Links: Rural Chinese poverty; text mining introduction; Strauss and the twists of history; Onion on Wikipedia

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  The face of poverty in rural China
  A look at the dynamics of poverty in interior areas of China. This Washington Post reporter interviewed people in a Hui (Chinese muslim minority) area in Gansu province.


• Text Mining the New York Times
  This Science Daily article describes a CATA project on NYT content. Sounds like frequency counts to me, but if you're unfamiliar with how basic text analysis programs can be used, this is a good starting point.


• Twists of history: Chance encounter between American GI and Richard Strauss leads to Concerto
  This is an amazing story about John De Lancie an Army Sgt. (and professional oboeist in civilian life) who was serving in Germany in the closing days of World War II. He learned that the Austrian composer was in a villa in the same town, and arranged for a meeting. A concerto, and Strauss' only work for oboe, was the result.


• Wikipedia celebrates 750 years of American independence
  The Onion throws a barb at the "wisdom of the crowd" theory and Wikipedia.