Speaking of smog... Did the smog smother the murders or did the murders obscure the smog? That’s the terrible question Kate Winkler Dawson raises in DEATH IN THE AIR: The True Story of a Serial Killer, the Great London Smog, and the Strangling of a City (Hachette, $27), her deeply researched and densely atmospheric study of two intersecting events in London, the murder spree of John Reginald (Reg) Christie and the Great Smog of 1952.
It was bitter cold that December, prompting the city’s eight million residents to pile on the coal briquettes and draw close to the fire. At the time, Britain was selling its best black coal to foreign countries and palming off the dirty brown stuff on its own people, who couldn’t afford the better coal anyway. But this cheaper means of heating proved deadly, asphyxiating 4,000 Londoners and leaving thousands more gasping. The death toll was so high that undertakers ran out of coffins. Shifting weather patterns contributed to the disaster, trapping pollutants over the city, grounding planes and suspending traffic. Theaters, hotels and restaurants operated on reduced staff when workers were unable to report; in any case, few of their patrons were willing or able to venture out. Day after day, the “peasouper” hung in the air and the roaring fires burned in the city’s hearths. “Swirls of fog,” Dawson explains, “were romantic and beguiling to Londoners.” And the “affinity for an open fire was virtually a requirement for being British.”
Meanwhile, the fog rolling over 10 Rillington Place proved a satanic blessing, smothering the little garden where Reg Christie was industriously planting the bodies of the eight women he’d killed. (Ironically, he’d enticed some of them into his flat with the promise of a special cough medicine that would clear their smog-filled lungs.) This diligent gardener wasn’t entirely secretive about what he was up to, even using a human thighbone to prop up the garden fence. “ ‘Neighbors watched me digging,’ he said. ‘They nodded ‘cheerios’ to me.’ ” Until he was brought to trial the following year, the infamous “Beast of Rillington Place” may have been the only person in London to delight in the Great Fog.
One of the Alibaba Group’s co-founders, the billionaire Joseph C. Tsai, has agreed in principle to buy a 49 percent stake in the Nets, people briefed on the deal said on Friday.
The transaction between Mr. Tsai and the Nets’ majority owner, the Russian mogul Mikhail D. Prokhorov, values the team at about $2.3 billion, including its existing debt, according to the people familiar with the deal. They spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss it publicly.
The sale does not include the Barclays Center, the $1 billion arena in which the team plays and which Mr. Prokhorov will keep.
Still, the transaction, which was reported earlier by Reuters and ESPN, highlights the continued draw that owning a sports team poses for billionaires — and the climbing prices that prominent teams can command. Three years ago, Steve Ballmer paid a then-unheard of $2 billion for control of the Los Angeles Clippers.
Prices have risen since then. Last month, the billionaire Tilman J. Fertitta paid $2.2 billion for the Houston Rockets, which set the record for N.B.A. team price tag.
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Continue reading the main story
This year, Forbes valued the Nets at about $1.8 billion, making it the seventh-most valuable N.B.A. franchise. Topping the list was the Knicks, which are owned by the Dolan family and which the publication valued at about $3.3 billion.
The Nets have had ups and downs under Mr. Prokhorov’s ownership: They reached the Eastern Conference semifinals three years ago, but have fallen apart since then, crippled by a series of misguided player personnel moves.
Under the terms of the agreement in principle, Mr. Tsai will not have any role in either the basketball or business sides of the Nets. Yet he will have the option — but not the obligation — to buy out Mr. Prokhorov at some point in the future.
Both the Swat and Cap-Ticket numbers are correct.....waiting for 3 teams tomorrow including P4 who needs Kemba to score 56 its ETeam 222 P4 167...Wingo 165 waitng for Brogdon Invaders 123 with Freak and Olasdipio still to play...
Mark, I believe Kemba went Friday night vs. Houston, and I've got the E Team staying unbeaten with a skintitillating 222-118 win over the disturbingly high-octane P4. Thank God for Tobias Harris's inability to guard (my) Blake Griffin without fouling.
If I can just stay over .500 in my remaining matches, I'm a lock for a playoff spot.
And good luck with your Olasdipio, Mark. I put some in a planter on the front porch last spring and they did great. Keep them watered.
Sorry I missed the Kemba Friday I will concur with your statistical analysis Final Invaders get that elusive first win defeating the Wingos 203-188 I(Howard-39...Jokic-39...Giannis-49...Beal-10...Lowry-35...Oladipio-31)HW(Brogdon-23...Holiday-41...LBJ-29...Dray-15...Townes-56...JJ-24) Final Swat 225-Kontrol 204.5( round up or down) SW(Kyrie-35...Booker-46...Melo-29...AD-50...Drummond-38...RJax-27) Kontrol(1227/6) Sean's 225 wins MHS ......
14 comments:
All eyes on Kontrol vs Swat
Ticket-Cap
E-Team-P4
Wingo-Invaders
Ticket wishes a speedy recuperation for Invaders
Speaking of smog...
Did the smog smother the murders or did the murders obscure the smog? That’s the terrible question Kate Winkler Dawson raises in DEATH IN THE AIR: The True Story of a Serial Killer, the Great London Smog, and the Strangling of a City (Hachette, $27), her deeply researched and densely atmospheric study of two intersecting events in London, the murder spree of John Reginald (Reg) Christie and the Great Smog of 1952.
It was bitter cold that December, prompting the city’s eight million residents to pile on the coal briquettes and draw close to the fire. At the time, Britain was selling its best black coal to foreign countries and palming off the dirty brown stuff on its own people, who couldn’t afford the better coal anyway. But this cheaper means of heating proved deadly, asphyxiating 4,000 Londoners and leaving thousands more gasping. The death toll was so high that undertakers ran out of coffins. Shifting weather patterns contributed to the disaster, trapping pollutants over the city, grounding planes and suspending traffic. Theaters, hotels and restaurants operated on reduced staff when workers were unable to report; in any case, few of their patrons were willing or able to venture out. Day after day, the “peasouper” hung in the air and the roaring fires burned in the city’s hearths. “Swirls of fog,” Dawson explains, “were romantic and beguiling to Londoners.” And the “affinity for an open fire was virtually a requirement for being British.”
Meanwhile, the fog rolling over 10 Rillington Place proved a satanic blessing, smothering the little garden where Reg Christie was industriously planting the bodies of the eight women he’d killed. (Ironically, he’d enticed some of them into his flat with the promise of a special cough medicine that would clear their smog-filled lungs.) This diligent gardener wasn’t entirely secretive about what he was up to, even using a human thighbone to prop up the garden fence. “ ‘Neighbors watched me digging,’ he said. ‘They nodded ‘cheerios’ to me.’ ” Until he was brought to trial the following year, the infamous “Beast of Rillington Place” may have been the only person in London to delight in the Great Fog.
E Team:
Gee, I sure am glad I took Lillard ahead of Cousins, the guy who single-handedly kept my team in the running last year.
Cousins is AVERAGING 50-plus this season.
One of the Alibaba Group’s co-founders, the billionaire Joseph C. Tsai, has agreed in principle to buy a 49 percent stake in the Nets, people briefed on the deal said on Friday.
The transaction between Mr. Tsai and the Nets’ majority owner, the Russian mogul Mikhail D. Prokhorov, values the team at about $2.3 billion, including its existing debt, according to the people familiar with the deal. They spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss it publicly.
The sale does not include the Barclays Center, the $1 billion arena in which the team plays and which Mr. Prokhorov will keep.
Still, the transaction, which was reported earlier by Reuters and ESPN, highlights the continued draw that owning a sports team poses for billionaires — and the climbing prices that prominent teams can command. Three years ago, Steve Ballmer paid a then-unheard of $2 billion for control of the Los Angeles Clippers.
Prices have risen since then. Last month, the billionaire Tilman J. Fertitta paid $2.2 billion for the Houston Rockets, which set the record for N.B.A. team price tag.
Continue reading the main story
ADVERTISEMENT
Continue reading the main story
This year, Forbes valued the Nets at about $1.8 billion, making it the seventh-most valuable N.B.A. franchise. Topping the list was the Knicks, which are owned by the Dolan family and which the publication valued at about $3.3 billion.
The Nets have had ups and downs under Mr. Prokhorov’s ownership: They reached the Eastern Conference semifinals three years ago, but have fallen apart since then, crippled by a series of misguided player personnel moves.
Under the terms of the agreement in principle, Mr. Tsai will not have any role in either the basketball or business sides of the Nets. Yet he will have the option — but not the obligation — to buy out Mr. Prokhorov at some point in the future.
Nets are worth every ruble.
Ticket says
Cap. 205-191 Ticket+Warren's second half at Portland after 16 in first half.
Nitecaps
1. John Wall 38
2. K. Thompson 25
3. Harrison Barnes 30
4. K. Porzingas 43
5. J. Embiid 36
6. Steph Curry 35
TOTAL 207
Ticket
Westbrook 46
TJ Warren 22
DeRozan 37
Dragic 30
K. Love 39
M. Gasol 23
TOTAL 197
Match 3 vs KONTROL
Kyrie 35
Booker 46
Melo 29
ADavis 50
Drummond 38
Reggie 27
225
Both the Swat and Cap-Ticket numbers are correct.....waiting for 3 teams tomorrow including P4 who needs Kemba to score 56 its ETeam 222 P4 167...Wingo 165 waitng for Brogdon Invaders 123 with Freak and Olasdipio still to play...
E Team:
Mark, I believe Kemba went Friday night vs. Houston, and I've got the E Team staying unbeaten with a skintitillating 222-118 win over the disturbingly high-octane P4. Thank God for Tobias Harris's inability to guard (my) Blake Griffin without fouling.
If I can just stay over .500 in my remaining matches, I'm a lock for a playoff spot.
And good luck with your Olasdipio, Mark. I put some in a planter on the front porch last spring and they did great. Keep them watered.
E Team:
So I ask my wife and son just now to help with the spelling of "titillate."
My wife, trying to sound it out phonetically, says "tit till ate."
I say "Tit 'til eight? What am I supposed to do after that?"
Ba dum boom.
It's like King of Queens around here except without the fat people.
E Team:
E Team 222: KD 51, Dame 42, CJ 37, Vucevic 22, Griffin 34, LaMarcus 36
P4 218: Hardon 49, Boogie 54, George 35, Kemba 36, Tobias 14, EGord 30
Sorry I missed the Kemba Friday I will concur with your statistical analysis Final Invaders get that elusive first win defeating the Wingos 203-188 I(Howard-39...Jokic-39...Giannis-49...Beal-10...Lowry-35...Oladipio-31)HW(Brogdon-23...Holiday-41...LBJ-29...Dray-15...Townes-56...JJ-24) Final Swat 225-Kontrol 204.5( round up or down) SW(Kyrie-35...Booker-46...Melo-29...AD-50...Drummond-38...RJax-27) Kontrol(1227/6) Sean's 225 wins MHS ......
That was some scintillating wit shown E Team.
Get you some of THAT Kontrol!!!
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