2023, the Third Day

We watched the horrific collapse of Bills safety Damar Hamlin. We'd never seen anything like that on a football field. We're shocked with how well ESPN handled the crisis, both the booth and studio crew. All involved were very smart and prudent and avoided speculation. Well done...especially Booger McFarland. 

On a more positive sports note, Mrs. Stroock's Nittany Lions defeated the Utes last night in convincing fashion. They had a dominant second half making for a wonderful ten minutes or so of Victory Time, where the game ain't over but you know you won. 

NJ.com reports: 'When it opened in 1981, Liberty Village was considered the nation’s first major outlet shopping center. It enjoyed enormous success and expanded in the late 1990s, but has since declined amid a lack of visitors.'  We used to shop at Liberty Village. Nice place, especially in the 2000s. Now it's gone, to be converted into condos and apartments.

Glenn Reynolds echoes some of the thoughts we've had as an indy/freelancer: 'I started InstaPundit as a hobby, but after over 20 years of pretty much every day work, it needs to do more than occupy my idle hours, of which I don’t have enough...I’m also considering setting up on Substack. I wouldn’t move the blog there, but it might be an alternative to writing columns for other people. I do sort of wonder whether I’d do as well without a deadline, but on the other hand, I’ve been writing a weekly (or sometimes twice-weekly) column for over twenty years as well, and maybe it’s time for something different.' 

Stroock's Books Reader(s) may not hear Reynold's existential writer's angst, but we do. Heck, we've been thinking about podcasting on Substack for a month now. Will we do it? Dunno. Apropos of nothing, or maybe Instapundit, we're going to post at our old Parler account for a while. Why not?

2003 and Me. That was the year we really got into T-shirts. Before that we'd gone full-on Gen-X retro and wore button down shirts everywhere. In 2003 we went casual and had a dozen T-shirts we like. Three University of Kentucky T-shirts (we spent 3 weeks there when our last close relative was dying) two New York Giants T-shirts, some beer T-shirts...it was a nice, new look. Part of the new, refreshed and happy will going forward. 

We await with bated breath for the GOP to get the House Speakership sorted out, so we can file our article on 30 years of GOP failure in the House with 19Fortyfive. Stroock's Books official stance is Burn. Them. All. 

Yesterday we did some nice work on The New American Order's future history chapter. Rockefeller, with no home to return to, settles down in Ft. Collins Colorado with daughter Ann. His residence will one day be called Rockefeller House. Ann becomes a sort of nationally belove figure. We have post war bios for other important figures too. 

Today we opened up World War 1990: The Final Storm and pasted the various files together. A fellow North American asked, 'Ready for publishing?' We responded with a Jim Halper laughing Giff. The MS is 79,000 words people. I shake my head more in sorrow and disappointment rather than frustration and anger.  

It has been suggested that a young Arkansas politician show up in The New American Order. Too cute. But Bill Clinton will be an important character in Election '92, a World War 1990 Novel. Think a reverse 1992 election but with added scandal shaking things up soon after the Democrat convention. 

Commercial break: Another Gap commercial from 1999. These commercials were at once annoying and compelling. Which makes them memorable. Which means they worked. Wait till the end and you'll see a famous actress front, right. We noticed her then and have been following ever since. Always thought she was a knockout.