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This week brings another in my series on people whose blogs and other writings are worth reading. (The first post was on the libertarian economist Arnold Kling.) I try to highlight people who aren’t household names but have something worth saying, enough so that I keep track of what they’re up to ib regular. This week’s person, the Russian ecologist turned American historian Peter Turchin, was name-checked in a Paul Krugman column recently, and he’s attracting more attention. However there’s still time to get in on the ground floor (as it were) by following his blogging at the Social Evolution Forum (a group blog, but Turchin does most of the posts). ...

I subscribe to almost two hundred blogs, covering a wide range of topics. I thought it would be fun to highlight some of the more interesting ones, in case anyone else finds any of them interesting and also to provide some insight into the particular things I tend to blog about. First up is Arnold Kling and his “Askblog,” the tagline of which is “taking the most charitable view of those who disagree.”1 ...

To get back in the blogging habit, a quick note on what’s going on food-wise in my part of Howard County, namely Route 40 in Ellicott City and the historic downtown: The exit: Cooks N’ Cakes closed its shop next to Starbucks on Route 40 just over a month ago. The web site has an “open letter” noting that the owner “has been presented with some opportunities she feels she can NOT pass up.” (The web site also still lists hours as if the shop is open, which I think is odd.) Their Facebook page goes on to note that they’re “talking with a local yogurt shop interested in carrying Cooks N Cakes cupcakes.” I didn’t go that often (eating cupcakes is not something I should make a daily or even weekly habit), but it was nice to have a shop nearby (even if I agreed with many reviewers that their cupcake batter was a tad dry). I’ll have to try one of the other cupcake shops in Howard County. ...

We conclude our tour of campaign signs from the 2010 Howard County elections by looking at some of my favorites. (For more signs see part 1 and part 2.) Frank Aquino for Board of Education (2010) I like this mainly for the obvious but nice “A+” design element. The slogan is too small to read, and the domain name could be ditched in favor of increasing the size of “Board of Education.” ...

Continue down memory lane with me as we look back at the campaign signs for Howard County local elections in 2010. (For more signs see part 1 and part 3, and note that I didn’t make a complete record of all signs.) Frank Mirabile for US Congress (2010) Based on the sign it appears that Frank Mirabile’s campaign website had (has?) a very long domain name; was frankmirabile.com taken? The stars are an interesting design element, but the middle and largest star looks somewhat chopped off. ...