Atlas Shrugged

[Rich Curtis]

Magicnight wrote:

\"Christopher Buckley. QED.\"

 Short of quoting Hume on the nature of \"proof,\" the best I can give you is that Christopher Buckley endorsed Obama for president.

[magicnight]

Dam side influence?

[Rich Curtis]

\"Dam side influence?\"

Ignore all that crap. Just look at the sheet numbers and then announce that you made a 10-billion-dollar show bet.

[richiebee]

Kerouac\'s earliest writing assignments were to cover, as a 12 year old, an imaginary
New England racing circuit he created, complete with fictional tracks,horses,
jockeys and owners. He composed, by hand and in pencil, a short publication for his
own entertainment which resembled the Morning Telegraph, complete with articles and
charts. Kerouac describes some of these fantasy sports activities (he also was
heavily into fantasy baseball) in Dr.Sax.

The leading owner on Kerouac\'s fantasy circuit was Jack Lewis, a retired jockey.
Lewis\' top horse was Repulsion, who defeated all challengers yet somehow always
offered good value in the show pool.

About 2 years ago the main branch of the NY Public Library featured an exhibit of
all things Kerouac, including the elaborate notebooks in which Kerouac recorded
the activities of his fantasy racing circuit.

Also exhibited was the long scroll on which Kerouac composed On the Road. The
scroll was loaned to the exhibit by Jim Irsay, owner of the Indianapolis Colts, who
had purchased it for 2.4 million. (Irsay is a huge rock and roll fan and amateur
musician; each year at Christmas he distributes a CD on which he sings and plays
guitar for his close friends. Apparently he one year paid Steven Stills $1M to play
\"back-up\" on the CD.)

But how great was Kerouac, who suggested that we all drop out, experiment with
drugs, and pursue freedom on the road, yet spent most of his own adulthood living
with his mother.

[moosepalm]

Richiebee... thanks for the color on Kerouac, particularly the horse racing connection.  If you haven\'t already done so, you might enjoy visiting the Beat Museum if you\'re ever out in the Bay Area.

Rich Curtis.... thanks for balancing the scales on literary mating habits.  The Fairness Doctrine probably doesn\'t mandate that you give equal time to transgender authors (progenitors of a genre known as TG fiction, not to be confused with our own version, or as we like to call it, \"past posting\").

For those interested in horse racing fiction, one of my favorites was William Murray, who wrote a series of mystery novels featuring a main character who was both a racing aficionado and a magician, hardly mutually exclusive pursuits.  Most of the stories were set on the California racing circuit, and while not to be confused with great literature, they were entertaining reads, and Murray clearly knew his way around the race track and backstretch.  He passed away a few years ago, and, sadly, I suspect most of his books are out of print.