Interesting to see the arcane crew in the news. Anthony D. Marshall, 82, [son of the socialite and philanthropist Brooke Astor] with his wife, Charlene, 61, will have to pay more than $1.3 million, return valuable artwork and jewelry, and give up his role as steward of his mother’s financial and health affairs as part of an agreement announced yesterday to settle a legal dispute involving the Astor fortune. J. P. Morgan Chase and Mrs. Astor’s longtime friend Annette de la Renta will serve as her permanent guardians. Mrs. Astor, 104, has been in fragile health for several years. Philip Marshall, 53, who had enlisted the help and testimony of David Rockefeller, Henry A. Kissinger and others as he sought to wrest control of Mrs. Astor’s affairs from his father, had his own blunt remarks: “We are overjoyed with today’s outcome, which puts Friday the 13th in a new light,” he said, presumably in a tongue-in-cheek reference to the 13 families. Here is one history. And here is another.
Saturday, October 14, 2006
[family feud] philanthropy or misanthropy
Interesting to see the arcane crew in the news. Anthony D. Marshall, 82, [son of the socialite and philanthropist Brooke Astor] with his wife, Charlene, 61, will have to pay more than $1.3 million, return valuable artwork and jewelry, and give up his role as steward of his mother’s financial and health affairs as part of an agreement announced yesterday to settle a legal dispute involving the Astor fortune. J. P. Morgan Chase and Mrs. Astor’s longtime friend Annette de la Renta will serve as her permanent guardians. Mrs. Astor, 104, has been in fragile health for several years. Philip Marshall, 53, who had enlisted the help and testimony of David Rockefeller, Henry A. Kissinger and others as he sought to wrest control of Mrs. Astor’s affairs from his father, had his own blunt remarks: “We are overjoyed with today’s outcome, which puts Friday the 13th in a new light,” he said, presumably in a tongue-in-cheek reference to the 13 families. Here is one history. And here is another.
[grameen] the other side of the coin
[peru] shining path lovers get life
[workplace] mcjob or mcfuture
[dannatt] remarks taken out of context
[2006 nobel peace prize] muhammad yunus
[talking shop] we’re visiting you next week
Friday, October 13, 2006
[us blogs] feminism and pornography – strange bedfellows
[hm revenue] bureaucratic highhandedness crushes builder
[cleese] gutless radio these days
[oil] over $59 a barrel
[dannatt] closer to the truth than most
Certain things in Sir Richard’s statement struck me – he warned against a spiritual "vacuum" in the UK that he believes is posing a threat to a society no longer bound together by the Christian religion, and complained that the treatment of wounded soldiers in NHS hospitals breaks the unwritten "covenant" between the nation and its armed forces.
Sir Richard added, "It is said that we live in a post-Christian society. I think that is a great shame. The broader Judaic-Christian tradition has underpinned British society. It underpins the British Army."
This is very much what Minette Marrin has been writing about and which this blog strongly endorses.
Unfortunately, certain of my fellow bloggers, of humanistic, leftist and atheistic leanings might not pick up on these words as central to the issue and might concentrate on the 'attack on Blair angle'; I have read many of their solutions for society’s ills and though I respect these men and women as people, yet Sir Richard’s take is closer than anything else I’ve read of late.
[hurrah] here comes the snow
[israel] the anomalies of horseracing
[the web] google page ranking
[true tales] the case of the boy who would paint
Thursday, October 12, 2006
[george bush today on energy] just the words spoken
[ashes] a top order of left-handers
[awful day] is it all worth it
[ny plane crash] huge tactical response a little too late
[france] furor over turkey’s genocide of armenians
[anna politkovskaya] unanswered questions
[downunder] worst drought ever
Even if rain comes to Australia's parched rural regions, it will be too late for crops in Victoria and Western Australia, according to Federal Treasurer, Peter Costello. In the worst drought since records began, hundreds of farmers will be left dependent on government assistance and Mr Costello flagged new measures to make it easier for farmers to claim drought relief, in a season when many are likely to have no farm income at all. He also signalled a turning point in Australia's economic cycle, saying the record commodity prices that have powered the economy since 2003 have now peaked, and will fall in the next two years. Mr Costello said this would end the huge revenue windfalls for the Government, but give welcome relief to households, retailers and the economy, with petrol cheaper and less pressure on inflation — and hence, implicitly, on interest rates. But the Treasurer saw no relief ahead from the drought. He warned that it would be "very severe, worse than people have anticipated". Australia has always faced drought and bushfires as its main natural hazards but that doesn’t make it any easier.
[hitchcock] a must see for devotees
[oil&gas] russia goes it alone
Wednesday, October 11, 2006
[ségolène royal] mon opinion est celle du peuple français
[iraq] 600 000 death estimate - accurate or flawed
[lloyds] not all that meets the eye
[west ham] magnusson considering buying
This is more like news: Eggert Magnússon, head of Iceland’s football federation (KSÍ), is considering buying English football club West Ham. Telegraph.co.uk reports that Magnússon, who is also a member of the UEFA executive committee, and his partners have made a formal takeover approach, offering a provisional GBP 75 million (EUR 110 million, USD 139 million) for the East London football club. The club’s future has been uncertain for a long time. The Icelandic businessman and football lover told Morgunbladid that the deal is still in the beginning phases. He thinks West Ham is a great football club with a lot of history, an excellent manager, players and supporters. He makes an offer and this is termed ‘considering’? Also, the Nordic god Thor, wasn't his team called the Hammers?
[suicide] iceland marches against it
[c of e] moral equivalence of the very worst kind
[literature] do you know your fiction
The following are examples of some of the odd incidents and episodes that often occur in the fictional world. Now, identify the works from which they come [half a mark each] plus their authors [the other half mark]: 1. An Irishman becomes so familiar with his bicycle that when cycling at speed the atomic structure of his body fuses with that of the bicycle frame. The other nine questions are here.