Author: NewMexiKen

The last day of March is the birthday

. . . of hockey great Gordie Howe, NewMexiKen’s childhood sports hero. Mr. Hockey is 79.

. . . of actor Richard Chamberlain and actress Shirley Jones. They’re both 73 today. Miss Jones won the best supporting actress Oscar for Elmer Gantry.

. . . of trumpeter and record company founder Herb Alpert. He’s 72.

. . . of spooky two-time Oscar nominee Christopher Walken. He’s 64. Walken won the best supporting actor Oscar for The Deer Hunter. He was also nominated for Catch Me If You Can.

. . . of Al Gore. He’s 59.

. . . of two TV sitcom characters, Kotter and Carla. Gabe Kaplan is 62 and Rhea Perlman is 59.

. . . of Obi-Wan Kenobi. Ewan McGregor is 36.

The Rodgers and Hammerstein musical ”Oklahoma!” opened on Broadway on this date in 1943.

”The Glass Menagerie” by Tennessee Williams opened on Broadway on this date in 1945.

LBJ stunned the nation on this date in 1968 when he announced “I shall not seek, and I will not accept, the nomination of my party for another term as your president.” Read Johnson Says He Won’t Run from The New York Times. Listen to LBJ [mp3].

As Cheerleaders Soar Higher, So Does the Danger

Of 104 catastrophic injuries sustained by female high school and college athletes from 1982 to 2005 — head and spinal trauma that occasionally led to death — more than half resulted from cheerleading, according to the National Center for Catastrophic Sports Injury Research. All sports combined did not surpass cheerleading.

From a report in today’s New York Times

[Doesn’t “more than half” make “All sports combined did not surpass cheerleading” redundant?]

D’oh

West Virginia may have won the National Invitation Tournament, but the Mountaineers commemorative T-shirts are less than championship material.

They contain a misspelling.

The “West Virginia” printed on the shirts players wore after winning the NIT title with a 78-73 victory over Clemson on Thursday night is missing the last “i” in “Virginia.”

SI.com

I always thought it was West Virginny.

Best line of the day, so far

“[A]nd it is AS A CITIZEN that I am utterly nauseated by the fact that one of Karl Rove’s little oppo elves is a United States Attorney instead of being the guy who cleans my spikes at the golf course.”

Charles Pierce, who adds: “It is AS A CITIZEN that I am failed so often and so comically by the mandarins of our political press corps, most of whom I wouldn’t trust to organize a two-car funeral if you spotted them the hearse.”

Other cool stamps

The U.S. Postal Service has a page showing its recent and upcoming stamps. I liked these two, the so-called “forever” stamp (always good no matter how much postage goes up) and the triangular Jamestown commemorative to be issued on the 400th anniversary of the founding, May 11, 2007. Click either for a larger version.

Forever Stamp Jamestown

The forever stamp will cost 41¢, the same as a regular stamp. What a deal! If I buy 10,000 of them and first-class postage goes up another 2¢, I would make an easy $200. That’s almost five percent!

(In other words, the Postal Service has found a good way to borrow your money and pay you a nominal interest rate, assuming a 5% increase in postage every couple of years.)

Which reminds me, I love The New Yorker and intend to renew, but you know it ticks me off that they want me to renew now — and pay now — for a renewal that doesn’t even begin for four months. Why doesn’t Condé Nast just ask me for a loan?

April Fool

No not today, fool. Sunday. Today is March 30th.

Scott Adams has some good April Fools ideas including this:

“I haven’t seen this prank done, but I think it would work if you have a secretary who is unusually clueless about technology. Tell the secretary that some other department is out of copier paper and ask him/her to fax some blank pages, just enough to hold them until their paper shipment comes in.”

Packer happily set in his ways

“He’s not prepping to cover his 33rd consecutive NCAA men’s basketball Final Four by watching the teams’ games — ‘I don’t have a tape machine’ — or by going online, because he doesn’t have a computer.”

Michael Hiestand, USA Today, who says Packer provides “anecdotal evidence that NCAA [TV] ratings must be too low because people in airports always talk to him about the tournament.”

March 30th is the birthday

. . . of actor John Astin. Patty Duke’s one-time husband, TV’s Gomez Addams is 77.

. . . of Peter Marshall. You know, The Hollywood Squares guy. He’s 77.

. . . of actor Warren Beatty. He turns 70 today.

. . . of basketball hall-of-famer Jerry Lucas. He’s 67.

. . . of Eric Clapton, 62 today. Clapton has been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame three times — as a member of the Yardbirds, a member of Cream and as a solo artist. (And he recorded one of his trademark songs — “Layla” — as a member of Derek and the Dominos.)

. . . of actor-comedian Paul Reiser, 50. Is it Reiser that’s annoying or just the characters he plays?

. . . of rapper MC Hammer. He’s 44.

. . . of Tracy Chapman. Talking ’bout a revolution at 43.

. . . of Celine Dion, 39.

And it’s the birthday of singer Norah Jones, now a nearly ancient 28.

Singer Frankie Laine was born on this date in 1913. He died earlier this year. Laine had his share of hits in the late 40s and 50s, many with a western theme like “Do Not Forsake Me,” the theme from High Noon.

President Ronald Reagan was shot outside the Washington Hilton on this date in 1981.

Jerks

Jill, official older daughter of NewMexiKen, reports:

I had to drive over to the school this afternoon to drop Mack off for drama class. When I pulled into the lot, there was only one space left. I hesitated to take it, because it was next to a big white van (not a mini van) with two different bumper stickers for George Bush, one about not being “Fonda Kerry,” one encouraging me to support the troops (I guess we’re supposed to support the current troops, but not troops from the past), an anti-abortion message, and some sort of Jesus thing.

I usually don’t park next to people like that, because — although I’m sure we’d just be super great friends with so much in common — I don’t want my car catching anything.

So I was glad when I came out of school, after dropping off Mack, and saw that the van was gone. Until I got up to my car and saw the big ding mark of white paint on the driver’s side door. And do you know what, I wasn’t even surprised.

Short Circuit City

NewMexiKen wrote earlier about the layoffs at Circuit City. Functional Ambivalent shares my point of view:

There are lots of people — me, for example — who will shun Circuit City because it’s clearly run by people who do not deserve my patronage. Will I pay fifty bucks more for my next refrigerator knowing that my money is going to a company that treats its employees with decency? You bet. Will others? Not everyone, but many. By acting as it has, Circuit City has shrunk its possible market. I choose to exercise my market leverage not only in service to money.

Tom has more.

E NewMexiKen

Update: NewMexiKen was mistaken about Cy Young earlier today. He was not one of the original five inductees. They were Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth, Honus Wagner, Christy Mathewson and Walter Johnson. Young was elected to the hall the next year (1937).

1939 Baseball Hall of Fame

Photo taken in 1939 of the 11 living members among the first 25 Hall of Fame inductees.

Back row: Honus Wagner, Grover Cleveland Alexander, Tris Speaker, Nap Lajoie, George Sisler, Walter Johnson.
Seated: Eddie Collins, Babe Ruth, Connie Mack, and Cy Young.

Ty Cobb is the 11th man. He had missed a train on the way to Cooperstown and was so disliked, the other 10 wouldn’t wait to include him in the photo.

Remind me to never, ever go there again

Circuit City Stores Inc. has a message for some of its best-paid employees: Work for less or work somewhere else.

The electronics retailer on Wednesday laid off 3,400 people who earned “well above” the local market rate for the sort of jobs they held at its stores.

In 11 weeks theyll be able to apply for their old positions — which will come with lower hourly wages.

Los Angeles Times

March 29th is the birthday

. . . of Eric Idle. He’s 64.

. . . of Walt Frazier. Clyde is 62.

. . . of Lucy Lawless. Xena is 39.

. . . of Jennifer Capriati, 31.

One of the original five in the Baseball Hall of Fame, Cy Young was born on this date in 1867.

Cy Young plaqueOne of the most consistent and durable pitchers the game has ever known, Denton True “Cy” Young won 511 games – almost 100 more than any other pitcher in history. He won 30 games five times and topped 20 wins an astounding 15 times. In 1901 Young had his best season and became the fledgling American League’s first superstar, leading the junior circuit in wins, strikeouts and ERA. In 1903, he won two games in the first modern World Series to help Boston to the championship.

National Baseball Hall of Fame

Sam Walton was born on this date in 1918, as was singer Pearl Bailey.

Niagara didn’t fall

An enormous ice dam formed at the source of the Niagara River on the eastern shore of Lake Erie on March 29, 1848. Just after midnight, the thunderous sound of water surging over the great falls at Niagara came to a halt. The eery silence persisted throughout the day and into the next evening until the waters of Lake Erie broke through the blockage and resumed their course down the river and over the falls.

Today in History from the Library of Congress