[email fragment] Hey, have you heard of Danny Gregory -- he's a sketch/journaling type artist who's written a few books. His web log was linked at one of the design sites I read -- a nice mix of sketches and essay-thought-things, some more interesting than others of course.

[via xblog]

Times of India: From the tie-breaker round of the Miss India beauty pageant: "When the five finalists faced the judges, the anticipation was so thick, you could cut it with a knife. The final question was -- If you had a chance to go back or forward in time and change one thing, what would it be? Ms Lakshmi Pandit won the Pond’s Femina Ms India Earth 2004 for replying, 'I would like to go forward because the past is behind us and better myself and my country with my efforts and sincerity.'

"Ms Sayali Bhagat won the Pond’s Femina Ms India World 2004 for the answer, 'I would go to the past and change the British coming to India and hence the Partition because then India and and Pakistan would be one and we would be a superpower once again.' The winning answer by Ms Tanushree Dutta, who won the Ponds Femina Ms India Universe crown was, 'I would like to go forward in time because a true human mind should be progressive and that is the essence of being a human being.'"

Radio Australia/Pacific Beat: "A family on Buka Island in Papua New Guinea is using copra oil to run their cars. As well as producing coconut oil for vehicles, the company Buka Metal Fabricators Ltd also manufactures pure coconut oil for food, and cosmetic products. Company owner Mathias Horn says this is not the first time coconut oil has been used for vehicles in Bougainville because people in the province were using it to run their trucks during the ten year civil war on the Island." It's times like this you realize Gilligan's Island wasn't totally made-up exoticicist island fantasy drivel.

[email fragment] Reading continues to go well and widely. For the past year or so I've been working on my Spanish, and have lately started reading (if not understanding) lots-o-Latin American novelists in the original. I've also become a regular viewer of Noticio Telemundo, which keeps me up to speed on the latest Central American elections and conjoined-twin-separations.

As for sports: The Argentinian Clausera tournament is heading into its sixth round, with my favorites River Plate resting comfortably in second or third -- all that really matters is that they're ahead of Boca Jrs. England's been less inspiring, with Liverpool (and Michael Owen) still in a slump (though at least it's Arsenal on top instead of Man U or Chelsea). Finally, the real news is in cricket, with India touring Pakistan for the first time in years; they're down 2-1 in the series of one-day matches, with a couple full 5-day test matches to come.

[email fragment] I read An American Pilgrimage [Paul Elie's new quadruple-biography of Dorothy Day, Flannery O'Connor, Thomas Merton and Walker Percy] sometime last year. My dad spotted it on the new books shelf at the library, recognized some of the names, and grabbed it for me. Reading it actually felt a little weird, because the material was so familiar: I'd already read pretty much everything by Walker Percy (when I know I'm in for a stressful week, I'll start rereading one of his novels so I know I'll have something familiar and comforting when the need arises), and 5 or 6 by Merton, plus O'Connor's stories and Day's _Long Loneliness_. Reading Elie inspired me to get O'Connor's collected letters, which I enjoyed mightily.

[email fragment] My Central American history didn't have that much on [19th century privateer/American meddler in politics south of the border William] Walker -- only said that the Nicaraguan Liberals invited him to come help them defeat the ruling Conservatives, which he did, installing a shadow government which was recognized only by the United States -- all which angered the Conservative governments in neighboring states, hence the attack led by the Costa Rican general.

I spent a few minutes trying to dig up a bit more. First, here are some titles of published biographies of Walker:

_William Walker: The Grey-Eyed Man of Destiny_ by Alejandro Bolaños Geyar
_Sad Swashbuckler: The Life of William Walker_ by Noel Bertrom Gerson
_Freebooters Must Die! The Life and Death of William Walker, the Most Notorious Filibuster of the Nineteenth Century_ by Frederic Rosengarten
_Filibusters and Financiers: The World of William Walker and His Associates_ by William O. Scroggs
_The World and William Walker_ by Albert H. Z. Carr

Next, a longish and goodish historical essay on Walker, putting the facts in more or less astounding order.

And, for local color, a Costa Rican take on the subject, including many a majestic malapropism and memorable turn of the phrase.

Oh, there's also a 1987 movie about him, _Walker_, starring Ed Harris.