Danny's Pathologically Polymathic: January 2011

Wolfang Koeppen's vivisection of a German family - Death in Rome [my review]

intellgent, big idea science fiction - Stories of Your Life and Others [my review]

why have I never heard of Daniel Bell? - Slate [via Laird]

Sinn Fein's Gerry Adams tries to resign as Westminster MP - IT [via CT]

a 1624 law says he has to apply to be "Crown Steward and Bailiff of the three Chiltern Hundreds of Stoke, Desborough and Burnham"

how Facebook got rid of the spam - FastCpny

is a 78-year-old socialist the biggest problem the US faces? - Guardian

Australia was much more generous to Vietnamese refugees in the 1970s - SMH

the etymology of "gamut" - Etymonline [via RosanneB]

a pivotal moment for Egypt and the Middle East - Guardian

a primer on infrared radiative physics - PhysicsToday [PDF via RealClimate]

"the basic radiative physics of the anthropogenic greenhouse effect is unassailable"

the etymology of "nachos" - OED [via RW]

the Swedish energy story - ClimateProgress

$150/tonne carbon taxes, 1/4 of energy from biomass, etc.

Egypt tries to disconnect from the Internet - HP

great rant about dole bludgers - Brisbane [via RG]

school segregation in the US - BVOM [via Mertz]

why does one school get $30,000 more per student than another?

what is the most obscure book I've reviewed? - a poll

how to find real food in the supermarket - SummerTomato [via RosanneB]

how fast is the earth warming? - Tamino

if the short-term El Nino, solar and volcanic effects are removed, there's good agreement between different temperature series

some thoughts on climate science - tectonicists, warmists, evolutionists

an East Africa safari - IntoAfrica

<3% of Microsoft Office documents are in OOXML format - RobWeir [via OSWALD]

the Palestinian Authority was prepared to concede almost everything - Guardian

30 degree average global temperatures by 2100? - VM

did the IANA IPv4 pool just run empty? - IPv4depletion [via RW]

a Möebius strip story - VIHart [via TTao]

saving the US Social Security system - TPM [via RW]

I've finished writing up my last big trip - Switzerland trip

Holocaust survivors oppose ethnic cleansing in Israel - Telegraph

Computer Models, Climate Data, and the Politics of Global Warming - A Vast Machine [my review]

before/after aerial photos of Brisbane floods - ABC

Forestry and Timber in a Scandinavian Perspective - Siberian Larch [my review]

reasons to be cheerful about the Irish economy - RonanLyons

all 16,000 books withdrawn from library in closure protest - Independent

destroying the village to liberate it - Registan [via RW]

Australia: the last epic bubble - SeekingAlpha [via Bubble]

looking at some high-profile robots.txt files - ReadWriteWeb [via RW]

Hugh Hendry in fine contrarian form on China, etc. - YT

he wants banks to have to hold 20% tier one capital!

Brisbane floods could reach 5 metres - ABC

the Wivenhoe dam had better not fail

Waiting for Godot game breaks records - NewsBiscuit

history, food, archaeology, art theft, genocide, films - Cambodia [my review]

six Australian birds declared extinct - SciAm

there's a single property in South Australia 20% bigger than Wales - Anna Creek Station

breathless story about Chinese parenting - WSJ

actually about academic Chinese parents in the West (or do schools in China only give out A grades?)

Forbes joins the media publishing gibberish on climate change - RealClimate

3D reconstruction of Pergmon - SecondPage [via MEllison]

the life of Chinese workers making iPhones - JordanPouille

Imre Kertesz' dark farce of totalitarian policing - Detective Story [my review]

walking speed is a good predictor of aged life expectancy - SciAm

Wikileaks' symbiosis with the Guardian - VanityFair [via CT]

for some genotypes, vitamin D aids recovery from TB - MedicalNews

neologism of the day: "plutonomy" - RWER [via magpie]

"the US, UK, Canada and Australia have seen the rich take an increasing share of income and wealth over the last 20 years... they now dominate income, wealth and spending"

the UK is badly afflicted by homeopathy - Guardian

no surprise: Israelis are deliberately crippling Gaza's economy - Informed

lowest December ice extent on record - NSIDC [via @PJKs_shirt]

vulture with tracking device mistaken for spy - BBC

Australian bookshops versus online sellers - FlyFalcon

the new global elites - Atlantic - Huffington

what happens to old goods given to Oxfam? - Guardian

Deutsche Bank in WWII, briefly - StubbornMule

puberty is arriving earlier and earlier - MIL

private charity can't maintain public welfare - Guardian [via bilbo]

Wikileaks compared with the Pentagon Papers - shirky [via RW]

validation and verification of climate models - Easterbrook

public policy has contributed to increasing inequality in the US - ForeignAffairs [via RW]