Three Blogworthy Notes

Does anyone besides me really read blogs anymore? Or has Facebook and Twitter defeated them entirely, and the fact they still seem like going concerns to my eyes is only evidence of how completely I remain cocooned in this shell I constructed, circa 2005? (I mean, I still use and update my blogroll for heaven's sake.) Well, anyway, whatever the truth of the matter, here are three developments in the blogosphere that in different ways have excited and intrigued me, so check them out.

The inestimable Jacob T. Levy has branched out, for the first time, I think, since he departed The Volokh Conspiracy years and years ago. The libertarian Volokh gang used to drive me batty, but I still read them, populist and communitarian and socialist though I am, because Jacob was blogging there, and his occasional and usually brilliant observations on politics, philosophy, and academia made it worth it. He apparently will now be contributing occasionally to a new blog, Bleeding Heart Libertarians. From the first few posts, it looks to be an effort to mostly talk political theory, but perhaps also talk about the events of the day, from what they're calling a "neoclassical liberal" perspective--in other words, a libertarianism which, for different reasons, supports welfare state-type policies. I'll be interested to see where they, and Jacob in particular, take it.

My old and dear and occasionally crazy socialist friend Matt Stannard has, over the past year or two, joined with other progressives of many different sorts to create a worthy contribution to the left side of the blogosphere, Shared Sacrifice, which hosted guest editorials, podcasts, and its own Blogtalk radio program. That site has now been superseded by the much more impressive, and much more user friendly, Political Context. I love the look of it, and I figure it'll be an important resource for me and others on the left, whatever the frequency of my agreeing (or disagreeing) with what I read there. (Full disclosure requires I acknowledge that I've already posted there once, and probably will be again in the future, perhaps regularly.)

Finally, another old friend of mine, a Dallas resident who prefers to maintain his online anonymity, has embarked on a massive project on his food blog, DallasFood.org. The author, a fellow I've known for twenty years, is one of the most particular, exacting, thoughtful, and thorough people I've ever known; when looks into something, he looks into it exhaustively. If you're a foodie, and especially a chocophile, you may be aware of the saga of NōKA Chocolate, an extremely expensive (and pretentious) chocolate manufacturer which DallasFood basically took apart (read about the saga here). My friend isn't planning any kind of food vendetta right now, but he has embarked upon a huge, sprawling series, filled with close historical research and some excellent art and videos, aiming to tell the whole story of the Italian (actually Turinese) chocolate, gianduia. I knew basically nothing about this delicacy before, and I'm learning more, and getting hungrier, every week. (He's even helped me pronounce it.) Absolutely worth checking out.