No one can love without the grace
Of some unseen and distant face


Jack Tworkov, Falls Edge, 1964

* From Harper's October 2009:

-- Percentage of Americans who could be sent to medical school in China this year on the total U.S. health care spending: 100

-- Chance a U.S. household that owns a Prius also owns an SUV: 1 in 3

-- Number of states where the obesity rate declined last year: 0

-- Percentage of unintended U.S. pregnancies that are carried to term: 43

-- Percentage of U.S. pregnancies that the mothers mothers report to be unintended: 47

-- Percentage of unemployed Americans who take a nap each day: 39

-- Percentage of employed Americans who do: 31

* Doug Collins plays Bingo Smith in a game of Horse, from sometime in the mid-70s.

* "Love involves a peculiar unfathomable combination of understanding and misunderstanding." -- Diane Arbus