¶ Matins: John Swansburg, culture editor at Slate, used to follow sports zealously. It seems to have become something of a diet of desserts, because he’s feeling much better now that he does other things instead.

His explanation reminds us, we don’t know why, a little bit of War Games. (Slate; via Brainiac)

¶ Lauds: Ripley, meet Shipley. Oh! You know one another already! James Cameron talks to Speakeasy about Avatar, which has received four Golden Globe nominations even though it hasn’t opened (officially).

¶ Prime: This isn’t how it was supposed to work: microfinance, in rural India at least, seems to be giving traditional moneylending (which it was expected to replace) a real boost. Microlenders see things differently;  As always, life is a lot more complicated than theory predicts. What continues to be interesting about microfinance is its strong bond to groups of women. (WSJ; via Marginal Revolution)

¶ Tierce: Evan Maloney finds speed-reading to be a waste of time. We knew that, but we still wish that we could get through books faster. Are books themselves the problem? (Guardian; via Arts Journal)

¶ Sext: The mercury ball stage! If you’re enough of a cook to stock All-Clad skillets and sauté pans, you will definitely want to see a hugely useful video from rouxbe.com — a site that we had not heard of. Nor had we heard of Houseboat Eats, which ran the clip. Don’t say we never taught you anything! (via The Morning News) 

¶ Nones: As the prospect of Turkish membership in the European Union recedes to the vanishing point, silver linings glimmer ever more promisingly. Closer ties between Turkey and Syria, which Robert Worth writes about in the Times, are good for everybody (except, possibly, for Iran).

¶ Vespers: At The Millions — actually, in Tübingen — Daniel Silliman asks Jonathan Franzen to reconcile his dislike of “experimentalism” in fiction and his admiration for (and friendship with) David Foster Wallace. The answer is not theoretical.

¶ Compline: Ed Kilgore looks into “The Ungreening of America,” and finds that two out of three likely explanations trace back to GOP ranting. (TNR)

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