Odds and Ends

We note that a couple of very distinguished gentlemen passed away recently. Our Daily Dead tells us that Frederick Busch and Owen Chamberlain are recently passed.

Mr. Busch was the essence of a writer. In fact his obit states he was a "...writer's writer...". Lofty praise for someone once quoted as saying that his goal was to be “a really honest, minor writer of the 20th century.”

Mr. Chamberlain could be said to have held the universe in his hands. Three things stand out in his obit: first, his work on the first atomic bomb (and his $5 bet that the first test device would not explode), second, his apology to the Japanese people regarding the bomb, and third, of course, his discovery of the antiproton. Adding a stone or two to the edifice called science.

Another favorite blogger 8763 Wonderland has picked up on a Four Things theme currently wandering about the LA bloggersphere. We would have both Chavez Ravine and Wildwood Canyon Park in our Rather Be list certainly - the latter being central to the David Quammen coyote story "To Live and Die in L.A." found in his Wild Thoughts From Wild Places book.

Technorati tags: Our Daily Dead, Owen Chamberlain, Atomic Bomb, Frederick Busch, 8763 Wonderland, David Quammen, coyote