There were lines of people waiting patiently to get into these hearings, even if just for a few moments, and what was striking about it is that so many of them were very young, so many were women, and so many were of different races and colors. America’s future was waiting in line to get a glimpse of a hearing at which the woman who will become this country’s first Hispanic justice was repeatedly called out as someone with a race problem.
Day: July 15, 2009
Two best lines for the price of one
[H]e has performed all sorts of experiments to test how much people will eat under varying circumstances. These have convinced him that people are—to put it politely—rather dim. They have no idea how much they want to eat or, once they have eaten, how much they’ve consumed. Instead, they rely on external cues, like portion size, to tell them when to stop. The result is that as French-fry bags get bigger, so, too, do French-fry eaters.
From an interesting review of some of the literature on obesity by Elizabeth Kolbert.
Most surprising line of this or any other day
Excerpts from a Wall Street Journal editorial dated July 16, 2009:
We like profits as much as the next capitalist. But when those profits are supported by government guarantees or insured deposits, taxpayers have a special interest in how the companies conduct their business. Ideally we would shed those implicit guarantees altogether, along with the very notion of too big to fail. But that is all but impossible now and for the foreseeable future.
. . .
Another answer would be an FDIC-style bailout tax, perhaps tied to leverage ratios, for those in the too-big-to-fail camp.
Yes, THAT Wall Street Journal. The T-word.
Fixing the President’s Throwing Motion
Remembering Apollo 11
40 years ago, three human beings – with the help of many thousands of others – left our planet on a successful journey to our Moon, setting foot on another world for the first time. Tomorrow marks the 40th anniversary of the July 16, 1969 launch of Apollo 11, with astronauts Neil A. Armstrong, Michael Collins and Edwin E. “Buzz” Aldrin Jr. aboard. The entire trip lasted only 8 days, the time spent on the surface was less than one day, the entire time spent walking on the moon, a mere 2 1/2 hours – but they were surely historic hours. Scientific experiments were deployed (at least one still in use today), samples were collected, and photographs were taken to document the entire journey. Collected here are 40 images from that journey four decades ago, when, in the words of astronaut Buzz Aldrin: “In this one moment, the world came together in peace for all mankind”. (40 photos total)
Free!
America’s Best Idea – the national parks – gets even better this summer with three fee-free weekends at more than 100 national parks that usually charge entrance fees*.
*Fee waiver includes: entrance fees, commercial tour fees, and transportation entrance fees. Other fees such as reservation, camping, tours, concession and fees collected by third parties are not included unless stated otherwise.
The second of the three weekends is this Saturday and Sunday.
One of the great benefits of reaching 62 is the National Parks and Federal Recreational Lands Senior Pass. It’s $10, good for the rest of your life, and admits you and up to three adult passengers in your vehicle free to all federal recreation sites. It also includes a 50% discount on many charges such as campgrounds. Is this a great country, or what?
If you’re under 62, the similar annual pass is $80.
Some example entrance fees (but not this weekend!):
Bryce Canyon National Park $25 per vehicle
Carlsbad Caverns National Park $6 per person over age 15
Grand Canyon National Park $25 per vehicle
Shenandoah National Park $15 per vehicle ($10 in winter)
Yellowstone National Park $25 per vehicle ($20 for snowmobile)
New assignment
A reserve soldier who said he should not have to go to Afghanistan because Barack Obama was never legally eligible to be the president has had his deployment orders revoked, the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer reported Wednesday.
. . .Cook believes that Obama was ineligible to become president and commander-in-chief because he was is not a natural-born U.S. citizen, the paper reported. Obama was born in Hawaii in 1961.
Here’s hoping his next deployment is to Leavenworth.
There will be a pop quiz
Did you read Matt Taibbi’s article about Goldman Sachs yet?
July 15th
Today is the birthday
… of Clive Cussler, 78.
… of Alex Karras, All-American, Heisman runner-up (and he was a lineman), Outland Award winner, NFL star (1958-1971), Monday Night Football sportscaster, TV sitcom actor and — most notably — Mongo in Blazing Saddles. He’s 74 today.
… of Tucson’s favorite daughter, Linda Ronstadt, 63 today. Miss Ronstadt has sold more than 66 million albums worldwide. The session band behind her on her third album became The Eagles. Linda went to a different high school and was behind me a year or two, but I did sit behind her cousin in many a class when the nuns had us in alphabetical order.
… of Arianna Stassinopoulos, 59. Born in Greece, educated at Cambridge, wealthy by her marriage to Michael Huffington, she is an actress, commentator, author of a dozen books, re-born liberal and founder of the Huffington Post.
… of Forest Whitaker, 48. Whitaker has been in more than 60 films and television productions, most notably Good Morning, Vietnam, The Crying Game and as Charlie “Bird” Parker in Bird (which earned him best actor at Cannes). He won the best actor Oscar, of course, for portraying Idi Amin in The Last King of Scotland.
Rembrandt Van Rijn was born in Leiden, Netherlands on this date in 1606.
Best movie-related line of the day
“Oh, c’mon, at its best, The Wizard of Oz is just a story about two women fighting over a pair of shoes.”