Friedrich --

* I don't spend a lot of time surfing the (yawn) political blogs simply because I find (yawn) politics such a yawn. But when I do surf them, I'm often surprised how good many of them are. Jim Miller (here) is beyond first-class -- why doesn't he appear in my morning paper? Catallaxy Files (here) is always provocative and often jazzily written. Andrew Norton, for example, describes an evening spent at a university conference. "For people who insist on 'critiquing' and 'problematising' everyone else, they seemed rather reluctant to accept criticism," he marvels.

* Paul Williams has a new issue of his minimagazine Cipher Culture up here. He's got an agile, musing, loop-the-loop mind that never seems to lose its poise. In an essay about tourists vs. travelers, not only does he not take the expected point of view, he pulls the whole question inside out: "The search for 'authentic' local cultures been rendered impossible, says Naomi Klein in No Logo, by global corporate capitalism. Oh - the irony - that No Logo has become the bible for English-speaking travellers searching for themselves! But wait - the belief remains that authentic cultures haven't completely disappeared."

* Best of all, Yahmdallah is posting once again, here. He reports that his spirits are in OK shape, and as he tears through reviews of movies and books he scatters "plot spoiler alerts" all over the place -- always a good sign. I'm thrilled he's back.

Best,

Michael