#james barron

[mortimers-cross]

Hey look! It’s them!

[markloveshistory]

A Hero Lost

Today in History, March 22, 1820:

Stephen Decatur, Naval hero of the first and second Barbary Pirate wars, and of the War of 1812, hero and example to many of the U.S. Navy, is killed in a senseless duel.

In 1807 Commodore James Barron refused to defend his ship, Chesapeake, against British attack and was court-marshaled; Decatur, an old friend had to sit on the court-marshal board.

Su…

[isolationstreet]

[alangreenstein]

Support Our #creatives Shares: Nights at the Museum: When the Met Became a Movie Studio | The New York Times

Support Our #creatives Shares: Nights at the Museum: When the Met Became a Movie Studio | The New York Times

A scene in “Ocean’s 8” was filmed inside the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Temple of Dendur. Credit David Lee/Warner Brothers Pictures (photo from New York Times article)

The linked-to article in this post originally appeared in The New York Times: “Nights at the Museum: When the Met Became a Movie Studio”, by James Barron.

I saw “Ocean’s 8” recently, which is about a group of women pulling off a…

[freshtracksinc]

It was hard to make fun of him because he seemed to have so much fun making fun of himself.

James Barron, and today’s Fresh Tracks, Inc.™ AM Fuel

[practicalkatie]

A really interesting book about the world’s most valuable stamp.  Don’t let the subject matter deter you from reading this good book. 

[bigtickhk]

The One-Cent Magenta by James Barron http://amzn.to/2oyg51J

[bellesdomain]

Cats the Musical - London, December 1997

Asparagus - James Barron

Swing “Caramel” behind

[bookbandit]

The One-Cent Magenta: Inside the Quest to Own the Most Valuable Stamp in the World (2017) by James Barron

Summary from Goodreads

When it was issued in 1856, it cost a penny. In 2014, this tiny square of faded red paper sold at Sotheby’s for nearly $9.5 million, the largest amount ever paid for a postage stamp at auction. Through the stories of the eccentric characters who have bought, owned, and sold the one-cent magenta in the years in between, James Barron delivers a fascinating tale of global history and immense wealth, and of the human desire to collect. 

Thoughts

I received this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. 

I enjoyed this book. It was a fun, easy read. Something I would characterize as a summertime read with a little more heft. It wasn't overly technical or dry; I definitely appreciated this considering the world of stamp collecting is not one I am familiar with. It read like a long newspaper article, or perhaps a series of newspaper articles on the same topic, but not in a bad way. I just thing this is the best way to describe the writing style. 

This little stamp has been owned by some pretty interesting characters throughout its lifetime, and reading about them was quite the journey. I would recommend this book to any who is looking for an interesting story in the most unexpected place.

[adapto]

James Barron. Photo credit: Marina Galperina

[markloveshistory]

A Senseless End for a Pioneering American Naval Hero

Today in History, March 22, 1820:

Stephen Decatur, Naval hero of the first and second Barbary Pirate wars, and of the War of 1812, hero and example to many of the U.S. Navy, is killed in a senseless duel.

In 1807 Commodore James Barron refused to defend his ship, Chesapeake, against British attack and was court-marshaled; Decatur sat on the court-marshal board.

Suspended from the Navy for 5…

[elossoftspot]

James Barron and Sam Hiller as the managers.

From London 2007 brochure with Earl Carpenter, Leila Benn Harris, Robyn North and Michael Xavier. Production photographs by Clive Barda.

Scan and edit by Elo.

[isolationstreet]

“ For a similar reason when game is in season, I’ m found not at Fox’s but Blimp’s”

[operafantomet]

Favourite Firmin/André photos 7/25:  James Barron and Sam Hiller, West End 

[carruth00]

A Cube With a Twist: At 40, It Puzzles Anew..

 By James Barron for the New York Times..

A Rubik’s cube can be twisted and twiddled in 43,252,003,274,489,856,000 different ways, and 43,252,003,274,489,855,999 of them are wrong.

Those truths — especially the second, maddeningly frustrating one — have been known since soon after the modish, Mondrianish plastic object was invented in 1974. The cube went on to become the must-have toy of 1980 and 1981.

Its popularity faded fast.

By 1982, the cube was so last year, doomed to Hula-Hoop faddishness. In 1986, The New York Times said the cube had been “retired to the attic, the garbage heap and, with a bow to its elegance and ingeniousness, to the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art.”

Lately it has undergone a resurrection in a world in which engineers and computers can generate helpful algorithms that would-be cube solvers can share with each other. But some things have not changed.

Read more

[isthisadrelevanttoyou]

"Officials had declared the school off-limits to everyone except the contractors hired to demolish it. Mr. [Robert Mitchell, the chairman of the town’s public building and site commission] said the workers had been directed to destroy anything that could be identified with the school — in part to protect the victims’ privacy, in part to prevent pieces of the school from being sold online. The bricks will be crushed beyond recognition, he said, and the contractors were required to sign confidentiality agreements intended to keep descriptions of the inside of the school from circulating on the Internet. 'We don’t want to have happen what happened to some of the stuff from 9/11,' he said. 'It would be embarrassing. The steel will be melted, and nothing identifiable will be leaving the site'" [Emphasis added].

Barron, James. "Almost a Year After Massacre, Newton Begins Razing Sandy Hook." The New York Times. 25 Oct. 2013. Web. 26 Oct. 2013.