Of course you know him. It is Ludwig van Beethoven, even though it looks nothing like the paintings you may have seen of him. It is but one of a collection of Death Masks that appear here. Death masks, as the name suggests, are plaster casts made from the face of a deceased person. Unlike portraits or statues, in which the artist or sculptor might tone down the less attractive attributes of the subject (who quite often was paying the artist), death masks are a “true portrait” of a person at the time of death.

Some of them are quite amazing.

Via The Presurfer

TigerHawk and The Bad Hair Blog have details on the rumor that, after the governor FINALLY leaves office on November 15th, Richard Codey, his unelected replacement, will appoint Mr. McGreevey to a position in the Stem Cell Institute, possibly as its head.

Codey hasn’t even taken office yet and already it looks like it will business as usual in the Trenton Political Swamp. I guess that’s the “smooth transition.” McGreevey talked about.

Smooth, indeed.