Whether writing fiction or fact, E.L. Doctorow had a keen understanding of how the past informs the present. He's dead at 84... New York Times... The Guardian... Newsweek... Mother Jones......E.L. Doctorow dies at 84; award-wining (sic) author of ‘Ragtime’ Los Angeles Times.
Robot surgeons kill 144 patients, hurt 1,391, malfunction 8,061 times The Register. Chuck L:
Sadly the reports on precise causes are incomplete and the vast majority of deaths and injuries are simply listed as “malfunction,” which could mean either the mechanical surgery unit failed or the operator cocked up, coauthor Dr Ramen told El Reg. There are other loose ends, such as rates of injury and death from “conventional” surgery.
How the Olympics rotted Greece Politico
Frequent flyer Ben Schlappig travels the world without paying
Beyond Greece, the world is filled with debt crises Guardian
On World Refugee Day—celebrated on 20 June every
year—the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) reports on global
displacement trends using data collected over the previous calendar
year. This time last year the UNHCR reported that the number of
refugees, asylum-seekers and internally displaced people worldwide had exceeded
50 million people for the first time since World War II. This year, in its
publication Global
Trends 2014, the UNHCR is reporting the highest levels of
displacement on record—59.5 million people (19.5 million refugees, 38.2 million
internally displaced
people and 1.8 million asylum seekers).
Amid angry scenes, ruling parties force security bills through Lower House committee Japan Times
The placebo effect IS real – even when patients know the treatment they are getting is fake Daily Mail
This Wristband Will Tell You Which Chemicals You're Exposed To Every Day
We live in a pretty toxic world. How toxic? This new wearable will let you know—and you probably won't like the results.
Manage, meddle or magnify? China’s corporate debt threat Reuters
“The Post began testing a new feature called Knowledge Map, which can be seen in “Why the Islamic State leaves tech companies torn between free speech and security”.
What
good is training in moral philosophy? Eric
Schwitzgebel and Fiery Cushman have an interesting paper (pdf,
published Cognition version here) which raises that question rather directly:
We
examined the effects of framing and order of presentation on professional
philosophers’ judgments about a moral puzzle case (the “trolley problem”) and a
version of the Tversky & Kahneman “Asian disease” scenario
Australian dollar tipped to drop below US60¢ in Canadian-style plunge Sydney Morning Herald
Australian dollar tipped to drop below US60¢ in Canadian-style plunge Sydney Morning Herald