What I'm Reading
Finished The Yiddish Policeman's Union by Michael Chabon. Took a break two-thirds through to read Potter 7, so while I found the ending a bit anticlimactic, that might have been due to the break.

It's a kind of detective novel set in an alternate world where the fledgling Israel was crushed in its independence war of 1948, and a temporary home for the Jews is set up in Sitka, Alaska. The book is set as that is set to cease to exist.

The parallel history isn't explored in depth, but the milieu is extraordinarily well set up: this Sitka feels absolutely real with great detail and a fascinating atmosphere. Characters are interesting and larger than life. The mystery is moderately well set up: some nice detail and foreshadowing, but also with a huge and unsatisfying gap. Plot-wise it's quite compelling with a fair amount of pace. Very well written in a florid style.

The politics didn't feel quite so real: it's hard to believe certain things could happen. The satire seemed a bit vague and clunky too.

Overall, worth reading for the atmosphere, but a few too many holes to be a classic.

Review, review, review, review, Wikipedia, interview.

The novel was inspired Say It In Yiddish: A Phrase Book for Travellers (discussion).

What I'm Reading 2
Also nearly finished a comic: Future Shocks is a round of short (2-6 pages) comics done by Alan Moore for 2000 AD back in the day. Pretty good, emphasis on trick endings, showing his remarkable inventiveness. Some are obvious, but some pretty haunting. Can't read too many in one sitting though.

Operation Don't Get Fatter
Still not totally convinced it's not dehydration, but the results were excellent this week: another 2 pound loss taking me down to 11st 6, which would completely wipe out the recent weight gain.

Due to bad planning, I have a shedload of weight-loss stuff arriving in this week's Tesco order though. Could have cancelled it, but that seemed like tempting fate. Also, they had a 2 for 1 offer on Slim-Fast® milkshake powder; which means I now have two and a quarter huge tins sitting around.

So, planning to keep going for another week, though maybe not trying so hard. If the current reading is a water glitch, that should take me down to the target; if not I'd probably only be down to my Week 47-50 low of 11st 5. Though I'm still a bit soft in the middle (why am I soft in the middle now? The rest of my life is so hard) so maybe should keep going till the diet food runs out.

Oddly, I went shopping again and still can't fit into Marks and Spencers 32'' trousers. Maybe they have changed their sizes to reflect reality after all.

Saturday July 21
Breakfast: Toast, HE couscous (225kcal,9.6g protein), 25g soft cheese, tomato.
Lunch: Chilli burger, steamed egg, potatoes, carrot, peas. WW eclair
Supper: Ham and tomato sandwiches, olive.
Booze: 1 beer, 2 whisky
Snacks: Slimfast pretzels
Exercise: 5BX Chart 4 Level A+.

Sunday July 22
Breakfast: Scotch broth (150kcal) 2 slices bread, ham.
Lunch: 180g steak. Potatoes, carrot, broad beans. WW eclair
Supper: Meal replacement bar (210kcal,14g protein)), kiwi fruit, apricot.
Snacks: Hot choc with shot whisky
Exercise: 5BX Chart 4 Level A+. 1.75 miles walking .Dumb-bells 3x10 heavy, med. 1x10 light with med weights (except mil press).

Monday July 23
Breakfast: Slimfast shake,
Lunch: Chicken wrap
Supper: Chilli con carne, 4 toast, olives. 2 finger kit-kat. 2 plums, apricot
Snacks: another apricot, peach
Booze: 2 brandy
Exercise: 5BX Chart 4 Level A+. 1.75 miles walking

Tuesday July 24
Breakfast: Meal replacement bar
Lunch: Dal soup, small chicken sandwich
Supper: Ocean pie, 2 toast, tomato. Light yoghurt.
Snacks: Hot choc. Peach, plum, apricot. Slice ham
Booze: None
Exercise: 5BX Chart 4 Level A+. 3.5 miles walking

Wednesday July 25
Breakfast: Slimfast smoothie (212kcal, 14g protein)
Lunch: Smoked salmon and cream cheese bagel
Supper: Goulash, bread, tomato. WW eclair.
Snacks; Slimfast pretzels
Booze: 1 beer, 1 whisky
Exercise: 5BX Chart 4 Level A+.

Thursday July 26
Breakfast: Slimfast shake
Lunch: Chicken flatbread
Supper: WW chicken hotpot, toast, tomato. WW eclair
Snacks: 2 bananas
Booze: 1 brandy
Exercise: 5BX Chart 4 Level A+. 1.75 miles walking .Dumb-bells 3x10 heavy, med. 3x30 light

Friday July 27
Breakfast: Slimfast shake
Lunch: Hummus and vegetable wrap
Supper: WW chicken curry (294kcal,17g protein), light yoghurt(102kcal,8g protein), toast, tomato
Second supper: 4 Ryvita, ham, olives
Snacks: Banana, pear. WW choc chip
Booze: 1 beer, 1 whisky
Exercise: 5BX Chart 4 Level A+. 3.5 miles walking

Consumerism
Bought a wind-up torch/radio/phone charger. I have no actual need for such a thing. However, after watching "The Descent", "28 Weeks Later" and reading "House of Leaves" I think I've seen far too many cases of people being chased by monsters through the dark with the batteries on their torches running out. Well I'm ready for ya, suckers.

Bit bulkier than I'd like: jacket-pocketable but not really jeans-pocketable. Quite bright: has a 3-LED and 1-LED mode which lasts longer, the 3-LED mode seems slightly brighter than my old torch with 2 D-cells and a wire bulb. Theoretically a quick charge lasts quite a long time for torch and radio. Tried hooking it up to the phone and I think it would be quite strenuous to charge it that way: you'd have to be pretty desperate to use it. Which I think I would be if my phone ran out and I had no other charger.

Apology to Oliver James
After slagging him off in my last diary for not defining Selfish Capitalism, I looked it up in the index and it is defined after all. Sorry, dude.

Also, I may have been confusing him with other psychologist/author/celebrity Oliver Sacks.

By Selfish Capitalism I mean four basic things. The first is that the success of businesses is judged almost exclusively by their current share price. The second is a strong drive to privatise public utilities, such as water, gas and electricity, or, in the case of America, to keep them in private hands. The third is that there should be as little regulation of business as possible, with taxation for the rich and very rich so limited that whether to contribute becomes almost a matter of choice. The fourth is the conviction that consumption and market forces can meet human needs of almost every kind. America is the apotheosis of Selfish Capitalism, Denmark the nearest thing to its Unselfish opposite.

I'm not quite sure why regulation of business and low taxation are one item.

Also found an off-hand reference to cognitive therapy which is interesting since the other Happiness Agenda people want a lot more of it.

It [Chinese cultural optimism] is very different from the 'call black white' school of positive psychology fostered by Western cognitive psychologists, Whereas they would advocate a crude deletion of negative thoughts and painting your bubble rose-coloured, Tai is facing up to reality first of all, and only then declaring her intention to change things for the better.

Web
Belated but hilarious YouTube. Fox News "They get what they call LULZ".

How the internet ruined poker.

VoxEU. Gender quotas at the top do not increase hiring lower down the ladder.