Sunday, August 07, 2005

John Hockenberry in Wired takes a look at military bloggers. Milbloggers constitute a rich subculture with a refreshing candor about the war, expressing views ranging from far right to far left. They also offer helpful tips about tearing down an M16, recipes for beef stew (hint: lots of red wine), reviews of the latest episode of 24, extremely technical discussions of Humvee armor configurations, and exceptionally raw accounts of field hospital chaos, gore, and heroism. For now, the Pentagon officially tolerates this free-form online journalism and in-house peanut gallery, even as the brass takes cautious steps to control it. 1:18:57 PM   permalink   comment []

Nice work by Afrique Kilimanjaro in the Peacemaker, showing that state rep Earl Jones of Greensboro shills for the "payday lending" industry and lies about taking money from it. "Jones also said that he has never received money or trips from owners or people associated with the payday lending industry. "However, according to papers Jones filed with the North Carolina Board of Elections on political contributions, since his freshman term as a state legislator in 2002, Jones has received over $6,000 from payday lending shareholders and lobbyists." Jones later said it was a misunderstanding. Via Seymour's Purple Mind, which has additional info on local politicos and usurious lenders, too. 10:44:28 AM   permalink   comment []

My newspaper column this morning is about a poker game in which I've been an occasional substitute since 1980. If anything the column underplays the intensity of the card-play and the erudition of the table talk. Last weekend I absorbed another poker beat-down while trying to keep up with chatter about Spenser's Faerie Queen, Friedrich von Hayek, and the etymology of the word "harbinger." Mojitos and that Braves pitcher breaking his arm made it even harder to concentrate. I come from a line of serious card players, but it hasn't done me much good. My Cone grandparents were demons at bridge, and had in their home a pair of silver candlesticks that my grandfather won in a poker game from his uncle Julius; that's a threshold of some sort, taking furnishings from family members. Another of his uncles, Solomon, was pretty much a professional gambler, whether at the card table or in the commodities market. Sadly, I did not inherit those genes. Read the whole thing. 10:22:30 AM   permalink   comment []