January 2017

links in rhythm, melody, syntax, meaning, evolution - Music, Language, and the Brain [my review]

five days in Bali - WanderingDanny

Theresa May turned down an invitation to address the Irish parliament - OpenDemocracy

deranged by the lie, governed by fools and knaves - Guardian

introducing a four year old to Balinese music and Legong dance - OxfordBlog

blowback from Brexit: the UK is pulling out of Euratom - ResearchResearch

this could mean the end of the Culham Centre for Fusion Energy, or at least its drastic downsizing

Studio Ghibli's first television show - Guardian

on becoming British - OxfordBlog

Brexit is the perfect vehicle for the English cult of heroic failure - IrishTimes

Barbie typewriters have undocumented cryptographic capabilities - FutilityCloset - CryptoMuseum

is mammography screening harmful? - JRSM

Poland is going to reduce school time for physics, chemistry, biology and IT in order to fit in more patriotic history - FT

council tax is a terrible (regressive) way to fund social care, but good on Surrey for doing something - Guardian

the youngest children in a primary school year are 2x as likely to be ADHD-diagnosed as the oldest - SMH

an extended argument for a universal basic income - WEF

German business leaders unimpressed by UK stupidity over Brexit - BBC

"The UK has become the tipsy, tweedy uncle, who after too much Christmas sherry has tipped over into drunkenly abusive bore"

how Iceland has almost eliminated teen substance abuse - MosaicScience

an evisceration of May's nonsense about "Global Britain" - NYT

in the 1950s, the UK had a 'Plan G' for trade with Europe - Twitter

a nice graphical proof of the irrationality of sqrt(2) - DivisByZero

Australia's heatwave - I'll take Oxford's 4 degree days anytime! - Guardian

the Russians take a leaf out of Trump's book and decriminalize domestic violence - Bust

"schools are heading towards mass bankruptcy and the only government plan for solving it is optimism" - Guardian

Ireland and Brexit: "just spectators watching a car crash" - FT

in praise of Miyazaki's _Princess Mononoke_ - Tor

an interview with Richard Gombrich, on Buddhism and happiness - Oxford

a nice takedown of AI alarmism and "superintelligence" risks - IdleWords [vis Cosma]

the Dutch have the world's happiest children - Telegraph

"Dutch children are expected to be friendly and helpful towards their elders but not to automatically defer to them."

Christmas: giving the gift of death - Monbiot

purging the UK civil service of anyone not enthusiastic enough about Brexit - Guardian

I've never read or watched any John Berger - Prospect

project: to watch Ways of Seeing and Civilization with Helen

Germany encroaches on the Czech republic - StrangeMaps

things can only get better in 2017? - AntiPope