First, I’d like to call your attention to this month’s sidebar commentary.
I’m sponsoring a very special charity project. I’m sure you’ll
all agree that it’s a worthy cause. Check it out… and give, give, give!

Last night Nancy, Randy, Shauna, and I went to a
Bill Fredlund lecture on “Fra”
Filippo Lippi, an influential
painter in early 15c Florence. (I use “Fra” in quotes because
as it turns out, Brother Lippi did not exactly turn out to be the best “Fra”,
as his wife the ex-nun might attest.) It was a good Bill-lecture, although
at just over an hour, it was a bit short. Also, while some of Lippi’s paintings were
breathtaking, he had the same “misshapen baby” problem that all his contemporaries
struggled with. Perhaps there was some tradition or taboo in Renaissance Italy
where adult males were not permitted to see infants? I can’t explain it otherwise.

Incidentally, while I was looking for Lippi biographies to put on the site, one of the
biographies
I ran across had this amusing statement near the bottom:
“His pupils were far inferior to him.” Ummm, really? Inferior like, say, Botticelli?
Oh, well. I only mention this to remind you all that I scruplously check
all links on this site for quality. Rest assured, a goer.org link is a
mark of taste, erudition, and 100% quality, guaranteed. You’re welcome.

In Other News: This morning I was listening to
Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me!
on the radio today, and guess who they had as a guest? That’s right,
Petra Verkaik (warning: link unsuitable
for children), perhaps better known as the
Playboy Playmate who took 17-year-old Toby Hocking to his Winter Formal dance
(as I mentioned earlier).
Coincidentally, NPR is doing another Pledge Week right now. Can you think of
a better reason to support National Public Radio? Neither can I.