Linkfest 2017-03-03
A Cold War era power plant could save us from ourselves
Thorium reactors are an idea that has been around for a long time. We'd try it if we got desperate.
Top professional performance through psychopathy
Being resistant to the feelings of others can be a good thing, or a bad thing. It depends on what end you put yourself towards.
When tradinistas say they want socialism, I have a hard time taking them seriously. Mostly, I just don't know what they really mean. Here, Adam Ozimek points to an essay by Matt Bruenig that helps me figure out what they are talking about. I still can't take them seriously.
USA Today has an excerpt of Thrawn by Timothy Zahn
I'm very excited about this. Thrawn is one of my favorite characters, and it looks like Timothy Zahn has been able to transfer the core of the character into the new Star Wars storyline.
The Islamic world did liberalize — but then came the First World War
Ed West reminds us the Middle East was having quite a bit of success integrating into the wider world during the first episode of globalization in the 19th century. Then we blew it all up. Makes you sympathetic to Edward Said.
The Amazon Rainforest Was Profoundly Changed by Ancient Humans
When I was a kid, the environmentalist narrative was very much about preserving and restoring pristine habitats unsullied by the hand of man. I'm glad to see this starting to change. I was first introduced to the Terra Preta of the Amazon by the now defunct Anthopogene blog. That blog had a number of fantastic articles on archaeological finds that helped to illustrate just how much the world has changed during human history.
10 things about human evolution (genetics) you should know
Razib's listicle about genetics.
Danish Companies Seek to Hire, but Everyone’s Already Working
The horrors of actual full employment.
The Politics of Retelling Norse Mythology
The claim to being a modern 'pagan' is probably worse cultural appropriation than an author retelling old stories. I've never met a pagan who wasn't just a Christian heretic.
White self-interest is not the same thing as racism
A look at what counts as racist for whom.
A splash of cold water in the face of the minor panic that ensued when someone noticed that Steve Bannon knew who Julius Evola was.
What We Know About the 92 Million Americans Who Aren’t in the Labor Force
I love a great graph.
The US Special Forces Major who fought in the SS
Larry Thorne aka Lauri Allan Törni is the kind of guy who couldn't sit out a good war. So he fought in Finland against the Soviets, twice, against the Soviets again in Germany, and then in Vietnam against the Communists.
How Uber used secret Greyball tool to deceive authorities worldwide
I'm impressed. This is how big data works in the movies. And apparently in real life sometimes too.
Is there really a war on cops?
Short answer is no. More complicated answer is that the same advances in medical technology that keep the murder rate down in general keep cops alive too [I'm not saying this adjustment would make the trend line go up BTW], and that hostility to the cops certainly seems like it is on the rise. It would be interesting to make a third graph using cops per capita to adjust for changing employment. I have a hunch the long upward trend in the late nineteenth century was due to increasing use of police forces instead of citizen volunteers. However, that data seems to be hard to find.
The Legend of Zelda - Breath of the Wild Explained
I can't wait for my copy to arrive!
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