Saturday, September 22, 2012

The Browser daily newsletter [22 Sep 2012]

22 September 2012

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Best of the Moment

The Drugs Don't Work: A Modern Medical Scandal

Ben Goldacre | Guardian | 21 September 2012

Drugs are tested by manufacturers, in poorly designed trials, on small numbers of unrepresentative patients. Unsurprisingly, these trials often produce results that favour the manufacturer. Those that don't are buried Comments

The Last Remains Of The Empire

Monica Ceberio | El País | 17 September 2012

Spain holds on to tiny islets and crags off Morocco's coast. They have no strategic value, but Madrid fears a slippery slope leading to Ceuta, Melilla, the Canaries if it gives them up. African migrants see them as a way into Europe Comments

Romney Campaign Needs New CEO

Peggy Noonan | WSJ | 21 September 2012

Romney is losing it. "The candidate cannot oversee strategy, statements, speechwriting, ads. He shouldn't be debating what statistic to put on slide four of the Powerpoint presentation. He has to learn to trust others—many others" Comments

Beyond The Brain

Tanya Marie Luhrmann | Wilson Quarterly | 17 September 2012

"If you have dark skin, your risk of falling victim to schizophrenia increases as your neighborhood whitens." It afflicts migrants, city dwellers, and the poor disproportionately. A simple biomedical approach now looks flawed Comments

How To Lose Weight Fast The Deutsche Bank Way

Jonathan Weil | Bloomberg | 20 September 2012

System known as risk-weighting is farcical. It means banks can make assets disappear from their balance sheets. Deutsche had a reason for making 83% of its assets disappear in this way but the notion that they're riskless is absurd Comments

One Europe, Many Tribes

Peter Coy | Businessweek | 19 September 2012

Euro crisis exposes fault lines within countries, as well as between countries. Regional interests and histories collide. "It’s not just Greece vs Germany. It’s Sicily vs Lombardy, Berlin vs Bavaria, Andalusia vs Catalonia" Comments

FiveBooks Interview

Jason Zweig on Personal Finance

The Wall Street Journal personal finance columnist explains why there's truth in the old adage that investors get the returns they deserve, and suggests how savers can avoid being taken for a ride

Featured Special Report

Popular Science

Black holes, DIY bio-engineering, aliens and more. Interviews and articles from many of the biggest names in Science. No prior knowledge necessary

Reader Recommendations

polit2k MT @prosyn: If #Romney had turned popular disdain for subsidies against megabanks, he would be coasting .... t.co/mAuOUBCp #browsings

Book of the Day

The Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking by Marcella Hazan

Nigel Slater says: “There is no finer recipe writer. Her recipes are concise, they’re clear, they’re unfussy and she never leaves me in any doubt about what I’m supposed to be doing.”

Video of the Day

Alain de Botton: Acrasia

What we can learn from religion, about learning

Quote of the Day

Tom Stoppard, on death

A lot of people would say, "I would rather have a heart attack at the height of sexual passion." On the whole, I would prefer to be killed by a bookcase