books: I’m flirting with two books right now. The Worlds of Herman Kahn is Sharon Ghamari-Tabrizi’s biography of the RAND thinktank guru of nuclear war strategy, the real Dr. Strangelove. It’s an odd book, but that is a good thing. Thinking about nuclear weapons and nuclear war is and should be unsettling. Moneyball is Michael Lewis’ look at Billy Beane and the Oakland As’ love affair with statistics and low-rent pro ball. Dan McKay, who works with me at the Journal, sat down with me at the ballpark the other day and asked what I thought the most underrated statistic was in baseball. I suggested runs scored. He offered regression to the mean, and made an excellent case. He loaned me his copy of the book.

family: I had a lovely evening Friday, driving up to Española with Nora to see a student film festival. We stopped off in Santa Fe afterwards for a thin crust pizza at the Atomic Cafe, which she suggested. That she was able to take me to one of her places…. Well, it occurs to me that my daughter is largely over the divide between little girl and young woman, and she is delightful company.

cycling: It’s hard to understate the frustration of reading the steady stream on my cycling team’s email list as they talk about the training rides and the upcoming races. (Tomorrow morning it’s hill climbing repeats. God how they hurt, and I love them.) Out of frustration I sent out a message Saturday organizing a Ride for the Wounded, promising no intervals, no hills, small chain ring only. I got some company, a nice leisurely 40+ miles with a couple of the wounded (two bad knees and an aching rib cage among the group). It was lovely.