Danny's Pathologically Polymathic: April 2009

the science of influenza - FluWikie [via Effect]

applying information theory to the Indus Valley symbols - Cosma

house with 23 metre dolmen for sale - Guardian

banks in the US are razing houses to avoid maintainance costs - GlobEcon

Stendhal's 1830 novel - The Red and the Black [review]

the Italian approach to Iraqi reconstruction - Guardian

Ian Plimer has become an anti-science idiot - Deltoid

books are coming back in Iraq - CSM

"there's a saying in the Arab world: Cairo writes, Beirut publishes, Iraq reads"

William Black on fraud and the GFC - PBS

the Taliban in the Swat valley - Guardian

Blackwell's deploys in-bookshop "print on demand" - Guardian

Iceland has a new prime minister - SMH

The Middle Path: Avoiding Environmental Catastrophe [review]

$60,000 a month to mothball a 747 - WSJ

Sydney has its share of religious bigots - SMH

the IMF calls for bank nationalisations!?! - Australian

but Australian banks may be among the few survivors of a financial disaster

why is Edward Fitzgerald's Rubaiyat forgotten? - Tele [via CR]

the BBC's coverage of Israel is clearly biased - Independent

the appalling state of Gaza's economy - DemocracyNow

the Fed reconsiders Minksy! - FRBSF

"It may be that credit booms hold more dangerous systemic risks than other asset bubbles."

long but informative article on SSDs - AnandTech

if lost in the bush, don't expect help from 000 - SMH

homelessness in Japan - Bloomberg

the Financial War against Iceland continues - MarketOracle

when children left in cars die - WP [via Schneier]

propserity without growth? - Econospeak

meet charlatan nutritionist Mathias Roth - BadScience [via Deltoid]

one of the men behind South Africa's medical genocide of AIDS victims

how easy is it to kill an aircraft carrier? - Exiled - Stross

should mothers explain vibrators to their teenage daughters? - Jezebel [via RW]

Pope: saving the world from homosexuality as important as saving rainforests - Tele - SMH

If he ranted about "saving the world from Judaism" he'd be prosecuted, or at least abused by all and sundry, but how is this different?

could Special Drawing Rights replace the US dollar as a reserve currency? - IMF

Bills of Rights in Australia: History, Politics and Law [review]

Dubai doesn't sound like somewhere I'd be comfortable - Independent

Diaspora Jews need to let go of idealised Israel - SMH

more on the hidden costs of closed source - BrendanScott

Taleb on Black Swan-proofing the world - FT

Paul McGeough talks about Hamas - Gleebooks [video]

meet Barry the giant sea worm - AOL

Victoria's heatwave killed more people than its bushfires - Age

Switzerland starts deflating - Tele

Medieval Islamic Medicine [review]

does stress perpetuate poverty? - Economist

a history of the Settlers of Catan boardgame - Wired [via RW]

this is one of the all time great games

Margaret Atwood on debt - NYROB

meet Germany's Constitutional Court - Economist

Sydney's old night soil laneways up for sale - WhereILive

8 square metres in Surry Hills went for $41,000...

Aboriginal rock art in Royal National Park - Les Bursill

we did a tour with Les, which was great