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Through the reality lens

From the Independent Institute, Ben O'Neill (UNSW): The Threat of Virtue: Why Independence and Integrity Threaten the State; and Robert Higgs on why we couldn't abolish slavery then and can't abolish government now. America through the reality lens: Reality TV shows surely give one pause about the future of the country. Paul Berman remembers John Patrick Diggins, 1935-2009. An American expert on poker challenges the idea that it encourages reckless, addictive, spendthrift behaviour. James McManus, who teaches a course on the literature of poker, says we can learn a lot about life, and the American mind, from the game (and more and more and more and more and more and a review of Cowboys Full: The Story of Poker). The Tijuana of the Caspian: At the border between Azerbaijan and Iran, everything’s for sale: sex, booze, tattoos — and maybe some revolutionary fervor. Here's a list of fifteen new text acronyms you should memorize to protect your teenager — and yourself. From Wired, an article on modeling human drug trials — without the human. From Britannica, a forum on multitasking: Boon or bane? From Democracy, a review of Where Men Win Glory: The Odyssey of Pat Tillman by John Krakauer and America's Army: Making the All-Volunteer Force by Beth Bailey. A review of Waiting on a Train: The Embattled Future of Passenger Rail Service — A Year Spent Riding across America by James McCommons. An interview with Bethanne Patrick, managing editor and host of The Book Studio. A case for the cultural importance of sex in art: A review of 25,000 Years of Erotic Freedom by Alan Moore.