It’s no secret that Yellowstone National Park is volcanic in nature. Still, scientists are raising their eyebrows over a recent swarm of earthquakes that have been shaking the park’s underpinnings.
Since December 26 the park has been hit by more than 250 earthquakes that, while not overpowering, have been in the range of a 4.0 magnitude, according to the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory.
Day: December 30, 2008
Caroline Kennedy no whiz with words
Caroline Kennedy, you know, might need, you know, a speech coach, um, if she, you know, wants, um, to be a senator.
Um, you know?
Kennedy, who gave a flurry of media interviews on Friday and Saturday, revealed some cringing verbal tics that showed her inexperience as a speaker, experts told the Daily News.
In a 30-minute session with The News on Saturday, Kennedy punctuated her answers with “you know” more than 200 times. “Um” was fairly constant, too.
Transcripts of her interviews with other media outlets showed the same problem. She said “you know” at least 130 times to The New York Times and more than 80 times on New York 1.
When The News asked if President Bush’s tax cuts on the wealthy should be repealed immediately, Kennedy replied:
“Well, you know, that’s something, obviously, that, you know, in principle and in the campaign, you know, I think that, um, the tax cuts, you know, were expiring and needed to be repealed.”
We’d be, you know, making fun of Sarah Palin for, you know, that answer.
The 2009 Statistical Abstract
The Statistical Abstract of the United States, published since 1878, is the authoritative and comprehensive summary of statistics on the social, political, and economic organization of the United States.
Two Years Ago
The view out the window from my computer two years ago today.
El Tratado de La Mesilla
… was signed in Mexico City on this date in 1853. The treaty settled the dispute over the exact location of the international border west of Texas and gave the U.S. approximately 29,000 square miles of land — in brief, Arizona and New Mexico south of the Gila River — for the price of $10 million. In the U.S. it’s known as the Gadsden Purchase Treaty.
The Mexican Republic agrees to designate the following as her true limits with the United States for the future: retaining the same dividing line between the two Californias as already defined and established, according to the 5th article of the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, the limits between the two republics shall be as follows: Beginning in the Gulf of Mexico, three leagues from land, opposite the mouth of the Rio Grande, as provided in the 5th article of the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo; thence, as defined in the said article, up the middle of that river to the point where the parallel of 31° 47′ north latitude crosses the same; thence due west one hundred miles; thence south to the parallel of 31° 20′ north latitude; thence along the said parallel of 31° 20′ to the 111th meridian of longitude west of Greenwich; thence in a straight line to a point on the Colorado River twenty English miles below the junction of the Gila and Colorado rivers; thence up the middle of the said river Colorado until it intersects the present line between the United States and Mexico.
Read the entire Gadsden Purchase Treaty.
December 30th
The penultimate day of the year is the birthday
… of Russ Tamblyn. Riff, “a Jet to his dying day,” is 74.
… of Sandy Koufax. The most dominant pitcher in the game in the early 1960s, the man who threw four no-hitters including a perfect game is 73.
… of Paul (Noel actually) Stookey. Paul of Peter, Paul & Mary is 71.
… of James Burrows. The director of “Taxi,” “Cheers” and “Will and Grace” is 68.
… of Fred Ward. The actor (Gus Grissom in “The Right Stuff”) is 66.
… of Monkees Michael Nesmith (66) and Davy Jones (63).
… of Patti Smith. Punk rock’s poet laureate is 62.
… of Meredith Viera and of Matt Lauer. The Today show hosts are 55 and 51.
… of Tracey Ullman. She’s 49.
… of Eldrick Woods. Tiger is 33.
… of LeBron James. He’s 24 today.
Have a Coke and a smile today.
It’s the birthday of the man who introduced us to Coca-Cola, Asa Griggs Candler, born in Villa Rica, Georgia (1851). He grew up during the Civil War and wanted to be a doctor, but his family was so poor that he could only receive an elementary school education before becoming a pharmacist’s apprentice. But Candler proved to be business savvy, slowly building his own drugstore empire, and in 1886 he bought sole rights to John Pemberton’s original formula of Coca-Cola and formed the Coca-Cola Company in 1890. Candler understood the importance of advertising. He used calendars, billboards, and posters to keep the Coca-Cola trademark prominent in the public’s mind. After selling the patent in 1919, he went on to serve as Atlanta’s mayor and funded a teaching hospital for Emory University’s Medical School.
The Genius Among Geniuses, Alfred Einstein, was born on December 30, 1880.
Bo Diddley was born on this date in 1928.
Music historian Robert Palmer has described Bo Diddley as “one of the most original and fertile rhythmic intelligences of our time.” He will forever be known as the creator of the “Bo Diddley beat,” one of the cornerstone rhythms of rock and roll. He employed it in his namesake song, “Bo Diddley,” as well as other primal rockers like “Mona.” This distinctive African-based rhythm pattern (which goes bomp bomp bomp bomp-bomp) was picked up from Diddley by other artists and has been a distinctive and recurring element in rock and roll through the decades. (Rock and Roll Hall of Fame)