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Real world to doubters: it's not in their heads. Medical research now links this devastating condition to a retrovirus:
A Case of Chronic Denial (New York Times)
(Tip of the hat to PG, commenting on Alas, A Blog.)
Jay Smooth on the Roman Polanski Situation
Oct. 8th, 2009 07:20 amAs usual, Mr. Smooth makes plain, clear common sense - which is all too uncommon in most places today:
My feeling on this? Polanski is to blame and shouldn't get off because there will always be young girls (and young boys, for that matter) who are taking their first steps toward a show business or modeling career, and there will always be sexual predators lying in wait for them. Those innocents deserve that this case continue to be handled as a crime, so that those predators will at least hesitate in their intent to indulge their lusts with young flesh. And perhaps some of them will even be dissuaded. As long as crimes like Polanski's are indulgently excused by well-known popular figures, such predators have little reason to hesitate.
For the Rafa Fans ...
Sep. 2nd, 2009 06:52 amThe Sunday magazine in the Washington Post recently had an article about up-and-coming young tennis players who are being trained at a tennis center in this area. During the French Open, one of them was Rafael Nadal's practice partner, giving the author of the article a chance to talk about Rafa:
-
For kids such as Mitchell and Denis, the existence of players like Nadal is problematic. Both boys can see themselves crashing into the tennis stratosphere, becoming one of the top 10 pros in the world. This, despite the fact that, although they are fleet of foot, their speed is nothing special when compared with that of other high-level athletes. ... Even if Denis and Mitchell aren't the biggest, fastest or strongest, maybe they can work longer and harder, train smarter, focus more intensely and become mentally stronger than anyone else ...
This is where Nadal puts a serious kink in the logic chain: Here's an athlete who's physically extraordinary -- measurably unique. John Yandell, a researcher for a tennis Web site, used high-speed video cameras to study the forehand smashes of tennis greats. Nadal's ball spun at 3,200 rpm, 30 percent faster than Roger Federer's and almost twice as fast as Andre Agassi's in his prime, both legendary big hitters. But what most awes Nadal's competitors is not his outrageous forehand or his Conan the Barbarian musculature, but his mental intensity, unyielding work ethic and emotional courage.
- Net Gain (Tom Shroder, Sunday, August 16, 2009)
The online version, sadly, does not contain the cute picture that the paper copy had, of Rafa with his arm around the kid who practiced with him.
ETA: I take it back - the pic is there: picture gallery and it's pic 11. Sorry about the ads ... .
Our Neighborhood Is Going Insane!!
Nov. 4th, 2008 11:27 pmPeople are outside cheering, beating drums, and banging on pots and pans!
When we talked with my Orthodox uncle on Saturday - the man I used to refer to as "a Jewish Archie Bunker." And he said he was voting for Obama. The reason he gave was practical - he said he lost interest in McCain when Fannie Mae went down. But then he started getting all misty-eyed, and reminiscing about JFK's victory ... .
:-D
Tony Hillerman: Dead at 83
Oct. 27th, 2008 08:01 pmLinks:
- Navajo police mystery author dies (BBC News)
- Acclaimed author Tony Hillerman dies at 83 (Washington Post via AP News
California: You Go, Guys!
May. 15th, 2008 09:44 pmCalif. Supreme Court Overturns Ban on Gay Marriage
(Honestly, folks ... a couple of my friends, both female, married each other in Toronto several years ago, and Canada is still chugging along. No apocalypse, no firestorm from heaven. How can people still be thinking there's a problem here?)
From the Washington Post:
"Larger and more boisterous groups have picketed Montgomery County government, but surely never one with a higher average SAT score.
"Students from the science, mathematics and computer science magnet at Montgomery Blair High School in Silver Spring [MD] marched through downtown Rockville yesterday to defend their program, one of the top math-science operations in the nation, from the budgetary ax.
"'Fund us, Weast,' the crowd chanted, beckoning to Superintendent Jerry D. Weast as about 100 protesters -- a few were from schools other than Blair -- approached the doors of the school system's headquarters shortly after 5 p.m. One student beat a bass drum. Another carried a sign that read, 'We can do the math' ... "(click for original article)
The Young Lady is in Blair's other special program, which is smaller, but my friend Kat's eldest daughter is a "Magnet" (which is what they call themselves). The program isn't being completely cut or anything - but the funding cuts will adversely affect both the number of teachers in it and the amount of time the remaining teachers have to concentrate on Magnet projects and curriculum.
Fantasy Author Lloyd Alexander Dead at 83
May. 18th, 2007 04:12 pmApologies if this is old news already for some. I first read this on the Diana Wynne Jones mailing list yesterday, but I only just found a mainstream news link:
from the San Jose Mercury News
Vale, bard of Prydain ... .
(ETFix typo in headline ... how embarrassing!)
