Month: July 2006

So Big and Healthy Nowadays That Grandpa Wouldn’t Even Know You

An interesting article from The New York Times on changes in human aging. It includes this:

New research from around the world has begun to reveal a picture of humans today that is so different from what it was in the past that scientists say they are startled. Over the past 100 years, says one researcher, Robert W. Fogel of the University of Chicago, humans in the industrialized world have undergone “a form of evolution that is unique not only to humankind, but unique among the 7,000 or so generations of humans who have ever inhabited the earth.”

The difference does not involve changes in genes, as far as is known, but changes in the human form. It shows up in several ways, from those that are well known and almost taken for granted, like greater heights and longer lives, to ones that are emerging only from comparisons of health records.

The biggest surprise emerging from the new studies is that many chronic ailments like heart disease, lung disease and arthritis are occurring an average of 10 to 25 years later than they used to. There is also less disability among older people today, according to a federal study that directly measures it. And that is not just because medical treatments like cataract surgery keep people functioning. Human bodies are simply not breaking down the way they did before.

They all look alike to me

Girl: Isn’t your dad Swiss?
Guy: No, he’s Swedish.
Girl: Oh, that’s right: people are Swedish, things are Swiss. Well, actually, they’re interchangeable.

–Sprint Store, 8th St & 6th Ave

Girl #1: Where did the first movie take place?
Girl # 2: I thought it was Australia, cause, you know, that was part of the British empire and all.
Girl #1: I think it was some Asian country. Didn’t they talk about Singapore a lot?
Girl #2: Yeah, maybe some place like that.
Girl #1, after a few minutes: Oh, shit, the Caribbean!

—Pirates of the Caribbean II, movie theater, 34th St

Overheard in New York

6 + 4 = 1 Tenuous Existence

With two teenage daughters at home and triplets still in diapers, Angela Magdaleno’s family overflowed from a one-bedroom apartment in South Los Angeles that they strained to afford.

Diapers had to be changed 15 times a day, feedings held every three hours. One triplet, 3-year-old Alfredo Jr., needed special attention because he was born with liquid on his brain and partially paralyzed.

Even simple events — like going to the store — required complex orchestration.

And that was before the quadruplets arrived.

— Read more from the Los Angeles Times

July 28

Catherine Howard married Henry VIII on this date in 1540. She was Mrs. VIII number five.

Maximilien Robespierre got the ax on this date in 1794. Witnesses said Robespierre died within seconds of the guillotine blade severing his head from his neck but, after viewing A Tale of Two Cities, Dr. Senator Bill Frist was certain guillotine victims “respond to visual stimuli.”

Beatrix Potter was born on this date in 1866.

Jacqueline Lee Bouvier was born on this date in 1929.

“Dollar Bill,” Bill Bradley is 63 today.

Hugo Chávez, the President of Venezuela is 52. Venezuela supplies about 6% of U.S. daily oil consumption.

An earthquake in China killed an estimated 242,000 people 30 years ago today.

Pay at the pump

“[The big five oil] companies earned $34.6 billion in the second quarter, 36 percent more than the same period last year. Through the first half of the year, the five companies earned $62.8 billion, putting them 20 percent ahead of their record-setting pace last year.” (New York Times)

That’s ExxonMobil, BP, ConocoPhillips, Royal Dutch Shell and Chevron.

Ron Howard’s brother

NewMexiKen happened upon this entry in The Film Snob*s Dictionary for our favorite, Ron Howard’s brother Clint.

Cult actor with squeaky voice and enormous cranium, best known for his brief appearances in the movies of A-list older brother Ron, though more regularly employed in TV shows and B pictures, often as a Deliverance-esque hillbilly threat. Like Ron, Clint acted as a child, notoriously starring, at age seven, in one of the oddest Star Trek episodes ever, “The Corbomite Maneuver,” in which he played a babylike alien, mouthing words spoken by an adult actor.

The 14th amendment

… to the United States Constitution was ratified on this date in 1868. The first section of the Amendment reads:

All persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

Miami Waste

Operating budget for Miami Police Department for one year: $100 million

Production cost for the film Miami Vice: $150 million

It’s the birthday

… of television producer Norman Lear. He’s 84. Lear brought a revolution to TV when he introduced All in the Family in 1971. Sanford and Son, Good Times, The Jeffersons, Maude, One Day At a Time and other shows were also his.

Left at Albuquerque… of Bugs Bunny, who made his first featured appearance in a cartoon released on this date in 1940, A Wild Hare. Bugs was modeled on Groucho Marx with a carrot instead of a cigar — and with a Brooklyn accent.

… of Bobbie Gentry; she is 62. No word yet on what it was she and Billy Joe threw off the Tallahatchee bridge.

… of Peggy Fleming, 58 today. Miss Fleming won her gold medal for figure skating at the 1968 Winter Olympics.

Baseball manager Leo Durocher was born 100 years ago today — “The Lip.” His Hall-of-Fame plaque reads in part:

COLORFUL, CONTROVERSIAL MANAGER FOR 24 SEASONS,
WINNING 2,008 GAMES, 7TH ON ALL-TIME LIST.
COMBATIVE, SWASHBUCKLING STYLE A CARRY-OVER
FROM 17 YEARS AS STRONG FIELDING SHORTSTOP FOR
MURDERERS ROW YANKS, GASHOUSE GANG CARDS, REDS
AND DODGERS. MANAGED CLUBS TO PENNANTS IN 1941
AND 1951 AND TO WORLD SERIES WIN IN 1954. 3-TIME
SPORTING NEWS MANAGER OF THE YEAR.

Durocher, who’s language was so salty he must have been from Deadwood, once recalled a remarkable home run by Willie Mays: “I never saw a f…ing ball go out of a f…ing park so f…ing fast in my f…ing life!”

The truce ending the Korean War was signed on this date in 1953. Read the report from The New York Times.

The first U.S. government agency, the Department of Foreign Affairs (which became the Department of State), was established on this date in 1789.

Places to go, people to see

Celebrating its fifth anniversary, the internet travel agent Orbitz “predicts five outstanding locations that should be on everyone’s must see list in the five years to come!”

Shanghai, China …

Albuquerque, New Mexico

With its hot climate and a variety of world class resorts rising in the area, Albuquerque continues to grow in popularity and charm. Ever dream of seeing hundreds of hot air balloons in the sky at the same time? Visit Albuquerque during its International Balloon Fiesta. Held from October 6 through 15, the Balloon Fiesta is the largest event of its kind in the world welcoming around 750 balloons each year. Balloon rides are available for travelers that not only want to watch, but participate. Albuquerque also has many year round activities, making it a blossoming tourist destination. Visitors can explore the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center and “Old Town.” The Cultural Center provides an introduction to New Mexico’s Native American heritage while Old Town is the core of the old Spanish colonial settlement. Old Town features the historic San Felipe de Neri Church along with many craftsman, artists and restaurants with authentic New Mexican cuisine.

Reykjavik, Iceland …

New Orleans, Louisiana …

Cape Town, South Africa …

Albuquerque update

A year ago today NewMexiKen wrote three things I would change about Albuquerque.

The first was change the name of the local community college. That’s been done, it’s now Central New Mexico Community College.

Third was restore the original spelling of the name of the city — until the Anglos came it was Alburquerque, with the first and now absent “r”. As I said last year, why not be authentic? Most people that don’t live here can’t spell Albuquerque anyway, so what’s another letter. But I was just being glib.

Second on my list last July 26, was the only item I truly cared about. Let me quote myself:

America’s third longest river passes through the entire length of the city from north to south. And yet, at no place along the river can one stroll at the river’s edge. Yes, there are paths parallel to the river through the bosque (groove) that borders the river, and one can occasionally push aside the bushes and bugs and find the river’s edge. But nowhere can one stroll, or paddle, or stop and drink some wine or enjoy some New Mexican cuisine and watch the river roll by. With lesser rivers, San Antonio and even Oklahoma City have made attractive river walks. Why not here?

So far as I know, nothing has been done during the year to allow even a tiny bit of development along the Rio Grande (and a tiny bit is all I would advocate). In another forum in fact, I was struck by how impossible this is deemed — as if the Politburo in Santa Fe has forbidden even its discussion.

Our single biggest attraction remains not just under-utilized, but impossible to utilize. I find that sad.

Light show

A pleasant rain falling now late Wednesday at Casa NewMexiKen after the rather spectacular light and sound show earlier. Flash, boom in all directions from here near the Sandia Mountains.

The warnings have been on television during the week — during a lightning storm avoid “the telephone, taking a shower [or bath], washing your hands, doing dishes, or any contact with conductive surfaces with exposure to the outside such as metal door or window frames, electrical wiring, telephone wiring, cable TV wiring, plumbing, etc.” (NOAA)

Cell phones are, of course, OK if you are inside, but some are now saying don’t use them outside during an electrical storm.

And we think we’re so special with all our modern gadgets. Along comes a storm, and we’re helpless.

Know It All

Stacy Schiff has written a great piece on Wikipedia for The New Yorker. Subtitled, “Can Wikipedia conquer expertise?,” it includes this:

Because there are no physical limits on its size, Wikipedia can aspire to be all-inclusive. It is also perfectly configured to be current: there are detailed entries for each of the twelve finalists on this season’s “American Idol,” and the article on the “2006 Israel-Lebanon Conflict” has been edited more than four thousand times since it was created, on July 12th, six hours after Hezbollah militants ignited the hostilities by kidnapping two Israeli soldiers. Wikipedia, which was launched in 2001, is now the seventeenth-most-popular site on the Internet, generating more traffic daily than MSNBC.com and the online versions of the Times and the Wall Street Journal combined. The number of visitors has been doubling every four months; the site receives as many as fourteen thousand hits per second.

As Schiff notes, Wikipedia now has more than one-million articles.

Wikipedia.org

Early bird special

Norm Coleman Sr., the father of Minnesota’s junior senator, was cited for lewd and disorderly conduct Tuesday after police officers reported finding him engaged in a sex act in a car near a pizzeria on E. 7th St. in St. Paul.

A police report said officers were called to Savoy Inn at 7:40 p.m. to investigate a report that two people were having sex in a car. The police report stated a woman, Patrizia Marie Schrag, 38, also was cited for lewd and disorderly conduct.

The elder Coleman, 81, raised his son in New York City. He has since moved to Minnesota, and public records indicate he lives in St. Paul.

Sen. Coleman issued a statement after learning of the citation against his father.

“I love my father dearly,” the senator said. “I do not condone his actions or behavior, and I am deeply disturbed by what I have learned. He clearly has some issues that need to be dealt with, and I will encourage him to seek the necessary help.”

TwinCities.com

Link via Atrios, who points out it was during daylight. Hey, the man is 81, he doesn’t like to drive after dark.

This is so cool

Monopoly VisaMonopoly is keeping step with changing technology. The new version of Parker’s classic board game dispenses with the colored currency and instead employs Visa mock debit cars. The card is inserted into an electronic machine where the banker records the players’ earnings and payments. For this updated game, Parker partnered with Visa, which made the card and banking machine. The game, dubbed Monopoly Here and Now Electronic Banking, retails for about $46.

Gear Factor