When all the girls my age were reading Tiger Beat and the other teeny booper magazines of the day, I was devouring Equus and Western Horseman, and plastering my walls with Arabians and appaloosas and Quarter horses instead of with David Cassidy or Bobby Sherman, or for the more discriminating among us, with Ben Murphy and Pete Duel . Which means while I was at the mercy of friends who might tire of their mini-posters of Ben and Pete and then hand them down to me, for careful saving in my green plastic pencil box, I did come across this 1971 Western Horseman photo of Pete at the San Bernardino Sheriff's Rodeo, a photo I've yet to see elsewhere on the internet.

(This posting prompted by DB, who came to visit yesterday with two large boxes full of Alias Smith and Jones and Ben and Pete memorabilia. I was in fangirl heaven, let me tell you.)

In more recent news, Bill Bryson is donating a copy of A Short History of Nearly Everything to every secondary school in Great Britain.

"The government is backing the scheme, aimed at reversing the decline in interest in subjects like physics and chemistry among students." (BBC)

Would the U.S. government permit such a scheme? Probably not, considering how offensive many Americans seem to find science these days.

And, the Louvre Museum can be toured on line.