Rabbit, Run--Rabbit, Jump
She was the fastest rabbit in town, taking just 11 seconds to jump all the hurdles in the round. Cherie, a 2-year-old Swedish bunny, left the competition in the dust at the U.K.'s Rabbit Grand National, held in the dignified Yorkshire town of Harrogate in late January. The lop-eared speed demon, who also won the competition last year, elicited gasps from the audience as she jumped hurdles close to 28 inches high. In Sweden, where the fluffy competitors train for up to two hours a day, there is an established network of breeders who are always looking for talent. "Our bunnies are so used to competing, so they know what to do," Ms. Hedlund says. Choosing the right breed of rabbit is also important. Sweden's 200 or so breeders are experimenting widely, and charge more—up to 1,500 kronor ($225)—for a rabbit with prizewinning parentage. Bunny-jumping enthusiasts say it is good for the rabbits. A domestic rabbit that is allowed to exercise can live 10 or 12 years, compared with five years at most if kept in a cage, says Lisbeth Jansson, who has written two books on rabbit jumping and, with her husband, Lars, runs Libra Arctic, the world's only professional maker of rabbit jumps. "These bunnies develop psyche, heart, lungs and muscles, so they live longer and the vets have more to do," she says. "Some [owners] even take out life insurance on renowned jumping rabbits. Despite their dominance of the sport, Swedish bunnies are bested by their Danish neighbors when it comes to world records. In 1999, a Danish rabbit called Yaboo set the world long-jump record when he flew over a three-meter, or nearly 10-feet, hurdle, while his compatriot Tösen bounced 99.5 centimeter, or about 40 inches, to nab the high-jump record in 1997. JAVIER ESPINOZA and ANNA MOLIN http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204652904577196912649404638.html

For his first show for the Paul Kasmin gallery in Manhattan, the artist Will Ryman will take over both of its locations with two massive installations, one in the gallery on 10th Avenue and the second in the newly opened space on West 27th Street, the former home of Bungalow 8, just around the corner. The show will run from February 16 to March 24. The two projects both feature an obsession with trash and items found at hardware stores. The first, called Everyman, will turn the original gallery into a gigantic human form in repose, some 50 feet long and curved around the walls of the gallery. Mr. Ryman’s shirt will be composed of work boots, flattened and painted, and his extended fingers will be bottlecaps. The second project, Bird, features a giant raven made of nails that range in size, from one inch to three feet. The bird holds a rose in its mouth, perhaps a reference to Mr. Ryman’s installation The Roses, which appeared on Park Avenue earlier this year. His roses could also be spotted at a new installation, Desublimation of the Rose, at the Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden during Art Basel Miami Beach.
http://www.galleristny.com/2011/12/big-willie-style-will-rymans-new-installations-will-take-over-paul-kasmin-gallery/

If your pension plan is underfunded, you could be at risk of losing some of your benefits. That isn't news. But did you know that your pension can be at risk even if the plan is relatively healthy? Something as seemingly innocuous as having a lump-sum payout provision, or even having a religious affiliation, could mean your benefits are vulnerable. Here are some red flags to look for, and some ways to protect yourself:
Your pension is healthy, but your employer isn't.
Your plan offers lump-sum payouts.
Your company changes hands.
Your employer gets religion. ELLEN E. SCHULTZ
See examples and explanations at: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203315804577211064028695608.html

Sarasota, FL Feb. 10 If you're a theater buff with a serious interest in American comedy, "Once in a Lifetime" probably ranks high on the list of little-known shows you'd love to see onstage. Otherwise, I doubt you've heard of it. A farce about the coming of talking pictures to Hollywood, "Once in a Lifetime" was the first collaboration between George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart, who went on to write "The Man Who Came to Dinner" and "You Can't Take It With You." It opened on Broadway in 1930 and ran for 406 performances, which was big business back then. Two years later, it was turned into a middling movie, then vanished from sight (the 1979 Broadway revival was a flop). Today the play is known solely because Mr. Hart wrote about it in "Act One," his 1959 autobiography. Why doesn't anybody do "Once in a Lifetime" nowadays? It costs too much—way too much. The published script calls for five sets and 38 actors. You could get away with that in the 1930s, but no commercial producer would think of bringing so horrendously expensive a play to Broadway anymore. Enter San Francisco's American Conservatory Theater and Sarasota's Asolo Repertory Theatre, two regional companies that double as drama schools, making it possible to put on large-cast shows by using students to cover smaller parts. ACT mounted "Once in a Lifetime" last fall and Asolo Rep is doing it now. TERRY TEACHOUT http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204136404577205803496515734.html

Professor A. Craig Baird, reading from a speech titled “The Responsibilities of Free Communication,” at a University of Iowa commencement speech in 1952, told his audience of newly minted graduates that they must “reject communication as the primitive art of arousing the emotions …. College graduates, as well as reporters, columnists, congressional investigators, must join in the search for intelligent answers to intelligent questions.” What exactly is civility? Civilpolitics.org, which provides a clearinghouse for research and approaches to improving America’s political dialogue, defines it as “the ability to disagree with others while respecting their sincerity and decency.” Essentially, America’s political system depends on a rational exchange of views; it relies on healthy debate that, ideally, leads to the best ideas for mutual governance. As Baird told the class of 1952, “Ours is a government of talk …. Only thus can we have mature opinion and responsible action.” JENNIFER HEMMINGSEN http://www.iowalum.com/magazine/feb12/civility.cfm?page=all

Portmanteau words, also called blended words or simply portmanteaux, are words that are formed by splicing or merging two other words together. The term portmanteau words comes from Chapter Six of Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking Glass, and What Alice Found There, in which the character Humpty Dumpty, in explaining the meaning of the word slithy in the poem "Jabberwocky", says: “Well, slithy means 'lithe and slimy.' Lithe is the same as 'active.' You see it's like a portmanteau — there are two meanings packed up into one word." This is a double joke: first, a portmanteau is a suitcase, in which one would “pack” things, like the multiple meanings within portmanteau words; second, portmanteau is itself a compound word, similar to portmanteau words, in that it is from the French words for "carry" – porter – and "cloak" – manteau. http://www.wisegeek.com/what-are-portmanteau-words.htm

The Parliament of Fowls by Geoffrey Chaucer (ca. 1343-1400) Valentine is mentioned five times in this modern translation. http://www.poetryintranslation.com/PITBR/English/Fowls.htm