Author: NewMexiKen

Bring out your dead

A 53-year-old German woman who was driving her dead mother across country to save on mortuary transportation costs was fined by police for disturbing a dead person’s peace.

“You’re not allowed to transport dead people in your private car,” said Ralf Schomisch, police spokesman in Koblenz, where the car was found after a tip-off from a mortuary.

“The corpse was on the back seat without a seat belt, which in this case didn’t really matter….”

Yahoo! News

Maybe if the woman had buckled her mother in.

A controversial television seance airing on Monday will claim it has reached the spirit of John Lennon, but viewers will have to pay $9.95 to find out what the peace-loving Beatle has to say.

The special, being carried on pay-TV service In Demand, was organized by the producers of a 2003 attempt to channel the late Princess Diana. That show failed to find Diana and received reviews that could have sunk the Titanic but it is estimated to have grossed close to $8 million.

Yahoo! News

I’m thinking all he’d be saying is, “Give peace a chance.”

Neanderthal of the day

Mets broadcaster Keith Hernandez’s comments that women “don’t belong in the dugout” drew criticism Sunday from Padres manager Bruce Bochy, who supported the female member of his training staff and said he was surprised it even came up.

Hernandez made the remarks during the second inning of New York’s 8-1 victory in San Diego on Saturday night. Mike Piazza homered for the Padres and exchanged a high-five in the dugout with Kelly Calabrese, a full-time massage therapist for San Diego.

“Who is the girl in the dugout, with the long hair?” Hernandez said during the broadcast. “What’s going on here? You have got to be kidding me. Only player personnel in the dugout.”

…

“I didn’t think gender was even an issue anymore,” Bochy said.

SI.com

It’s the birthday

… of five-time nominee for the Oscar for best actress — and one-time winner — Shirley MacLaine. She’s 72 today. Miss MacLaine won for Terms of Endearment in 1984.

… of Barbra Streisand, born in Brooklyn on this date 64 years ago. Miss Streisand has been nominated for the best actress Oscar twice, winning for Funny Girl in 1969. She also shared the Oscar with Paul Williams for best original song in 1977 for A Star is Born.

… of Cedric the Entertainer. He’s 42.

… of American Idol Kelly Clarkson. She’s 24.

Music industry — idiots or total idiots?

A Rockmart [Georgia] family is being sued for illegal music file sharing, despite the fact that they don’t even own a computer.

A federal lawsuit filed this week in Rome by the Recording Industry Association of America alleges that Carma Walls, of 117 Morgan St., Rockmart, has infringed on copyrights for recorded music by sharing files over the Internet. The lawsuit seeks an injunction and requests unspecified monetary damages.

The lawsuit states, “Plaintiffs are informed and believe that Defendant, without the permission or consent of Plaintiffs, has used, and continues to use, an online media distribution system to download the copyrighted recordings, to distribute the copyrighted recordings to the public, and/or to make the copyrighted recordings available for distribution to others.”

The Rockmart Journal

Random thoughts

The price of gasoline is going up so fast around here they’re going to have to post some guy fulltime on the price signs. You know, give him a headset so he can keep up with the rise. Well over $3 most places for mid-grade or premium (and our regular is just 86 octane).

The cottonwood trees have unleashed their annual crop of cotton. It’s like snow falling at times, especially near the Rio Grande (the banks are lined with cottonwoods). At a winery/restaurant near Old Town last evening with the doors open to the patio, the barroom floor was covered. Ah Choo!

The Rio Grande Cottonwood reproduces by seeding, unlike many other flood-plain trees which regenerate by sprouting. It flowers in the spring, before it leafs out. It releases its seeds, each carried by downy white tuft, or “parachute,” in anticipation of traditional spring floods and winds, the principal mechanisms for dispersion. A mature Rio Grande Cottonwood can produce as many as 25 million seeds in a season, covering wide areas with a blanket of “cotton.” (Rio Grande Cottonwood – DesertUSA)

NewMexiKen hasn’t watched TV in nearly two weeks — at least 11-12 days. None. Nada. Don’t miss it.

T-shirt in winery: “Men are like grapes. You crush them, keep them in the dark and wait until they mature. Then they might be worth having with dinner.”

At a semi-pro soccer match last evening (Albuquerque Asylum vs. San Diego Fusion), a 9 or 10-year-old girl insisted on reading (a major novel, no less), rather than watching the game. As the night progressed the mother and father increased the pressure on the daughter to watch the game. It started out with “Honey, do you see what’s happening? It’s a corner kick.” Progressed to “You should watch the game.” Ended up with “Put the book down and watch the game.” NewMexiKen is happy to report she kept on reading. I mean, come on parents, yes it would be nice if she took in the game and shared the moment with her family, but what’s the point of demanding it? Leave her alone.

Albuquerque won 2-1. It was a warm, beautiful snow-filled night (see cottonwood item above).

It’s the birthday

… of Shirley Temple Black. The actress turned diplomat is 78. Shirley Temple was in approximately 50 films before she turned 18. She received a special juvenile Oscar in 1935. (One of NewMexiKen’s personal regrets: I had a business trip scheduled to Prague in 1991 while Mrs. Black was our ambassador there. I was told to attend a conference in Orlando instead. My colleague went to Prague and Shirley Temple Black sat with him in the embassy cafeteria at lunch one day.)

… of Lee Majors. He’s 67. Soon the $6-million man will be found on eBay for $13.95.

… of Judy Davis. The two-time Oscar nominee is 51.

… of Valerie Bertinelli. Once Barbara Cooper on One Day at a Time (1975-1984), she’s 46 and recently divorced from Eddie Van Halen.

… of George Lopez. He’s 45.

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

I’m so tired of being sick and tired

NewMexiKen was going to blog about this yesterday but I was too tired. From a report in the Los Angeles Times:

Chronic fatigue syndrome, often dismissed as the imaginings of depressed and whiny people, is caused by genetic mutations that impair the central nervous system’s ability to adapt to stressful situations, according to a major new study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Small changes in many of the genes in the brain prevent the nervous system from rebounding from everyday stress and from less frequent, stronger pressures, eventually triggering a cascade of molecular responses that leave the patient severely debilitated, researchers reported Thursday in 14 separate papers in the journal Pharmacogenomics.

Two national battlefields

… were established on this date in 1960.

Wilson’s Creek National Battlefield (Missouri)

The battle fought here on August 10, 1861, was the first major Civil War engagement west of the Mississippi River, involving about 5,400 Union troops and 12,000 Confederates. Although a Confederate victory, the Southerners failed to capitalize on their success. The battle led to greater federal military activity in Missouri, and set the stage for the Battle of Pea Ridge in March 1862. Wilson’s Creek was also the scene of the death of Nathaniel Lyon, the first Union general to be killed in combat. With the exception of the vegetation, the 1,750 acre battlefield has changed little from its historic setting, enabling the visitor to experience the battlefield in near pristine condition.

Wilson’s Creek National Battlefield

Stones River National Battlefield (Tennessee)

A fierce battle took place at Stones River between December 31, 1862 and January 2, 1863. General Bragg’s Confederates withdrew after the battle, allowing General Rosecrans and the Union army to control middle Tennessee. Although the battle was tactically indecisive, it provided a much-needed boost to the North after the defeat at Fredericksburg. Lincoln later wrote to General Rosecrans, “I can never forget […] you gave us a hard-earned victory, which had there been a defeat instead, the nation could scarcely have lived over.”

Stones River National Battlefield

Dilbert apologetics

At the The Dilbert Blog Scott Adams has been asking the cosmic questions and begun to reach some conclusions:

I categorize people’s reasons for believing this way.

Dumb Reasons
————————

1. An authority figure told me it was true. (They all lie)
2. It’s written in a book. (So is Spiderman)
3. How else could reality come into existence? (Ignorance is not evidence.)
4. My holy book accurately predicts things (So does Moby Dick. It’s been proven.)
5. I was raised this way.
6. It’s just obvious that God exists, you stupid heathen.

Slightly Better Reasons
———————————

1. I talked to God and he answered. (The Mormon method)
2. I feel Jesus/God/Allah inside me.
3. My prayers are sometimes/often answered.

Excellent Reasons
—————————

1. I’m hedging my bets just in case it’s real.
2. Belief gives me immediate real-world benefits, socially, health-wise, and happiness-wise. And if it turns out to be true, that’s a bonus.
3. I have studied the historical and scientific evidence and concluded that there is plenty of reason to believe in God.

A Penny for Your Thoughts, and 1.4 Cents for the Penny

According to a story in today’s New York Times, it costs 1.4¢ to make a penny (.8¢ for the metal, mostly zinc, and .6¢ for the production). The mint is producing pennies this year at an annual rate of 9 billion.

So, to put it another way, the taxpayers are going to take a $36 million loss on pennies.

Why not eliminate the penny (and the nickel) and round everything to the tenth of a dollar?

Except for gasoline, of course, which should still be priced in tenths of a cent.

Jack Nicholson

… is 69 today.

Nicholson has been nominated for an Academy Award 12 times, eight times for best actor in a leading role and four times for best actor in a supporting role. He won for best actor for One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1976) and As Good As It Gets (1998). He won for best supporting actor for Terms of Endearment (1984). Nicholson has been nominated for an Oscar for films made in the 60s (Easy Rider), 70s, 80s, 90s, and 00s (About Schmidt).

The best actress Oscar went to a co-star each time Nicholson won — Louise Fletcher for One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Shirley MacLaine for Terms of Endearment and Helen Hunt for As Good As It Gets.

According to IMDB, Nicholson “was raised believing his grandmother was his mother and his mother was his older sister. The truth was revealed to him years later when a Time magazine researcher uncovered the truth while preparing a story on the star.”

Wouldn’t this have been a much happier ending?

Had Booth missed, Lincoln could have risen from his chair to confront his assassin. At that moment the president, cornered, with not only his own life in danger but also Mary’s, would almost certainly have fought back. If he did, Booth would have found himself outmatched facing not kindly Father Abraham, but the aroused fury of the Mississippi River flatboatman who fought off a gang of murderous river pirates in the dead of night, the champion wrestler who, years before, humbled the Clary’s Grove boys in New Salem in a still legendary match, or even the fifty-six-year-old president who could still pick up a long, splitting-axe by his fingertips, raise it, extend his arm out parallel with the ground, and suspend the axe in midair. Lincoln could have choked the life out of the five-foot-eight-inch, 150-pound thespian, or wrestled him over the side of the box, launching Booth on a crippling dive to the stage almost twelve feet below.

But Lincoln had not seen Booth coming.

From James L. Swanson’s Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln’s Killer. Fifty pages in, this book reads like a novel just as Jill said in a comment here last week.

Go try that thing with an axe or other long-handled tool.

Household hint

Another in a series of household hints based upon NewMexiKen’s personal experience.

NewMexiKen likes a hard-boiled egg time and again. The best approach I’ve found is to start the eggs in cold water, bring them to a boil, then cook at a lower heat for 14-15 minutes.

Bringing the eggs to a rapid boil, forgetting about them for an hour, and having all the water boil away does not appear to work as well.

All hints now consolidated on one page.

God save the Queen

Elizabeth the Second, by the Grace of God, of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and Her other Realms and Territories Queen, Head of the Commonwealth, Defender of the Faith.

Her Majesty is 80 today. Her name is Elizabeth Alexandra Mary Windsor. She signs Elizabeth R.

From Russia With Glove

There’s a nice story by Bill Plaschke in today’s Los Angeles Times about Natasha Smith.

“For the first 10 years of her life, living in a children’s home in the Russian woods, she was an orphan.

“Today, on the Calvary Baptist high school boys baseball team, Natasha Smith is a shortstop.”

Post mortem on city council meeting

The Albuquerque city council passed the minimum wage compromise 6-3. The ordinance will raise the minimum wage in the city to $6.75 an hour next January 1, to $7.15 a year later and to $7.50 in 2009. Albuquerque joins Santa Fe, San Francisco and Washington, D.C., as the only cities with a municipal minimum. The federal minimum has been $5.15 an hour since 1997.

For some reason NewMexiKen’s laptop would not connect to the wifi in the council chamber and I had to do my live blogging with a borrowed computer (thanks again, Chantal). I’m not certain I had anything much to say anyway, (but check out the good work by the others listed below). Enabled I might have given into an impulse now and then to make some snide remark about someone’s uninformed or ill-informed comment.

For example, one councilor said we are currently enjoying the greatest level of home ownership and “we have the free market to thank for that.” Hmm. I thought we had a high level of home ownership in this country because the tax code permits us to deduct mortgage interest payments. That would seems like government interference in the free market of the first order, but what do I know?

Thanks to Chantal Foster and Duke City Fix for planning and coordinating tonight’s blog-in.

‘Burque Babble
M-Pyre
Democracy for NM
Albloggerque
Duke City Fix
New Mexico FBIHOP
SWOPblogger
Erik Siemer’s Loose Pages

Blogging live from the Albuquerque city council

It’s the last city council meeting of Albuquerque’s 300th year — Sunday is the birthday — and seven or eight local bloggers have gathered to blog while the council discusses a minimum wage for the city. ($6.75 at first, $7.50 in 2008). Some 38,000 workers in the city would be effected.

Most of the speakers so far — including the representative of the chamber of commerce — have spoken in favor of the ordinance. Oddly enough, the chamber of commerce spokeswoman said the chamber preferred a state or federal raise in the minimum wage. How the world has turned when an organization associated with the business community speaks in favor of a federal wage action.

7:10 PM The speakers continue with most speaking in favor of a city minimum wage. One businessman feared it was one more cost he couldn’t afford — along with rising energy costs, rising insurance costs, etc. Another opposed the ordinance because a similar action lost at the polls last October. An economist stated the current average wage in Albuquerque’s host county (Bernalillo) is just $6.60. The city’s minimum won’t just effect those earning $5.15.

7:45 PM A councilor stated that he feared that if last October’s minimum wage referendum had passed ($7.50) Albuquerque would be unable to attract new businesses. To which I can only say, who wants to attract businesses that pay minimum wage or even $7.50. (Perhaps I am not a realist.) I am also beginning to doubt those who say they are opposed to the city minimum wage but support an increase at the federal level. Why do I feel they are being disingenuous?

9:00 PM The measure passed 6-3.

Others live blogging:

‘Burque Babble
M-Pyre
Democracy for NM
Albloggerque
Duke City Fix
New Mexico FBIHOP
SWOPblogger
Erik Siemer’s Loose Pages

Thanks to Chantal for the use of her laptop (when NewMexiKen’s own wouldn’t connect to the wifi).