Day: June 15, 2006

Historical maps foster Indian education

Montana Indian Map

Thompson and Lugthart developed a series of full-color historical maps of Montana, beginning with one of the earliest American Indian maps of a portion of Western Montana all the way through to the present. …

The historical maps show an evolution of discovery, place names and the migration of the people living on the land. Each mapmaker from each era contributes to the history of the landscape.

“Each map is a story unto itself,” Thompson said.

BillingsGazette.com

NewMexiKen loves maps, and thinks historical maps in particular would be good to collect once I receive my Powerball winnings.

That is cool

President Bush called a reporter’s cell phone yesterday to apologize for joking with him about wearing sunglasses during a press conference. The reporter has an eye disease that Bush was not aware of it.

Getting a call on your cell phone from the president, now that is cool. If Bush called NewMexiKen on my cell phone I would probably vote for him the next time he ran for president.

Oh, yeah

NewMexiKen forgot to mention that on our recent trip, the highlight for Dad, who lives in daylight saving time free Arizona, was having people in Indiana, which just this year adopted DST — and thus left Arizona as the only state without it * — tell him how much they hated it, and that surely DST and the current governor would both be removed.

100% of the folks we discussed it with in Indiana said this. Well, two people.

* Hawaii doesn’t observe daylight saving time because that close to the equator the length of the day varies by only 2½ hours between June and December. In Tucson the length of the day (sunlight) varies by 4¼ hours summer/winter; in Indianapolis 5½ hours.

Most inspiring films

AFI has named the 100 most inspiring films of all time. The top ten:

  1. IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE 1946
  2. TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD 1962
  3. SCHINDLER’S LIST 1993
  4. ROCKY 1976
  5. MR. SMITH GOES TO WASHINGTON 1939
  6. E.T. THE EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL 1982
  7. THE GRAPES OF WRATH 1940
  8. BREAKING AWAY 1979
  9. MIRACLE ON 34TH STREET 1947
  10. SAVING PRIVATE RYAN 1998

Banned

The Miami-Dade School Board voted to ban the children’s book A Visit to Cuba from the county’s public schools.

It became the target of controversy earlier this year when the father of a Marjory Stoneman Douglas Elementary student complained about the book’s rosy portrayal of life in Fidel Castro’s Cuba.

“The Cuban people have been paying a dear price for 47 years for the reality to be known,” said Juan Amador Rodriguez, a former political prisoner in Cuba who filed the original complaint, which was denied, and subsequent appeals. “A 32-page book cannot silence that.”

It’s heartwarming when people flee a dictatorship so they can come to America and start banning books.

Bookslut

It’s the birthday

… of Jim Belushi. He’s 52. Think Ron Howard’s brother if Ron Howard had died of a drug overdose.

… of Julie Hagerty. Airplane’s flight attendant is 51.

… of Oscar-winner Helen Hunt. (Hard to believe, but true.) At 43, Tami Maida’s quarterbacking days are over.

… of Courteney Cox Arquette, now 42.

… of Ice Cube. O’Shea Jackson is 37.

… and it’s the birthday of Doogie. Neil Patrick Harris is 33.