Sports Fact & Book Rec of the Day 2/27/2010

Speaking of his younger brother, basketball Hall of Famer Bill Walton, former NFL offensive lineman Bruce Walton marveled: "Bill didn't walk on water, but he knew where all the stones were just beneath the surface."

Birthdays:
Raymond Berry b. 1933
John Davidson b. 1953
James Worthy b. 1961
Kent Desormeaux b. 1970
Duce Staley b. 1975

Packers Fact:
Defensive end Aaron Kampman had a string of 73 consecutive starts until he was held out of the regular-season finale in the 2007 season in advance of the playoffs.

http://www.hasthelhcdestroyedtheearth.com/

Hadron Collider Update

Technology marches on and most of us have little control over it. Keep checking back to see if we've disappeared into a black hole yet.

THE SOUTHERN STRATEGY

Admire him or despise him, Jesse Helms, five-term senator from North Carolina, was a brilliant political tactician. William A. Link shows how Helms became one of the primary architects of the modern Republican Party, with its conservative evangelical base and reliable Southern vote. Even as America slowly became more tolerant, self-confessed bigots like Helms knew how to keep their hands on the levers of power. Link writes little about Helms’s personal life, but for readers interested in political clout and how to get it, keep it, and use it, Righteous Warrior is an education.

RIGHTEOUS WARRIOR: JESSE HELMS AND THE RISE OF MODERN CONSERVATISM, by William A. Link (St. Martin’s Press, 2008)

STRUISE MIKKELLER

Deca Brewery, Woesten-Vleteren, Belgium

Lots going on here. Orange amber, slightly hazy, charged with carbon dioxide as any self-respecting Belgian bottle-conditioned ale should be, with a lasting beige carpet of foam. A tart, grapefruit hoppiness leads things off in the aroma, morphing into spices like coriander, orange peel, nutmeg, and maybe pepper, tempered with candied ginger, malt, and alcohol. (At 9%/vol., the alcohol is no surprise.) The finish is expectedly dry. A sipper, and a study of brewing complexity.