What I'm Reading
Finished The Golden Fool book 2 in a trilogy I started here. Not as good as the pacey if lightweight first volume. This one mostly features palace intrigue, without any quests or missions. That can work well, but I think the problem here is that the protagonists are the overdogs: with the monarch on their side and the whole resources of the state available to them, it's hard to empathize too much with their crushing of the resistance.

Also has a couple of Human Interest subplots loosely tacked on; one about adolescent rebellion, one about gay panic. Has some interest, but you'd hope the older characters would be a bit too mature to go into the sulks and tiffs the subplots depend on.

On the plus side, it's reasonably paced and smooth-reading: can be finished quite pleasurably quite quickly. Also avoids the worst fantasy clichés. The next volume promises a Quest and should have enough material to keep the plot going: will be starting soon.

What I'm Watching
Finished Season 4 of The Wire: am now up-to-date and waiting for the fifth and last series. Pretty good ending, with the usual mix of heartbreak and potential hope. Was a bit annoying that the Marlo Stanfield plotline didn`t really get resolved: hopefully he'll get his just desserts in the next season.

Found it sad but not shocking when Bodie died: you don't expect the low-level soldiers to live too long. At least he went down fighting. Pretty clever the way it manipulates your sympathy: when he killed Wallace in Season One you wouldn't have expected to start siding with him.

Wire-related content:

Character who inspired Omar Little to marry.

Sociologist Sudhir Venkatesh of Freakonomics fame:

Q: Do you think the HBO series The Wire gives an accurate portrayal of gang life? It is clear from the show (if it is as real as it seems) that traditional policing strategies are very ineffective.
A: I am a huge fan of The Wire. I actually watched Season Two with a group of high ranking gang leaders/drug dealers in Chicago, who desperately wished that the series producers would make a separate show about Chicago! Everyone in the room agreed that the writers did well to show the nuances in the underground economy.

Web
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38 Ways to Win an Argument from Arthur Schopenhauer's The Art of Controversy.

Response to exercise:

"For any given indicator of fitness, there appear to be people who have a quick and large response (high-responders), people who have a slighter response (low-responders) and some who see no change at all (non-responders)." Bouchard estimates that as far as cardiorespiratory or "aerobic" fitness is concerned, 10-15% of us fall into this last category.

VoxEU 1:

Recent research shows that the much-discussed African problems -- poor infrastructure, poor public services, etc. -- did not stop Africa from boosting its exports when the US lowered it tariffs and limited other subtle trade barriers. Other OECD countries should re-consider their trade policies towards Africa in this light.

VoxEU 2:

Competing firms are on the frontline of a ‘war’ to serve customers; they have little time or resources to grant favours to politicians. Politicians that manage to shield companies from competition can expect to share the ‘fat’ thus created. Maybe this is why many of Europe’s politicians embrace protectionism?