Succulent and nutritious flesh

Nature QOTD

Inside... the defenseless young are butchered.
The succulent and nutritious flesh will be a massive boost to the hornets' own larvae, and their queen's fortunes.
- (Hot British) narrator, youtube - 30 Japanese giant hornets kill 30,000 honey bees

That video really is amazing and brutal. Excellent. He he.

1. My All-time NBA team

I'm working on it.
Go:

• PG - Magic
• SG - Michael
• SF - Larry Bird
• PF - T Duncan
• C - Kareem

2nd team:

• PG - Oscar Robertson
• SG - Kobe
• SF - ???
• PF - K Malone
• C - Shaq or Hakeem

I picked Tim Duncan over Karl Malone because of all the rings. I prefer The Mailman's angry style, but Duncan's got the rings.

It's interesting how easy the choices are for guard and center. How completely dominant these players were. Power forward is tougher, and small forward is the toughest of all.

This is a great site on career leaders in all manner of stats: www.basketball-reference.com/leaders

2. Girlie book

Book: True Things About Me by Deborah Kay Davies
Review: 3 bill-stars (out of 5)... OK
Goodreads link: www.goodreads.com/review/show/260098700

First, that's the author over there to the right. Very Welsh'y attractive.

It's appropriate that this book has "Me" in the title. It's primarily a first-person introspective of a young woman going through an existential crisis of confidence. It was interesting, almost like reading a personal journal.

This is true girlie stuff: insecurity, hating your appearance, self-loathing, consumed by the opinions of others. The author did a great job of putting you in the shoes of a girl going through these difficult emotions. You feel the lead character buckling because of her lack of self-confidence, lack of a foundation. It's fascinating to me on two accounts: 1) how nearly universal it seems for women, and 2) how different guys are.

The girl in True Things is always looking in the mirror and either degrading herself or not connecting with the person she sees. The male perspective is the opposite. You better connect with that guy in the mirror and act in a way that makes you proud of yourself, or else all is guy-lost. It reminded me of a poem that Da Coach Mike Ditka often quotes called the Man in the Mirror.

For it isn't your Father, or Mother, or Wife,
Who judgement upon you must pass.
The feller whose verdict counts most in your life
Is the guy staring back from the glass.
- www.theguyintheglass.com/gig.htm

Well, that diary of the female experience is the first 2/3 of the book, and it's pretty riveting. But dop... the last 1/3 of the book kind of collapses into a more plot-oriented story and loses its way. It was a disappointing ending, but it's tough to write a good ending, eh.

Regardless, True Things was a worthwhile read.
yow, bill