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Friday Follies 2.24

Although I understand why it’s an issue, there’s still great irony in the fact Virginia prison officials are being sued because they banned inmates from receiving a book teaching them how to file lawsuits against prisons.

A Wisconsin legislative candidate says she’s going to sue the state for refusing to allow her to put her […]

Library budget proposal troubling

I about fell out of my chair reading the local daily this morning. I knew the mayor had unveiled his 2011 budget but I was shocked when I read he was proposing cutting the library budget by 44 percent. Since I was still on my first cup of coffee, I decided to hold off on […]

Book Review: Captive: My Time as a Prisoner of the Taliban by Jere Van Dyk

“I’m alive.”

As much incantation as statement of fact, that simple phrase had plenty of meaning for American journalist Jere Van Dyk when he was taken captive by the Taliban in February 2008 and held for 45 days. In Captive: My Time as a Prisoner of the Taliban, it represents affirmation, a touch of surprise […]

Book Review: Brief Lives: Leo Tolstoy by Anthony Briggs

There is an art to researching and writing biographies — at least good biographies. Although a work’s length and the amount of independent or original research may suggest how deeply a biographer delves into his subject, it certainly isn’t determinative of quality. At the same time, it is a field where the shorter the book, […]

Weekend Edition: 7-17

Blog Headlines of the Week

Antidepressants in the water are making shrimp suicidal

Parents Television Council F*cking Pissed About Repeal Of FCC Indecency Ban

Interesting Reading in the Interweb Tubes

How facts backfire (“Like an underpowered antibiotic, facts could actually make misinformation even stronger.”) (via The Morning News)

The Tyranny of the New […]