Odds and ends

• It’s feels like a swamp here at Casa NewMexiKen this morning. Used to afternoon humidity in the single digits, this morning’s 23% is oppressive.
• I see Sak’s has re-established its petite department after an ill-considered dropping of it several months ago. No word yet from Neiman’s or Bloomingdale’s, but a small victory nonetheless.
• Apple is negotiating to sell movies on iTunes for $9.99. There may be a deal by fall.
• IBM and Georgia Tech have developed a chip that operates at 500 gigahertz (250 times faster than the one on my iMac). One problem, it only gets that speed at 451 degrees below zero. (It’s still much faster than anything common today, even at room temperature.)
• Say what you will about soccer, and NewMexiKen has mixed feelings, it is the most photogenic of sports.

Update: The humidity dropped to 19% during the time I finished this post (and 9% by noon).

Chet Atkins

… was born on this date in 1924. He died of lung cancer in 2001.

Few guitarists have had more influence on the instrument than Chet Atkins. In Atkins’ case, his influence extends from the country-music realm into rock and roll, as well. As a studio musician, he appeared on records by Elvis Presley, the Everly Brothers, Hank Williams, Roy Orbison, and countless country musicians. Atkins’ thumb-and-fingerpicking style influenced George Harrison, Duane Eddy, the Ventures, Eddie Cochran, Eric Clapton and Mark Knopfler, as well as innumerable country pickers. Even the likes of Ted Nugent has credited Atkins with inspiring him to take up the instrument. ”I think he influenced everybody who picked up a guitar,” said Duane Eddy. (Rock and Roll Hall of Fame)

Check this out

The Washington Post reports on the treasure trove in the vault of the Riggs Bank.

The Lincoln check is among a trove of documents gathered over the decades by Washington’s venerable and now-defunct Riggs Bank — which, along with its antecedents, had customers ranging from Davy Crockett to President George H.W. Bush.

The collection includes letters, notes and checks written by, among others, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, Theodore Roosevelt, Eleanor Roosevelt, Dwight Eisenhower, Brigham Young and Gen. John Pershing.

Best lines from last Friday, so far

“Father’s Day of course is this Sunday. Or as Monaco’s Prince Albert calls it, ‘The scariest day of the year.’”

“As you may have heard, Prince Albert of Monaco, son of Grace Kelly and Prince Rainier, has admitted to fathering another child out of wedlock. You heard of Prince Albert in a can. How about Prince Albert in a condom. Why don’t we try that?”

“He’s got a bunch of illegitimate kids and he did it the hard way. Without an NBA franchise.”

Jay Leno

It’s the birthday

… of Olympia Dukakis. She’s 75. Miss Dukakis won the Oscar for best supporting actress for Moonstruck.

… of Danny Aiello. He’s 73. Mr. Aiello was nominated for the best supporting actor Oscar for Do The Right Thing.

… of John Mahoney. This retired Seattle cop, the father of two psychiatrists, is 66. You know, Frasier’s dad, Martin Crane.

… of Brian Wilson; he’s 64. Perhaps the greatest American composer of popular music of the past 40+ years, Wilson is an inductee into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as the self-destructive, yet creative genius behind the Beach Boys.

… of Bob Vila. He’s 60, so it’s not just “This Old House” that’s old anymore.

… of John Goodman. Goodman has been nominated for eight Emmys without a victory. He did win a Golden Globe for playing Roseanne’s husband Dan.

… of Nicole Kidman. She’s 39. Nominated for best actress twice, Miss Kidman won the Oscar for The Hours.

Fort Union Trading Post National Historic Site (North Dakota)

… was established on this date 40 years ago.

A trip to Fort Union takes you back in time to the mid-19th century, the heyday of Fort Union and the fur trade on the Upper Missouri river.

Tour the partially reconstructed fort and walk where many famous folk from several countries and cultures walked, folk such as Kenneth McKenzie, Alexander & Natawista Culbertson, Father Pierre DeSmet, Sitting Bull, Karl Bodmer, and Jim Bridger.

Fort Union Trading Post was the most important fur trading post on the upper Missouri from 1828 to 1867. At this post, the Assiniboine, Crow, Cree, Ojibway, Blackfeet, Hidatsa, and other tribes traded buffalo robes and other furs for trade goods such as beads, guns, blankets, knives, cookware, and cloth.

Today, the reconstructed Fort Union represents a unique era in American history, a brief period when two different civilizations found common ground and mutual benefit through commercial exchange and cultural acceptance.

NPS Photo by Linda Gordon Rokosz

Fort Union Trading Post National Historic Site

West Virginia

… joined the Union as the 35th state on this date in 1863.

View President Lincoln’s handwritten corrections to Secretary of State Seward’s opinion on the admission of West Virginia. “Western is not the name. It is ‘West‘ Va.”

Did Lizzie Borden Take an Ax…?

On this date in 1893, a jury acquited Lizzie Borden of the hatchet murders of her father and stepmother.

AmericanHeritage.com has an excellent report.

And ate it all up!

WEST VANCOUVER, British Columbia – It was a real-life version of Goldilocks and the Three Bears — only in reverse — when a woman came home to find a young bear eating oatmeal in her kitchen.

The bear apparently entered through an open sliding glass door, broke a ceramic food container and started eating, West Vancouver police Sgt. Paul Skelton said.

Yahoo! News

Best line of the day, so far

Specialist Mike Moriarty is filming his squad leader, Staff Sgt. Kevin Shangraw, as they bounce along in a Humvee. He asks his leader for his take on the broader mission, and Sergeant Shangraw comes straight off the dome with a government-issue rationale.

“Well, I think it’s a fantastic opportunity for the Iraqis to establish a new history in the country and be able to be a free and democratic society, which in turn should stabilize the whole Middle East and create a freer and more stable earth as we know it.”

“Tell me how you really feel,” an unseen Specialist Moriarty prompts.

Sergeant. Shangraw waits a beat as the bleak landscape flies by in the window before answering.

“Then, after that happens, maybe we can buy everybody in the world a puppy.”

Quoted in column by David Carr

Best line of Sunday, so far

“I am such an idiot.”

Phil Mickelson after some incredibly poor choices led to a double-bogey on the final hole of the U.S. Open (and cost him the championship).

Best line of the day, so far

“Children should get Pfizer stock options for each pill they swallow. That might help the moodiness.”

“Get Your War On” by David Rees (in Rolling Stone), referring to the fact that drug use to “treat” kids increased fivefold 1993-2002.

Confession

Dilbert creator Scott Adams confesses he likes television and explains why it’s better than most movies.

The Man Who Made Deadwood

An excellent interview with Deadwood producer David Milch by Allen Barra. It includes this:

Don’t you think it had more to do with the idea that that language was used in the context of a Western? That people weren’t used to hearing those words used in a setting that Gary Cooper and John Wayne once inhabited? I mean, for older viewers at least, the saloon talk sounds a heck of a lot saltier than anything Matt Dillon and Miss Kitty said.

That probably has a lot to do with it, but if you’re going to talk about language, I wish more people had noticed the overall language, the rhythms of period speech that we tried so hard to re-create, and the richness of the imagery. Profanity, I’ve come to believe, was the lingua franca of the time and place, which is to say that anyone, no matter what his or her background, could connect with almost anyone else on the frontier through the use of profanity. But there’s so much more to the dialogue than just the profanity. The language of the characters in the show is never generic, and everyone’s is different. They come from different backgrounds, different parts of the country, and they all express themselves a little differently.

That’s one of the things people like about the show, that after they’ve watched for a while, they can instantly identify each character by the quirkiness of his or her speech. These are people, you know, who all grew up long before the age of electronic media, when regional speech patterns began to lose their distinctiveness. Many of them might have been illiterate, but they knew the King James Bible and Shakespeare, and that’s what shaped the way they thought and the way they expressed themselves.

I Love Rock ‘N’ Roll

Late in 2004 Rolling Stone released its list of the 500 Greatest Songs — “the greatest rock & roll songs of all time, chosen by a five-star jury of singers, musicians, producers, industry figures, critics and, of course, songwriters.”

While the 500 is far from satisfactory in many ways, being obsessive NewMexiKen began to see how many of the 500 I had, then how many more I could acquire. By last summer I reached 499 — all acquired through perfectly legal means I hasten to add. Most are directly from CD; others are from iTunes. The 500th song, the one I still need — “I Love Rock ‘N’ Roll,” by Joan Jett and the Blackhearts (#484) isn’t available as a single track and, though I have done it before, I refuse to buy a whole CD for that one tune.

Now I have a new list. Well actually, an older list, but newly in my sights. It’s the 500 Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll. This is the list put together in 1995 by the curators of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame of what they considered the “most influential” songs. It’s actually a much more interesting list than the Rolling Stone 500, though of course there are many, many tunes that are on both lists. The 500 That Shaped has seven selections recorded in the 1920s and ten from the 1930s.

I’m closing on 400 with this newest, shall we say, obsessive-compulsive activity. As I look down the list to the songs I need to find, there’s one that stares back at me — “I Love Rock ‘N’ Roll,” by Joan Jett and the Blackhearts.

It’s the birthday

… of Gena Rowlands. She’s 70. Miss Rowlands has been nominated for the best actress Oscar twice — Gloria (1980) and A Woman Under the Influence (1974).

… of Phylicia Rashad. Clair Hanks Huxtable is 58.

… of Kathleen Turner. She’s 52. Miss Turner was nominated for the best actress Oscar for Peggy Sue Got Married (1986).

… of Paula Abdul. She’s 44. A former Lakers cheerleader, Miss Abdul had six number one records 1988-1991. She topped the charts for 15 weeks altogether.

Lou Gehrig was born on this date in 1903.

Lou Gehrig teamed with Babe Ruth to form baseball’s most devastating hitting tandem ever. “The Iron Horse” had 13 consecutive seasons with both 100 runs scored and 100 RBI, averaging 139 runs and 148 RBI; set an American League mark with 184 RBI in 1931; hit a record 23 grand slams; and won the 1934 Triple Crown. His .361 batting average in seven World Series led the Yankees to six titles. A true gentleman and a tragic figure, Gehrig’s consecutive games played streak ended at 2,130 when he was felled by a disease that later carried his own name. (National Baseball Hall of Fame)

Gehrig died in 1941. As Christopher Moltisanti of The Sopranos put it, “You ever think what a coincidence it is that Lou Gehrig died of Lou Gehrig’s disease?”

Turtle and Tortoise

You’ve probably been wondering about this:

Turtle— Spends most of its life in the water. Turtles tend to have webbed feet for swimming. Sea turtles (Cheloniidae family) are especially adapted for an aquatic life, with long feet that form flippers and a streamlined body shape. They rarely leave the ocean, except when the females come ashore to lay their eggs. Other turtles live in fresh water, like ponds and lakes. They swim, but they also climb out onto banks, logs, or rocks to bask in the sun. In cold weather, they may burrow into the mud, where they go into torpor until spring brings warm weather again.

Tortoise— A land-dweller that eats low-growing shrubs, grasses, and even cactus. Tortoises do not have webbed feet. Their feet are round and stumpy for walking on land. Tortoises that live in hot, dry habitats use their strong legs to dig burrows. Then, when it’s too hot in the sun, they slip underground.

Terrapin— Spends its time both on land and in water, but it always lives near water, along rivers, ponds, and lakes. Terrapins are often found in brackish, swampy areas. The word terrapin comes from an Indian word meaning “a little turtle.”

San Diego Zoo

Happy Father’s Day

This was sent to NewMexiKen today. Corny it is, of course, but touching, too.

As it could apply to either gender, I thought I’d post it here as a Father’s Day greeting. Happy Father’s Day.

When an old lady died in the geriatric ward of a small hospital near Dundee, Scotland, it was believed that she had nothing left of any value. Later, when the nurses were going through her meager possessions, they found this poem. Its quality and content so impressed the staff that copies were made and distributed to every nurse in the hospital. One nurse took her copy to Ireland.

The old lady’s sole bequest to posterity has since appeared in the Christmas edition of the News Magazine of the North Ireland Association for Mental Health. A slide presentation has also been made based on her simple, but eloquent, poem. And this little old Scottish lady, with nothing left to give to the world, is now the author of this “anonymous” poem winging across the Internet:

Crabby Old Woman

What do you see, nurses …….. What do you see?
What are you thinking ………… When you’re looking at me?
A crabby old woman ………….. Not very wise,
Uncertain of habit, …………….. With faraway eyes?

Who dribbles her food …………. And makes no reply.
When you say in a loud voice, .. “I do wish you’d try!”
Who seems not to notice ……… The things that you do,
And forever is losing …………… A stocking or shoe?

Who, resisting or not, ………….. Lets you do as you will,
With bathing and feeding, …….. The long day to fill?
Is that what you’re thinking? …. Is that what you see?
Then open your eyes, nurse, …….You’re not looking at me.

I’ll tell you who I am …………… As I sit here so still,
As I do at your bidding, ……….. As I eat at your will.
I’m a small child of ten ……….With a father and mother,
Brothers and sisters ………….. Who love one another.

A young girl of sixteen …………..With wings on her feet
Dreaming that soon now ………. A lover she’ll meet.
A bride soon at twenty, …………. My heart gives a leap,
Remembering the vows ……… That I promised to keep.

At twenty-five now, ……………. I have young of my own,
Who need me to guide …………. And a secure happy home.
A woman of thirty, ……………… My young now grown fast,
Bound to each other …………… With ties that should last.

At forty, my young sons ……….. Have grown and are gone,
But my man’s beside me ……… To see I don’t mourn
At fifty once more, ……………… Babies play round my knee,
Again we know children, ………… My loved one and me.

Dark days are upon me, ……….. My husband is dead,
I look at the future, ………….. I shudder with dread.
For my young are all rearing …..Young of their own,
And I think of the years ………… And the love that I’ve known.

I’m now an old woman…………… And nature is cruel;
Tis jest to make old age …….. Look like a fool.
The body, it crumbles, …………… Grace and vigor depart,
There is now a stone ………….. Where I once had a heart.

But inside this old carcass ……. A young girl still dwells,
And now and again, …………… My battered heart swells.
I remember the joys, ……………. I remember the pain,
And I’m loving and living ………. Life over again.

I think of the years ……………. All too few, gone too fast,
And accept the stark fact ………. That nothing can last.
So open your eyes, people, …… Open and see,
Not a crabby old woman; ……….. Look closer….see, ME!!

More evidence that the World Cup isn’t a premier event in the U.S. (at least not in New Mexico)

Because of FCC-mandated children’s programming from 9-11 a.m., Saturday’s Ghana-Czech Republic and Italy-United States matches were aired by Albuquerque’s KOAT-TV on a tape-delay basis.

Today’s matches (Croatia-Japan, Brazil-Australia and France-South Korea) will be shown tape-delay for the same reason, KOAT sports director Bob Brown said.

KOAT on Saturday issued the following statement: “The soccer games are being tape-delayed because we are required by the FCC to air a set number of children’s programs in a consistent time period. That time period is 9 to 11 a.m. on Saturday, 9 to 10 a.m. on Sunday. Because of that, we will bring you the games tape-delayed to meet the FCC requirements.”

Today’s matches will be aired live on KLUZ-TV, a Spanish-language station, as were Saturday’s.

Albuquerque Journal

NewMexiKen watched the U.S.-Italy match on a one-hour delayed basis, knowing that the results were a computer screen away.

One understands, of course, that this same KOAT would have pre-empted the kids programming in a heart-beat for a live report on a two-acre fire someplace.

(NewMexiKen cannot find that this delay is a practice for west coast stations, where World Cup matches begin yet an hour earlier.)

The World Cup ref

Here via Political Animal a little balance about yesterday’s USA-Italy match and the referee:

BBC comment on the red card against Italy’s Daniele De Rossi: “De Rossi disgraced himself with a sickening, needless elbow on Brian McBride and was given his marching orders.”

BBC comment on the red card against USA’s Pablo Mastroeni: “His two-footed, reckless lunge on Pirlo was deserving of a red card and left referee Jorge Larrionda with little option.” And the New York Times: “The officials’ guidelines call for red cards for two-footed cleats-up tackles.”

LA Times comment on both red cards against USA, including the second against Eddie Pope: “Although the U.S. questioned the calls, replays appeared to show that both were justified.”

Washington Post comment on the offside call against Brian McBride that negated a second half goal: “Afterward, McBride admitted that he was not only offside, but had screened goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon.”

Update: The Sports Economist disagrees — with a foul-by-foul inventory.

Inner Peace Isn’t All It’s Cracked Up to Be

Woman #1: Ma’am, could you please move your bag so I could sit down?

Woman #2: No, can’t you see I’m busy, bitch? And I’m not movin this fuckin’ thing. It’s heavy and I don’t want to pick it up again! Sit somewhere else.

She goes back to reading Jesus and Mary: The Key to Divine Love and Inner Peace.

–149th St station downtown platform

Overheard in New York

Politics and the pitch

There have been revolutions to create socialism, democracy, and authoritarian dictatorship. But humankind has yet to fight a revolution to guarantee one of the most vital elements — if not the most vital element — of the good life. That is, a winning soccer team. If we were to take up arms for this reason, what kind of government would we want to install?

canada.com

Communist, Fascist, military junta or industrialized democracy? An interesting, if not altogether serious article that begins with the above paragraph.

Fans lose trousers to gain entry

Football’s governing body has explained why up to 1,000 Dutch fans watched a World Cup tie wearing no trousers.

Around 1,000 fans arrived for the Ivory Coast tie in their traditional bright orange trousers – but bearing the logo and name of a Dutch brewery.

To protect the rights of the official beer they were denied entry, so the male fans promptly removed the trousers and watched the game in underpants.

Fifa said an attempt at an “ambush” publicity campaign was not allowed.

Fifteen major companies have paid up to $50m (£27m) each for the right to be official partners at this World Cup.

The American firm Anheuser Busch, which makes Budweiser, won the exclusive right to promote and sell its beverage in the stadiums and other venues.

There has been a wider resentment in Germany that a US brewery has the exclusive rights in a country which prides itself on the quality of its beer and has very strict laws governing its composition.

BBC News

Father’s Day

Today is Father’s Day, a holiday in this country that goes back to a Sunday morning in May of 1909, when a woman named Sonora Smart Dodd was sitting in church in Spokane, Washington, listening to a Mother’s Day sermon. She thought of her father who had raised her and her siblings after her mother died in childbirth, and she thought that fathers should get recognition too.

So she asked the minister of the church if he would deliver a sermon honoring fathers on her father’s birthday, which was coming up in June, and the minister did. And the tradition of Father’s Day caught on, though rather slowly. Mother’s Day became an official holiday in 1914; Father’s Day, not until 1972.

The Writer’s Almanac

When I’m 64

When I get older losing my hair,
Many years from now.
Will you still be sending me a Valentine,
Birthday greetings, bottle of wine.

If I’d been out till quarter to three,
Would you lock the door.
Will you still need me, will you still feed me,
When I’m sixty-four.

You’ll be older too,
And if you say the word,
I could stay with you.

I could be handy, mending a fuse,
When your lights have gone.
You can knit a sweater by the fireside,
Sunday mornings go for a ride.

Doing the garden, digging the weeds,
Who could ask for more.
Will you still need me, will you still feed me,
When I’m sixty-four.

Every summer we can rent a cottage,
In the Isle of Wight, if it’s not too dear.
We shall scrimp and save.
Grandchildren on your knee,
Vera, Chuck and Dave.

Send me a postcard, drop me a line,
Stating point of view.
Indicate precisely what you mean to say
Yours sincerely, wasting away.

Give me your answer, fill in a form
Mine for evermore.
Will you still need me, will you still feed me,
When I’m sixty-four.

Sir Paul McCartney is 64 today. He wrote the song as a teenager with his own father in mind. It was released on the album “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” in 1967.