Weekend's linkfest to articles that have nothing to do with the markets. NATO and gambling are this week's themes. Follow
‘MoreLiver’ on Twitter or Facebook. The JP
Morgan post has been updated.
Previously posted:
NATO SUMMIT
A host of issues confront NATO leaders this
weekend in Chicago. Success depends on prioritizing Afghanistan, the Smart Defense Program, and enlargement. Russia can wait.
Javier Solana: Russia Stays Home – Project
Syndicate
Will NATO Look East? – The
Diplomat
Globalizing NATO – Project
Syndicate
GAMBLING
The Gambler Who Blew $127 Million (2009) – WSJ
During a year-long gambling binge at the Caesars Palace and Rio casinos in 2007, Terrance Watanabe
managed to lose nearly $127 million. The run is believed to be one of the
biggest losing streaks by an individual in Las Vegas history.
Cracking the Scratch Lottery Code (2011) – Wired
How Mohan Srivastava, a Canadian statistician,
figured out the flaw in the North American lottery system
The High Is Always the Pain and the Pain Is
Always the High (2010) – The
Morning News
Gambling addiction is a simple disease. Living
the addiction is a bit more complicated. A chronicle of dependency in seven
parts about poker, Lolita, and how to lose $18,000 in 36 hours.
Sweat in the Game: A Gambler's Grind in the NBA
(2011) – Negative
Dunkalectics
…lurking in the shadows of the league, there
are oddsmakers and the handicappers who try to outsmart them, hoarding an
understanding of the game that rivals most NBA front-offices. Haralabos
Voulgaris is among them.
The God of Gamblers – The
New Yorker
The improbable story of how Macau become the biggest player in the
casino universe.
Bingo in the Blood (2010) – NYT
Though it enjoys a steadfast following among
older working-class residents, bingo has been in retreat across the country for
many years, eroded by competing forms of legalized gambling with sweeter riches
or superior odds, as well as by online entertainment options (including
Internet bingo). The recession and smoking bans haven’t helped. (The economy
has bruised the entire gambling industry.)
PEOPLE
Love, Dad – Letters of Note
In June of 1971, just days before his
26-year-old son, Michael, got married, future-U.S. President Ronald Reagan sent
him the following letter of advice.
Special Report: Don't call him Mr. Merkel – Reuters
Political spouses sometimes provide a spot of
glamour. Then there is Joachim Sauer, a professor of theoretical chemistry.
George Wright, America's most elusive fugitive,
ran for forty years. He ran from the cops after escaping from prison. He ran
from the feds after the most brazen hijacking in history. He ran from the
authorities on three continents, hiding out and blending in wherever he went.
It was a historic run—and now that it's over, he might just pull off the
greatest escape of all
The Most Dangerous Game (2006) – WP
Fred Kovaleski and Yuri Rastvorov were secret
agents, sworn enemies on opposite sides of the Cold War. When they finally came
face to face, a mutual love of tennis spawned the beginning of a beautiful
friendship
The Madness of General Mladic (1995) – The
New York Review of Books
SCIENCE, TECH
First Simulation Of Quantum Tunnelling On A
Quantum Computer – technology
review
Quantum tunnelling had always been thought too
complex to simulate on today's simple quantum computers. Now a new approach to
quantum computing has changed that and opens the door to more complex
simulations
How Yahoo Killed Flickr and Lost the Internet – Gizmodo
This is the story of a wonderful idea.
Something that had never been done before, a moment of change that shaped the
Internet we know today.
Antimatter Propulsion Engine Redesigned Using CERN's Particle Physics Simulation
Toolkit – technology
review
Latest simulation shows that the magnetic
nozzles required for antimatter propulsion could be vastly more efficient than
previously thought--and built with today's technologies
Planet Earth by The Universe – GigaPan
Very
high-resolution zoomable satellite image of Earth
A Chart that Reveals How Science Fiction
Futures Changed Over Time – io9
We wanted to know whether there are historical
trends in how far in the future we set our science fiction — and there
definitely are.
OTHER
FiveBooks Interviews: Julia Lovell on the Opium
War – The Browser
The 19th century opium war marked the clash of
the world’s great empires of the age – Britain and China. The historian says its legacy of Chinese humiliation is still felt
keenly in Beijing
Airlines Adopt Different Layouts for
Business-Class Beds; How to Avoid Climbing Over Sleeping Passengers
Blogging for mental health – The
British Psychological Society
To coincide with the Mental Health Month Blog
Party organised by the APA, I've collated some highlights from our coverage of mental health
issues here at the BPS Research Digest.
Tuck into our latest round-up of the best psych
and neuro links: