Weathering a Midlife Crisis In the Haunts of Table Tennis

As part of a midlife crisis last April, Bob Eckstein embarked on a tour of New York City’s table tennis haunts, seeking to build street cred and finally master the game.



Click the title to read the NY Times article.

The author mentions taking lessons from 'The Chief', George Braithwaite, who had been a member of the U.S. delegation to China -- part of 'Ping Pong' diplomacy instigated during the Nixon administration.

I also had the pleasure of playing with the ageless Braithwaite, who was my first coach's (Sam Hammond of Ghana) practice partner back in the '70s. You can read a bit more about that if interested here.

The Mirrors Project

What simple, yet really terrific idea. I've contributed -- hope you will too.

China to build racket-shaped hotel

'The design idea is from ping-pong. An erected ping-pong racket has a perfect architectural shape for a hotel,' said Jin Chang, director with Huainan Municipal Bureau of Sports. -- PHOTO: CHINA DAILY

CHINA - A 150M TALL hotel designed in the shape of a ping-pong racket will be built in Huainan city, East China's Anhui province, as part of a complex to tap the wealth of the sports industry.

The hotel, located in a planned Olympic park covering an area of over 67 hectares, has an estimated investment of 300 million yuan (S$58 million). It will feature three parts, the top designed for sight-seeing, the middle will house guest rooms, and bottom used for conference facilities.

'The design idea is from ping-pong. An erected ping-pong racket has a perfect architectural shape for a hotel,' said Jin Chang, director with Huainan Municipal Bureau of Sports.

The buildings were all designed by Mei Jikui, a renowned architect for sports structures. Supporting facilities such as a swimming pool are also included in the plans.

How about Sulu as Spiderman?

F.B.I. Seeks Help Cracking Code in Victim’s Notes

By TIMOTHY WILLIAMS
Published: March 31, 2011
The F.B.I. is asking for the public’s help in deciphering two encrypted notes found on a man who was killed in 1999.