Yankee doodle — The Collins Theory

“The Metallic pen is in the ascendant, and the glory of goosedom has departed forever,” one textbook stated flatly.

The full text to Paul's introduction to a new book of presidential doodles can be found here.

* * *

Last bit of this Times piece, on a chess championship held in Elista, was pretty great:

He mentioned the 2004 championship in Tripoli, Libya, which used a knockout system like that at the Wimbledon tennis championships.

Partly because of the location and partly because of the format, only 5 of the world’s top 20 players participated. It was won by Rustam Kasimdzhanov of Uzbekistan, who was ranked No. 47 at the time. Mr. Short said, “In Libya, the world championship final was watched by two men and a dog.”