Writer's Block: Dear Abby

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Some bloke from the West Country:

Look thou character. Give thy thoughts no tongue,
Nor any unproportion'd thought his act.
Be thou familiar, but by no means vulgar.
Those friends thou hast, and their adoption tried,
Grapple them unto thy soul with hoops of steel;
But do not dull thy palm with entertainment
Of each new-hatch'd, unfledg'd comrade. Beware
Of entrance to a quarrel; but, being in,
Bear't that the opposed may beware of thee.
Give every man thine ear, but few thy voice:
Take each man's censure, but reserve thy judgment.
Costly thy habit as thy purse can buy,
But not express'd in fancy; rich, not gaudy:
For the apparel oft proclaims the man;
And they in France of the best rank and station
Are most select and generous chief in that.
Neither a borrower nor a lender be:
For loan oft loses both itself and friend;
And borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry.
This above all,—to thine own self be true;
And it must follow, as the night the day,
Thou canst not then be false to any man.

There is a difference between other people's swimming champions and ours...

...ours are gorgeous, too.



Above: Novella Calligaris, the tiny sprite who demolished a number of chemically enhanced East German giantesses in Belgrade in 1973 to win an unforgettable world championship gold in the murderous 800 metre freestyle, at the time the toughest speciality in the games.
Below: Federica Pellegrini, the supermodel type who has just done the impossible by winning for the second time world championship golds in both the 400 and the 200 metres in Shanghai. Nobody had ever done that before, and it does not seem likely that anyone will again any time soon, unless of course Federica herself has a go next time.