SMS is now the world’s most intensively used data communication technology. One source claims that over 6 trillion texts were sent in 2010, for example, and that was more than triple the number sent in 2007.

• Visualizing English Word Origins
  Nerdy stuff about languages? Count me in!
• Terrorist Plots, Hatched by the F.B.I.
  Kudos to the NYT to publish this.
• S Korea ‘to target powdered human flesh capsules’
  Capsules made from dead babies and foetuses are smuggled from China into South Korea, where they are believed to cure diseases.
• Now 4 billion people know the joy of txt
  The humble text message celebrated its 20th birthday.
• “Subversive” newspaper crossword stirs Venezuela
  Sounds like a plot from a spy movie.
• Everything You Need to Know About Breasts
  Nothing dirty about this article, breast are a topic of scientific research too.
• How Wall Street Killed Financial Reform
  Very good article by the Rolling Stone on how Wall Street undermines financial reforms. Also see It’s Just Kids Playing With Dynamite.
• U.S. Military Taught Officers: Use ‘Hiroshima’ Tactics for ‘Total War’ on Islam
  Do we really still need religious wars in the 21st century?
• Vang Vieng, Laos: the world’s most unlikely party town
  When I was there a couple of years ago, it was still easily possible to escape the party crowd, I wonder if that’s still the case. There’s actually some amazing nature in the area, which is really worth exploring.
• A dark corner of America
  An intense report about the lives of drug addicts in Philadelphia.

[M]odern investment bankers are ethically a notch below your average drug dealer. They will extract from their customer – a town, an airline, a chain of retail stores – whatever they think he’ll pay.