

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Latter-Day Politics | Amy Davidson | New Yorker | 23 May 2012

The Browser — Thu, 24 May 2012 12:47:55 +0000

"In the interest of civility and electoral prudence, neither Obama nor Romney can initiate a conversation about what it means to be Mormon. The rest of us should, because the story is complicated, fascinating, and utterly American"

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Transfiguration | Raffi Khatchadourian | New Yorker | 13 February 2012

The Browser — Thu, 24 May 2012 11:56:14 +0000

Just ungated. Dallas Wiens lost his face in an electrical accident. Burned down to the skull. Surgeons gave him another one. A transplant. Procedure is new, rare, long and complicated. 19 tried. Only this one has worked well

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And He Stoned Me | Ray Dolan | Times Higher Education | 24 May 2012

The Browser — Thu, 24 May 2012 11:50:18 +0000

Fan of 40 years reflects on music of Van Morrison: "If the music of Astral Weeks had mined a deep vein of human pain then Moondance provided an acute contrast, being in equal measure romantic, life-affirming and celebratory"

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I’ll Gladly Pay You Tuesday | Toomas Hendrik Ilves | Policy Review | 30 March 2012

The Browser — Thu, 24 May 2012 06:50:21 +0000

View from Estonia. Europe demanded solidarity among its members without also enforcing responsibility. Profligate countries got a free ride on the back of thrifty ones. At last the thrifty are crying "enough", and rightly so

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