Backgammon

On the 13th day of the Persian New Year, or Nowruz, it is considered bad luck to be indoors. Above, from left, Mahtab Davatolhagh, Nick Spera, Natalie Zimmerman and Don Sauder join others at William R. Mason Regional Park in Irvine to soak in the nice weather as they celebrate the day called Sizdah Bedar. Below, Amir Norbakhsh, left, and Abbas Javan play backgammon, and at right, Roya Rohani spends the Sunday with her dog, Roxy.

On the 13th day of the Persian New Year, or Nowruz, it is considered bad luck to be indoors. Above, from left, Mahtab Davatolhagh, Nick Spera, Natalie Zimmerman and Don Sauder join others at William R. Mason Regional Park in Irvine to soak in the nice weather as they celebrate the day called Sizdah Bedar. Below, Amir Norbakhsh, left, and Abbas Javan play backgammon, and at right, Roya Rohani spends the Sunday with her dog, Roxy.

Biafra pulls no punches on war Part verbal pugilist, part punk-rock radical, Jello Biafra twisted a few heads around Thursday at the UC Santa Barbara Events Center. As part of Punkvoter.com's "Rock Against Bush" festival, the former Dead Kennedys frontman unleashed a diatribe against the war in Iraq. The police presence was so thick you could smell the doughnuts, and the sold-out audience was riveted to his every condemning word.

Biafra pulls no punches on war Part verbal pugilist, part punk-rock radical, Jello Biafra twisted a few heads around Thursday at the UC Santa Barbara Events Center. As part of Punkvoter.com's "Rock Against Bush" festival, the former Dead Kennedys frontman unleashed a diatribe against the war in Iraq. The police presence was so thick you could smell the doughnuts, and the sold-out audience was riveted to his every condemning word.

Playing tennis in England in summer means playing a waiting game. Competitors hoping to have a chance to play at Wimbledon this year are finding that dealing with the rain, and the waiting, is as challenging as any Centre Court match. For only the second time in tournament history, rain postponed all matches Friday for the second consecutive day. The only other time was in 1909, also on the Thursday and Friday of the first week. It is the worst start ever to Wimbledon.

The reality of Wilt Chamberlain's home is more nuanced than "For Sale: Palace of a Playboy" (July 30) would lead one to surmise. In the course of writing a biography of Wilt, I've been in the home twice these past 18 months. Yes, Wilt seduced a lot of women in the house, and yes, there is--or was--a room with a water bed. But I also saw bookcases in Wilt's second-floor hallway--hundreds of books that had obviously been read: books on history and biography; Jimmy Carter's "Turning Point"; "Me" by Katherine Hepburn; "Russia and War--1941-45"; "Wonders of Life on Earth"; books on the stars (i.e.

Mildred Tierstein of Camarillo would like to find another lightweight raincoat made of 100% Dacron polyester, similar to one her husband bought years ago. The raincoat folds into a small envelope and was "not made of shower-curtain material." Can you help before it rains on Tierstein's parade, or will she begin to wonder whether she's all wet in her search?

Ten years ago, two California women, Tish Sommers and Laurie Shields, coined the term displaced homemakers to describe a growing group of women--housewives and mothers who, because of divorce or a spouse's death, must enter the work force to support themselves and their children.

The big debate in the women's restroom, said my dessert investigator, was whether to stay at Menage or head over to DC 3. The sticking point was not the 20-mile drive to Santa Monica but DC 3's $15 Friday/Saturday cover charge versus Menage's $5. The thrifty traditions of Old Pasadena, she reported, seemed to be winning the day. Hey, why leave?

Stan Herman, a Westside real estate broker who with Hugh Hefner founded the Pips Club, featuring their favorite board game, backgammon, has died. He was 67. Herman, who established Stan Herman & Associates in Beverly Hills 43 years ago, died Saturday of leukemia in his suburban Santa Barbara home. He became a fan of backgammon in the early 1970s and started the Stan Herman Invitational Backgammon Tournament, staged annually at the original Bistro Restaurant in Beverly Hills.

Stan Herman, a Westside real estate broker who with Hugh Hefner founded the Pips Club, featuring their favorite board game, backgammon, has died. He was 67. Herman, who established Stan Herman & Associates in Beverly Hills 43 years ago, died Saturday of leukemia in his suburban Santa Barbara home. He became a fan of backgammon in the early 1970s and started the Stan Herman Invitational Backgammon Tournament, staged annually at the original Bistro Restaurant in Beverly Hills.

Felt-lined briefcases lie open-faced, occupying every available surface at the A.R. Private Club, a small space in a strip mall near the Beverly Center. It's after midnight and opposing players are staring intently into the sharp-toothed maw of their backgammon boards. Fueled by complimentary Krispy Kremes and coffee, champions and amateurs alike were here competing for cash and status at the 48th annual Gammon Associates Invitational over the weekend.

The reality of Wilt Chamberlain's home is more nuanced than "For Sale: Palace of a Playboy" (July 30) would lead one to surmise. In the course of writing a biography of Wilt, I've been in the home twice these past 18 months. Yes, Wilt seduced a lot of women in the house, and yes, there is--or was--a room with a water bed. But I also saw bookcases in Wilt's second-floor hallway--hundreds of books that had obviously been read: books on history and biography; Jimmy Carter's "Turning Point"; "Me" by Katherine Hepburn; "Russia and War--1941-45"; "Wonders of Life on Earth"; books on the stars (i.e.

Playing tennis in England in summer means playing a waiting game. Competitors hoping to have a chance to play at Wimbledon this year are finding that dealing with the rain, and the waiting, is as challenging as any Centre Court match. For only the second time in tournament history, rain postponed all matches Friday for the second consecutive day. The only other time was in 1909, also on the Thursday and Friday of the first week. It is the worst start ever to Wimbledon.

"This is indeed a funny country," French novelist Gustave Flaubert wrote home from Egypt to announce, surveying the scene in the coffee shop around him where, in one corner, a donkey brayed, while in the other, a swarthy Egyptian quietly relieved himself. "No one finds that odd," he told his mother. "No one says anything. Sometimes a man will get up and begin to say his prayers, with great bowings and exclaimings, as though he were quite alone. No one even turns his head to look, it is all so natural.

The big debate in the women's restroom, said my dessert investigator, was whether to stay at Menage or head over to DC 3. The sticking point was not the 20-mile drive to Santa Monica but DC 3's $15 Friday/Saturday cover charge versus Menage's $5. The thrifty traditions of Old Pasadena, she reported, seemed to be winning the day. Hey, why leave?

A blue haze fills the Rawda cafe and is constantly replenished by elderly men puffing on the narghile, an elaborate water pipe that begins with a rubber hose and ends at a thumbnail-size ember of tobacco. Waiters in dirty gray aprons move among the tables, precariously balancing tiny cups of strong Turkish coffee, glasses of heavily sweetened Arab tea and tongs holding heated tobacco coals for the pipes.

Felt-lined briefcases lie open-faced, occupying every available surface at the A.R. Private Club, a small space in a strip mall near the Beverly Center. It's after midnight and opposing players are staring intently into the sharp-toothed maw of their backgammon boards. Fueled by complimentary Krispy Kremes and coffee, champions and amateurs alike were here competing for cash and status at the 48th annual Gammon Associates Invitational over the weekend.

A blue haze fills the Rawda cafe and is constantly replenished by elderly men puffing on the narghile, an elaborate water pipe that begins with a rubber hose and ends at a thumbnail-size ember of tobacco. Waiters in dirty gray aprons move among the tables, precariously balancing tiny cups of strong Turkish coffee, glasses of heavily sweetened Arab tea and tongs holding heated tobacco coals for the pipes.

Mildred Tierstein of Camarillo would like to find another lightweight raincoat made of 100% Dacron polyester, similar to one her husband bought years ago. The raincoat folds into a small envelope and was "not made of shower-curtain material." Can you help before it rains on Tierstein's parade, or will she begin to wonder whether she's all wet in her search?