Month: August 2008

Sorting Out Coffee’s Contradictions

Jane Brody sums up what’s known about coffee. Seems to me if one were to dunk broccoli into one’s coffee, you could live about forever.

Drinks containing usual doses of caffeine are hydrating and, like water, contribute to the body’s daily water needs.

. . .

“Contrary to common belief,” concluded cardiologists at the University of California, San Francisco, there is “little evidence that coffee and/or caffeine in typical dosages increases the risk” of heart attack, sudden death or abnormal heart rhythms.

. . .

But in a study of 155,000 nurses, women who drank coffee with or without caffeine for a decade were no more likely to develop hypertension than noncoffee drinkers. However, a higher risk of hypertension was found from drinking colas. A Johns Hopkins study that followed more than 1,000 men for 33 years found that coffee drinking played little overall role in the development of hypertension.

. . .

Recent disease-related findings can only add to coffee’s popularity. A review of 13 studies found that people who drank caffeinated coffee, but not decaf, had a 30 percent lower risk of Parkinson’s disease.

Another review found that compared with noncoffee drinkers, people who drank four to six cups of coffee a day, with or without caffeine, had a 28 percent lower risk of Type 2 diabetes. This benefit probably comes from coffee’s antioxidants and chlorogenic acid.

Triathlon report

Jill reports on 7-year-old Mack’s first official attempt at a triathlon.

Mack did great.  I am so proud of him.  He swam well and passed seven kids before he even got out of the pool.  He also ran so hard and passed several kids.  His bike was his weakest link, which is understandable.
 
He did not medal.  We don’t know his place or time because they only announced the top three.  But when they post the times I’ll let you know how he did.  He was aiming for something in the 13-14 minute range.
 
He has another one next Sunday and then we’re going to reevaluate whether he wants to continue with these.

I like to watch

Don’t like the Olympic coverage that’s on? Try watching online.

There’s nothing on as this is written because it is the middle of the night in China, but at times you can watch full live coverage of any event without commentary.

The same link will let you find customized TV listings for your location and cable provider. At least NINE channels are carrying events! NBC, MSNBC, CNBC, USA, Universal HD, Telemundo, and more.

Did you know handball was an Olympic event?

“Chauvinism” and Olympic TV

Again, James Fallows with some Olympian insight.

This is normal! I switched just now to Korean TV, where I saw the Korean team playing soccer. Then NHK, the Japanese network, with a badminton doubles match involving a Japanese team.

The Olympic Games are for “the youth of the world,” but they’re organized and scored by countries. It’s no surprise that countries treat them as vehicles of national pride, and assume that their people will be most interested in their own athletes. So anybody who was saving up to write an angry letter, blog post, or op-ed about NBC’s chauvinistic coverage: don’t bother! They’re actually more above-the-fray than most.

WiiBowling, WiiTennis, we ready?

Anyone up for a more modern pentathlon?

As in an Olympic event combining something more 21st century than the current combo of fencing, shooting, swimming, horseback riding and running.

“Its replacement could be WiiSports, a pentathlon of tennis, bowling, golf, baseball and boxing,” wrote Lorne Chan of the San Antonio Express-News. “There’s plenty of skill involved with perfecting the tennis power serve or getting the right spin on a bowling ball.

“There would also be the added joy of seeing a 9-year-old win the gold medal.”

Sideline Chatter

Places to go, Sweeties to hug

NewMexiKen will be away for the next few days, hanging-out with three of The Sweeties®, sight-seeing, playing Chutes and Ladders. I will try and blog when I can, but instead of the usual half-wisdom, half-whimsy, half-wit you get around here, it may only be one-eighth.

While I am gone Hannibal Lecter will be house-sitting at Casa NewMexiKen, along with my pit bulls, Attila and Genghis. The recent rains (big-time last night) have raised havoc with the rattlesnakes in the backyard. I think they have moved inside and resettled among the wires and cables behind the computer, television and surround sound.

We Love Lucy (and we could use an August holiday)

Lucille Ball was born on this date in 1911. NewMexiKen once read that Ms. Ball’s image had been seen more times by more people than that of any other person in history.

Miss Ball, noted for impeccable timing, deft pantomime and an endearing talent for making the outrageous believable, was a Hollywood legend: a contract player at RKO in the 1930’s and 40’s who later bought the studio with Desi Arnaz, her first husband.
. . .

The elastic-faced, husky-voiced comedian was a national institution from 1951 to 1974 in three series and many specials on television that centered on her ”Lucy” character. The first series, ”I Love Lucy,” was for six years the most successful comedy series on television, never ranking lower than third. The series, on CBS, chronicled the life of Lucy and Ricky Ricardo, a Cuban band leader played by Mr. Arnaz, who was Miss Ball’s husband on and off screen for nearly 20 years.

The New York Times

If Lucy isn’t enough for a holiday, how about Andy Warhol? He was born Andrew Warhola on this date 80 years ago.

His father was a Czechoslovakian immigrant and a coal miner. His mother was extremely protective, and she let him spend all his time as a child drawing copies of Maybelline advertisements.

He got a job as an advertising illustrator in New York City in the 1950s, but he wanted to be a serious artist. One day, he got the idea to start painting pictures of advertisements, movie stars, and other popular images. He made silk-screened pictures of Campbell’s soup cans and sculptures of Brillo boxes, and his style became known as Pop Art.

Though he was surrounded by hard-partying rock stars and artists, he lived with his mother, and he went to a Catholic church almost every Sunday. His friends said that he never took drugs and only drank occasionally.

The Writer’s Almanac with Garrison Keillor

Or maybe one of America’s foremost historians, Richard Hofstadter, born on this date in 1916. Sam Tanenhaus, writing two years ago in a review of a Hofstadter biography:

At his death in 1970, Richard Hofstadter was probably this country’s most renowned historian, best known as the originator of the “consensus” school, whose measured siftings of the American past de-emphasized conflict — whether economic, regional or ideological — and highlighted instead the nation’s long tradition of shared ideas, principles and values.

This school had a limited shelf life, but Hofstadter’s work has outlived it, owing to the clarity and nuance of his thought and his talent for drawing parallels between disparate episodes in our national narrative, almost always bringing the argument around to the concerns of midcentury America. “I know it is risky,” he acknowledged in 1960, “but I still write history out of my engagement with the present.” The gamble, of course, was whether questions so pressing in his time would continue to engage later generations. To a remarkable extent they have, and so Hofstadter remains relevant — in some respects more relevant than ever.

First best line of the day

“When a Republican candidate makes a verbal gaffe, it’s a ‘misstatement’ and nothing to get upset about. When a Democratic candidate makes a verbal gaffe, it’s a ‘serious blunder that has jeopardized the campaign by alienating independents.'”

Cheers and Jeers

And this:

“John Edwards gets hammered for owning one expensive house and getting a $400 haircut. John McCain gets a free pass for owning eight-to-ten expensive houses and wearing $520 loafers.”

The first

Neil Armstrong is 78 today.

Armstrong was first. How many others have walked on the moon? (See below).

All you current and former civil servants out there should find Armstrong to be your particular hero. The first man on the moon was a federal employee, a GS-14.

Jill provided the answer to how many two years ago:

Ooh, an Apollo question. You’ve come to the right place.

Well, 12 men have walked on the moon. Six lunar missions successfully landed on the moon, each with two crew members aboard the lunar module.

But NASA would say that 24 men have gone to the moon. They consider a moon trip to be achieving orbit around the moon, and do not recognize a distinction between orbiting the moon and walking on it. There were nine Apollo missions that orbited the moon, including two test runs, the six succesful landings, and Apollo 13. That’s 27 men, but three men did it twice (Jim Lovell, Eugene Cernan and John Young).

Did you know that within NASA, “astronaut” is a job description for those individuals selected to be members of the Astronaut Corps at the Johnson Space Center in Houston. Once an astronaut candidate completes training, he or she becomes a career astronaut, without ever going into space. Within the U.S. military, however, the term astronaut is reserved for those individuals that have actually flown above an altitude of 50 miles.

GOP won’t let go of its new tire-gauge toy

Consider a counter-example. McCain was talking about skin cancer the other day.

McCain emphasized that skin cancer is preventable, and implored Americans to wear sunscreen, especially over the summer. What’s wrong with this advice? Not a thing. It’s a smart, sensible thing to say.

But imagine if Obama and his surrogates said the entirety of McCain’s healthcare policy is sunscreen application. McCain doesn’t really care about cancer, they could argue, he just wants everyone to run out at get some SPF 30. Those vying to be Obama’s running mate started holding up bottles of Coppertone during their speeches, saying things like, “We want you to wear sunscreen, you know, it will very mildly improve your chances of not getting sick. But wearing sunscreen is not a healthcare policy for the United States of America.”

The Carpetbagger Report

It only gets worse

Over the weekend NewMexiKen ranted about Comcast sending an email advising me to check my bill online but, because they had closed the account, when I tried to do so, I was denied access.

An individual who represented himself as being with Comcast Cares commented here on my rant and said “Thanks again for the valuable feedback and providing the opportunity to assist!”

OK, Mr. Comcast Cares, it has only gotten worse. If you are genuine and really care, my email address is newmexiken~at~gmail~dot~com.

Today I received the very bill they’d told me about and after 17 minutes on the phone am no closer to resolution. I’ll try and make this brief. In July I paid for service THROUGH August 7, $64.49. But I ended the service on July 21st and took the modem into the Comcast service center on July 22. I was assured that would be the end date for the billing, though they would have to wait until a technician could come out and actually disconnect the cable (just internet) before closing the account and refunding me the extra I had paid. I was told the disconnect would happen July 29th. (Later I was told August 5th.) The refund would follow by the end of the same week, August 1st. (Later I was told in two weeks.)

First error. The bill today says I had a balance due of $64.49. Apparently I was not credited with the July payment. Then the bill states I am charged for service August 2 through September 7. But then the cost of that service is subtracted. (Zero sum game.)

The result Comcast says is minus $15.02. There is no explanation whatsoever for how plus $64.49 turned into minus $15.02.

The customer rep was, of course, of no use. Getting to talk to a supervisor was beyond hope today. I guess I’ll start over when I can be doing other stuff while I wait.

My estimate is that I am owed one-half month’s service, which I did not receive but for which I paid in advance. That would be about $32 and the $17 difference really isn’t worth the hassle if it weren’t for the principle of the thing. Comcast is worse than Ma Bell ever thought about being.

Oh, and the rep today told me it would be 6-8 weeks for the refund.