Weekend Links to the WSJ -- Does Anyone Have Phil Jackson's Phone Number?

Updates

November 12, 2012: the great Laker freakout! Phil Jackson is first choice; second choice is Phil Jackson changing his mind; third choice is moving the LA Lakers to Montana. [Update: the Lakes signed D'Antonio. We'll see how long that lasts.]

Original Post

If there is anything in this post about the Bakken I would be surprised. For the Bakken, scroll down or sideways. Later, you can also scroll up.

Does anyone have Phil Jackson's phone number? The LA Lakers have fired MIke Brown as head coach, now looking for a replacement. Mike A'Antoni and Phil are at the top of the list. Someone's list.

Now, twisted fibers, not sticky plaques. Perhaps best medical story of the hour: an outcast among peers gains traction on Alzheimer's cure. Claude Wischik: it's not beta amyloid after all, it's tau. The theory: the tau protein forms twisted fibers known as tangles inside the brain cells of Alzheimer's patients. Beta amyloid with associated sticky plaques was considered the cause of AD.

Power authority takes heat for its response to Sandy (also posted earlier).  The dots are starting to connect. The power authority is government owned. The "company" requested 700 additional workers to get power restored; so far the task has required in excess of 10,000. Twenty years to prepare.

I did not read past the first few paragraphs of Peggy Noonan's mea culpa, and will not link it. It's easy to find, I'm sure, if interested.

Five "personal choices" from Sinclair McKay:

• Alan Turing: The Enigma, Andrew Hodges (1983)
• The Code Book, Simon Singh (1999)
• Codebreakers, F. H. Hinsley and Alan Stripp (1993)
• The 39 Steps, John Buchan (1915)
• From Russia With Love, Ian Fleming (1957)

From my own 30 years and a day in the USAF, this from The Codebreakers brings back back sweet memories:

More than this, the voices of the individual codebreakers are distinct—witty, deadly serious and sometimes disarmingly light. "How one longed for the 3 a.m. canteen break," wrote naval officer Edward Thomas, "when, with luck, a few moments' calm might be enjoyed in the company of some totally unknown, but totally charming, girl from some mysterious corner of the Park. How one longed to meet her again! But seldom did."

Many wonderful military men and women crossed my geographical path but once. How I long to see many of them again.

As for the books: all five look simply sumptuous.

Foaming at the mouth about craft beer -- kinda fun. I actually recognize a few of those craft beers. Best new word: kraftbierkulturkampf.

And then this, in light of Camille Paglia's recent Glittering Images: when the posters draw the crowds.

On Christmas 1894, the famous actress Sarah Bernhardt needed a poster for her new play, which was set to open a week later in Paris. With almost everyone gone for the holidays, the job fell to an unknown Czech illustrator who happened to be working a shift at a lithography shop.

The poster by 34-year-old Alphonse Mucha—showing Bernhardt in a garland and golden robes—appeared throughout Paris on New Year's Day, turned Mucha into an overnight art-world star and helped to spark the Art Nouveau movement.

Not to be confused with Munch and "The Scream."

********************

A reminder:

• Oscar Wilde: The Uncensored Picture of Dorian Gray, edited by Nicholasl Frankel, c. 2011
• The Literary Guide to the Bible, edited by Robert Alter and Frank Kermode, c. 1987
• Alter also edited the The Five Books of Moses, a real treasure. 

********************

A Note for the Granddaughters

I think I've talked about this before. I forget. I'm in my whaling phase of reading: Scammon, Melville, Russell, et al. I don't recall having read Moby Dick before, but I am reading it now (free download on the iPad). Our old granddaughter, now 9 years old, read an abridged version when she was seven or eight. I can hardly wait to find time to read the real book (or at least parts of it) with her. It is incredible, the knowledge one learns of sailing in general, and, of whaling, in particular, of course. In high school I would have found the book boring, no doubt. Growing up on the plains, I doubt I would have connected with the story. With a robust reading program behind me and having visited New Bedford, Nantucket, Martha's Vineyard, Cape Cod, the book is now incredibly interesting and a real pleasure to read. With the technology of the iPad it is incredibly easy to search words and phrases on the net which adds much to the book.