Sunday, April 17, 2011

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.

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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.

Friday, April 15, 2011

The Mirrors Project

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

Sunday, April 10, 2011

China to build racket-shaped hotel

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'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.

Sunday, April 03, 2011

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.

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