Saturday, May 28, 2011

Sports Fact & Book Rec of the Day 5/24-28/2011

5/24/1988:
A Stanley Cup finals match between the Oilers and the Bruins at Boston Garden ends in a tie because of a power failure. Edmonton headed into Game 4 leading three games to none. The Oilers had just tied the score, 3-3, at 16:37 of the second period when the arena went dark. The outage occurred when an overloaded 4,000-volt transfer unit on a street beside the Garden burned out. Before the power failure, the steamy, airless rink was shrouded in knee-high waves of fog and play had to be intermittently halted. The Oilers will take the Stanley Cup with a 6-3 win on May 26 in Game 5 in Edmonton.

Birthdays:
Mitch Kupchak b. 1954
Joe Dumars b. 1963
Pat Verbeek b. 196
Bartolo Colon b. 1973
Tracy McGrady b. 1979

Packers Fact:
The Packers drafted cornerback Brandon Underwood in 2009. He was the second of the club's two sixth-round picks that year.

5/25/1951:
Called up from the New York Giants' Minneapolis farm club after batting .447 in 35 games, 20-year-old Willie Mays makes his major league debut during an 8-5 win over the Phillies in Philadelphia. Wearing number 14 (he'll switch to number 24 a week from now), Mays makes a couple of sparkling plays in center but is hitless in five at-bats. After 26 big-league at-bats, he'll have only one hit- a homer off the Boston Braves' Warren Spahn on May 28- but his batting average will exceed .300 by the end of June and he'll finish his rookie season with a .274 average and 20 homers in 121 contests.

Birthdays:
Gene Tunney b. 1897
Bill Sharman b. 1926
K.C. Jones b. 1932
Miguel Tejada b. 1976
Brian Urlacher b. 1978

Packers Fact:
End Max McGee is best known for catching 2 touchdown passes in Super Bowl 1, but he had 345 catches in all, including 50 for touchdowns, in 12 seasons in Green Bay (1954, 1957-1967).

5/26/1959:
Harvey Haddix pitches 12 innings of perfect baseball only to lose 1-0 to the Braves in Milwaukee. Haddix retires the first 36 batters to face him, but his Pirates teammates are unable to dent the plate against Lew Burdette, who scatters 12 Pittsburgh hits while pitching 13 innings. Felix Mantilla leads off the Milwaukee 13th by reaching base on a throwing error by third baseman Don Hoak, Eddie Mathews bunts Mantilla to second and Hank Aaron is intentionally walked. Joe Adcock then delivers over the center field fence for an apparent home run, but he's declared out for passing Aaron between second and third during the jubilant celebration by the Braves. Adcock earns a double and the Braves get the win.

Birthdays:
Cliff Drysdale b. 1941
Darrell Evans b. 1947
Dan Roundfield b. 1953
Wesley Walker b. 1955
Travis Lee b. 1975

Packers Fact:
Linebacker Charley Brock was a three-time Pro Bowl player and two-way center. He was named to the NFL's 1940s All-Decade Team.

5/27:
President Jimmy Carter, on cultural differences between fans at the U.S. Open and those at the Wimbledon tournament in a London suburb: "New Yorkers love it when you spill your guts out there. Spill your guts at Wimbledon and they make you stop and clean it up."

Birthdays:
Sam Snead b. 1912
Jeff Bagwell b. 1968
Frank Thomas b. 1968
Todd Hundley b. 1969
Antonio Freeman b. 1972

Packers Fact:
Greg Jennings caught at least 1 pass in each of the first 44 games of his NFL career until he was shut out against Cincinnati in Week 2 of 2009.

5/28/1968:
Dale Long, a relatively obscure first baseman with 25 career homers in 201 games, sets a major league record by homering for the Pittsburgh Pirates in his eighth game in a row. He hits one home run in each of the eight games, starting on May 19. Don Mattingly will match the feat in 1987.

Birthdays:
Jim Thorpe b. 1888
Jerry West b. 1938
Terry Crisp b. 1943
Kirk Gibson b. 1957
Ben Howland b. 1957

Packers Fact:
The Packers selected linebacker Brad Jones out of Colorado in the seventh round in 2009.


“All things excellent are as difficult as they are rare.”
BENEDICT DE SPINOZA, 17th-century Dutch philosopher

“If you think you are beaten, you are.”
WALTER D. WINTLE, American poet

“Believe in fate, but lean forward where fate can see you.”
QUENTIN CRISP, English writer

“I have some problems with my life, but living is the best thing they’ve come up with so far.”
NEIL SIMON, American playwright

TO BE DEFEATED
IS PARDONABLE;
TO BE
SURPRISED—
NEVER!
NAPOLÉON I, emperor of the French





ON TAKING CLASS DISTINCTIONS TOO FAR

Deer, redfish, tarpon, upland game birds and peasants—you name it, you can fish for it or shoot at it.

from the London Times

ON THE IRS, SO HELPFUL

Definition of a qualifying child revised. The following changes to the definition of a qualifying child have been made.

Your qualifying child must be younger than you.

from IRS Publication 919, “How Do I Adjust My Tax Withholding” (thanks to Chris from Long Island, NY)

ON HEY, OURS TOO!

When I look at my backside, I find it is divided into two parts.

an Australian diplomat in France, trying to tell a French audience (in French) that as he looked back over his career, it was divided into two units—before Paris and after Paris

ON MUST YOU SHARE THIS WITH US?

It’s been a long time since I caught crabs. The last occasion was 15 years ago on the Isle of Wight. Oh, what a long, hot summer that was.

journalist Bryony Gordon, in a Daily Telegraph story

ON BUT IT’S A
PAIN SENDING IT
THROUGH THE MAIL

Family Feud host Richard Dawson: Name a food people give as a gift.

Contestant: Lasagna.



A GREAT ESCAPE
Detective Inspector John Rebus throws a cup of coffee at a superior, which results in his being sent to police college for some retraining in teamwork. There he begins an investigation of police corruption, at the same time working away at a couple of murder cases. The plot may be somewhat intricate, and Rebus can be moody and difficult, but Ian Rankin has developed him into one of the great contemporary fiction detectives. A compelling page-turner, as always.

RESURRECTION MEN, by Ian Rankin (Little, Brown, 2004)

A LIFE
The story of John D. Rockefeller is undoubtedly a major, and powerful, chapter in the story of American capitalism. Ron Chernow, author of The House of Morgan, gives a balanced and engrossing account of the great monopolist and Baptist, from his childhood with a father who was a snake-oil salesman and his pious and long-suffering mother to his rise in and domination of the oil industry and his efforts to be a caring and dutiful father. A richly interesting biography.

TITAN: THE LIFE OF JOHN D. ROCKEFELLER SR., by Ron Chernow (Vintage, 2004)

CHILDREN’S AUTHOR UNDERCOVER
Yes it’s true. The author of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory was a spy. Working with Ian Fleming and other cosmopolitan Brits, he charmed his way into the parlors and bedrooms of Washington, passing gossip and information to London while planting propaganda with American journalists. Jennet Conant’s book is an entertaining, somewhat scandalous account of wits and playboys in the service of their country.

THE IRREGULARS: ROALD DAHL AND THE BRITISH SPY RING IN WARTIME WASHINGTON, by Jennet Conant (Simon & Schuster, 2008)

MORE THAN TREES GROW IN BROOKLYN
Brooklyn in the last third of the 20th century is Jonathan Lethem’s territory. He knows its aches and pains, its graffiti and its streets. And in Fortress of Solitude the life, the music, of Brooklyn is all-pervasive. The story is about Dylan Ebdus, a white kid growing up in a mostly black but gentrifying neighborhood, and his friend Mingus Rude. In the end Dylan becomes a rock journalist, but on the way he goes through schoolyard bullying, punk and rap, drugs, crime fighting, and a ring with strange powers. “Prose as supple as silk and as bright, explosive and illuminating as fireworks,” says Publishers Weekly.

FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, by Jonathan Lethem (Vintage, 2004)

RAVE REVIEWS
If you need an intellectual feel-good book, we recommend this rollicking yet scholarly history of some extraordinary moments of scientific discovery that had huge ramifications throughout the world of ideas. It’s a group biography and a sweeping cultural history of the 1700s and early 1800s, where poetry and the planets, the telescope and Frankenstein’s monster, hot-air balloons and magical voyages to Tahiti rub elbows, and there’s no such profession as “scientist” yet.

THE AGE OF WONDER: HOW THE ROMANTIC GENERATION DISCOVERED THE BEAUTY AND TERROR OF SCIENCE, by Richard Holmes (Pantheon, 2009)

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Monday, May 23, 2011

Sports Fact & Book Rec of the Day 5/23/2011

5/23/1895:
The Brooklyn Dodgers win a forfeit over the Colonels in Louisville because the home team fails to supply enough baseballs to complete the game. At the start of the contest, there are only three balls on hand, and two of those are practice balls borrowed from the Dodgers. With Brooklyn leading 3-1 in the third inning, all three have been battered out of shape. Louisville business manager Harry Pulliam telegraphs for a dozen more balls and sends a messenger to retrieve them. The messenger boards a streetcar that breaks down en route, delaying his return to the ballpark. Unwilling to wait any longer, umpire William Betts forfeits the game to the Dodgers.

Birthdays:
Vic Stasiuk b. 1929
John Newcombe b. 1943
Tom Penders b. 1945
Marvin Hagler b. 1954
Rich Karlis b. 1959

Birthdays:
The Packers fashioned a turnover differential of plus-7 in 2008 (28 takeaways and 21 giveaways), only the New York Giants at plus-9, had a better mark among NFC teams.

“We are not interested in the possibilities of defeat; they do not exist.”
QUEEN VICTORIA


ON MAMMA MIA!

Game show host Steve Wright: What is the Italian word for motorway?

Contestant: Espresso.

(The answer is autostrada; thanks to Colin Griggs.)


THE BIRTH OF THE NEW AGE
When you think of San Francisco, Oakland, and Berkeley do you envision hippies? Beatniks? They stood on the shoulders of giants—the bohemians, visionary artists, writers, conservationists, and philosophers who paved the way in the West. Jack London, John Muir, Ansel Adams, Dorothea Lange, Bernard Maybeck (father of the Arts and Crafts movement), Ina Coolbrith (first California poet laureate), and Charles and Louise Keeler (Charles founded the very modern-California-sounding Cosmic Religion) are some of the many interesting figures brought to life in this meticulously researched volume.

BERKELEY BOHEMIA: ARTISTS AND VISIONARIES OF THE EARLY TWENTIETH CENTURY, by Ed Herny, Shelle Rideout, and Katie Wadell (Gibbs Smith, 2008)

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Sunday, May 22, 2011

Sports Fact & Book Rec of the Day 5/19-22/2011

5/19/1999:
The Cincinnati Reds pound the Colorado Rockies, 24-12, on a record-setting afternoon in Denver. The two teams combine for 81 total bases, breaking the record of 79 established in 1923. The 15 extra-base hits by the Reds (9 doubles, 6 homers) tie a National League record. Seven different Reds have at least 3 hits; Cincinnati has 28 hits in all. Sean Casey is perfect in seven plate appearances with two homers, two singles and three walks, tying a modern major league record for most times reached base in a nine-inning game (batting 1.000). Jeffrey Hammonds' three homers, normally a lead story, on this day are merely a footnote.

Birthdays:
Dolph Schayes b. 1928
Archie Manning b. 1949
Bill Laimbeer b. 1957
Turk Wendell b. 1967
Kevin Garnett b. 1976

Packers Fact:
The Packers drafted defensive end Jarius Wynn out of Georgia in the sixth round in 2009.


5/20/1999:
Robin Ventura of the New York Mets becomes the first player in major league history to hit grand slams in both ends of a double header. In the first inning of the opener, Ventura clears the bases with a homer off the Milwaukee Brewers' Jim Abbott to give his club a 4-0 lead and the Mets hang on to win, 11-10. Facing Horacio Estrada in the fourth inning of the second tilt, he belts grand slam number two and the Mets win again, 10-1. He'll finish his career with 18 grand slams in 188 at-bats with the bases loaded.

Birthdays:
Hal Newhouser b. 1921
Bud Grant b. 1927
Stan Mikita b. 1940
Sadaharu Oh b. 1940
David Wells b. 1962

Packers Fact:
Star center Jug Earp's (1922-1932) last name appeared as "Earpe" during his playing career. The correction wasn't made until long after his retirement.

5/21/1904:
Bill O'Neill commits six errors, a modern (since 1900) major league baseball record, during a 13-inning 5-3 Red Sox loss to the St. Louis Browns in Boston. Normally a Sox outfielder, O'Neill is playing the second of the only two games he'll ever play at short. He's subbing for the injured Freddy Parent, who misses only two games all year.

Birthdays:
Johnny Majors b. 1935
Johnny Roland b. 1943
Dave Wannstedt b. 1952
Kent Hrbek b. 1960
Ricky Williams b. 1977

Packers Fact:
End Billy Howton made the Pro Bowl four times in his seven seasons with the Packers (1952-58). He caught 503 passes, including 61 four touchdowns.

5/22:
Don King, notorious boxing celebrity: "I am the best promoter in the world, and I say that humbly."

Birthdays:
Al Simmens b. 1902
Larry Siegfried b. 1939
Nick Tingelhoff b. 1940
Tommy John b. 1943
George Best b. 1946

ENOUGH IS
GREAT RICHES.
Danish proverb

“I’m no good at being noble, but it doesn’t take much to see that the problems of three little people don’t amount to a hill of beans in this crazy world. Someday you’ll understand that.”
RICK BLAINE (HUMPHREY BOGART) in Casablanca; screenplay by Julius J. Epstein, Philip G. Epstein, and Howard Koch

“True courage is facing danger when you are afraid.”
L. FRANK BAUM, American writer

HOPE IS
A TALENT
LIKE ANY
OTHER.
MARGARET STORM JAMESON, English writer

ON OH, PUT A SOCK IN IT, JULIETTE

It just happens that I’m acting because I’m in the process of meeting someone—myself—on the way back.

actress Juliette Binoche

ON ALBERTANS, FRIGID

Most of the sex is south of you.

closed captioning on a TV weather report in Alberta, Canada

ON STATS, STUPID

If crime went down 100 percent, it would still be 50 times higher than it should be.

Washington, D.C., city councilman John Bowman, commenting on the high crime in the city

ON AND THE
53RD AMENDMENT
FREE-SPEECH THINGIE

I support the First Amendment right to carry and bear arms.

politician Rudy Giuliani




KILLING THRILLER
If you like your mysteries superbly crafted, lavished with unforgettable images and characters, quietly devastating, and intellectually engaging to the last page, dig into this multigenerational tale of betrayal, entanglement, and deceit that starts in World War I and still haunts the descendants of those involved decades later. The stories and time frames and points of view are intertwined so masterfully that the mystery that unfolds is as fresh as if we were discovering each life-changing secret right along with the characters.

IN PALE BATTALIONS, by Robert Goddard (1988; Delta, 2007)

READ THIS MATEY!
The son of Jonathan Livingston Seagull’s creator had, as you might imagine, an interesting childhood, but you’d never guess just how interesting. A poor student, yet clearly gifted, James Bach fought and rebelled and failed his way through about three quarters of a high school education and then, with the blessing of his illustrious and iconoclastic father, dropped out and emancipated himself from his parents. Here is his prescription for how to ride the high seas of autodidactic adventure and enjoy life’s bounty.

THE SECRETS OF A BUCCANEER SCHOLAR: HOW SELF-EDUCATION AND THE PURSUIT OF PASSION CAN LEAD TO A LIFETIME OF SUCCESS, by James Marcus Bach (Scribner, 2009)

SAINT JOAN OF MEXICO
The Hummingbird’s Daughter is Luis Alberto Urrea’s beautifully conceived and executed novel based on the life of his great-grandmother Teresita, who was called the Saint of Cabora. She was the child of a 14-year-old Indian girl and a rancher, Don Tomás Urrea, who later took his illegitimate daughter into his home. At 16 she was raped and left for dead, but at her funeral she surprised everyone by sitting up in her coffin, very much alive. She was believed to have miraculous healing powers and was denounced by the church as a heretic. An amazing book, full of struggle and heart.

THE HUMMINGBIRD’S DAUGHTER, by Luis Alberto Urrea (Little, Brown, 2005)

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Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Sports Fact & Book Rec of the Day 5/17-18/2011

5/17/1875:
Aristedes wins the first Kentucky Derby. According to the custom of the day, when Thoroughbred owners utilized the skills of men who worked their stables and knew the horses best, both his trainer and jockey are African Americans. Trainer Ansel Williams, born a slave in Virginia, will be elected posthumously to horse racing's Hall of Fame in 1998. Aristedes will receive his own honors. The Aristedes Stakes will be inaugurated at Churchill Downs in 1988, and in the Clubhouse Gardens a handsome life-size bronze statue stands in his memory.

Birthdays:
Cool Papa Bell b. 1903
Earl Morrall b. 1934
Tony Roche b. 195
Sugar Ray Leonard b. 1956
Danny Manning b. 1966

Packers Fact:
Billy Howton broke Don Hutson's Packers'-record for receiving yards in his first NFL season in 1952. He had 1,321 yards that season.

5/18/1958:
Pinch-hitting for Roger Maris, Carroll Hardy hits his first major league home run-a three-run blast in the 11th inning - to give the Indians a 7-4 victory over the Chicago White Sox in Cleveland. Though a .225 hitter in 433 big-league games, Hardy is a pinch hitter for the stars; he'll pinch-hit for Ted Williams in 1960 and Carl Yastrzemski in 1961. Having played halfback and scored four touchdowns for the San Francisco 49ers in 1955, he'll return to football as a player/personnel director for the Denver Broncos in the 1970s and help put together the team that will win the 1977 NFC championship.

Birthdays:
Fred Perry b. 1909
Choo Choo Justice b. 1924
Brooks Robinson b. 1937
Reggie Jackson b. 1946
Jari Kurri b. 1960

Packers Fact:
Kicker Mason Crosby opened his NFL career by making 100 consecutive extra-point tries in his first two-plus seasons before misfiring in a victory over St. Louis in Week 3 of 2009.



ON TEAM NAMES, HO-RRIBLE

George Shinn. He’s the owner of the Charlotte Harlots basketball team.

baseball announcer Ralph Kiner

ON TALK ABOUT YOUR GREAT DEALS!

EVERYTHING
ON SALE
AT REGULAR PRICE

hardware store sign in Louisville, Kentucky



“You cannot depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus.”
MARK TWAIN, American writer and humorist

Distrust yourself, and sleep before you fight.

’Tis not too late tomorrow to be brave.
DR. JOHN ARMSTRONG, 18th-century Scottish poet



RAVE REVIEWS
When Eugenia “Skeeter” Phelan returns to her hometown of Jackson, Mississippi, after graduation from Ole Miss, she has an English degree and a lot to learn. Once we’ve settled down with Skeeter and her friends and neighbors in the world she inhabits, which is painted in breathtakingly vivid detail, the real work of the novel begins: to describe the world of the people who make the white people’s lives possible—“the help.” When Aibileen and Minny and their friends start talking, you won’t want them ever to stop.

THE HELP, by Kathryn Stockett (Putnam Adult, 2009)

STRANGER THAN FICTION
Between 1979 and 1981, the restless, striving, voracious filmmaker and writer Werner Herzog was filming Fitzcarraldo, his wildly eccentric vision of the fictional rubber baron title character’s descent into the heart of the Amazonian darkness. Perhaps you’ve seen the unforgettable film or the equally mesmerizing documentary made about Herzog and the filming. Here are the journals from the period, wild with jungle fever.

CONQUEST OF THE USELESS: REFLECTIONS FROM THE MAKING OF FITZCARRALDO, by Werner Herzog (Ecco, 2009)

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Monday, May 16, 2011

Sports Fact & Book Rec of the Day 5/16/2011

5/16/1939:
The Philadelphia Athletics stage the first night game in American League history and lose to the Cleveland Indians, 8-3, at Shibe Park. The A's are the third team to play home games at night. The Cincinnati Reds were first in 1935, the Brooklyn Dodgers second in 1938. The A's will be followed in 1939 by the Philadelphia Phillies, Cleveland Indians and Chicago White Sox, and in 1940 by the New York Giants, St. Louis Browns, Pittsburgh Pirates and St. Louis Cardinals. Fans of the Washington Senators, Boston Braves, New York Yankees, Boston Red Sox and Detroit Tigers will see night games at home in the 1940s. Of the 16 pre-expansion clubs, the Chicago Cubs are the last holdout, lights won't be installed at Wrigley Field until 1988.

Birthdays:
Billy Martin b. 1928
Rick Rhoden b. 1953
Olga Korbut b. 1955
Jack Morris b. 1955
Thurman Thomas b. 1966

Packers Fact:
Lavvie Dilweg was a star end for Green Bay from 1927 to 1934. He went on to become a United States Congressman and, later, worked in the Kennedy administration.


ON POM POMS, MORE IMPORTANT
THAN YOU EVER DREAMED

My goal is to take Pom Pom international to different areas of conflict around the globe, be it arguing neighbors in Aylesbury or rock throwers in the Gaza Strip. Dealing with differences is much easier with a stress-busting pom pom in your hand. Making a pom pom for peace may appear frivolous, but it touches people in a profound way.

broadcaster/writer Amy Lamé


“If thou follow thy star thou canst not fail of a glorious heaven.”
DANTE, Italian poet


PHYSICIAN, HEAL THYSELF
Dr. Olivier Ameisen is a world-renowned cardiologist who was heavily addicted to alcohol for more years than he cared to remember, and indeed there are many experiences he cannot remember at all. Using his groundbreaking research with the antispasmodic drug baclofen, he was his own experimental subject and cured himself. This is the remarkable account of his journey on the frontiers of science into the heart of his own darkness, and a passionate plea for the acceptance of baclofen, formerly prescribed for other purposes, in the treatment of the tragic and prevalent sickness.

THE END OF MY ADDICTION, by Olivier Ameisen (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2009)

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Sunday, May 15, 2011

Sports Fact & Book Rec of the Day 5/15/2011

5/15/1919:
In one of the strangest games in major league baseball h istory, the Cincinnati Reds whitewash the Brooklyn Dodgers, 10-0, in 13 innings at Ebbets Field. Brooklyn's Al Mamaux pitches 12 scoreless innings before giving up 10 Cincinnati runs in the 13th.

Birthdays:
George Brett b. 1953
John Smoltz b. 1967
Emmitt Smith b. 1969
Ray Lewis b. 1975
Josh Beckett b. 1980

“We succeed in enterprises which demand the positive qualities we possess, but we excel in those which can also make use of our defects.”
ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE, French historian and philosopher

ON WHY PTA MEETINGS
CAN GET NOISY

ARMY SHIFTS
PRACTICE BOMB
RUNS AT PTA

headline in West Hawaii Today

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Saturday, May 14, 2011

Sports Fact & Book Rec of the Day 5/12-14/2011

5/12/1968:
Frank Howard of the Senators hits two homers during a 6-3 win over the Detroit Tigers in Washington. The power display begins a streak in which Howard will belt 10 home runs in six games. In Boston, he'll hit two against the Red Sox on May 14 and another on May 15. He'll add two more in Cleveland on May 16, and in Detroit he'll pound one on May 17 and two on May 18 against the Tigers. Not only does he hit 10 homers in 20 at-bats over six games, but he accomplishes the feat in four different ballparks. He'll end the year leading the American League with 44 homers.

Birthdays:
Yogi Berra b. 1925
Felip Alou b. 1935
Johnny Bucyk b. 1935
George Karl b. 1951
Lou Whitaker b. 1957

Packers Fact:
Wide receiver and kick returner Desmond Howard played with Washington (1992-94) and Jacksonville (1995) before breaking out with his best season for the Packers' Super Bowl champs in 1996.

5/13/1911:
The New York Giants score 10 runs before a batter is retired, establishing a major league record as they rout the St. Louis Cardinals, 19-5, at the Polo Grounds. Roger Bresnahan doubles as the Cards' manager and catcher. At the end of the first, the Giants lead 13-0 and Bresnahan wisely takes himself out of the lineup. Giants skipper John McGraw removes starting pitcher Christy Mathewson to save his ace for a closer ball game. Rube Marquard pitches the final eight innings and fans 14 batters.

Birthdays:
Joe Louis b. 1914
Bobby Valentine b. 1950
Dennis Rodman b. 1961
Mike Bibby b. 1978
Barry Zito b. 1978

Packers Fact:
Mike McCarthy entered his fourth season as the Packers' head coach in 2009 with a career record of 28-22 (including post season).

Indians pitching coach Jack Aker, after White Sox fans pelted his club with cushions on Seat Cushion Night in 1985 at Comiskey Park: "if they ever have Bowling Ball Night, I'm definitely not coming."

Birthdays:
Gump Worsley b. 1929
Tony Perez b. 1942
Dennis Martinez b. 1955
Pooh Richardson b. 1966
Roy Halladay b. 1977

Packers Fact:
Cornerback Will Blackmon led the Packers with a career-best 18 tackles on kick coverage in 2008. He was in his third season at the time.



“This world is so full of crap, a man’s gonna get into it sooner or later whether he’s careful or not.”
HUD BANNON (PAUL NEWMAN) in Hud; screenplay by Irving Ravetch

“The end of man is an action and not a thought, though it were the noblest.”
THOMAS CARLYLE, 19th-century Scottish writer

“How wrong Emily Dickenson was! Hope is not ‘the thing with feathers.’ The thing with feathers has turned out to be my nephew. I must take him to a specialist in Zurich.”
WOODY ALLEN, American humorist


ON HEADS, MUSCULAR

Q: What’s your cap size?

Baseball great Yogi Berra: I don’t know. i’m not in shape yet.


ON ERR, THANKS, BUT WE’LL
GO FOR THE KUNG PAO INSTEAD

• Genetal Tso’s Chicken

item on a Chinese restaurant menu in New Jersey

ON AY, CARAMBA!

Weakest Link host Anne Robinson: What “B” was a pseudonym used by Charles Dickens?

Contestant: Bart Simpson.

(The correct answer is Boz.)




LESS IS MORE
In these poignant, minimalist stories, poems, and dialogues, named mostly after places and points along highways in the West, Sam Shepard is meditative, bleakly funny, simultaneously surreal and totally credible, desolate and rich. With a nod to Samuel Beckett, Shepard looks at America with wide-eyed innocence and writes about it with European elegance.

DAY OUT OF DAYS: STORIES, by Sam Shepard (Knopf, 2010)

WHEN THE BANKS TANKED
We are cursed to live in interesting times! Yet how pleasurable and instructive it is to read of others’ misfortunes. It seems like just yesterday that a cabal of four bankers (representing the New York Federal Reserve, the Bank of England, Banc de France, and Germany’s Reichsbank) conspired, above the shrieks of John Maynard Keynes, to establish the gold standard and presided over the collapse of the world economy. Ah, good times . . . rivetingly told.

LORDS OF FINANCE: THE BANKERS WHO BROKE THE WORLD, by Liaquat Ahamed (Penguin Press, 2009)

PERENNIAL CLASSIC
Georgette Heyer (1902–1974), unparalleled mistress of the period romance novel, is never out of place, never out of style, never out of sparkling dialogue, spirited heroines, and dashing rogues. Grab a box of (70 percent cacao) bonbons and try Faro’s Daughter. In an attempt to save her son from what she thinks are the clutches of the gambling-addicted Deborah, Lady Mablethorpe enlists the assistance of Max Ravenscar to “get rid of her.” But no one expected Deborah’s spirit and principles, nor the sparks that fly between Deborah and Max.

FARO’S DAUGHTER, by Georgette Heyer (1941; Sourcebooks Casablanca, 2008)

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Thursday, May 12, 2011

Sports Fact & Book Rec of the Day 5/9-11/2011

5/9/1961:
Orioles first baseman Jim Gentile hits two grand slams in the first two innings of a 13-5 Baltimore triumph over the Twins in Bloomington. In the first inning, Minnesota's Pedro Ramos loads the bases on a walk, a double and another walk. Next up is cleanup hitter Gentile, who wallops a homer deep over the center field fence to score Whitey Herzog, Jackie Brandt and Brooks Robinson. With Paul Giel on the mound in the second, Herzog, Brandt and Robinson are again on base when Gentile comes through with another home run, this time to right field. It's a career year for Gentile - he'll end up with 46 homers, 5 of them grand slams, and a .302 batting average.

Birthdays:
Pancho Gonzales b. 1928
Ralph Boston b. 1939
Calvin Murphy b. 1948
Tony Gwynn b. 1960
Steve Yzerman b. 1965

Packers Fact:
Aaron Kampman, a defensive end for his first seven seasons, moved to outside linebacker in the Packers' new 3-4 defense in 2009.

5/10/1987:
Sleepy Floyd scores 29 points for the Golden State Warriors in the fourth quarter of a 129-121 win over the Los Angeles Lakers in Game 4 of the Western Conference semifinals. Golden State, down by three games, begins the fourth quarter trailing by 14 points. In the final 12 minutes, Floyd scores 12 field goals, including 9 in a span of 4:25, to finish the contest with 51 points. His 29 points in one quarter and 39 in one half both set NBA playoff records. Game 5 will go to the Lakers, 118-106.

Birthdays:
Pat Summerall b. 1930
Jim Calhoun b. 1942
Chris Berman b. 1955
Phil & Steve Mahre b. 1957
Rony Seikaly b. 1965

Packers Fact:
The Packers drafted fullback Quinn Johnson in 2009. He was a fifth-round choice.

5/11/1975:
With a 2-1 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers, the New York Islanders win their eighth-straight game while risking elimination in the Stanley Cup playoffs. In the first round, the Islanders faced the Rangers and won the third and deciding contest, 4-3, in overtime. In the second round, they fell behind the Penguins three games to none, then won four in a row to advance. Against the Flyers, the Islanders again fell behind three games to none, then won three straight. The Cinderella story will end with a seventh-game 4-1 loss in Philadelphia on May 13.

Birthday:
Charlie Gehringer b. 1903
Jack Twyman b. 1934
Milt Pappas b. 1939
Kerry Lightenberg b. 1971
Matt Leinart b. 1983

Packers Fact:
Center Jim Ringo (1953-1963) played for teh Philadelphia Eagles for four seasons after 11 years in Green Bay. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1981.


“Keep your face to the sunshine and you cannot see the shadow.”
HELEN KELLER, American writer and lecturer

“To complain of the age we live in, to murmur at the present possessors of power, to lament the past, to conceive extravagant hopes of the future, are the common dispositions of the greatest part of mankind.”
EDMUND BURKE, British philosopher and statesman

“The way I see it, if you want the rainbow, you gotta put up with the rain.”
DOLLY PARTON, American singer and songwriter


ON WHAT ABOUT STICKY PEOPLE?

BEWARE
SLIPPERY PEOPLE OVER FIVE
NOT ALLOWED

sign in Biarritz, France

ON THANK HEAVENS FOR THAT!

Lawyer: Doctor, how many autopsies have you performed on dead people?

Expert witness: All my autopsies are performed on dead people.

actual testimony taken from court records


ON CLICHÉS, DEFEATED

I appreciate the fact that you really snatched defeat out of the jaws of those who were trying to defeat us in Iraq.

President George W. Bush to Lt. General Ray Odierno


MONEY MATTERS
Is China’s economic potential as big as we think it is and is anybody going to talk about it so we can understand it? Yes to both. But it takes somebody like the former China bureau chief of The Wall Street Journal (and later, successful entrepreneur in China) to translate the immense, complicated, cutthroat world of the “Wild East”—and this is the book that cracks the code.

“One of the best books of 2005.”—Barron’s

ONE BILLION CUSTOMERS: LESSONS FROM THE FRONT LINES OF DOING BUSINESS IN CHINA, by James McGregor (Free Press, 2005)

DEAD POETS SOCIETY
John Mortimer was a one-man Communist cell at Harrow school; barrister and fierce defender of free speech (i.e., obscenity) in art; writer; husband of two Penelopes (the first was the author of The Pumpkin Eater); rabid anti-Thatcherite; and, perhaps most famously, creator of the divine Rumpole and She Who Must Be Obeyed. He racked up an astonishing 45 or so novels (not all Rumpolean) and memoirs—enough to keep you wallowing in wit and wacky English characters for a long time.

THE THIRD RUMPOLE OMNIBUS (1998)

THE SECOND RUMPOLE OMNIBUS (1988)

THE FIRST RUMPOLE OMNIBUS, by John Mortimer (Penguin, 1984)

WHAT MEN WANT
The irresistible comedian and radio host Steve Harvey has a lot of ideas about what men find irresistible. And though some of his advice to women sounds a little old-fashioned and may not be all that original or surprising, Harvey is engaging, unpretentious, and very much of the people, with a diverse range of experiences and anecdotes to back up his opinions.

ACT LIKE A LADY, THINK LIKE A MAN: WHAT MEN REALLY THINK ABOUT LOVE, RELATIONSHIPS, INTIMACY, AND COMMITMENT, by Steve Harvey (Amistad, 2009)

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Sunday, May 08, 2011

Sports Fact & Book Rec of the Day 5/6-5/8/2011

5/6/1984:
Rookie guard Derek Harper of the Mavericks loses his focus in Game 4 of the Western Conference semifinals against the Los Angeles Lakers in Dallas. With six seconds remaining and the score tied, Harper takes a pass from Dale Ellis. He thinks the Mavs are up by a point and dribbles out the clock. The Lakers go on to beat the Mavs in overtime, 122-115, and win the series four games to one. Harper shakes off the embarrassment and plays 17 seasons in the NBA.

Birthdays:
Weeb Ewbank b. 1907
John Vaught b. 1908
Willie Mays b. 1931
Martin Bredeur b. 1972
Chris Paul b. 1985

Packers Fact:
Former Packers tackle Cal Hubbard (1929-1933, 1935) was a charter member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1963. Thirteen years later, he was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame as an umpire.

5/7:
Kansas City Royals closer Dan Quisenberry in 1983: "I've seen the future, and it's much like the present only longer."

Birthdays:
Johnny Unitas b. 1933
Bob Weiss b. 1942
Louis Orr b. 1958
Brad Isbister b. 1977
Shawn Marion b. 1978

Packers Fact:
Lindy Infante earned NFL Coach of the Year honors while guiding the surprising Packers to a 10-win season in 1989.

5/8/1968:
Catfish Hunter throws a perfect game to give the Athletics a 4-0 win over the Minnesota Twins in Oakland. It's the A's first season in Oakland after transferring from Kansas City. And it's the first perfect game by an American League pitcher since Charlie Robertson of the Chicago White Sox blanked the Detroit Tigers, 2-0, on April 30, 1922.

Birthdays:
Sonny Liston b. 1932
Mike Cuellar b. 1937
Bill Cowher b. 1957
Ronnie Lott b. 1959
Speedy Claxton b. 1978


ON CHURCH SERVICES, A BIT RACY

During the service,
Francis Bollinger, chorister,
aroused the audience.

in a church bulletin

ON THINGS
YOU PROBABLY
SHOULDN’T SAY
DURING A JOB INTERVIEW

Interviewer: Why did you leave your last company?

Applicant: Mostly because I sued them.

(thanks to Rachel Fout)

ON ACRONYMS,
NOT QUITE GETTING IT

I’m an “MTM”: a “Mommy to Be.”

Good Day Philadelphia anchor Jennaphr Frederick, on why she shouldn’t be snowboarding




“Nobody ever said it would be easy— and that was an understatement.”
GEORGE MITCHELL, American politician

TO ENDURE THE
UNENDURABLE
IS TRUE
ENDURANCE.
Japanese proverb

“I know God will not give me anything I can’t handle. I just wish that He didn’t trust me so much.”
MOTHER TERESA, humanitarian


ON A WING AND A PRAYER
Chelsea Handler is the bestselling author of My Horizontal Life and the host of her own show on E! TV. Known for her no-holds-barred comedy, she does not disappoint in this collection of essays on subjects ranging from how she babysat a 14-year-old when she was 12 to her philandering boyfriend to how she pretended to honeymoon with her father so they could upgrade to first-class accommodations. And then there’s her relationship with that higher power, vodka.

ARE YOU THERE, VODKA? IT’S ME, CHELSEA, by Chelsea Handler (Simon & Schuster, 2008)

YES, THE CRADLE WILL ROCK
The cradle in question is one that rocked Marissa, Matt’s newlywed wife and soon to be mother of his baby, when she was a child and before she was abandoned by her mother. Marissa wants Matt to find it, and his quest leads him to discover a great deal more than that in this narrative of intertwining stories, the other being about a children’s-book author and her past. The Cradle is a small, beautifully crafted book filled with large themes of family and its centrality in our lives.

THE CRADLE, by Patrick Somerville (Little, Brown, 2009)

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Thursday, May 05, 2011

Sports Fact & Book Rec of the Day 5/4-5/5/2011

5/4/1901:
Fire breaks out at Robison Field in St. Louis during the 10th inning of a game between the Cardinals and the Cincinnati Reds. There is little alarm at first among the 6,000 fans, who calmly begin to file out as smoke curls up through the seats. But the flames spread rapidly, fanned by a stiff breeze, and most of the park is destroyed by the time firefighters arrive. Fortunately, there are no reports of serious injuries. Tomorrow the Cards will play three blocks away at Sportsman's Park, the club's home from 1882 through 1892 and used this year for bicycle racing and other events. After a four-week road trip, they'll move into a rebuilt Robison Field on June 3.

Birthdays:
Elmer Layden b. 1903
Betsy Rawls b. 1928
Rene Lachemann b. 1945
Butch Beard b. 1947
Dawn Staley b. 1970

Packers Fact:
Nick Barnett had led the Packers in tackles four times in five years before a knee injury sidelined him for the second half of the 2008 season.

5/5/1969:
In an NBA draft that will drastically change the fortunes of two franchises, the Milwaukee Bucks (27-55) get first choice and select UCLA star Lew Alcindor. Alcindor will change his name to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, score a record 38, 387 points and play on six championship teams in Milwaukee and Los Angeles. The Phoenix Suns (16-66), after losing the coin toss for first pick, choose the University of Florida's Newal Walk in the draft. Walk will score 7,15 points and never play on a championship club.

Birthdays:
Tony Canadeo b. 1919
Bob Cerv b. 1926
Ion Tiriac b. 1939
Herm Giliam b. 1946
Larry Hisle b. 1947

Packers Fact:
The Packers drafted guard and tackle T.J. Lang out of Eastern Michigan int he fourth round in 2009.



ON THAT’S WHY LI’L TIMMY’S TEETH ARE BLACK

Warning label on Orajel Toddler Training Toothpaste tube:
Warning: Keep out
of reach of children.


ON SHOULD WE BRING JOSÉ? OR GUILLERMO?

Mom & daughter PJ Night.
Friday, 6:30 to 9:30 p.m.
Bring Your Favorite Mexican.

ad in a newspaper


“Strong hope is a much greater stimulant of life than any single realized joy could be.”
FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE, German philosopher


“Get there first with the most men.”
NATHAN BEDFORD FORREST, Confederate officer


REVISITING LAST DAYS
Mary Beard, a classics professor at Cambridge (and irreverent blogger for The Times of London) takes us on an eye-opening tour of Pompeii, showing us not the beautiful, and inaccurate, reconstructions of “Sword and Sandal” movies and tourist brochures, but the town in all its unregulated, sewerless, stinky, and quasipornographic “glory.” It is far from being the pristine archaeological find preserved in lava you may have been led to believe it to be. For one thing, it was heavily bombed in World War II. But new evidence does keep surfacing in and about the squalid and fascinating city, and Mary Beard is, without a doubt, its liveliest interpreter.

THE FIRES OF VESUVIUS: POMPEII LOST AND FOUND, by Mary Beard (Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2008)

SKINHEADS AND ASSASSINS
Norwegian detective Harry Hole begins watching a neo-Nazi who has escaped prosecution and ends up trying to foil an assassin who has been planning his crime since the end of World War II. Hole is a character with a rough edge and sharp mind. Jo Nesbo is a truly suspenseful writer who has crafted a beautifully executed plot. Norwegian book club members voted The Redbreast the best Norwegian crime novel ever.

THE REDBREAST, by Jo Nesbo, translated from the Norwegian by Don Bartlett (Harper, 2007)

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Tuesday, May 03, 2011

Sports Fact & Book Rec of the Day 5/3/2011

5/3/2008:
Dale Davis, who lost his sight to macular degeneration 11 years earlier, bowls a perfect game at the Century Lanes in Des Moines, Iowa. The 78-year-old Davis bowls by finding the raised dots that line the lanes, then relies on friends and his own hearing to let him know how he did. In his first three games on this May evening, he bowls a 160, a 150 and a 185. His average for the season in 180.

Birthdays:
Sugar Ray Robinson b. 1920
Garfield Heard b. 1948
Rod Langway b. 1953
Jeff Hornacek b. 1963
Ron Hertall b. 1964

Packers Fact:
Speedy running back and return man Travis Williams' (1967-1970) nickname was "Roadrunner".





ON WEBSITE CONTENT, IMPORTANCE
OF HEADLINE PLACEMENT AND

Know a teacher who’s made a difference in someone’s life?

Nominate them as a Topnotch Teacher.

EXPERTS WANT CANNIBAL TEACHER KEPT LOCKED UP

ad and headline on topnotchteachers.com


GOD HELPS
THEM THAT HELP
THEMSELVES.
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, American statesman and writer

PERENNIAL CLASSIC
In May of 1939 Random House published what may well be the best Hollywood novel ever written: The Day of the Locust. We would like to recommend that you give it a reread; enjoy Nathanael West’s portrait of Tinsel Town, and America, through his characterizations of artist and scenery painter Tod Hackett, movie extra Faye Greener, dully frustrated Homer Simpson, and a cast of thousands. If you should buy the Library of America volume, you will also get everything else West wrote, including the hilarious and poignant Miss Lonelyhearts.

NOVELS AND OTHER WRITINGS: THE DREAM LIFE OF BALSO SNELL, MISS LONELYHEARTS, A COOL MILLION, THE DAY OF THE LOCUST, OTHER WRITINGS, LETTERS, by Nathanael West (Library of America, 1997)

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Monday, May 02, 2011

Sports Fact & Book Rec of the Day 4/29-5/2/2011

4/29/1988:
Heading into the game with a record of 0-21, the Baltimore Orioles defeat the White Sox, 9-0, in Chicago. The streak of 21 losses from the start of a season is the longest in major league history, shattering the previous mark of 13 by the 1904 Washington Senators and 1920 Detroit Tigers. (The Cubs will lose their first 14 in 1997.) After loss number six on April 11, the Orioles fired Cal Ripken as manager and hired Frank Robinson. They'll finish the season with a record of 54-107.

Birthdays:
George Allen b. 1922
Luis Aparicio b. 1934
Jim Ryun b. 1947
Dale Earnhardt Sr. b. 1952
Andre Agassi b. 1970

Packers Fact:
Donald Driver entered 2009 as the all-time leader in catches (273) and receiving yards (3,823) at Lambeau Field.

4/30/1961:
Willie Mays wallops four home runs and drives in eight runs to lead the San Francisco Giants to a 14-4 win over the Braves in Milwaukee. He begins the day with shots off Lew Burdette in the first and third innings. Then, after flying out to center in the fifth, he homers off Seth Morehead in the seventh. His fourth blast comes off Don McMahon in the eighth.

Birthdays:
Jon Arnett b. 1935
Phil Garner b. 1949
Isiah Thomas b. 1961
Al Toon b. 1963
Dave Meggett b. 1966

Packers Fact:
Linebacker Clay Matthews was the second of the Packers' two first-round picks in the 2009 draft. He was the No. 26 overall choice.

5/1/1948:
At the West Hants Club in Bournemouth, England, Eric Sturgess of South Africa wins five tennis matches on the same day; the men's singles, the semifinals and finals of the men's doubles, and the semifinals and finals of the mixed doubles. In all, Sturgess plays 15 sets and 126 games.

Birthdays:
Cliff Battles b. 1910
Chuck Bednarik b. 1925
Ollie Matson b. 1930
Steve Cauthen b. 1960
Curtis Martin b. 1973

5/2/1917:
In Chicago, Fred Toney of the Reds and Hippo Vaugh of the Cubs combine to hurl the only nine-inning double no-hitter in major league history. The first hit of theh game occurs with one out in the 10th inning when Cincinnati's Larry Kopf hits a Vaughn pitch into right field for a single. Hal Chase flies to right, but Chicago right fileder Cy Williams muffs an easy chance, putting Chase on first and Kopf on third. After Chase steals second, Jim Thorpe chops a hit a few feet in front of home plate. Vaughn races in and tries to nail Kopf coming in from third base, but the ball bounces off catcher Art Wilson's chest and the Reds lead, 1-0. The advantage holds up in the bottom of the 10th when Toney retirees the Cubs in order.

Birthdays:
Eddie Collins b. 1887
Eddie Bressoud b. 1932
Gates Brown b. 1939
Clay Carroll b. 1941'
Jamaal Wilkes b. 1953

Packers Fact:
Including his final three NFL seasons with Dallas, cornerback Herb Adderley (1951-69) played in seven NFL or NFC title games in his 12 years in the league - and his team won all of them.



ON AMAZING BREAKTHROUGHS, NEWSWORTHY

BITING NAILS CAN BE SIGN
OF TENSENESS IN A PERSON

Daily Gazette (Schenectady, New York)

ON SPORTS MOMENTS
WE’D RATHER NOT SEE,
THANKS

The defender was literally—literally—up his backside.

sports commentator Andy Townsend

ON COMMUNISTS, SEMI-INTELLIGENT

We are among the world leaders for semi-conductors, but with the power of communism, we will soon be able to be leaders for full conductors.

general secretary of the Czechoslovak communist party Miloš Jakeš

ON GOAT METAPHORS, MIND-BOGGLING

Elsa Sime, one of the most prolific artists of our time, asks the timeless question “What is Love?” by using goats as a metaphor to explore perceptions and ideas of love.

in a cultural program brochure of the Alliance Ethio-Française, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia



“Thought shall be harder, heart the keener, courage the greater as our might lessens.”
BYRHTNOTH, 10th-century commander at the Battle of Maldon

“Experience is only half of experience.”
JOHANN WOLFGANG VON GOETHE, German poet and dramatist

“Perhaps catastrophe is the natural human environment, and even though we spend a good deal of energy trying to get away from it, we are programmed for survival amid catastrophe.”
GERMAINE GREER, Australian feminist writer

“I believe we’re at our best when we are boldest.”
TONY BLAIR, British prime minister


LIVING HISTORY
Rick Perlstein has followed his acclaimed Before the Storm: Barry Goldwater and the Unmaking of the American Consensus, an account of an important but relatively peaceful epoch, with Nixonland, a political and social history of the “storm” forecast in the earlier book. It is a lively, energetic reckoning of a turbulent period of riots, assassinations, war, radicals and reactionaries, and, of course, Richard Nixon, who, the author reports, once told Leonard Garment, “You’ll never make it in politics, Len. You just don’t know how to lie.” A book to relish as well as argue with.

NIXONLAND: THE RISE OF A PRESIDENT AND THE FRACTURING OF AMERICA, by Rick Perlstein (Simon & Schuster, 2008)

A CRITICAL HIT
Misfits Vikings, cheating and divorced men, self-conscious girls, and several kinds of unhappy families populate this first collection of stories by a new and critically well-regarded storyteller on the scene. “Every one of the stories in Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned is polished and distinctive. . . . [Tower’s] range is wide and his language impeccable, never strained or fussy. His grasp of human psychology is fresh and un-Freudianizing,” writes Edmund White in his New York Times review.

EVERYTHING RAVAGED, EVERYTHING BURNED, by Wells Tower (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2009)

GIFT IDEA
Over the last 95 years the photographers of Vanity Fair have included Edward Steichen, Cecil Beaton, Herb Ritts, Mario Testino, and Annie Leibovitz, to name just five. Their photographs of the celebrated—a wistful Babe Ruth, a tuxedoed Fanny Brice—and a few not-so-celebrated—Joseph Goebbels, Richard Perle—make for one exquisite book of portraits, both dazzling and meditative.

VANITY FAIR, THE PORTRAITS: A CENTURY OF ICONIC IMAGES, by Graydon Carter and the editors of Vanity Fair (Abrams, 2008)

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