The Tyler Cowen

1. Our government is in shambles...but thankfully (?) we're not alone.
2. Panoramas from New York at the turn of the century. Via The Browser
3. Entertaining hatchet-job on Thomas Kinkade. Also via The Browser.
4. Unexploded bombs still litter Germany. Via Marginal Revolution.

The Tyler Cowen

1. Good history of coffee and its effects. Via Gizmodo.
   
2. Where HAVE all the girls gone?
3. Interesting read from one of the fathers of a Gizmodo editor of all people. Goes to show that any life is interesting. (Or maybe...that our fathers had way more interesting lives than us.)

The Tyler Cowen

1. Awesome summary of the universe understood through thresholds of complexity.
   

A brief history of the world

Incredible infographic presentation made all the more endearing by the charmingly nerdy host.

It's interesting to see some countries fluctuate wildly up and down (life expectancy) without changing their income early on. And the representation of the flu epidemic is equally impressive. But I'd love to know who the poor country is whose life expectancy falls below 25 years in 1943. It drops like a stone! And what is happening with a few of those countries that jump way up the income scale in the '70s? Could those be OPEC countries? It's also interesting to see China's life expectancy grow substantially before its income starts to rise. Could this be a product of universal improvements in standard health-care worldwide?

Great video regardless.