Happy Saint Valentine’s Day

NewMexiKen wishes he had said it as well as Body and Soul —

I have nothing the least bit original or insightful to say about the political or moral implications of San Francisco’s decision to marry same-sex couples. Just a straight-from-the-heart, personal reaction: If you can look at this picture of two elderly women who clearly adore each other and have waited five decades to declare that love to the world, and not share their joy, I don’t think I want to know you.

Saturday Beer Blogging

Colorado Luis knows where to go in Fort Collins.

Think it’s easy throwing snowballs at penguins?

Think again!

Enter a name where it says “Nick:”. Then click on PLAY.

The Week Quiz

NewMexiKen was arrogant when he aced The Week Quiz for two consecutive weeks and is now paying the price. Five correct out of 10 this week.

To tell the truth, I’m surprised it wasn’t worse.

Take The Week Quiz.

Kerry on Imus this morning

WFAN Audio

Wonkette ethics

Wonkette says, “We’re not going to post her name until she has a chance to launch her own handbag line just like any other scandal-plagued intern.”

Barbie’s ex in no way affiliated with NewMexi ‘Ken’

Mike Cassidy has an amusing take on the Barbie and Ken break up —

Toy maker Mattel let it leak that Ken’s failure to commit was at the core of the couple’s troubles. He simply would not ask Barbie to marry him, despite subtle hints like Dream Bride Barbie. Why Boot Camp Barbie didn’t propose first we’ll never know.

Paraskevidekatriaphobia

Fear of Friday the 13th

So where does it come from — the fear of 13? Its origins can be traced to Norse mythology and a dinner party at Valhalla, home of the god Odin, where Odin and 11 of his closest god-friends were gathered one night to party. Everyone was having fun, but then Loki, the dastardly god of evil and turmoil, showed up uninvited, making it a crowd of 13. The beloved god Balder tried to boot Loki out of the house, the legend goes, and in the scuffle that followed he suffered a deathblow from a spear of mistletoe.

From that mythological start, the number 13 has plowed a path of devastation through history. There were 13 people at Christ’s Last Supper, including the double-crossing Judas Iscariot. The ill-fated Apollo 13 lunar mission left the launching pad at 13:13 hours and was aborted on April 13. Friday hasn’t been much kinder to us. Friday was execution day in ancient Rome — Jesus was crucified on a Friday. Put it all together, and Friday the 13th spells trouble for triskaidekaphobics. It’s a testament to the phobia’s prevalence that Hollywood was able to parlay our fear into a hugely successful series of slasher movies starring a hockey-masked guy named Jason.

But triskaidekaphobia isn’t an exclusively American affliction. Italians omit the number 13 from their national lottery. There is a hush-hush organization in France whose exclusive purpose is to provide last-minute guests for dinner parties, so that no party host ever has to suffer the curse of entertaining 13 guests.

– Excerpted from Jon Bowen, writing at Slate.

Chuck Yeager…

first person to break the sound barrier, was born on this date in 1923.

Yeager broke the sound barrier on October 14, 1947, reportedly with two ribs broken two nights before in a drunken horseback ride. The plane, Glamorous Glennis, is hanging from the Air & Space Museum ceiling. Glennis was Mrs. Yeager.

Yeager is the basis for the character played by Sam Shepard in The Right Stuff. Glennis was played by Barbara Hershey.

In his wonderful book The Right Stuff Tom Wolfe explains that West Virginian Yeager is the reason why all airline pilots talk with a drawl — to be like Yeager, “the most righteous of all the posessors of the right stuff.”

Happy Birthday to you!

Kim Novak (1934)
Carol Lynley (1943)
Peter Tork (of the Monkees) (1943)
Stockard Channing (1945)
Peter Gabriel (1950)