Danny's Pathologically Polymathic: June 2016

an unorthodox test for mathematics undergraduates - AMM [via @divbyzero]

the sober economic consequences of leaving the EU - EIU

what European citizens in the UK can look forward to - WalesOnline

(with Milosz on "The Importance of Simone Weil") - On the Abolition of All Political Parties [my review]

We've started knocking down the house - and it's not repairable - but we haven't got any plan for the new one yet. - OxfordBlog

neither the Leave campaign nor the prime minister had any post-Brexit plan - Huffington [Sky]

"the person with the most thought through plan, as evidenced by the past 48 hours, is Nicola Sturgeon, first minister of Scotland"

rather than acting on its biggest foreign policy decision in 60+ years, Britain opts for party faction fighting... - Guardian

"The process of withdrawing from the European Union" - Parliament [PDF]

just in case anyone thought this was going to be simple

on Simon Armitage's translation of "Pearl", a Middle English poem on the death of a child - NYer

the first gay marriages in the United States happened in 1975! - Esquire [via @mertz_david]

populist demagogues with contempt for practical problems and no respect for the truth - Guardian

is Paris ready for a really big flood? - Guardian

disaffected pensioners have outvoted the younger generation - Independent

Brexit's "overwhelmingly negative" effects for Ireland - IrishTimes

"Waaaah. I want my country back! Give me my sovereignty NOW!! You're not my friend any more. I'm never going to be your friend again [stamp]. That's my car factory. And my banking industry. No, you can't have Scotland either [stamp]. Go away and don't come back, I never want to see you again. Waaaah."

Ben Goldacre on the referendum - GoogleDocs

is England ready for self-government? - IrishTimes

cleaning up the Ganges will be a massive undertaking - BBC

"Power wants the powerless to be scared, thoughtless, and alone." - NYer

Australia is running what are basically torture camps - Guardian

the likely effects of self-driving trucks in the United States - Guardian

an infographic of the world's languages, showing numbers of speakers - SCMP

referenda are a foreign way of doing things; in Britain parliament is sovereign - Standard

the unappealing options for Britain on leaving the EU: huge economic costs or loss of control - WP

migrant labour: a Bangladeshi poet in Singapore - Economist

Neil Gaiman on reading, libraries and the imagination - Guardian

Glasgow's health gap comes from political decisions that destroyed communities - Guardian

some background on Oxford's airport - OxfordToday

an ice-cream-cone proof of the focal property of an ellipse - LiorPachter [via @divbyzero]

monotremes and the origin of mammals - Guardian [via @camillaip]

the Royal Navy is not what it used to be - Guardian

Mathematics and Art: A Cultural History [my review]

bring on the 30-hour week! - NYT

the UK's HS2 railway project is the product of political vanity, not coherent planning - Guardian - Wolmar

a whole lot of calm sanity about the EU referendum - Economist

political correctness is now a tool of the right - Overland

"impulse, irritation and anger" may lead to Brexit - Telegraph

Minutes from an Infinite Paradise - Fractals, Chaos, and Power Laws [my review]

Australian Green finance policy is just neoliberal capitalism done better - MB