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Dennis Dale's Untethered offers another set of elegant reminiscences of an inelegant past straight out of "Repo Man," growing up in a SoCal neighborhood mutilated by ill-considered civil engineering projects.

Udolpho has resolved to make his blog more like everybody else's.

The War Nerd recalls the good old Danes of 991 AD.

Diana Moon's Letter from Gotham points toward the Nicholas Institute of Sports Medicine's performance rating table for the demands of different sports. American football comes out hardest at 56, then ballet and bull fighting at 55, then hockey at 54. I suspect football is slightly overrated because players get to concentrate on one position with specific skills. However, U. of Texas QB Vince Young's running and throwing performance in last month's Rose Bowl would have to rank way up there. Boxing is only a 51, mostly because of low scores for intelligence and creativity. (But did you know that Muhammad Ali invented his Rope-a-Dope strategy against George Foreman in Zaire in the middle of a round?) I'd guess boxing was the hardest sport in the world 50 years ago, but it doesn't attract quite as good athletes anymore. The sport I pursue the most at present, hiking, came in last at 11.

Political shooters: Adlai Stevenson accidentally shot and killed playmate Ruth Merwin when he was 12 or 13. Former Mexican President Carlos Salinas shot and killed a teenage servant girl when he was a little boy.

My published articles are archived at iSteve.com -- Steve Sailer