There Will Be Blogging

Sincere thanks for all the fan mail — even us utility infielders like affirmation.

(And unlike Matt Hasselbeck, none of you sent a message asking me if I could get you a real blogger’s autograph.)

I know I stood there like a puppy demanding that you pet me, but truly what I am hoping for is a little more conversation along the way. I always find NewMexiKen wise, whimsical and witty. I just often question whether you do — and when, of all things, “Omarosa nude” returns after four years as the most searched item, I think it is reasonable of me to wonder.

Keep dropping by and I’ll keep blogging away. And if you see something you like or something you detest, please share the thought.

OK, I gotta go see There Will Be Blood. (Which my desktop widget lists as re Will be Blood, The).

Hey here’s a great idea for a TV show about Albuquerque

First, this news item from the Albuquerque Tribune:

Police say somebody stole an “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” utility truck from the parking lot of a hotel near the Big-I on Tuesday night — the same day the crew unveiled a new home to a Southeast Heights family.

The show was in town to build a home for the Martinez family, who live in the Trumbull Village neighborhood, known for its history of crime and poverty — a fact mentioned repeatedly on promotional material for the show.

Here’s my idea — Extreme Makeover: Cops Edition.

Bad boys, bad boys, what’cha gonna do
What’cha gonna do when they come for you

The problem with my idea is that four years ago Mayor Marty banned Cops from filming in Albuquerque. “The city’s police officers are portrayed in a good light, but the rest of the city looks horrible. That has a real impact. That’s all people see, and that’s not who we are.”

Tell that to the Extreme Makeover guys.

January 24th

Oscar-winner Ernest Borgnine (McHale’s Navy) is 91 today. Borgnine won the best actor Oscar in 1956 for the lead in Marty. The film also won best picture, director and screenplay (Paddy Chayefsky).

Oral Roberts is 90. Everyone wants to go to heaven, but no one wants to die.

Ray Stevens is 69.

One of the most popular novelty artists of all time, Ray Stevens enjoyed a remarkably long career, with a stretch of charting singles — some of them major hits — that spanned four decades. Unlike parody king Weird Al Yankovic, Stevens made most of his impact with original material, often based on cultural trends of the day. Yet his knack for sheer silliness translated across generations, not to mention countless compilations and special TV offers. Stevens was a legitimately skilled singer and producer who also performed straight country and pop, scoring the occasional serious hit. But in general, comic novelty songs were his bread and butter, and his brand of humor somehow managed to endure seismic shifts in popular taste and style.

allmusic

Neil Diamond is 67, as is Aaron Neville.

Mary Lou Retton is 40. Ed Helms is 34. Mischa Barton is 22.

Edith Wharton was born on January 24th in 1862. This is from her obituary in 1937.

John Belushi should have been 59 today.

Edith Wharton was the child as well as the author of the Age of Innocence. In her seventy-five years of life she published thirty-eight books, including that great love story, “Ethan Frome.” But her reputation rested mostly upon her achievement as the chronicler of Fifth Avenue, when the brownstone front hid wealth and dignity at its ease upon the antimacassar-covered plush chairs of the Brown Decade.

The New York Times

Gold

… was discovered by James W. Marshall on the property of Johann Sutter near Coloma, California, 160 years ago today. By the end of the year the rush was on; nearly 100,000 people arrived in California in 1849.

But these days, as The Gatlin Brothers sang —

All the gold in California
Is in a bank in the middle of Beverly Hills
In somebody else’s name

Here’s a good word

Kakistocracy (from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000)

SYLLABICATION: kak·is·toc·ra·cy

PRONUNCIATION: kăk-stŏk’rə-sē, käk’-

NOUN: Inflected forms: pl. kak·is·toc·ra·cies
Government by the least qualified or most unprincipled citizens.

ETYMOLOGY:
Greek kakistos, worst, superlative of kakos, bad; caco– + –cracy.
Oldest use: 1829.

* Reference link 1
* Reference link 2

PUTTING THE WORD TO USE:
“Is ours a government of the people, by the people, for the people, or a kakistocracy rather, for the benefit of knaves at the cost of fools?” - 1876 OED

The most distant object easily visible to the unaided eye

Click image for larger version and to learn more.

Aztec Ruins National Monument (New Mexico)

… was established on this date in 1923.

Around 1100 A.D. ancient peoples embarked on an ambitious building project along the Animas River in northwestern New Mexico. Work gangs excavated, filled, and leveled more than two and a half acres of land. Masons laid out sandstone blocks in intricate patterns to form massive stone walls. Wood-workers cut and carried heavy log beams from mountain forests tens of miles away. In less than three decades they built a monumental “great house” three-stories high, longer than a football field, with perhaps 500-rooms including a ceremonial “great kiva” over 41-feet in diameter.

A short trail winds through this massive site offering a surprisingly intimate experience. Along the way visitors discover roofs built 880 years ago, original plaster walls, a reed mat left by the inhabitants, intriguing “T” shaped doorways, provocative north-facing corner doors, and more. The trail culminates with the reconstructed great kiva, a building that inherently inspires contemplation, wonder, and an ancient sense of sacredness.

Aztec Ruins National Monument

Best line of the day, so far

“You know—tonight? At the Republican debate? The debate which will be moderated by Tim Russert and his ‘trophy wife,’ Brian Williams?

Daily Howler

Bill Clinton: ‘Screw It, I’m Running For President’

CHARLESTON, SC—After spending two months accompanying his wife, Hillary, on the campaign trail, former president Bill Clinton announced Monday that he is joining the 2008 presidential race, saying he “could no longer resist the urge.”

“My fellow Americans, I am sick and tired of not being president,” said Clinton, introducing his wife at a “Hillary ‘08″ rally. “For seven agonizing years, I have sat idly by as others experienced the joys of campaigning, debating, and interacting with the people of this great nation, and I simply cannot take it anymore. I have to be president again. I have to.”

The Onion - America’s Finest News Source