Friday, July 1, 2005
Muy seco
Single digit humidity again today in Albuquerque. You’d think it was a desert or something.
Archive for July 1, 2005
Best line of the day, so far
“Bush called on Americans to sacrifice ‘during this difficult time between American Idol seasons.’”
Today, July 1
Olivia de Havilland is 89 today. Miss de Havilland was nominated for an acting Oscar five times, winning for To Each His Own and The Heiress. She lost the best supporting actress Oscar for Gone With the Wind to Hattie McDaniel.
Deborah Harry of Blondie is 60.
Dan Aykroyd is 53.
Diana, Princess of Wales, would have been 44 today.
NewMexiKen
242,764 visits to NewMexiKen in the first six months of 2005; 45,049 in June.
Most visitors arrive at NewMexiKen via Google and Ron Howard’s brother still acounts for more than 4% of the searches.
There were visits from 124 countries during June.
Gettysburg
The largest and arguably most significant military engagement in North American history began in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, on this date in 1863.
In a daring venture, Confederate general Robert E. Lee moved his Army of Northern Virginia into Pennsylvania in June, hoping for a decisive victory on Union soil. Trying to catch up, the Union Army of the Potomac, under new commander George Meade, moved north and west toward the Confederates, who were widely dispersed. Learning the Union Army was on the move, Lee began to consolidate his forces.
On June 30, Union cavalry led by John Buford skirmished with a small Confederate contingent just west of Gettysburg. Buford, realizing that the field provided good defensive ground, determined to hold the Confederates until the main body of the army came up.
On July 1, a larger Confederate force moved east toward Gettysburg and met resistance from Buford’s dismounted cavalry, soon joined by the First Corps. The battle ebbed and flowed during the day as troops from both sides moved to the action. Ultimately, Confederate forces arriving from the north were able to flank the Union troops and force them through the town. The Confederates failed to keep the initiative, however, and the Union was able to dig in on the ridge south and east — Cemetery Ridge.
Fifteen thousand Americans were casualties that day.
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Freedom
I told an old joke at dinner.
The story goes that shortly after the end of World War II, an American soldier and a Russian soldier were patrolling the demarcation line between two sectors in Berlin. Every day they would walk up and down, up and down separated by a line. Eventually the two got to talking. One day the Russian said the American, “I don’t understand what is this ‘freedom’ business you Americans are always going on about. What use is ‘freedom’?”“I can explain,” replied the American soldier. “When I’m demobilized and go home, I can walk up to the gate of the White House and shout ‘Truman is an IDIOT’ — and no one will do anything to me. That’s freedom.”
“Well,” the Russian replied, “if that is all there is to freedom, then we have freedom in the USSR too. When I go home, I can go up to the gates of the Kremlin and shout ‘Truman is an idiot’ and no one will do anything to me either”
“Is that still true?” a voice asked. Images flashed by: today’s White House. Surrounded by barriers to keep the public at a distance. Anxious guards who hustle the President away any time a small plane takes a wrong turn. An administration that will do anything to insulate itself from criticism.
“Of course it’s still true,” I reassured the children. “I can go right up to the White House today and shout ‘Truman is an idiot’ and no one will do anything to me, either.”
Michael Froomkin, Discourse.net
