Month: August 2008

In between

Jill, official oldest daughter of NewMexiKen, reports on Aidan (he’ll be five one month from today):

Byron’s office had his summer picnic today at a waterpark.
 
Aidan was somewhat discouraged because most of the slides and water activities were set up for people 48 inches or taller, and he isn’t quite there.  After we stood in line for a ropes course only to find he couldn’t reach the rope, I suggested we walk over and join [his brother] Reid in the “little kids” area.
 
We walked over to that section; Aidan took one look and said, “Oh I can’t go in there, Mommy.  I would feel foolish.”

By the way, Aidan and Reid’s older brother Mack competed in his second full triathlon Sunday and placed fourth. Anyone who finishes a triathlon gets my applause, especially a 7-year-old. And the distances were longer this week than previously, so a real achievement. Awesome little guy!

Doldrums

Maybe part of it is just August — last year I had a poll on your least favorite month and August edged out January. I see that FunctionalAmbivalent is taking some time off to reconsider his blog.

Maybe an exciting new NewMexiKen poll would help.

At Saturday’s Saddleback Forum (NewMexiKen and family lived just down the road for 10 years), Senators Obama and McCain were asked to define “rich” with a number. They were asked the question in the context of taxes and so answered with an income number (though one could argue that rich is defined by net worth and includes much more than income).

Granted then, that like so much of our discourse, this is too simple to be very meaningful, but —

{democracy:38}

Why bother?

Donna, official friend of NewMexiKen, doesn’t want me to blog about the election. (And for that matter Obama only looks good any more because McCain is so god awful — in other words it’s turning into a typical election.)

Jill and Emily, official daughters of NewMexiKen, don’t want me to blog about the Olympics for fear I may reveal another winner in real time. (But it is a sporting event you know, not a TV program, whatever NBC thinks.)

Ephraim doesn’t want me to blog about climate warming for fear science will over react and freeze the planet.

I don’t want to blog about birthdays.

And the only best line I’ve seen was at Sideline Chatter that the Chinese women’s gymnastics team tested positive for Desitin. (It’s for diaper rash — ‘cuz they look so young — sort of adapted from Dick Vitale.)

Blogging got me better service from Comcast, otherwise . . .

Netflix without the mail

Stream movies directly to your TV from Netflix with Netflix Online Movie Rentals.

  • Movies you watch instantly are included in a Netflix membership – no additional costs.
  • The Netflix Player by Roku is the first in a series of Netflix ready devices.
  • Choices in your instant Queue will be available to watch instantly on your TV via the Netflix ready device.
  • This device communicates with Netflix directly via the internet, allowing us to stream movies instantly to your TV.
  • $99.99 one time for the Roku.

NewMexiKen’s neighbor told me about it. He certainly seemed enthusiastic.

It is just a subset of Netflix DVDs, about 12,000 titles they say.

Santa Fe Indian Market

Next weekend.

Each year the Santa Fe Indian Market includes 1,200 artists from about 100 tribes who show their work in over 600 booths. The event attracts an estimated 100,000 visitors to Santa Fe from all over the world. Buyers, collectors and gallery owners come to Indian Market to take advantage of the opportunity to buy directly from the artists. For many visitors, this is a rare opportunity to meet the artists and learn about contemporary Indian arts and cultures. Quality is the hallmark of the Santa Fe Indian Market.

SWAIA: Southwestern Association for Indian Arts

Most irritating line of the day, so far

“Cannot play media. Sorry, this media is not available in your territory.”

BBC SPORT

That’s what you see if you try and watch the video of say Jamaica’s Usain Bolt winning the 100m in world record time UNTIL NBC IS GOOD AND READY FOR YOU TO SEE IT. Bastards.

A race of less than 10 seconds and he’s cruising with a big lead. Awesome.

Bolt

Bolt, is that the greatest name ever for the “world’s fastest human,” or not?

Republicans win

A Republican friend (I have more than one) writes of a symbolic victory — symbolic being all Republicans are likely to have this year.

But, I just found out I have to go to Denver on 26th-28th of August. Went to book my hotel only to find that every single Marriott within 60 miles of Denver is sold out due to the stupid Democratic convention. No problem though, I was able to use my status to kick some poor unsuspecting Democrat to the curb. We may not win the election, but I at least will have the satisfaction of kicking some poor slob out for two nights. How dare they go where I need to go? Higher taxes??? Sleep on the curb, beeyatch!!!

Is Kansas as flat as a pancake?

Two geography professors did the research.

In this report, we apply basic scientific techniques to answer the question “Is Kansas as flat as a pancake?”

While driving across the American Midwest, it is common to hear travelers remark, “This state is as flat as a pancake.” To the authors, this adage seems to qualitatively capture some characteristic of a topographic geodetic survey. This obvious question “how flat is a pancake” spurned our analytical interest, and we set out to find the ‘flatness’ of both a pancake and one particular state: Kansas.

Improbable Research

Answer: Yes.

August 16th

… is the birthday of Fess Parker, the actor who played Davy Crockett and Daniel Boone. He’s 84.

Parker and NewMexiKen have at least one thing in common. We had the same Russian language professor in college; Parker at Texas, NewMexiKen at Arizona. He was Professor Arthur Coleman and, as I remember it, he was the very first American Ph.D. ever in Slavic languages. By the time he showed up at Arizona in the early 1960s, Coleman was more-or-less retired, staying just one year as a visiting professor — as much character as educator, which is why we learned he’d taught Fess Parker.

Actor Robert Culp is 78 today. He was Bill Cosby’s sidekick (or Cosby was his) in the first TV series to feature an African-American, I Spy.

Frank Gifford is 78 today. Kathie Lee Gifford is 55 today.

One-time Oscar nominee for best supporting actress, Lesley Ann Warren is 62 today.

Oscar-winner James Cameron is 54. Cameron won, of course, for Titanic — writer, director, best picture.

Madonna Louise Veronica Ciccone is 50.

Best actress Oscar nominee Angela Bassett is 50 today too.

Supporting actor Oscar-winner Timothy Hutton is 48.

Steve Carrell is 45.

Emily Robison of the Dixie Chicks is 36. Originally Emily Erwin (Robison is her married name), she and her sister Martie (now Maguire) founded the group with two other classmates. The other two left and the group added Natalie Maines as the lead singer in 1995.

Football coach Amos Alonzo Stagg was born on this date in 1862. Stagg, Skull and Bones at Yale, was on the first All-America team ever (1889). He coached most famously at the University of Chicago, 1892-1932. Stagg developed the man-in-motion and the lateral pass — and developed basketball as a five man game. He is in both the college football and basketball halls of fame.

Elvis Presley died 31 years ago today, he was 42. Margaret Mitchell died 59 years ago today, at age 48. Babe Ruth died 60 years ago today, he was 53. Robert Johnson died 70 years ago today, he was 27.

The first issue of Sports Illustrated was published 54 years ago.

Little Farm on the Suburb

Jill, official oldest daughter of NewMexiKen, reports:

Mack and Aidan went to Fair Camp this week (at the county fair). Part of the week is creating a potato scene and entering it for judging in the fair. At Mack’s urging, his group did an Olympics swimming theme and dressed the potatoes in little caps and swim suits. They won third place and all the team members got ribbons. So now Mack and Aidan have 4-H county fair ribbons. I think they should tell people it is for raising hogs.

Best line of Friday evening

Would President McCain have handled the Georgia-Russian thing as well as Bush:

“It’s hard to know since he’s a corrupt, pandering politician who is clearly willing to do anything to get elected, but if we take him at his word, we’d have to assume that we’d have declared war on Russia.”

digby

“I’m not saying we won’t get our hair mussed. 20-30 million tops…”

The Cowboy’s Dresser, Dies at 107

Jack A. Weil, a garter salesman, breezed into Denver in 1928 in a new Chrysler Roadster to start a new life. He exceeded his hopes and became a king of cowboy couture — almost certainly the first to put snaps on Western shirts (17 on a shirt), and most likely the first to produce bolo ties commercially.

His Rockmount Ranch Wear Mfg. Company has sold millions of shirts, including at least one shipment to Antarctica, since it started in 1946. Clark Gable wore one in “The Misfits” with Marilyn Monroe, and Heath Ledger’s shirt in “Brokeback Mountain” — plaid fabric, diamond snaps and saw-tooth pockets — was Style No. 69-39.

Until Wednesday, when he died at 107 in Denver, Mr. Weil was still chief executive of the company he founded and, until just before his death, came to work daily. He was regularly called the oldest chief executive still working.

The New York Times

If NewMexiKen lives that long I could be doing this blog for 49 years.

Pretty good line of the day

“John McCain blames his love of ABBA on being shot down in Vietnam: ‘A lot of my taste in music stopped about the time I impacted a surface-to-air missile with my own airplane…’ War IS Hell”

FARK.com

For the record, the number one hit in the U.S. on the day McCain was shot down (October 26, 1967) was “To Sir, with Love” by Lulu. “The Letter” by the Box Tops had preceded it as number one earlier in the month.

ABBA did not have a top ten hit in the U.S. until 1974.

Feast of the Assumption

Today, August 15, is the Feast of the Assumption, the principal feast of the Blessed Virgin. According to the Catholic Encyclopedia, the feast celebrates both the “happy departure of Mary from this life” and the “assumption of her body into heaven.” That she “was taken up body and soul into heavenly glory, when her earthly life was over, and exalted by the Lord as Queen over all things” is a principle of Catholic dogma.

August 15th

… is Napoleon’s birthday. He was born August 15, 1769 (and died in 1821, at age 51). As an adult, Napoleon was just over 5-feet, 6-inches tall (1.686 m), about average for his countrymen at the time.

Four time Oscar nominee for best supporting actress (one win), Ethel Barrymore was born on this date in 1879.

Pulitzer-winning author Edna Ferber was born 120 years ago today. She’s known best for So Big (Pulitzer prize in 1924), Show Boat, Cimarron, Giant and Ice Palace.

TV chef Julia Child was born in Pasadena, California, on this date in 1912.

Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer is 70.

Pro Football Hall of Fame member Gene Upshaw is 63 today. Upshaw played for the Raiders, 1967-1981. (Ahh, the glory years.) Upshaw has had a second career as Executive Director of the National Football League Players Association since 1983.

Princess Anne, daughter of Queen Elizabeth, is 58.

Grace, that is, actress Debra Messing, is 40.

Ben Affleck is 36.

The Wizard of Oz premiered 69 years ago tonight.

August 14th is the birthday

… of Earl Weaver. The former Orioles manager is 78.

… of Dash Crofts. The Crofts of Seals and Crofts is 70.

… of David Crosby. The Crosby of Crosby, Stills and Nash is 67. Mama Cass introduced Crosby, Stills and Nash to one another in 1968. Before that, of course, Mr. Crosby was in another Hall of Fame group, The Byrds.

… of Steve Martin, born in Waco, Texas, but grew up in Orange County, California. He’s 63 today.

… of Susan St. James. The wife of McMillan and Wife is 62. McMillan was played by Rock Hudson.

… of Danielle Steel. The author is 61.

… of Gary Larson. The Far Side cartoonist is 58.

… of Earvin “Magic” Johnson. Magic is 49, as is actress Marcia Gay Harden.

… of Susan Olsen. Cindy, of The Brady Bunch, is 47.

… of Halle Berry. The Academy Award winner is 42.

… of Ernest Thayer, the man who wrote “Casey at the Bat,” born on this date in 1863.

The Outlook wasn’t brilliant for the Mudville nine that day:
The score stood four to two, with but one inning more to play.
And then when Cooney died at first, and Barrows did the same,
A sickly silence fell upon the patrons of the game.

Casey at the Bat by Ernest Thayer