Leadership and the Power of Love

The Washington Monument was deteriorating.  The culprit appeared to be the harsh chemicals being applied to clean the edifice.  The cleaning was required in order to eradicate, at least temporarily, the staining caused by a significant amount of excrement, otherwise known as pigeon poop.  This cycle, in one form or another, had repeated itself in some shape or form since the Monument's completion over 130 years ago. Deeper probing presented a solution.  Why was there such an inordinate population of pigeons?  It seemed that the birds found spiders absolutely delectable.  The arachnids, too, also thrived in the vicinity of the Monument.  So, what attracted the spiders?  Even smaller insects, gnats, found the habitat at the end of the National Mall to their liking as well.  What then with the gnats?  Well it seemed that especially at dusk, when the illuminating lights were flipped on, a gnat frenzy ensued thus initiating the predator fo...

Us children of the 60's and 70's who had any interest in college basketball were witness to one of the greatest sports dynasties in the history of athletic competition with the dominance of the UCLA Bruins.  Save for one year, from 1964 to 1975, the Westwood cagers not only qualified for our current era's pinnacle of achievement, The Final Four, but won the National Championship 10 times! Granted the "March Madness" tournament in those days consisted of less than 25 participants vs. today's 68 and there were 220 or less Division I teams then eligible vs. this past season's 351, nonetheless the Bruins were no less of juggernaut.  A record of 335-22 during that period meant that for 12 years they won 15 out of every 16 games played! To be sure there was individual talent during that time with stalwarts such as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (then Lew Alcindor), Bill Walton, Gail Goodrich, and Sidney Wicks making their marks not only collegiately, but later professi...