According to AAA, regular gasoline is averaging $2.59 a gallon in California; $2.80 for premium (and as much as $3.11 in some places).
Nationally the average for regular is $2.265.
According to news reports, prices are likely to increase for another week, but then should level off and remain consistent through summer.
As The Daily Show has noted, did you realize that right now while we are between popes, no one on earth is infallible?
One man pays a visit to every unit in the national park system.
All 388. See his travel website.
Clearly this is a man who is a bit obsessive. His personal website tracks each of his 366 travel-related goals, from visiting all 131 North American telephone area codes designated by AT&T, to visiting some point worldwide whose name begins with each of the 26 letters of the alphabet, and consuming a McDonald’s menu item in every country in which it operates. Hogenauer even made a pilgrimage to the offices of R. R. Donnelley, the Lancaster, Pennsylvania, company that prints maps and pamphlets for each park, just to let them know he appreciated their efforts.
NewMexiKen had its 100,000th visit of 2005 a few days ago.
And last week we surpassed 5,000 entries since we began in August 2003.
A motorboat visits the Cathedral in the Desert, a slot canyon in Glen Canyon National Recreation Area that until recently was underwater in Lake Powell. A long drought has lowered the water level.
Read the article from The New York Times.
Thanks to Jennifer for the pointer.
According to an item in Morning Briefing, pro-wrestling legend Hulk Hogan is opposed to cockfighting, saying: “It’s not a real sport.”
“Some mathematicians say the lottery is the state’s tax on the mathematically slow.”
Dave Thomas, president of New Mexicans for Science and Reason, commenting on likely changes to Powerball, which will make the chance of winning 146-million to one, up from 120.5-million to one.
Medal of Honor - Sergeant First Class Paul R. Smith. See his photo; read the citation.
Thanks to the superb Functional Ambivalent for the pointer and link.
Toby, Count Basie
Goldberg Variation 10 Fughetta, Glenn Gould
La fille aux cheveux de lin, Boston Pops
La Bamba, Ritchie Valens
Ramblin’ Man, Allman Brothers Band
Spirits in the Material World, The Police
To Lay Me Down, Cowboy Junkies
Sha La La (Make Me Happy), Al Green
Escucha Me, Gipsy Kings
Mr. Tambourine Man, Bob Dylan
Ida y Vuelta, Strunz & Farah
Agua de Beber, Antonio Carlos Jobim/Astrud Gilberto
NewMexiKen had been wanting to organize the photos on my computer for some time and finally got it done (mostly) this week. At the moment there are 4,010 digital photos and more than half are of the four sweeties — my grandchildren, the oldest of whom is four.
I’m considering software to enable you to view all 2,149 grandchildren-related photos and will let you know.
From The Santa Fe New Mexican:
It’s a quandary every parent faces. When do you talk to your children about sex? What do you say? Is middle school too late?
New Mexico Health Secretary Michelle Lujan Grisham announced Friday her decision to target $500,000 in federal sexual-abstinence education funding toward elementary-school students, because national research suggests that abstinence programs work best among students who have not yet had sex.
Maybe it’s time Dora had some condoms in that backpack of hers.
The New Mexican reports that Santa Fe officials have rerouted a casino bus for fear old folks will get a gambling jones:
Senior citizens can no longer catch a weekly shuttle bus to Camelrock Casino from Santa Fe senior centers because to a recent decision by city officials.
“Their excuse was that it’s dangerous for the elder citizens — they may get the gambling habit,” said Leonard Pensler, who lives in the Ventana de Vida senior apartment complex on Pacheco Street.
“And you should see these elder citizens in wheelchairs with oxygen tanks,” Pensler said. “This is their happiness. It gets them out for three hours a day.”
“[G]iving me a blog was like giving a shotgun to a monkey.”
Dan: Everybody wants to be happy.
Larry: Depressives don’t. They want to be unhappy to confirm they’re depressed. If they were happy, they couldn’t be depressed anymore. They’d have to go out in the world to live, which can be depressing.
Dialogue from Closer
“This week, tourists are flocking to Washington, flocking, because the cherry blossoms are in full bloom. Did you know that? It’s really, really beautiful. In fact, it is so beautiful, President Bush told the logging industry, ‘Wait ’til next week to chop ‘em down.’”
Jay Leno
I kept the queen waiting.
Thunderstorms had delayed my flight. By the time the plane landed, Cook Islands Queen Manarangi Tutai had been waiting at the airport for three hours.
Despite the imposition, she smiled regally, wished me “Kia orana” — “May you live long” — and draped a fragrant necklace of gardenias around my shoulders. I stumbled through an apology. I had planned to stay at her bed-and-breakfast inn on the remote South Pacific island of Aitutaki during my November trip, but I didn’t expect her to pick me up, much less grab my luggage, as she was now doing, and drive me to the B&B herself.
“Don’t worry. We’re on island time,” she said cheerily. Clearly, I had left L.A. behind. Gridlocked freeways, scowling faces and diesel-scented air faded as Queen Tutai hoisted my bag into the back of her well-worn utility truck. In the Cook Islands, I soon learned, there is no traffic, people smile at one another and the air is scented with plumeria. Plus, for $53 a night, any guest can receive a royal welcome.
— Rosemary McClure in the Los Angeles Times
Each day…
• 25 tons of dust and sand-size particles burns up entering the atmosphere.About once a year…
• A car-size asteroid hits Earth’s atmosphere but typically burns up before reaching the surface.Every thousand years or so…
• An object the size of a football field hits Earth and causes significant damage to the impact area.Every few million years…
• If an object larger than 0.6 miles across struck Earth, it could cause mass extinction and threaten civilization.
From a graphic accompanying an article in The Washington Post on scientists keeping a lookout.
For generations of college-bound teenagers, nailing a 1600 on the SAT has been as good as it gets, equivalent in American popular culture to pitching a perfect game or bowling a 300.
But no longer. Starting Monday, the venerable college entrance exam will sport a new scoring format and frame of reference. With the recent addition to the SAT of a third section that includes a handwritten essay, 2400 is becoming the new 1600.
Thinking about DirecTV for all those High-Def channels? Think again.
Unless you live in LA or NY, you can’t get local channels in HD via DirecTV. …
They’re talking about adding dozens-to-hundreds of channels in HD format in the next year, but (drumroll please…) it’ll be in a new encryption/encoding (MPEG-4) format which won’t work with $999 HD DirecTiVos…From Ed Bott
… of Hugh Hefner. Hef is 79.
… of Michael Learned. Momma Walton is 66.
… of Dennis Quaid. Jerry Lee Lewis, Gordon Cooper, Doc Holliday, Sam Houston and, lest we forget, New Orleans Det. Remy McSwain, is 51.
… of Keshia Knight Pulliam. Rudy Huxtable is 26.
Head Quarters of the Armies of the United States
Appomattox C.H. Va. Apl 9th 1865
Gen. R. E. Lee
Comd’g C.S.A.
General,
In accordance with the substance of my letter to you of the 8th inst., I propose to receive the surrender of the Army of N. Va. on the following terms to wit; Rolls of all the officers and men be made in duplicate, one copy to be given to an officer to be designated by me, the other to be retained by such officer or officers as you may designate. The officers to give their individual paroles not to take up arms against the Government of the United States until properly exchanged, and each company or regimental commander to sign a like parole for the men of their commands - The arms, artillery and public property to be parked and stacked and turned over to the officer appointed by me to receive them. This will not embrace the side arms of the officers nor their private horses or baggage. This done each officer and man will be allowed to return to their homes, not to be disturbed by United States authority as long as they observe their parole and the laws in force where they may reside—
Very Respectfully
U. S. Grant
Lt. Gen
The ill-fated René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, reached the Gulf of Mexico by way of the Mississippi River on this date in 1682 and claimed the Mississippi watershed in the name of France, naming it Louisiana in honor of King Louis XIV.
Je, René-Robert Cavelier de La Salle, en vertu de la commission de Sa Majesté que je tiens en mains, prêt à la faire voir à qui il pourrait appartenir, ai pris et prends possession, au nom de Sa Majesté et de ses successeurs de sa couronne, de ce pays de la Louisiane, mers, havres, ports, baies, détroits adjacents et de toutes les nations, peuples, provinces, villes, bourgs, villages, mines, minières, pèches, fleuves, rivières compris dans l’étendue de ladite Louisiane.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.
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