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Posted on August 2 at 10:32 p.m.

I met the Old Man when James was kind enough to set up an interview for a story about censorship I was writing for THE NOTE. I asked for 20 minutes, James consented and I showed up at the house armed w/ an array of questions of the sort that WSB had answered phaps 100 times before. As my allotted time expired and I packed up my notebook and recorder, I mentioned a recently released CD that featured on its cover a picture of Burroughs holding an unusual pistol. His eyes lit up. "You know guns?" he asked. From his bedroom he produced a box of handguns, including the gun in the photo--a Russian Markov, I think. We spent the next hour talking firearms, and I had a new pal. A couple of days later Jim McCrary passed along an invitation from WSB to drop by. I found Wm in the back yard, throwing knives at one of his "Man With A Hat" plywood silhouettes. He called me over, handed me the knives, offered a quick tutorial on the best throwing techniques and seemed delighted when I finally stuck one.

In those days I was struggling to establish myself as a writer, and the Old Man was a gracious mentor. In 1995 I sold a novel, and Wm was unfailingly generous in sharing his experiences of the vagaries of the lit-biz. The following year I landed a deal for a French edition. "What house?" Wm quickly asked. "Gallimard," I said. He beamed, leaned over and patted my knee. "They've always been vy good to me," he said. I will never forget that moment.

Phaps it was my overactive imagination, but I always felt that Joan was in the room w/ us. I believe that Wm was filled w/ remorse for killing his wife right up to the day he died. I never heard him say anything implying anything else, and when I read accounts suggesting otherwise, I wonder what tone he used, and how much he'd had to drink. In the years we were associated, he always spoke of Joan w/ great respect, and so did everyone around him. I heard no gibes, no flippant mockery--only sorrow.

On Memories of Burroughs

Posted on April 17 at 10:26 a.m.

Note that in this case, just as in Columbine, law enforcement at the scene declined to engage the shooter despite ample time to do so and certain knowledge that the shooter was claiming new victims.

Medals all around.

On Me Neither, But . . . Damn. (Fear of a Neutral Planet)

Posted on March 27 at 5:45 p.m.

"In fact, it's widely believed by the military leaders involved that moving troops from Afghanistan to Iraq was what allowed Bin Laden to escape from Tora Bora. But at that point, the policy had changed and Bin Laden was no longer the objective (which I doubt the American people even realized)."

There may be senior officers who flog such an interpretation on orders from the White House, but surely no one can take such a suggestion seriously. I've never seen any hint that US forces were at a significant numerical disadvantage at Tora Bora, and IIRC the "battle" produced minimal US casualties.

I don't see how changing covers can be represented as significantly diminishing a publisher's commitment to an informed public. The story in question was included in all issues of the magazine.

If we are to criticize our public institutions for making decisions based on potential profits, phaps we should begin by impeaching the President and Vice President who have seized upon this "war" to transfer a substantial fraction of the national wealth to their frat buddies. After that there will be ample oppty to hang the editors of TIME for changing their domestic cover.

The greatest triumph of this unimaginably evil Administration has been convincing the population that their real enemy is the "Mainstream Media."

On Time is on our side. Or is it? (Makes Sense To Me)

Posted on March 25 at 4:40 p.m.

"I would suggest there's no such thing as a "gimme" in the NCAA Tournament, no matter how close the shooter might be to the hoop...."

Agreed.

Hey, every time Ali fought Frazier, one of them had to lose....

--

I hope young Mr. Ray fully recovers.

On The Bruins end KU's run (The dance is all that is the case)

Posted on March 23 at 12:26 p.m.

Working on a new blog, I'll poke around historical data, but I dunno if that's easily available. (UCLA clangs a lot, too. I know that much....)

On Just waiting on the game here... (The dance is all that is the case)

Posted on March 22 at 10:13 a.m.

Arkansas beat 'em! After Butler, I think their best win of the season was Virginia Tech around Thanksgiving. During Missouri Valley Conference play thay swept Creighton and Missouri State, and split w/ Bradley. Sked here:

http://www.kenpom.com/sked.php?y=2007&am...

I don't want to sound like a snotty big-conference guy, but I think a lot of the public speculation about SIU's chances tonight has to do w/ the fact that the Salukis are a Valley team, and lately we've had some difficulties w/ Valley teams. Which is why I think we'll put 80 on 'em.

On Just waiting on the game here... (The dance is all that is the case)

Posted on March 21 at 5:26 p.m.

That's right up there w/ the WaPo story on Michael Beasley:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/con...

The Longhorns' youth caught up w/ them against Southern California. DJ Augustine didn't play well and the Texas O was off-kilter the whole game. Texas registered an OE of 93.4 in that game, down from their season-average of 120.8. Some of this was due to USC's defense, of course, but USC didn't play an exceptional defensive game by their own standards, registering a DE for the game of 93.4, which is not strikingly better than their season-average DE of 94.7. Those who live by freshman, die by freshman.

I dunno how far I want to get into the strength-of-conference question, because I'm never sure exactly what metric applies. Pomeroy uses his pythagorean system to rate conferences. His Big XII page is here:

http://www.kenpom.com/conf.php?y=2007&am...

He has the ACC first, the PAC-10 fourth and the Big XII sixth, but he's written in the past that he's leery of taking conference comparisons too far.

I know that USC is a good basketball team, but KU (and K-State) beat them in December, and last month they fell to Arizona State.

On Just waiting on the game here... (The dance is all that is the case)

Posted on March 21 at 11:24 a.m.

Yep.

On SIU (The dance is all that is the case)

Posted on March 19 at 10:28 p.m.

I'll cheerfully admit that Duke's performance didn't affirm my argument (but I hope we aren't suggesting that a first-round loss means a team wasn't fit for a tourney invitation).

I think we'll see UCLA in the regional final, and I think it will be a game. UCLA is 10-1 against the top 25 and has the third-highest defensive efficiency in the country. I don't think they can play w/ KU in the paint, which is why I think KU will win.

In Las Vegas for the tournament... tell me, what does Heaven look like?

On Jayhawk Nation invades Vegas (All in the Wrist)

Posted on March 19 at 6:01 p.m.

oops! thanks for the heads-up!

On SIU (The dance is all that is the case)