Author: NewMexiKen

Time to amend the second amendment

Every nation has violent loners, and they tend to have remarkably similar profiles from one country and culture to the next. And every country has known the horror of having a lunatic get his hands on a gun and kill innocent people. But on a recent list of the fourteen worst mass shootings in Western democracies since the nineteen-sixties the United States claimed seven, and, just as important, no other country on the list has had a repeat performance as severe as the first.

Adam Gopnik on Virginia Tech and gun control. Read it.

Buyer’s market

Sales of existing homes plunged in March by the largest amount in nearly two decades, reflecting bad weather and increasing problems in the subprime mortgage market, a real estate trade group reported today.

The National Association of Realtors reported that sales of existing homes fell by 8.4 percent in March, compared with February. It was the biggest one-month decline since a 12.6 percent drop in January 1989, another period of recession conditions in housing. The drop left sales in March at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 6.12 million units, the slowest pace since June 2003.

AP via The New York Times

Because if we don’t …

Veronica, official daughter-in-law of NewMexiKen, reports on some three-year-old wisdom.

I was making coffee early this morning, and Sofie was quietly playing with some toys in the next room. All of a sudden, I hear her laugh really hard. I go over there but it’s totally unclear what is so funny. So I say, “Sofie, what are you laughing at?” And Sofie says, “Nothing mama. Sometimes you just have to laugh.”

April 24th is the birthday

. . . of Shirley MacLaine and Barbra Streisand, 73 and 65 respectively.

MacLaine has five best actress Oscar nominations, winning for Terms of Endearment. Streisand has two best actress Oscar nominations, winning for Funny Girl (a tie that year with Hepburn). Streisand also won an Oscar for best song for “A Star Is Born.”

The Library of Congress was established by legislation signed on this date in 1800.

Forget global warming; Bring back global buzzing

Another article on the disappearing bees, this one from The New York Times. It includes this:

Honeybees are arguably the insects that are most important to the human food chain. They are the principal pollinators of hundreds of fruits, vegetables, flowers and nuts. The number of bee colonies has been declining since the 1940s, even as the crops that rely on them, such as California almonds, have grown. . . .

Bee colonies have been under stress in recent years as more beekeepers have resorted to crisscrossing the country with 18-wheel trucks full of bees in search of pollination work. These bees may suffer from a diet that includes artificial supplements, concoctions akin to energy drinks and power bars. In several states, suburban sprawl has limited the bees’ natural forage areas.

April 23rd is the birthday

… of Shirley Temple Black. The actress turned diplomat is 79. Shirley Temple was in approximately 50 films before she turned 18. She received a special juvenile Oscar in 1935.

… of Lee Majors. He’s 68. Soon the $6-million man will be found on eBay for $11.95.

… of Michael Moore, 53.

… of Judy Davis. The two-time Oscar nominee is 52.

… of Valerie Bertinelli. Once Barbara Cooper on One Day at a Time (1975-1984), she’s 47 and divorced from Eddie Van Halen.

… of George Lopez. He’s 46.

… of Melina Kanakaredes, 40.

It was on the date in 1791 that James Buchanan, the former worst president ever of the U.S., was born.

Stephen A. Douglas, the short guy who debated Lincoln during the 1858 election—and won the election, was born on this date in 1813. Douglas died shortly after Lincoln’s inaugural as president in 1861.

And April 23, 1564, is generally accepted as the birth date of William Shakespeare.

Oh, it’s a beautiful day for a ballgame

NewMexiKen attended the Albuquerque Isotopes – New Orleans Zephyrs AAA ballgame Sunday afternoon on a lovely spring day. It was public service day, so there were fire trucks and helicopters and a great tug-of-war between firefighters and police — the firefighters won. Sheriff’s Deputy Adriana Escalante sang a super national anthem, authoritatively and with a wonderful, strong voice.

Front row seats along the left field line for $10 each. What a deal!

How can they sell Sam Adams Boston Lager as an “imported” beer? Boston? Imported?

The U.S. Cavalry charge didn’t seem to elicit much of a cheering response. Perhaps many New Mexicans have an inherited aversion to that particular sound.

The ‘Topes won 7-4, a pitcher’s duel in Albuquerque.

Extra highlight: A La Cueva High School kid went deep five times in ten swings in a post game home run derby. Way, way deep on a couple of them.

Valuable photo

Mack heads for daylight

That’s Mack, official oldest grandson of NewMexiKen, heading for daylight on his first ever carry — 40 yards before being tripped up.

This photo will be worth a lot of money when he’s in the NFL in about 16 years.

For the record, Mack scored three goals Saturday in futbol. This is him Sunday playing American flag football. He’s six.

[Note: Other kids faces purposefully obscured to protect their privacy.]

Meanwhile, Kiley, official oldest granddaughter of NewMexiKen, scored four goals in her team’s soccer game Saturday. Even though they play without a goalkeeper at age 4, that’s impressive. And a lot better than this.

The Auto Show

NewMexiKen attended the New Mexico International Auto Show Saturday (it runs until 10 tonight at the Albuquerque Convention Center). It’s not L.A. or Detroit (both of which I’ve attended at one time), or Geneva or Shanghai, and is, frankly sadly lacking in concept cars, but it was still fun. I was born in the Motor City. I love cars.

The nature of the layout (in three different rooms) dictated the sequence of cars so, without too much planning, the expensive car room was saved for last, always a good move.

I love that car colors are now five words long; for example, Red Rock Crystal Clear Coat or Inferno Red Crystal Pearl Coat (Chrysler), the later too orange, the former pretty nice. (Lexus has a Royal Ruby Metallic that was “the” red of the day.)

The first car I fell in love with was the Acura TL S, a 286hp sports sedan that gets 20 city, 28 highway. Give me that car in Nighthawk Black Pearl with the 5-speed automatic (I’m a wuss and wouldn’t want the 6-speed manual) and I thought I could drive it happily right up until I move into the assisted living facility. In the room that had Ford, GM, Chrysler and Honda, and all their brands, it was the car I wanted. (The one they had was Alabaster Silver Metallic, but I could picture the Nighthawk Black.)

(As an aside, I must say, I think I could happily sit in the seat of a Honda 2000 to read or watch TV. Never, ever, been in a car seat that was so molded to my shape.)

Then, it was the Isuzu, Suzuki, Toyota room. No love here, but some sense of utility. How about those big Tundra trucks? I could pull a nice fifth-wheel RV with one of those. Or that Prius with it’s 51 miles per gallon, that would be nice. We didn’t stay too long in this room.

Last was the fancy cars room — Mercedes, Lexus, Infiniti, Jaguar, Audi, Porsche, BMW, Volvo. And Mini. Every 12-year-old boy in the place was sitting in the driver’s seat of a Mini, or waiting to. Cute, but I was 12 in the fifties.

First, the Mercedes. You knew you were in a $100,000 car (one was, I think, a $130,000 car). I can’t tell you exactly what makes a car worth $100,000, but I know it when I sit in it. Same for the BMW 550i, a $65,000 car. I could be happy with these sedans. Or even the Lexus GS400h, a hybrid, another $65,000 automobile.

But the Porsche Cayman won my heart. This is the new coupe based on the Boxster. Reportedly it’s solid body makes it handle more like a 911 than a Boxster. Top track speed 171. At the end of the day, I wanted a Cayman S in Basalt Black Metallic. Christmas is coming.

And what better way to follow-up the auto show than a burger and shake at the 66 Diner?

Perspective

NewMexiKen means absolutely no disrespect to the victims at Virginia Tech and their families — I think I have made quite clear my strong sense of loss over this tragedy at a place I know.

But if journalists, essayists and bloggers are going to continue to call this the worst shooting in American history, then I am going to have to suggest that they read a little about Wounded Knee, 1890, when as many as 350 Lakota men, women and children were killed.

American Horse: There was a woman with an infant in her arms who was killed as she almost touched the flag of truce, and the women and children of course were strewn all along the circular village until they were dispatched. Right near the flag of truce a mother was shot down with her infant; the child not knowing that its mother was dead was still nursing, and that especially was a very sad sight. The women as they were fleeing with their babes were killed together, shot right through, and the women who were very heavy with child were also killed. All the Indians fled in these three directions, and after most all of them had been killed a cry was made that all those who were not killed wounded should come forth and they would be safe. Little boys who were not wounded came out of their places of refuge, and as soon as they came in sight a number of soldiers surrounded them and butchered them there.

Lakota accounts of the massacre at Wounded Knee (1891)

The Complicated Equation for Going Green

A good, thoughtful rundown on what going green can achieve — and what it can cost — from The Wall Street Journal (free). It begins:

Going green is the new black in 2007. Advice abounds on how to cut your carbon dioxide output and do your part in the battle against global warming. But how much does a person have to spend to go green–and what kind of environmental impact would that spending actually have?

The U.S. is the largest emitter of greenhouse gases in the world, accounting for 25% of the world’s total. The average American is responsible for about 20 metric tons a year of CO2 equivalent (CO2e), a standard measure of greenhouse gases. That’s about 40,000 pounds of CO2e a year, per capita, a far greater number than that of any other industrialized country.

We set out to evaluate a few of the in-vogue recommendations based on what they cost and what they’d do for the environment. In each area we offer up three levels of feasibility–hard, medium and easy. Where possible, we’ve crunched the numbers to estimate how much a change would cost, how many pounds of CO2e each step can save and the percentage each would knock off one person’s emissions.