Friday Links (26-Oct-12)

Oct 26, 2012 | Blog Topics, Links

  • I can’t believe I haven’t posted yet about one of the best YouTube channels I know. Crash Course is a weekly animated education series run by the quirky Green brothers. This year it’s biology and world history (with some fascinating takes). Next year, the world.
  • One thing that really bugs me about certain prominent religious biologists is when they use biology (and their authority as prominent biologists!) to argue for god while committing 101 fallacies and misusing the facts. Here’s one case, dissected.
  • I’ve discovered a new and now-obscure chapter in ‘man’s inhumanity to man’. Zwi Migdal was a large organisation of Jewish pimps in Argentina and Brazil who operated in the late 19th and early 20th century, luring thousands of Jewish women and girls from the economic/security desperation of Eastern European shtetls to the brothels of Buenos Aires and Rio de Janeiro. Huge in scope, it had considerable political influence and tended to buy off law enforcement.
  • More on the history of the real Machiavelli: this time it’s how he (essentially) invented/discovered utilitarianism. Coming up with an ethical system not yet seen is about as close to original as you can get.
  • Now that it’s possible (though expensive) to choose the sex of your baby in the US, it’s become a large industry. And contrary to predictions, people seem to be using it to overwhelmingly to select girls.

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