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July 28, 2021
The Judgment of Paris
Paris was a bold man who presum’d
To judge the beauty of a Goddess.
-John Dryden
The Judgment of Paris, Lucas Cranach the Elder (1472-1553)
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 11:53 PM | Comments (0)
July 19, 2021
The Human Spirit
Posted by JD Hull at 04:03 PM | Comments (0)
July 15, 2021
It’s nice to be Dr. Ruth.
What’s not to like? She born Karola Ruth Siegel in Karlstadt, Germany on June 4, 1928. Picture taken before she moved to US and before she spoke a word of English. She is 2 months older than my own Mom. She is a year older than Anne Frank, who was born in June 1929. I met her in 2004 but was thrilled to get her alone for a breakfast in October 2014 in Tarrytown, NY.
People are always surprised that she is not just diminutive but 4'7"--yes, 4'7"--and that she was once a trained and active sniper in Israel. An explosion and serious injuries abruptly ended that phase of her life. (She says she was a good shot.) She is playful, and says provocative things. She of course is culturally liberal but surprisingly conservative in some respects politically.
I asked her near the end of breakfast if I could get her anything else but within seconds 2 waiters and a busboy were fawning over her with the same question and she told them what she wanted. A victorious and beaming server brought it to our table. Some famous people might have been embarrassed at the fuss made over her. She smiled mischievously at me and just said: "It's nice to be Dr. Ruth."
Posted by JD Hull at 06:04 AM | Comments (0)
July 13, 2021
Portrait de joueurs d’échecs
“Portrait of Chess Players” 1911, Marcel Duchamp (1887-1968)
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
July 07, 2021
Summer for the Gods, 1997, Edward Larson
I’m honored to have gifted lawyer-writers as friends and couldn’t be prouder of Renaissance man Edward Larson, who I first met in Charleston in 2005. Ed in 1997 finished this book about the 1925 Scopes trial in Dayton, Tennessee. An understatement to say it was well-received.
Posted by JD Hull at 02:05 PM | Comments (0)
July 06, 2021
6 months on.
January 6, 2021. Rot in Hell, vile insurrectionists. Never again.
Posted by JD Hull at 06:53 AM | Comments (0)
July 03, 2021
158 years
158 years today. July 3, 1863. 2:00 pm. 87 degrees. Pickett’s Charge (aka Pickett’s March). Gettysburg. No braver men ever lived. 12,500 Confederate infantrymen. Nine brigades. One mile in length. They marched not charged. 6,555 total (Union and CSA) casualties.
“There was ... a weak point ... where [Cemetery Ridge], sloping westward, formed the depression through which the Emmitsburg road passes. Perceiving that by forcing the Federal lines at that point and turning toward Cemetery Hill [Hays' Division] would be taken in flank and the remainder would be neutralized. ... Lee determined to attack at that point, and the execution was assigned to Longstreet.”
—Brigadier General Armistead Lindsay Long, Lee’s military secretary in “Memoirs of Robert E. Lee: His Military and Personal History.”London: Sampson, Low, Marston, Seale and Rivington, 1886, pp. 287–288.
Posted by JD Hull at 11:42 AM | Comments (0)
July 01, 2021
Rummy
Donald Henry Rumsfeld (July 9, 1932 – June 29, 2021). Whether you liked him or not, Don Rumsfeld was a great man. Among our greatest. Chicago (New Trier High School) boy, Princeton wrestler, Congressman, CEO and DOD chief twice. I finally met him and his wife Joyce 5 years ago in DC. Spent some time with them. Rummy was mega-talented, happy, confident, accomplished and didn’t care what anyone thought. Ever. It was his Superpower. He was also a big fan of and frequent visitor to Indian Hill, Ohio, where I grew up.
Posted by JD Hull at 07:25 AM | Comments (0)