“Britain has been finding it difficult to recover from the financial crisis not just because of its austerity policy but also because of its eroding ability to engage in high-productivity activities.” Ha-Joon Chang is convinced that the United Kingdom urgently needs to develop a long-term productive strategy.
www.guardian.co.uk
Anonymous speaks: the inside story of the HBGary hack
“I’ve talked to some of those who participated in the HBGary hack to learn in detail how they penetrated HBGary’s defenses and gave the company such a stunning black eye—and what the HBGary example means for the rest of us mere mortals who use the Internet.” Peter Bright’s story may be a couple of years old, but it still makes for an interesting read and tells you what not to do.
arstechnica.com
The Dell XPS 13 Ubuntu Edition
“Only by patronizing Linux friendly vendors, early and often, will we see them pay more attention to pretty much the only free and open desktop alternative available.” Tarus Balog is happy with his XPS 13 running Ubuntu Linux.
www.adventuresinoss.com
In Tristan Schmelcher we appear to have another satisfied customer.
God save the British Economy
“Our options, he argues, can be divided into three general categories: austerity, stimulus and doing nothing. He, like an increasing number of mainstream economists, believes we can now scratch austerity off the list.” Adam Davidson talks to Adam Posen, until recently a member of the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee, about ways to fix the UK’s economy.
www.nytimes.com
Ryanair deserves a new name
“The culture is created at the top and reflects all the way down. Michael O’Leary is a twat. Can I say that, Mrs Lawyer? He is. There’s no getting round it. And Ryanair, the airline he has built in his image, is a twattish airline that treats both its staff and its customers with contempt.” Comment by Carole Cadwalladr.
www.guardian.co.uk
Make it boom
The truth about dishonesty
“We all have the capacity to be quite bad—under the right circumstances.”
Dan Ariely
youtube.com
Massive Attack’s blueprint for UK pop’s future
“I was lucky enough to receive one of the few cassette-only recordings of the set. It offered an illuminating glimpse of the musical undercurrents they’d drawn on in making their groundbreaking debut album.” Sean O’Hagan tells the story behind Blue Lines, one of the greatest albums of all time.
www.guardian.co.uk
How Starbucks avoids UK taxes
“Over the past three years, Starbucks has reported no profit, and paid no income tax, on sales of 1.2 billion pounds in the UK.” Tom Bergin explains how Starbucks makes certain that we are #allinthistogether.
www.reuters.com
Thankfully, a recent investigation provides sufficient evidence to conclude that the UK government has got this covered. Not.
The fall
Why you hate cyclists
“I’m an asshole cyclist. I’m that jerk weaving in and out of traffic, going the wrong way down a one-way street, and making a left on red. I’m truly a menace on the road.” Jim Saska is owning up to some pretty bad behaviour when on two wheels, but insists that he is not the reason you hate cyclists.
www.slate.com
Flowers
The Lance Armstrong fallout—questions, denials and doping reactions
“The problem is, if you choose to believe Armstrong, that it’s a witch-hunt, then you are also a conspiracy theorist, because the only way you can explain all the witnesses who are willing to testify is to say that they are part of a massive conspiracy against him. One that spans the Atlantic Ocean, includes former team-mates, journalists, doctors, administrators, soigneurs, strangers and mechanics.” Ross Tucker joins the debate.
www.sportsscientists.com
The Tour hits the mountains: power output thoughts
“So that’s what we’re all getting at when we say the Tour is getting slower. It is, and it’s a good sign, because it brings everything back into the realm of expected physiology.” Ross Tucker puts forward an interesting analysis of rider data from the Tour de France.
www.sportsscientists.com
The story of Steve Jobs: an inspiration or a cautionary tale?
“Everyone has their own private Steve Jobs. It usually tells you a lot about them—and little about Jobs.” Ben Austen considers what we know about Steve Jobs’ personality, which, depending on who you are, lends itself to vastly different interpretations.
www.wired.com
After G4S, who still thinks that outsourcing works?
“For fear they might only get one term they are dashing to secure that indelible legacy. The plan is to outsource so much that reconstructing public services will be impossible in future.” Polly Toynbee reports on an epidemic of evidence-free, faith-based policymaking that is creating moral hazard on a grand scale.
www.guardian.co.uk
“A moral hazard is a situation where there is a tendency to take undue risks because the costs are not borne by the party taking the risk.”
How much is an astronaut’s life worth?
“It needs to be a finite number, for to set an infinite value on the life of an astronaut is to set both the goals of the space exploration effort and the needs of the rest of humanity at naught.” Robert Zubrin explains how NASA’s approach to risk undermines its mission and costs thousands of lives.
reason.com
Hope against hope
“So the suggestion is that we don’t need hope at all. All we need is a purpose for our action, a purpose that need not be conceived of as a hope.” Julian Baggini only sees limited scope for rational hope. But that should not make you despair.
newhumanist.org.uk
Is Facebook making us lonely?
“We were promised a global village; instead we inhabit the drab cul-de-sacs and endless freeways of a vast suburb of information.” Stephen Marche asks if social media are encouraging us to replace human bonds with mere connections.
www.theatlantic.com
Why fiction is good for you
“Fiction is dangerous because it has the power to modify the principles of individuals and whole societies.” Jonathan Gottschall tells the story of an emerging science suggesting that fiction might be good for more than just kicks.
www.bostonglobe.com