Assertiveness Training for Creatures From the Tepid Lagoon

Start with something small, like sacking  a village, tearing the inhabitants to pieces, and stealing all of their Tupperware. Then work up to something larger, like asking for a date.

And don't be disappointed if you get a sack of pitted dates instead of true romance. Many a tear has to fall, etc.

In case you're interested, the song, It's All in the Game, is the only #1 hit ever written by a US Vice President. It was composed in 1911 by then-banker Charles Gates Dawes, who became VP under Calvin Coolidge in 1925. You can read more about it on this site.


The lyrics were used by Bernard Wolfe in a novel entitled The Late Risers, which I read a long time ago and remember as being a highly unusual tale of various colorful characters--actors, promoters and grifters  in a 1950's era Broadway setting. You can read an excerpt here, and there are various editions floating around.


Bernard Wolfe was at one time a secretary and bodyguard to Leon Trotsky, although he was not on duty when his boss was murdered.


Here, from Martha Stewart, are pictures and a recipe for bittersweet chocolate mousse.  I cannot believe that I just linked to a Martha Stewart item! My parents must have done something wrong when I was still at an impressionable age. Actually, the chocolate made me do it.


Here is a picture of the Big Bertha Howitzer. You won't find any Howitzers on Martha Stewart's site. She's probably never fired a Howitzer in her life. 


Neither have I, actually, but I can think of a number of occasions when I could have used one. The day I got that detention, for instance. All I did was roll a penny down the  length of the classroom floor while the teacher was droning on about the chief export products of some country I'd never heard of! Talk about injustice! Bring on the Howitzers!