I Like Ike

“Should any political party attempt to abolish social security, unemployment insurance, and eliminate labor laws and farm programs, you would not hear of that party again in our political history. There is a tiny splinter group, of course, that believes that you can do these things. Among them are a few Texas oil millionaires, and an occasional politician or businessman from other areas. Their number is negligible and they are stupid.”

Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1952

Swiped from Julie with a B. Link via MakesMeRalph.

Update May 12: Slightly corrected version with source (November 8, 1954).

More vacation photos

NewMexiKen was going to post photos of my Cinco De May trip to Margaritaville but it seems the pictures are all out of focus.

No, wait, the pictures are fine, it’s me that’s out of focus.

Now here’s something useful

How to fold a fitted sheet.

Really. With photos. Very helpful. From Target Australia.

Of course, NewMexiKen finds the simplest approach overall is to have one set of sheets, take them off the bed, launder them, put them back on (usually the same day). No folding. No storage issues.

Multi-tasking

“As you may have heard, Los Angeles has been hit by a rash of freeway shootings lately. Of course, L.A. drivers are amazed by this - ‘How can you talk on the phone, hold a cup of coffee, do your makeup, and fire a gun at the same time?’”

Jay Leno

Tessie

At 1,645 feet deep, Lake Tahoe ranks as the world’s 10th deepest lake. Twenty-two miles long and 12 miles wide, it harbors many legends. But perhaps most persistent is the myth of a humped-backed, scaly serpentine the locals call Tessie.

What do you think? Real or myth?

Read more from the Los Angeles Times.

05/05/05

NewMexiKen’s favorite niece was expecting to deliver a son today on 05/05/05. I suggested she call him “Cinco.”

Having a mind of his own, he arrived on Tuesday and he’ll just have to settle for Steven. Mother and son are doing great.

I hear the little guy already made his debut on Tucson TV. You’ve got famous down kid; now go for rich.

Best line of the day, so far

“I love the Internet. I used to love card catalogs.”

anonyMoses at The American Street

To which NewMexiKen can only say, “Amen!”

Problems

As frequent visitors can tell, NewMexiKen is playing with the underlying code to change the appearance, etc.

That, however, is not responsible for the problems you may be having accessing the site. NewMexiKen’s provider is having server problems.

For my part, I apologize for any inconvenience. Maybe they will resolve their problems and I will quit creating mine.

Best line of the day, so far

“‘Wind resistance roughly doubles between 55 mph and 70 mph.’ (So I never go more than 55 mph in a 35 mph zone.)”

Found at Andrew Tobias - Money and Other Subjects.

Living on borrowed time

NewMexiKen thought this excerpt from The Social Security Trust Fund is Irrelevant (Or How Al Gore Was Right) to be a pretty succinct summary of Social Security finances:

For all but 11 of the last 68 years, payroll tax revenues for Social Security have exceeded the amount the government spent on Social Security. The government used the excess to buy special bonds printed by the federal government. In other words, the government borrowed from itself. It then took the proceeds of the bonds and used it for other government expenditures. The idea all along has been that in 12 to 14 years, in the midst of the baby boom retirement wave, Social Security benefits will exceed payroll taxes earmarked for Social Security. Then the government can sell these bonds — to itself, of course — and use the proceeds to make up the gap.

And that’s why the Trust Fund is irrelevant. To buy the bonds in the Trust Fund from itself, the government must get the money from somewhere. It has four options. It can reduce other government spending. It can sell assets. It can increase taxes. Or, it can sell bonds [that is, borrow some more].

It’s the underlying financial crisis (i.e, the deficit) that’s the issue, not Social Security.

Latest from Google

Google Web Accelerator claims to speed up downloads (with only minor invasions of your privacy). NewMexiKen is giving it a try and so far it claims to have saved me 39.6 seconds. Of course, that’s in one and two second bites, so it’s difficult to assess.

Besides don’t most people browse at work to kill time?

Update after six hours: It’s probably just me, but I sensed that this thing was slowing things down. I removed it already. We’ll wait and see.

Hello

“Percentage of Americans aged 18 to 29 who speak to their parents every day: 48.”

Harper’s Index for April 2005

Alligator Pear

According to The Writer’s Almanac “Americans will eat 54 million avocados today, most of them in the form of guacamole.”

Here’s a whole page of Avocado Fruit Facts should you find yourself wanting in that knowledge.

The Climate of Man

The New Yorker has put online the first two parts of Elizabeth Kolbert’s three-part series on climate change.

Part I

Part II

Part III is in this week’s issue and, one hopes, will be online soon.

RSS primer

Walter Mossberg has A Guide to Using RSS, Which Helps You Scan Vast Array of Web Sites. It’s just the basics, but if you’ve been wondering, not a bad place to start.

Cinco de Mayo

The holiday of Cinco De Mayo, The 5th Of May, commemorates the victory of the Mexicans over the French army at The Battle Of Puebla in 1862. It is primarily a regional holiday celebrated in the Mexican state capital city of Puebla and throughout the state of Puebla, with some recognition in other parts of the Mexico, and especially in U.S. cities with a significant Mexican population. It is not, as many people think, Mexico’s Independence Day, which is actually September 16.

MexOnline.com

Alice …

is 79 today. If you’re her age, you might remember her better as Schultzy. That’s Ann B. Davis of The Brady Bunch and The Bob Cummings Show.