Ask MeFi

When the hive mind works, it’s a beautiful thing, an article about Ask MetaFilter, one of the web’s great sites.

Best line of the day, so far

“iTunes displays information based on each music file’s tag information (artist, title, release date, etc.), which often comes from online databases if you’ve ripped CDs to play on your iPod. The only problem is that some of the thoughtful users who have kindly contributed to the databases are, well, morons …”

Randy A. Salas in Make iTunes and iPod classical companions.

Link via dangerousmeta!.

Good Riddance

New Mexico dumped Arizona on this date in 1863 when the Arizona Territory was established.

In 1861, after March conventions in Mesilla and Tucson, the southern portion of New Mexico Territory followed the lead of the southern states and attempted to withdraw from the Union. The Confederate congress approved in 1862. While all this had no legal meaning in the United States, it probably did influence the decision to create the real Arizona Territory by February 24th the next year.

The Confederate Arizona Territory consisted of the bottom half of both present-day states (dividing the two at 34ºN). The U.S. Arizona Territory in 1863 made the division along the north-south border we have today (dividing at 109º 2′ 59.25″W). Too bad. With the Confederate division New Mexico could have been the Grand Canyon State and Arizona could have had the Deming Duck Race.

The capital of the Confederate Arizona Territory was in Mesilla (near present-day Las Cruces).

From the Archives

Two oldies but goodies, both first posted here four years ago today:

Amy, official niece of NewMexiKen, was in a minor traffic collision yesterday. A gentleman Amy describes as “this ancient, tiny, little, old man” was let into traffic by a good samaritan and, while waving to his benefactor, he ran right into Amy.

As Amy tells it:

The funny thing was there was an ambulance right next to me in the 2nd lane. They saw everything (even though there was no damage, my car was quite jostled at the time – it was apparent that something had happened). So they turned on their lights and pulled over and jumped out to make sure everything was ok. You should have seen everyone’s reaction when I got out of the car and they saw my belly. [Amy's baby is due in May.] They were all hustling around, “Do you need to sit down? Do you need a drink? Do you want us to call the police? Maybe you should lay down.” I thought the little old man was gonna have a heart attack right there. I was amused. Sometimes the belly comes in handy.

Well since there was no damage we exchanged info and such and I sent [the man] on his way. He was very grateful that I was nice about it but really I guess he caught me in a non-hormonal moment.

A good friend’s mother was prescribed a new painkiller Monday. That night she thought she heard a burglar, then saw a woman sitting on her porch. She called the police. A grandson came over as well to make certain everything was OK.

The second night (Tuesday night/Wednesday morning), the mother heard the morning paper arrive before 5. She went out and the same woman she’d seen on the porch the night before went past her into the house and sat on the couch. Then the stranger went into the bathroom. The friend’s mother called the police. When they arrived the stranger was gone. It was clear to the police my friend’s mother was seeing things.

Turns out that one reported side effect of the new painkiller is hallucinations. The mother stopped taking the pills and no strangers arrived last night. Certain as she was that the stranger was there when she called the police (something she may never have done before in 80+ years), she now recognizes it must have been the pill. She’s fine.

NewMexiKen is thinking however, of getting a presecription to this drug. I figure after three or four nights I might be able to hallucinate someone coming in and cleaning the bathroom.

Impeached

The House of Representatives voted 126-47 to impeach President Andrew Johnson on this date in 1868. The New York Times report on the vote begins:

The first act in the great civil drama of the nineteenth century is concluded. Andrew Johnson, President of the United States, stands impeached of “high crimes and misdemeanors.” It is of no use to argue whether his acts were right or wrong, whether the law he violated is constitutional or otherwise, or whether it is good or bad policy to proceed to this extreme. The House of Representatives, with a full realization of all the possible consequences, has solemnly decided that he shall be held to account in the manner prescribed by the Constitution for his alleged misdemeanors, and, be the result what it may, the issue is made. It must be met without delay, and the first step is already complete.

As the War ended in 1865, there were essentially two different approaches to Reconstruction. The first, shared by Lincoln and Johnson, was that the southern states had not left the Union. There had simply been a rebellion by their citizens. The Union’s purpose in the war had been to end the rebellion, replace the southern leaders and restore the state governments, albeit with freedom for all, black and white. The second approach took the view that the south was a conquered nation to be governed by the federal government. This view was held by many Republicans in Congress.

Read the rest of this entry.

Best line of the day way back then

Shortly after WWII, an American went to visit Picasso in his Paris studio and asked, “How does it feel to be Picasso, the master of the art?” The artist replied, “Give me a dollar bill.” The American complied, and Picasso signed his name on it. “There, that dollar is now worth $500. That’s how it feels to be Picasso.”

Found at Altercation and first posted here three years ago.

Two-Two-Four

Today is the birthday

… of Abe Vigoda. Fish on Barney Miller and Sal Tessio of The Godfather is 88.

… of Steven Hill. Adam Schiff on Law and Order is 87.

… of Dominic Chianese. Uncle Junior on The Sopranos is 78.

… of Edward James Olmos, 62.

Eddie Murray, the Baseball Hall of Fame inductee, and Paula Zahn, the broadcaster, are each half of 106 today.

Baseball great Honus Wagner was born on this date in 1874.

One of the Hall of Fame’s five original inductees in 1936, Honus Wagner combined rare offensive and defensive excellence throughout a 21-year career. Despite his awkward appearance – stocky, barrel-chested and bow-legged – the longtime Pirates shortstop broke into the big leagues by hitting .344 in 1897 with Louisville, the first of 17 consecutive seasons of hitting over .300, including eight as the National League batting champion. Wagner compiled a lifetime average of .329, and the Flying Dutchman also stole 722 bases, while leading the league in thefts on five occasions.

National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum

Winslow Homer was born on this date in 1836. The painting is his “Coming Storm” (1901). Click for larger version.

From the late 1850s until his death in 1910, Winslow Homer produced a body of work distinguished by its thoughtful expression and its independence from artistic conventions. A man of multiple talents, Homer excelled equally in the arts of illustration, oil painting, and watercolor. Many of his works—depictions of children at play and in school, of farm girls attending to their work, hunters and their prey—have become classic images of nineteenth-century American life. Others speak to more universal themes such as the primal relationship of man to nature.

Source: The National Gallery of Art, which has a fine online Winslow Homer exhibit.

Oscars

Each year Jill, official co-daughter of NewMexiKen, conducts an Oscar picks contest. She sends out a spreadsheet to friends and family listing the nominated films/actors/directors/etc. — the 24 awards announced during the broadcast — and we all pick our winners. We also list how many of the nominated features we’ve seen. (There were 36 films this year, I’d seen four — but two of them twice!)

The best prognosticators this year were Emily and Rob getting 20 of the 24 awards correct. Clearly, they cheated.

The best of the film-goers saw 23 of the 36 films.

The poorest showing was by Mark. But Mark is being cut some slack because he spent more than half of 2008 as a Marine Corps helicopter pilot in Iraq.

Every one of us picked Heath Ledger and WALL-E to win and they did. None of us got the foreign language film, Departures.

Thanks Jill. It makes Oscar night a lot more fun.

New Safari

There’s a new beta Apple – Safari to play with, Mac or PC.

Learn about the features available in the world’s fastest and most innovative web browser.

Black History Month Sweetie Style

Emily, official co-daughter of NewMexiKen, reports:

As you probably know, February is Black History Month. At our school, the principal organized a voluntary extra essay contest. The kids were asked to research about famous African Americans and write essays on how these people influenced the students’ lives today. The essay was due today [Monday]. Then on Friday, they have to dress up and act like they are in a wax museum.

Well, out of a school with 1,085 students, only two students completed the essay contest . . . Kiley and Mack.

It’s kind of sad for the principal, but I can’t tell you how proud of Kiley and Mack I am. They both took the activity very seriously and produced great essays. I typed up Kiley’s essay below so you could see what she came up with. She is very excited about getting the chance to act like Ruby on Friday. Mack researched Chuck Berry and is all set to play his electric guitar on Friday. We’re not sure exactly who the audience will be for the performances, but it should be a great show.

Here is six-year-old kindergartner Kiley’s essay:

Ruby Bridges

Ruby Bridges is a brave little girl just like me. Ruby was not to upset that she has to eat lunch by her self. Ruby has to eat by her self because her techer ate elsewhere and no one was in her class. No one was in her class because the kids are wite and their folks are not happy with a black girl in the school. Ruby prayed for the pepole in the loud crowd. That teaches me not to be hurtful to others. Ruby did this too . . . she was so brave she could walk being silent. She ignored the pepole that were in the crowd. I would do that to. I have a brother and I sometimes ignore him when he is not nice. Ruby and me are the same in some ways.

Ruby Bridges was a six-year-old girl who attended school alone in 1960 in New Orleans when white parents withdrew their children in opposition to integration. She was depicted in a famous Norman Rockwell illustration.

Best line of the day

“So if excess cost growth in health care can be brought under control, the entitlement problem is manageable. If not, even savage cuts in Social Security will make little difference.”

Paul Krugman

Thanks to Av for the pointer.

Welfare for the Rich

“I was just at a White House conference listening to a lot of people talking about cutting Social Security and Medicare benefits for retirees. How can the same government that hands tens of billions of dollars to Citi’s shareholders and top executives cut key benefits for the retirees? Why aren’t the news reports calling attention to this massive give away to some of the nation’s richest people?”

Dean Baker

The Oscars

Hertzberg sums up my feelings as well.

I have to admit, I enjoyed them last night. It didn’t hurt that I watched with agreeable people over ample food and drink, but the new format must have had something to do with it. I liked the fake intimacy of having so many stars grouped in a semicircle around the stage. I liked the acceptance speeches, especially Sean Penn’s shoutout to “Commie homo-loving sons of guns” and his brotherly recognition of Mickey Rourke. I liked having five famous actors or actresses come out together to announce the big-ticket nominees. I liked the pointless, unmusical chaos of the musical numbers. I liked the bit with James Franco and Seth Rogan as two stoners laughing their heads off while watching tragic scenes from nominated pictures. Tina Fey and Steve Martin were funny, too, but I didn’t mind the otherwise almost complete lack of film clips or sustained comedy. Much as I loved Billy Crystal (and Steve Martin) in years past, I didn’t really mind that the usual subversive running commentary was put aside just this once. Sincere, unironic collective self-praise has its place.

As always, I liked the red-carpet stuff beforehand, with the stilted, groveling “interviews” and the absurdity of evening gowns and tuxedos in the blinding mid-afternoon sun. Even the commercials were kind of O.K.

So sue me.

Tiger’s Back

Let’s hope he’s still back in the third round, because that’s when I’ll be there to see him.

Gulp

Dow at Lowest Point Since 1997

There is, however, one very, very positive fact about the huge drops in the housing and stock markets. The losses are a tremendous transfer of wealth from the older generation(s) to the younger. Everything is a bargain again (or will be when the bottom gets here), and those with enough time should see significant appreciation.

Alas, I’ll be dead by then.

The S&P 500 since 1996 (a graph).

Four Bad Bears brought up to date (graph).

Best line of the day about last night, so far

“In the Best Actor category, we might also have learned a thing or two last night. Namely, it probably doesn’t help to be a huge jackass (like Mickey Rourke) to all of your peers when those peers are responsible for deciding whether you receive a major, life-altering award.”

Nate Silver

For what it’s worth

I am running the beta version of Windows 7 on both of my Macs — 32-bit on the iMac 2GHz and 64-bit on the MacBook Pro 2.4GHz. I had no problems with either installation and find it to be smoother and quicker than Vista or XP. (Caveat, I use Windows for very little, and nothing strenuous.) IE8 has some nice new features too.

The Crisis of Credit Visualized

A pretty useful and interesting video (about 11 minutes) — The Crisis of Credit Visualized.

The Father of Our Country

To describe George Washington as enigmatic may strike some as strange, for every young student knows about him (or did when students could be counted on to know anything). He was born into a minor family in Virginia’s plantation gentry, worked as a surveyor in the West as a young man, was a hero of sorts during the French and Indian War, became an extremely wealthy planter (after marrying a rich widow), served as commander in chief of the Continental Army throughout the Revolutionary War (including the terrible winter at Valley Forge), defeated the British at the Battle of Yorktown, suppressed a threatened mutiny by his officers at Newburgh, N.Y., then astonished the world and won its applause by laying down his sword in 1783. Called out of retirement, he presided over the Constitutional Convention of 1787, reluctantly accepted the presidency in 1789 and served for two terms, thus assuring the success of the American experiment in self-government.
…

Washington was, after all, a magnificent physical specimen. He towered several inches over six feet, had broad shoulders and slender hips (in a nation consisting mainly of short, fat people), was powerful and a superb athlete. He carried himself with a dignity that astonished; when she first laid eyes on him Abigail Adams, a veteran of receptions at royal courts and a difficult woman to impress, gushed like a schoolgirl. On horseback he rode with a presence that declared him the commander in chief even if he had not been in uniform.

Other characteristics smack of the supernatural. He was impervious to gunfire. Repeatedly, he was caught in cross-fires and yet no bullet ever touched him. In a 1754 letter to his brother he wrote that “I heard Bullets whistle and believe me there was something charming in the Sound.” During the Revolutionary War he had horses shot from under him but it seemed that no bullet dared strike him personally. Moreover, when the Continental Army was ravaged by a smallpox epidemic, Washington, having had the disease as a youngster, proved to be as immune to it as he was to bullets.

— Forrest McDonald in his review of Joseph J. Ellis’ His Excellency: George Washington.

Treaty of Amity, Settlement, and Limits Between the United States of America and His Catholic Majesty

The Adams Onis Treaty was concluded 190 years ago today (1819). It ceded Florida to the United States and settled, after nearly 16 years, the boundaries of the Louisiana Purchase.

His Catholic Majesty [Spain] cedes to the United States, in full property and sovereignty, all the territories which belong to him, situated to the eastward of the Mississippi, known by the name of East and West Florida.

The boundary-line between the two countries, west of the Mississippi, shall begin on the Gulph of Mexico, at the mouth of the river Sabine, in the sea, continuing north, along the western bank of that river, to the 32d degree of latitude; thence, by a line due north, to the degree of latitude where it strikes the Rio Roxo of Nachitoches, or Red River; then following the course of the Rio Roxo westward, to the degree of longitude 100 west from London and 23 from Washington; then, crossing the said Red River, and running thence, by a line due north, to the river Arkansas; thence, following the course of the southern bank of the Arkansas, to its source, in latitude 42 north; and thence, by that parallel of latitude, to the South Sea [Pacific].

The Avalon Project has the complete text of the Treaty. The Adams in the Treaty short name is Secretary of State John Quincy Adams.

George Washington shares a birthday

Today is the birthday

… of Don Pardo. The original “Jeopardy!” and “Saturday Night Live” announcer is 91.

… of Senator Edward Kennedy. He’s 77. I like Senator Kennedy, think he has been a great senator if an imperfect human. But, for the life of me, I do not understand these guys hanging on well into their 70s. They truly know no other life.

… of Sparky Anderson. The baseball hall-of-fame manager is 75.

… of Julius Erving. Dr. J is 59.

… of Kyle MacLachlan. The actor is 50.

… of Vijay Singh. He’s 46.

… of Drew Barrymore. The actress is 34.

… of James Blunt, 32.

Artist Peter Hurd was born in Roswell, New Mexico, on this date in 1904. That’s his watercolor, “The Winos.”

American poets James Russell Lowell and Edna St. Vincent Millay were born on this date; Lowell in 1819 and Millay in 1892.

Edna St. Vincent Millay was a terse and moving spokesman during the Twenties, the Thirties and the Forties. She was an idol of the younger generation during the glorious early days of Greenwich Village when she wrote, what critics termed a frivolous but widely know poem which ended:

My candle burns at both ends, It will not last the night; But ah, my foes, and oh, my friends, It gives a lovely light!

All critics agreed, however, that Greenwich Village and Vassar, plus a gypsy childhood on the rocky coast of Maine, produced one of the greatest American poets of her time. (The New York Times)

Rembrandt Peale was born on this date in 1778. His brothers were named Raphael, Rubens and Titian. Son of portrait-painter Charles Wilson Peale, Rembrandt Peale is known primarily for his many renditions of George Washington. Most are based on his most famous work, this portrait of Washington from 1795 (click to view larger version). Rembrandt Peale also painted a classic portrait of Thomas Jefferson.

Steve Irwin, The Crocodile Hunter, should have been 47 today.

George Washington

… was born on February 11, 1731, 277 years ago today.

Racial bias

Project Implicit, a virtual laboratory maintained by Harvard, the University of Washington and the University of Virginia, has administered hundreds of thousands of online tests designed to detect hidden racial biases. In tests taken from 2000 to 2006, they found that three-quarters of whites have an implicit pro-white/anti-black bias. (Blacks showed racial biases, too, but unlike whites, they split about evenly between pro-black and pro-white. And, blacks were the most likely of all races to exhibit no bias at all.) In addition, a 2006 study by Harvard researchers published in the journal Psychological Science used these tests to show how this implicit bias is present in white children as young as 6 years old, and how it stays constant into adulthood.

(You can take the test yourself.)

Charles M. Blow, The New York Times

Best allegory of the day

Which sounds … not irrational. But when you think of a bad bank, what do you imagine?

You walk into the lobby decorated with portraits of Bernie Madoff, past a row of tellers who are not giving out any money because they are all too busy planning to have octuplets or adopting a chimpanzee as a family member. The executive suite is empty because everybody has gone off on his or her own personal corporate jet. To lunch. Which would consist only of products made with peanut butter. And the bad bank would, of course, have a corporate softball team that was open only to employees who took steroids on a regular basis.

Gail Collins

2-21

Today is the birthday

… of Blanche Elizabeth Hollingsworth Devereaux. Rue McClanahan is 75.

… of Richard Beymer. Tony from West Side Story is 70.

… of Mary Beth Lacey. Tyne Daly is 63.

… of 3CPO. Anthony Daniels is 63.

… of Alan Rickman. Professor Snape is 63.

… of Patricia Nixon Cox. The former first daughter is 63.

… of Frasier Crane. Kelsey Grammer is 54 today.

… of Mary Chapin Carpenter. Celebrating, and one hopes, feeling lucky, she’s 51 today.

… of Charlotte Church. The singer, who raised lots of money for PBS, and did even better for herself, is 23.

… of Ellen Page. Last year’s Oscar nominee is 22.

… of Corbin Bleu. He’s 20. Out of high school one hopes.

Erma Bombeck was born on this date in 1927. According to The Writer’s Almanac:

[Bombeck] became famous for her humor column called “At Wits End”, about the daily madness of being a housewife. She knew she wanted to be a journalist from the eighth grade, and she had a humor column in her high school newspaper. She got a job at the Dayton Journal-Herald writing obituaries and features for the women’s page, but when she married a sportswriter there, she chose to quit her job and stay home with the kids. She spent a decade as a fulltime mother, and then in 1964 she decided she had to start writing again or she would go crazy. She said, “I was thirty-seven, too old for a paper route, too young for social security, and too tired for an affair.”

She got a column at a small Ohio paper and wrote about the daily trials and tribulations of the average housewife. Within a few years, she was one of the most popular humor columnists in America.

NewMexiKen thought Bombeck funniest when she really was a a full-time mom. When she became rich and famous the humor often seemed more contrived and strained. But then I’d rather be rich and famous than funny, too.

Anaïs Nin was born on this date in 1903. I almost passed over Nin but figured if she was good enough for a Jewel song she was good enough for NewMexiKen.

The great classical guitarist Andrés Segovia was born on this date in 1893. This from his obituary in The New York Times in 1987.

The guitarist himself summed up his life’s goals in an interview with The New York Times when he was 75 years old: ”First, to redeem my guitar from the flamenco and all those other things. Second, to create a repertory – you know that almost all the good composers of our time have written works for the guitar through me and even for my pupils. Third, I wanted to create a public for the guitar. Now, I fill the biggest halls in all the countries, and at least a third of the audience is young – I am very glad to steal them from the Beatles. Fourth, I was determined to win the guitar a respected place in the great music schools along with the piano, the violin and other concert instruments.”

The Washington Monument was dedicated on this date in 1885. Malcolm X was shot and killed on this date in 1965.