was born on this date in 1896. Older brother of composer George Gershwin, Ira was one of the great lyricists of the 20th century. He won the Pulitzer Prize for his lyrics for Of Thee I Sing (1932). Among Ira Gershwin lyrics — A Foggy Day, Fascinating Rhythm, Funny Face, I Got Rhythm, The Man I Love, Oh, Lady Be Good, Summertime.
The Official George & Ira Gershwin Web site is nicely done and includes a jukebox.
was completed on this date in 1884 when workers placed the 3,300 pound marble capstone on the Washington Monument and topped it with a nine-inch pyramid of cast aluminum. Construction on the privately funded 555-foot monument had begun in 1848, but was suspended (at 156 feet) for 20 years due to lack of funds. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers finished the project. When completed it was the world’s tallest structure; today it is the world’s tallest freestanding masonry structure.
The New York Times has published its Notable Books lists — high points in this year’s fiction and poetry, nonfiction, children’s books, mysteries and science fiction. There’s separate essays for travel and photography.
Astronomy Picture of the Day (November 13)
Molly Ivins writes We have a winner and William Greider explains Why I’m for Dean.
Los Angeles Times: “USC is in negotiations to open next season against Virginia Tech in the BCA Football Classic, a school athletic official said Thursday.” This year the Hokies opened with Central Florida and the Trojans with Auburn.
“Americans had always believed that their representatives were corrupt since, given the same opportunity, they would be too.”
U.S. Senator in Gore Vidal’s novel Washington, D.C.
NewMexiKen got seven correct out of 10. Take The Week Quiz. Please report your score in Comment(s).
Type “miserable failure” into Google and be surprised — perhaps — by the result. Choose the “I’m Feeling Lucky” button.
The Internet is changing everything.
was born on this date in 1839. The PBS series The West has a fair essay on his life, career and legacy.
Custer’s blunders cost him his life but gained him everlasting fame. His defeat at the Little Bighorn made the life of what would have been an obscure 19th century military figure into the subject of countless songs,
books and paintings.
NewMexiKen is partial to this photographic legacy.
was ratified by the 36th state on this date 70 years ago, thereby repealing the 18th Amendment. NewMexiKen will drink to that.
Gregg Easterbrook says its time for Edwards to quit, “Before his tail is between his legs.” Mickey Kaus has started a Kerry Withdrawal Contest to “Help him drop out now and avoid humiliation.”
In fairness to Wal-Mart, NewMexiKen brings you this update from the Orlando Sentinel.
The Arizona Daily Star reports on the Salvation Army worker, with cerebral palsy and a walker, who had her kettle stolen — “I got scared, but I’m OK now”. The kettle held about $50 and the perp was apprehended.
From the Santa Fe New Mexican
ALBUQUERQUE – A Catholic watchdog group is complaining about sex education at St. Pius X High School, saying it uses teaching of a “highly graphic and sexual nature.”
Archbishop Michael Sheehan said the complaints of Los Pequenos de Cristo were a “mixture of half-truths and gossip.”
“This is from a group that is very right-wing … more Catholic than the pope,” he said Wednesday.
Don’t you just hate it when sex education is of a sexual nature?
NewMexiKen doesn’t want to get off on a rant — it’s so unlike me — but I find the letter I received from the Albuquerque Chief of Police yesterday aggravating.
It seems that 98% of all alarm calls are false and that false alarms “keep Public Safety Officers from responding to true emergencies. In order to reduce false alarms, the False Alarm Ordinance (No. 02-35) requires that all alarm users acquire an annual Alarm User Permit.”
The permit is $25, and the letter was accompanied by an invoice in my name from the Police Department in that amount.
First, exactly how does this permit reduce false alarms?
Second, NewMexiKen doesn’t live in Albuquerque.
The letter does say, “If you do not live within the Albuquerque city limits you are not required to have a permit.” But I am expected to call and “if we do not hear from you our system will keep sending you notices.”
was born on this date in 1936. Garrison Keillor’s The Writer’s Almanac has an interesting essay on Burke.
He’s best known for his series of detective novels featuring Dave Robicheaux, an ex-New Orleans policeman, Vietnam veteran, and recovering alcoholic. Burke’s novels have been compared to those by master crime novelists like Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett.
Burke started writing stories when he was in fourth grade, published his first story when he was 19, and wrote his first novel when he was 23. Half of Paradise (1965) was published just after he finished graduate school, and it got great reviews. Burke wrote a few more novels, but none of them sold well. He fell into depression and alcoholism. He had finished a book called The Lost Get-Back Boogie, but he couldn’t find anyone to publish it. He collected ninety-three rejection slips for the book over a period of ten years. He worked as a newspaper reporter, a land surveyor, a social worker, a forest ranger, a teacher, and a truck driver. He later said, “I reached a point . . . where I didn’t care whether I lived or died.” Finally, in 1985, The Lost Get-Back Boogie was published by Louisiana State University Press. The novel is about a released prisoner who goes to live on a Montana ranch with the family of one of his friends from prison. It was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize, and Burke’s novels have been doing well ever since.
Burke said, “I believe that whatever degree of talent I possess is a gift and must be treated as such. To misuse one’s talent, to be cavalier about it, to set it aside because of fear or sloth is unpardonable.”
eighth president of the United States and founder of the Democratic Party, was born in Kinderhook, New York, on this date in 1782. According to the Library of Congress, “Just five feet six inches tall, Van Buren earned the nicknames ‘The Little Magician,’ and the ‘Red Fox of Kinderhook’ for his legendary skill in political manipulation. Alongside his gift for politics, however, Van Buren harbored a strong sense of idealism that led him, late in his career, to oppose the westward expansion of slavery.”
America’s most prestigious undergraduate honor society was founded at the College of William and Mary on this date in 1776.
Nationwide, and in such locales as Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami and Washington the most stolen vehicle is a Toyota Camry. It’s the Honda Accord in Denver; same in Oregon.
In New Mexico it’s the Ford F-150; in Arizona it’s the Chevy Silverado. Our thieves are tough.
Book-A-Minute and Movie-A-Minute.
Some examples:
Sleepless In Seattle
Directed by Nora Ephron
1993
Ultra-Condensed by Thomas Deeny
From Nature, “First results in from largest-ever look at humour.”
One of the study’s main goals is to uncover the funniest joke in the world. So far, the joke that has tickled the most funnybones is:
Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson are going camping. They pitch their tent under the stars and go to sleep. Sometime in the middle of the night Holmes wakes Watson up. “Watson, look up at the stars, and tell me what you deduce.” Watson says, “I see millions of stars and even if a few of those have planets, it’s quite likely there are some planets like Earth, and if there are a few planets like Earth out there, there might also be life.” Holmes replied: “Watson, you idiot, somebody stole our tent!”
The study has uncovered intriguing regional differences in humour, with German participants finding the largest proportion of the jokes “very funny”, and Canadians the smallest proportion.
Different countries also have different favourite jokes. Displaying what Wiseman calls a “Carry On” style of humour, the British plump for the following gag:
A man goes to the doctor and says: “Doctor, there’s a piece of lettuce sticking out of my bottom.” The doctor asks him to drop his trousers and examines him. The man asks, “Is it serious, doctor?” and the doctor replies, “I’m sorry to tell you but this is just the tip of the iceberg.”
French voters prefer the cynical humour of:
“You’re a high-priced lawyer! If I give you $500, will you answer two questions for me?” “Absolutely! What’s the second question?”
The History Net has an American history quiz based — unfortunately — on the format for Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. Worse, no real money is at stake, because NewMexiKen aced it. Try your luck with the 10 questions.
Featured Images 2003 from The Luminous Landscape. Take a look at the earlier years also, and follow some of the links. Remarkable.
From BBC News
UK Prime Minister Tony Blair will make his debut in US animated comedy The Simpsons on Sunday.
Mr Blair, who is said to be a big fan of the show, recorded his dialogue in April for an episode in which Homer Simpson meets him in London.
Actor Sir Ian McKellen and Harry Potter author JK Rowling appear alongside in the show, called The Regina Monologues.