From BBC News:
Traces of the antidepressant Prozac can be found in the nation’s [Britain's] drinking water, it has been revealed.
Apparently the English are thinking about doing something about it but no one is getting very worked up.
NewMexiKen is thinking this might be a good time to start a new product — The Queen’s Water, direct from England. Maybe we could get an endorsement from Norah Jones.
Fay Wray died yesterday at age 96.
Shouldn’t it be visitors’ center? Have you ever seen a “Visitors Center” sign with an apostrophe?
From Laura Bly in USA Today:
Chaco Culture National Historical Park, N.M. — Several years ago, a woman approached the visitors center desk at this remote Southwestern outpost, eager to report that she had spotted something remarkable the evening before.
Bracing for another overwrought tale of alien UFOs, park ranger and amateur astronomer G.B. Cornucopia listened politely as the bedazzled tourist described a “lane of white powder” spanning the heavens above her campsite.
“It was my great joy,” Cornucopia says, “to tell her that for the first time in her life she had actually seen the Milky Way.”
*****One of the best-known portals to New Mexico’s nighttime marvels is Chaco Canyon, eerie, windswept desert ruins about midway between Grants and Farmington (or the proverbial Middle of Nowhere).
Chaco began offering astronomy programs in 1991 and opened its own observatory — the only one in a national park — seven years later. Park managers have designated Chaco’s night sky a critical resource in need of protection, and they have retrofitted all park lighting to enhance after-dark viewing and reduce light pollution from cities as far afield as Albuquerque, about 150 miles to the southeast.
Today, about 14,000 self-sufficient visitors a year come to gaze and graze on ancient tales.
Link via Ah, Wilderness!
NewMexiKen visited Chaco last autumn and posted some photos.
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“Have you noticed how the Republicans and Democrats try to copy each other at their conventions. Like at the Democratic convention John Kerry’s daughter told a story about how he once gave CPR to her hamster. At the Republican convention the Bush girls are going to tell a story about how when their hamster was bad, their dad built them a little electric chair.”
Jay Leno
“Bush and Kerry tried to plan their schedules so they’re not in the same place at the same time. A tradition they started during Vietnam.”
Craig Kilborn
Photo courtesy of Creamland, the Milk and Ice Cream of New Mexico.
From CNN:
California has joined other states in acting against a private school that claimed to award high school diplomas while teaching its immigrant students a curriculum riddled with errors, including the wrong years for World War II and the wrong number of states.
The California Alternative High School in Los Angeles targeted Hispanic immigrants, charging $450 to $1,450 for a 10-week course it said would lead to a valid diploma and help them get into college, find better jobs and get financial aid, California Attorney General Bill Lockyer said last week.
But the school’s certificate isn’t recognized as a high school diploma, Lockyer said, and school officials ignored a previous court order that banned them from telling consumers it was.
Lockyer said the curriculum consisted of a slim workbook riddled with errors, including:
- The United States has 53 states but the “flag has not yet been updated to reflect the addition of the last three states” — Hawaii, Alaska and Puerto Rico.
- World War II began in 1938 and ended in 1942.
- There are two houses of Congress — the Senate and the House, and “one is for Democrats and the other is for the Republicans, respectively.”
Link via Political Animal.
Outside the window [of Kerry's train]. Out on the fringes.
There were old ladies standing in 90-degree heat for a 90-second glimpse of Kerry’s train. A little girl dressed like “Star Wars’” Princess Leia, holding a sign for “Obi Won John Kerry.” Mud-splattered trucks on parallel streets speeding up and slowing down to keep pace as a 21st-century presidential campaign used 19th-century technology to reach its audience.
“And that’s why we have two branches of government.”
Heather Wilson, NewMexiKen’s very own Congressperson, in interview on Channel 13 (at about 50 seconds)
Link via Metaquerque.
From Reuters via ABC News —
The bad news is tens of millions of people along the eastern seaboard of the United States and Canada may drown if the slow slippage of a volcano off north Africa becomes a cataclysmic collapse.
But the good news is the world is not likely to be destroyed by an asteroid any time soon.
Link via kottke.
was dropped on Nagasaki, Japan, on this date in 1945. The BBC provides some facts (the first two are as reported at the time of the bombing) —
The bomb was dropped by parachute from an American B29 Bomber at 1102 local time.
It exploded about 1,625 ft (500m) above the ground and is believed to have completely destroyed the city, which is situated on the western side of the Japanese island of Kyushu.
About 30% of Nagasaki, including almost all the industrial district was destroyed by the bomb and nearly 150,000 people were killed or injured.
The bomb, nick-named “Fat Man” in a reference to Winston Churchill, measured just under 3.5m (11ft 4in) in length, had the power of 22 kilotons of TNT and weighed 4,050kg (9,000lbs).
Residents of both cities are still suffering the physical and mental consequences of radiation to this day.
On 14 August Japan surrendered to the Allies.
From The Seattle Times‘ Dwight Perry —
Michael Ventre of MSNBC, on Lakers draft pick Marcus Douthit being charged in an identity-theft and embezzlement scam: “On the plus side, the development gives the club some depth at defendant.”
*****George O’Leary, the Central Florida football coach, told reporters about a conversation he had with one of his punters, who was continuously shanking kicks during spring practice:
Coach: “Are you on scholarship?”
Punter: “Yes, but I get real nervous when you’re around.”
Coach: “Well, son, I intend on being at all the games.”
*****Anna Benson, the wife of new Mets pitcher Kris Benson, has gone on record as saying she wants to make love with her husband in every city his team visits, the New York Post reported.
“In a related story,” wrote Cam Hutchinson of the Saskatoon StarPhoenix, “Kris Benson has asked for a trade to the Harlem Globetrotters.”
A few more blogs have added links to NewMexiKen since the last update nearly four weeks ago —
The Sideshow (Sorta, kinda. Not on the blogroll but linked to from time-to-time.)
… of Robert Shaw, born on this date in 1927. Shaw was Doyle Lonegan in The Sting and Captain Quint in Jaws. He was nominated for the Best Actor in a Supporting Role for his portrayal of Henry VIII in A Man for All Seasons. A favorite of NewMexiKen is his work as Mr. Blue in The Taking of Pelham One Two Three. Shaw died in 1978.
… of Sam Elliott, born on this date in 1944. Elliott just looks like a cowboy, or the image we think of when we think of cowboy. NewMexiKen liked him best as General John Buford in Gettysburg and he was good in The Contender.
Listen to the President of the United States answer a question about American Indian tribal sovereignty. [mp3 file]
Link via Daily Kos.
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From the East Valley Tribune —
Kerry was riding the 16-car train that he boarded in St. Louis. The train includes a car used by former President Harry Truman during his 1948 whistle-stop campaign for the presidency. Kerry was originally supposed to slow down to wave at supporters in Winslow, but with a huge crowd at the train station, he decided to make a brief stop. Kerry said he saw a sign that read, “Give us eight minutes and we’ll give you eight years.”
“Just for an insurance policy, I gave them 15 or 20,” he said.
Link via Atrios.
was authorized on this date in 1916. The monument is located in northeastern New Mexico.
Mammoths, giant bison, and short-faced bears were witness to the first tremblings of the earth and firework-like explosions of molten rock thousands of feet into the air. Approximately 60,000 years ago, the rain of cooling cinders and four lava flows formed Capulin Volcano, a nearly perfectly-shaped cinder cone, rising more than 1000 feet above the surrounding landscape. Although long extinct, Capulin Volcano is dramatic evidence of the volcanic processes that shaped northeastern New Mexico. Today the pine forested volcano provide habitat for mule deer, wild turkey, and black bear.
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was authorized on this date in 1916.
Beneath Lassen Volcanic’s peaceful forests and gem-like lakes lies evidence of a turbulent and fiery past. 600,000 years ago, the collision and warping of continental plates led to violent eruptions and the formation of lofty Mt. Tehama (also called Brokeoff Volcano.) After 200,000 years of volcanic activity, vents and smaller volcanoes on Tehama’s flanks-including Lassen Peak-drew magma away from the main cone. Hydrothermal areas ate away at the great mountain’s bulk. Beneath the onslaught of Ice Age glaciers, Mt. Tehama crumbled and finally ceased to exist. But the volcanic landscape lived on: in 1914, Lassen Peak awoke. The Peak had its most significant activity in 1915 and minor activity through 1921. Lassen Volcanic became a national park in 1916 because of its significance as an active volcanic landscape.
All four types of volcanoes in the world are found in the park.
Source: Lassen Volcanic National Park
won the fourth of his four Olympic gold medals on this date in 1936. In Berlin, Owens won gold for the 100 meters, 200 meters, long jump and — on August 9 &mdash the leadoff leg of the 400 meter relay (a world record that lasted for 20 years).
… of Bob Cousy, basketball hall-of-famer, born on this date in 1928.
… of Rod Laver, tennis hall-of-famer, born on this date in 1938.
… of Ken Norton, boxing hall-of-famer, born on this date in 1943.
… of Brett Hull, future hockey hall-of-famer, born on this date in 1964.
… of Deion Sanders, future football hall-of-famer, born on this date in 1967.
Richard Nixon resigned as President of the United States and Vice President Gerald R. Ford assumed the office as the 38th President.
ended on this date in 1814, when Major General Andrew Jackson signed the Treaty of Fort Jackson. According to the Library of Congress:
The agreement provided for the surrender of twenty-three million acres of Creek land to the United States. This vast territory encompassed more than half of present-day Alabama and part of southern Georgia.
The war began on August 30, 1813, when a faction of Creeks known as the Red Sticks attacked a contingent of 553 American settlers at Lake Tensaw, Alabama, north of Mobile. In response, Jackson led 5,000 militiamen in the destruction of two Creek villages, Tallasahatchee and Talladega.
On March 27, 1814, Jackson’s forces destroyed the Creek defenses at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend. Eight hundred Creek warriors were killed and 500 women and children captured.
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