Danny's Pathologically Polymathic: February 2012

I'm feeling increasingly unwanted by the UK government - Guardian

Lost Books of Medieval China [my review]

talking to a financial advisor induces a rant - Oxford Blog

the rich and privileged are more likely to cheat, steal and lie - PNAS

but which way does the causality run here?

code is vital for reproducibility in scientific publication - Nature [via OSWALD]

"with some exceptions, anything less than the release of source programs is intolerable for results that depend on computation"

on translating Harry Potter into ancient Greek - Loxias

what happened to hypertext fiction? - NoCat [via @AndrewPam]

more anti-science from the Wall Street Journal - RC

Grantham on personal investment and the limits of capitalism - GMO [PDF]

"seen through a corporate discount rate lens, our grandchildren really do have no value"

teaching computer science to primary children - CSunplugged - Scratch

Canada: "housing is not net national wealth" - MB

farewell "Mademoiselle" - Guardian

I'm all for abolishing Mr and Mrs as well, in favour of an ungendered "M"

Irregular Webcomic now does popular science presentations - IWC

you can kill thousands of Syrians, but kill one American... - WSJ [via @KarinaBrisby]

if she'd died in a car crash, her life would have been the same and Syria would be the same but there'd be far less media attention

is one long sleep a night normal? - BBC

the evidence they give for regular broken sleep seems anecdotal...

is it legal for UK schools to have racist and sexist teaching as well? - Guardian

stories of Hong Kong and Shanghai in the 1930s - Love in a Fallen City [my review]

running multiple concurrent Linux distributions with chroot - TeddZiuba

an update on what's happening in Greece - BBC

on teenage password sharing - Zephoria [via Schneier]

Finnish schools as a model for the United States? - NYROB

the Vergina tombs, an Ashmolean exhibition, and Greek identity politics - LRB

(sorry, that appears to require registration)

on the origins of ant agriculture - NIH

"between 10 and 20 mya an Apterostigma species acquired a radically different fungal cultivar that its descendants continue to cultivate"

debt looms over the Australian economy - BS

"shared ownership" with ugly interactions between tenant and owner risks - Guardian

even fans of Hayek are calling for stronger financial regulation - Cosma

discrimination against single people? - DailyBeast

progress with thorium reactors - Guardian [via EdG]

advice on cycling in the snow - NuttyCyclist

a special report on Pakistan - Economist

even in France nuclear power is going to be more expensive than wind - EWEA

a novel of personal and family change in modern Korea - Please Look After Mom [my review]

Pinochet rehabilitated in Chilean schoolbooks - NewMatilda

Facebook is a data black hole - Scoblizer [via RW]

I have a Kindle: notes on using it - OxfordBlog

how the US destroyed Iraq's university system - Bulletin

now defending the teaching of climate change, too - NCSE

limited freedom of religion in Indonesia - JakartaGlobe

rhino poaching and horn theft a problem even in Europe - Guardian

impregnate random rhino horns with a persistent neurotoxin: after a few rich Chinese die in agony there will be less poaching

an update on Syria - Informed

using wood fires is worse than smoking? - SamHarris

China should introduce property taxes - Economist

Why People Become Poor and How they Escape Poverty - One Illness Away [my review]

twenty beautiful bookshops, worldwide - Flavorwire [via @VivianYang]

Alabama's crackdown on illegal immigrants - ThisAmericanLife

the evolution of land plants and climate change - ScienceMag

should elephants and rhinos be introduced to Australia? - Guardian