Month: June 2008

Nous Sommes Tous Sauvages

The best book about Custer is Evan S. Connell’s Son of the Morning Star: Custer and The Little Bighorn.

“Son of the Morning Star makes good reading—its prose is elegant, its tone the voice of dry wit, its meandering narrative skillfully crafted. Mr. Connell is above all a storyteller, and the story he tells is vastly more complicated than who did what to whom on June 25, 1876.” Page Stegner

This book is generally considered one of the half-dozen best written about the American west. (And I intend to go read it again when I finish this.)

The best book attempting to tell the vastly more important Indian side of the story is James Welch’s Killing Custer: The Battle of Little Bighorn and the Fate of the Plains Indians.

Rashly imprudent

The battle at Little Bighorn was 132 years ago today. This report is from The New York Times a few days later:

On June 25 Gen. Custer’s command came upon the main camp of Sitting Bull, and at once attacked it, charging the thickest part of it with five companies, Major Reno, with seven companies attacking on the other side. The soldiers were repulsed and a wholesale slaughter ensued. Gen. Custer, his brother, his nephew, and his brother-in-law were killed, and not one of his detachment escaped. The Indians surrounded Major Reno’s command and held them in the hills during a whole day, but Gibbon’s command came up and the Indians left. The number of killed is stated at 300 and the wounded at 31. Two hundred and seven men are said to have been buried in one place. The list of killed includes seventeen commissioned officers.

It is the opinion of Army officers in Chicago, Washington, and Philadelphia, including Gens. Sherman and Sheridan, that Gen. Custer was rashly imprudent to attack such a large number of Indians, Sitting Bull’s force being 4,000 strong.

Custer, often a reckless but previously a lucky commander, was to have his reputation rescued by what became the life-long work of Mrs. Custer.

Overflowing

This is revised from a comment NewMexiKen made last night.

Sea level has already been rising. According to NASA (and many other sources):

Twentieth century sea level trends, however, are substantially higher that those of the last few thousand years. The current phase of accelerated sea level rise appears to have begun in the mid/late 19th century to early 20th century, based on coastal sediments from a number of localities. Twentieth century global sea level, as determined from tide gauges in coastal harbors, has been increasing by 1.7-1.8 mm/yr, apparently related to the recent climatic warming trend. Most of this rise comes from warming of the world’s oceans and melting of mountain glaciers, which have receded dramatically in many places especially during the last few decades. Since 1993, an even higher sea level trend of about 2.8 mm/yr has been measured from the TOPEX/POSEIDON satellite altimeter. Analysis of longer tide-gauge records (1870-2004) also suggests a possible late 20th century acceleration in global sea level.

Here’s an experiment you can do at home. Fill a glass with water to the brim. Pretend the brim is Miami or Santa Monica or Bangladesh. Fill another glass with ice and set it out at room temperature. Pretend the ice is glaciers. As the ice melts, pour the contents of that glass into the glass filled with water. Have paper towel handy.

When glaciers melt, and particularly if the Greenland and Antarctica ice caps melt, the sea will rise. The meltwater has to go somewhere. It will go into the oceans and the oceans will rise.

Scientists only debate how much the glaciers will melt and how soon, not if.

Home Depot Offers a Solution

Some big retailers are promoting compact fluorescent light bulbs as a way to save energy. But improper disposal of the bulbs creates a hazard, because they contain small amounts of mercury.

Recycling them is about to get easier. Home Depot, the nation’s second-largest retailer, will announce on Tuesday that it will take back old compact fluorescents in all 1,973 of its stores in the United States, creating the nation’s most widespread recycling program for the bulbs.

The New York Times

It’s IMPORTANT the CFLs be properly disposed. The mercury in them is a hazard. Don’t put them in the trash!

And if you’re still using inefficient 125-year-old incandescent technology, why?

Thanks to Bob Ormond for the link.

Nixon for Obama

If the children who have inhabited the White House are America’s princes and princesses, Senator Barack Obama already got a head start in collecting royal blessings with Caroline Kennedy’s endorsement earlier this year.

But soon after Ms. Kennedy made her very public endorsement at the end of January, one of her predecessors of Republican lineage made her own private one.

Yes, Julie Nixon Eisenhower is an Obama-can.

The Caucus

Her sister-in-law, President Eisenhower’s granddaughter Susan, supports Obama as well. The other Nixon daughter is for McCain.

What’s He Like?

I am often asked, “What’s he like?” If you really want to know, read Dreams From My Father. It’s all in there, and it’s a wonderful piece of writing in its own right.

When we are done, his parting words are delivered with a dazzling smile: “OK, brother — take care.”

Jann Wenner

Inside Barack Obama’s iPod

“If I had one musical hero, it would have to be Stevie Wonder,” says Obama, who grew up on Seventies R&B and rock staples including Earth, Wind and Fire, Elton John and the Rolling Stones. “When I was at that point where you start getting involved in music, Stevie had that run with Music of My Mind, Talking Book, Fulfillingness’ First Finale and Innervisions, and then Songs in the Key of Life. Those are as brilliant a set of five albums as we’ve ever seen.”

Wonder shares room on Obama’s iPod with “everything from Howlin’ Wolf to Yo-Yo Ma to Sheryl Crow,” he says. “And I have probably 30 Dylan songs on my iPod.” Though he’s partial to 1975’s Blood on the Tracks, “Maggie’s Farm” is “one of my favorites during the political season,” says Obama. “It speaks to me as I listen to some of the political rhetoric.”

Rolling Stone

Crossing the Border — In the Other Direction

Mr. Terrazas, a 48-year-old maintenance worker, is among a flow of American “gas tourists” who, Mexican service stations near the border with El Paso estimate, account for a 50 percent surge in gasoline sales here over the last several months. (Similar increases are reported along the border all the way to Tijuana.) Even the Mexico Tourism Board is promoting the journey.

The New York Times

$2.66 a gallon in Juarez. NewMexiKen paid $3.75 a gallon at Costco in Albuquerque Tuesday. Nationwide the average price for a gallon of regular is $4.07.

$9,090 an acre

The state of Florida is pursuing a blockbuster buyout of the biggest chunk of Big Sugar, the powerful agricultural industry whose pollution of the Everglades has made it a target of environmentalists for decades.

Gov. Charlie Crist has scheduled a press conference Tuesday in Palm Beach County, where he’s expected to outline a state proposal to purchase the U.S. Sugar Corp.’s vast holdings between Lake Okeechobee and the marshes of the Everglades — as much as 187,000 acres, including refineries, railroads and rock mines.

The opening bid could be near $1.7 billion, though the figures could change during what promise to be lengthy and complex negotiations.

Miami Herald

Should the seas rise about 8 or 10 feet this century, the purchase is going to be one of the stupidest moves of all time — well, not for U.S. Sugar.

Best line of the day, so far — but it’s only June

“In the wake of last week’s Newsweek poll showing Obama with a 15-point national lead comes a new L.A. Times poll that puts Obama up by 12 points.”

Talking Points Memo

Here’s the Los Angeles Times story, which has the subhead: “A Times/Bloomberg Poll says that in a two-man contest, 49% of respondents favor Barack Obama, while 37% support John McCain. With Ralph Nader and Bob Barr added to the mix, Obama holds 15-point edge.”

FiveThirtyEight.com has it Obama 344, McCain 194.

Monsoons — not yet

It’s 92º and 9% humidity right now. I’m sitting with the door open and no cooling on and am perfectly comfortable. There is a ceiling fan turning slowly — and a breeze as there’s a thunderstorm in the mountains nearby, though not near enough to send the humidity up.

I love New Mexico.

The monsoon season hasn’t started yet though. The dew point is still in the 40s or lower. It needs to average 55 for three consecutive days before it’s deemed monsoon season. (The federales have decided the monsoon season is always to be June 15 – September 30 no matter the weather. But they think Washington’s Birthday is the third Monday in February too, so who cares what they say.)

Monsoon comes from the Arabic term for season or wind shift.

Both the Southwest USA, including Arizona and New Mexico, and Southeast Asia, including India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh, experience the monsoon each summer. The Asian monsoon often brings heavy, flooding rains to the area, while the Southwest monsoon brings scattered strong thunderstorms to dry desert regions. The Southwest monsoon is caused by two meteorological changes during the summer:Monsoon August 2006

–The northerly movement of the Bermuda High (a strong area of high pressure) into the central USA
–Intense heating of the Mohave Desert to the west, which creates low pressure over the area

Since air rotates counterclockwise around low pressure and clockwise around high pressure, the positioning of these systems allows for a strong southerly flow over the Southwest. (Prevailing winds in the winter are from the west and northwest …) These south winds bring in moist air from the Gulf of Mexico and Pacific Ocean, increasing the chance of rain and thunderstorms.

The Weather Guys – USATODAY.com

Diagram is from August 2006, but it shows clearly how the monsoon draws humid air up from the Pacific and Gulf of Mexico. Click the image for larger version.

Update: In the spirit of full disclosure, the breeze stopped and I turned the cooler on.

Best line of the day, so far

“Instead of sunblock, they’re recommending A-1 Sauce, it’s that hot.”

David Letterman on the California heat wave (116º in the San Fernando Valley).

Another good one from Letterman:

“He’s inspired a new line of clothing, and I believe if you want some of the John McCain stuff, you can go to — it’s being sold at, oh, at the Very Old Navy.”

The 9 best-selling cars for women

Yes, it’s true. Men still dominate the car-buying statistics, although women have been steadily growing as prime car buyers (not simply “influencers”) since the 1980s. Because it’s been the No. 1 woman-dominated vehicle for years, the automotive press has long maligned the VW Beetle for being the quintessential “chick car.” To be fair, the flower vase on the dash does give this impression. But since its arrival in May, the VW Tiguan has taken over the No. 1 position, making it the ultimate in estrogen-based car buying.

Los Angeles Times

But, more importantly, was he wearing a flag lapel pin when he gave his presentation?

And climate is nearing dangerous tipping points. Elements of a “perfect storm”, a global cataclysm, are assembled. Climate can reach points such that amplifying feedbacks spur large rapid changes. Arctic sea ice is a current example. Global warming initiated sea ice melt, exposing darker ocean that absorbs more sunlight, melting more ice. As a result, without any additional greenhouse gases, the Arctic soon will be ice-free in the summer.

More ominous tipping points loom. West Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets are vulnerable to even small additional warming. These two-mile-thick behemoths respond slowly at first, but if disintegration gets well underway it will become unstoppable. Debate among scientists is only about how much sea level would rise by a given date. In my opinion, if emissions follow a business-as-usual scenario, sea level rise of at least two meters is likely this century. Hundreds of millions of people would become refugees. No stable shoreline would be reestablished in any time frame that humanity can conceive.

Dr. James E. Hansen, director of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies

June 24th

Al Molinaro of “Happy Days” is 89 today.

Mick Fleetwood is 61. “Rumours” has sold more than 19 million copies, the 10th best-selling album of all time.1

Minka Kelly of “Friday Night Lights” is 28 today. Old for high school wouldn’t you say?

Jack Dempsey was born on this date in 1895 in Manassa, Colorado, which makes him about the most famous native-son of the San Luis Valley.

1

  1. The Eagles, “Their Greatest Hits 1971-1975,” 29 million
  2. Michael Jackson, “Thriller,” 27 million
  3. Led Zeppelin, “Led Zeppelin IV,” 23 million
  4. Pink Floyd, “The Wall,” 23 million
  5. AC/DC, “Back in Black,” 22 million
  6. Garth Brooks, “Double Live,” 21 million
  7. Billy Joel, “Greatest Hits Volume I and Volume II,” 21 million
  8. Shania Twain, “Come On Over,” 20 million
  9. The Beatles, “The Beatles,” 19 million
  10. Fleetwood Mac, “Rumours,” 19 million

How sweet are The Sweeties?

Five of The Sweeties attended the Washington Nationals game last night — and three were tossed balls from the field after the between innings warmups. That’s some mighty cute kid appeal!

Jill, official older daughter of NewMexiKen reports that, “The balls are cool. They have a special logo … that says inaugural season of the Nationals ballpark.”

Oh, and Emily, official younger daughter of NewMexiKen, caught one of the T-shirts shot into the crowd. (She’s pretty cute too!)