Author: NewMexiKen

Why Eat Peeps at Easter?

How the marshmallow chicks found Jesus.

Candy historians speculate that the Peeps’ link to Easter has more to do with the pagan origins of the holiday than its Christian roots. Eggs, and consequently chicks, are a long-standing symbol of fertility and rebirth, an appropriate image for a holiday that celebrates the coming of spring. Originally part of a pagan fertility ritual symbolizing new life, the egg became incorporated into Easter as pagan rites were absorbed into Christianity with the Christianization of Central Europe.

NewMexiKen believes that bunny Peeps are heresy. True Peeps are chicks and yellow. Period.

It’s the birthday

First, a question: do you care if NewMexiKen does birthdays or not?

Anyway, today is the birthday

… of singer Frankie Laine, 93 today. 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.

… of actor John Astin. Patty Duke’s one-time husband, TV’s Gomez Addams is 76.

… of actor Warren Beatty. He turns 69 today.

… of basketball hall-of-famer Jerry Lucas. He’s 66.

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

… of rapper MC Hammer. He’s 43.

And it’s the birthday of singer Norah Jones, now a nearly ancient 27.

Best line of the day, 1862 edition

NewMexiKen has been reading Doris Kearns Goodwin’s masterful Team of Rivals.

Union General George B. McClellan surely ranks among the most arrogant, self-important a**-holes in American history. His insubordination amounted to treason some thought; the way he dissed his superiors including President Lincoln was incredible. He did have a way with words though. After his own failure in the Peninsula campaign, McCleallan wrote to his wife Mary Ellen the following about Secretary of War Edwin Stanton:

So you want to know what I thought of Stanton, & what I think of him now? I think that he is the most unmitigated scoundrel I ever knew, heard or read of; I think that…had he lived in the time of the Saviour, Judas Iscariot would have remained a respected member of the fraternity of Apostles & that the magnificent treachery and rascality of E. M. Stanton would have caused Judas to have raised his arms in holy horror & unaffected wonder.

God’s birthday

Eric Clapton is 61 today.

(In the late 1960s, one of the most prominent items of graffiti was “Clapton is God.”)

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.)

North to Alaska

Secretary of State William H. Seward agreed to purchase Alaska from Russia for $7 million on this date in 1867. The Senate eventually approved the treaty by just one vote.

He got it for 1.65 cents an acre.

We call ’em speed humps in New Mexico

Santa Fe Sheriff Greg Solano talks about speed humps:

One time in Eldorado I received numerous complaints over speeding in the area. The next day we had deputies giving tickets in the area and I drove up to see how it was going. I stopped to backup one of my deputies and after we approched the car I heard the ladies name and realized she had called me complaining the day before. She was furious as she recieved her citation.

The Sheriff goes on to explain why he dislikes the humps. Two excerpts:

The Sheriff’s office, Fire Department officials and others opposed the humps over the last year citing the problems they cause emergency response in the areas which have them. Officially I oppose humps for those reasons, personally I oppose humps for other reasons.

What makes speed humps effective ? The fact that they reduce the amount of traffic on a street in which they have been installed. People whether they commonly speed or not will avoid roads which have them. This causes side or nearby roads to have increased traffic usually causing the addition of traffic calming devices on these roads as well. It causes congestion on nearby roads by increasing the traffic on side roads and decreasing traffic on the roads with the humps.

And guess what? According to the Sheriff, speed humps decrease home values!

Who is that masked man?

Masked man

Newest Sweetie Reid, like his brothers, has positive blood. His mother, Jill, official older daughter of NewMexiKen, has her father’s negative blood. Not good. The mother’s blood forms anti-bodies to fight the invasion of the baby’s positive blood. Some of those anti-bodies enter the baby’s bloodstream and attack the baby.

Fortunately, Reid has as little of that as could be hoped. Even so, in the days following his birth last Thursday, he was a little jaundiced and had to go “under the lights” as you see here. His brothers were told he was getting infused with super powers.

Baby and mother are doing fine. In fact, baby and mother attended older brother Mack’s soccer practice Monday evening, just four days after the birth by C-section. Now that’s a Soccer Mom!

Sums it up pretty well

“A leak in the Alaskan Pipeline last week spilled 265,000 gallons of crude oil into the Arctic tundra. British Petroleum, the company that runs the oil operation, said that the spill was too small to be detected by their maintenance equipment. But just large enough to rise the price of gas fifteen cents a gallon this week.”

Jay Leno

Class act

Connecticut coach Jim Calhoun after yesterday’s loss to George Mason, as reported in a fine column by Michael Wilbon:

“I can only imagine, and probably better than most, the feeling they must have on that campus and in that locker room,” Calhoun said. “Those kids, many of whom were passed over by the Big East schools and others . . . I tip my hat to their conviction, to staying with what they have, to the incredible coaching job that [Larranaga] did. I feel a great deal of inner joy, honestly, about what they must be going through right now, something they probably never could have imagined. We have imagined it, and we’ve done it. But they could never have imagined that.”

Every kid who ever took a shot imagines it, but few on George Mason’s team could have expected it. Nice of Calhoun to appreciate their joy.

Fort Donelson National Battlefield (Tennessee)

… was designated a national military park on this date in 1928.

Fort Donelson

Unconditional Surrender of Fort Donelson created jubilation throughout the North and silence in Dixie. It was the North’s first major victory of the Civil War, opening the way into the very heart of the Confederacy.

Days earlier Grant’s plan to capture Forts Henry and Heiman on the Tennessee River succeeded. Upon taking possession of the forts the Union army stepped out briskly as Grant focuses his sights on Fort Donelson.

February 14th, 1862 dawned cold and quiet. Early in the afternoon a furious roar broke the stillness. Foote’s Union gunboats arrived at Fort Donelson and began exchanging “iron valentines” with the Confederate heavy artillery. The gunboats suffered such damage that the decks became slippery with blood. The strong artillery bombardment from the Cumberland River bluff crippled the ironclads forcing them to retreat.

At daybreak the following morning, on a snow covered battleground, Southern forces launched a vigorous attack but failed to escape the clutches of Grants army. On February 16th General Buckner felt compelled to accept Grants ultimatum, “No terms except an unconditional and immediate surrender can be accepted.” The gate was open for a Union invasion into the Confederate Heartland.

Fort Donelson National Battlefield

It’s the birthday

… of Leonard Nimoy. Mr. Spock is 75 today.

… of Alan Arkin. Arkin was twice nominated for Best Actor in a Leading Role — for The Russians are Coming, the Russians Are Coming and The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter. He is 72.

… of James Caan. Caan was nominated for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for his portrayal of Sonny Corleone in The Godfather. He’s 66.

… of Bob Woodward. The one-time journalist is 63.

… of Diana Ross. The Supreme is 62.

… of Martin Short. He’s 56.

… of the person who used to look like Jennifer Grey. She’s 44 today.

… of Michael Imperioli. The Sopranos Christopher is 40.

… of Keira Knightley. The Oscar-nominee is 21.

March 24

Houdini.jpgHarry Houdini was born on this date in 1874. The New York Times has posted their original obituary from when Houdini died in 1926 from peritonitis, which followed appendicitis.

Joseph Barbera, the cartoonist, is 95.

Annabella Sciorra, the actress, is 42.

Peyton Manning is 30.

Keisha Castle-Hughes, the Oscar-nominated actress (Whale Rider) is 16.

Dewey.jpgThomas E. Dewey was born on this date in 1902. He was the unsuccessful Republican nominee for President in 1944 and 1948. NewMexiKen has a vague memory of visiting Albany as small child, touring the capitol, and actually sitting in Governor Dewey’s chair. (He wasn’t there.)

[Reposted from 2005 with minor changes.]

Newest Sweetie

Reid

Grandpa has a brand new Sweetie today — Reid Fisher, third son of Jill and Byron. Reid and Fisher are both fifth generation family names.

The little guy was two weeks early, but weighed in at 7 pounds 3 ounces, and is 19 inches long. He and his mother are both doing fine.

Photo taken about three hours after Reid’s birth.

Each of the six of Grandpa’s Sweeties have, oddly enough, been born on days of the month that are prime numbers: 7, 13, 13, 19, 23 and 31. Thought you’d want to know.

Best line of the day, so far

“I don’t have to tell you that illegal immigration has suddenly become an important political issue, but I keep having to remind myself why. I guess it’s something to talk about when you’ve exhausted the subject of gay marriage.”

Rocky Mountain News columnist Mike Littwin. Littwin also has this:

One of the speakers Monday was Yeh Ling-Ling, executive director of the Diversity Alliance for a Sustainable America.

She is a Vietnamese of Chinese descent who immigrated to France, where they wouldn’t let her stay. She came to America and became a citizen. Now, as an American, she gives speeches saying that immigration “threatens to destroy the American culture.”

If you follow the debate, you know that she is the ultimate American immigrant story.

Thanks to Coyote Gulch for the pointer.

Maine, the Apple state

From a Maine press release:

Under the current timelines and subject to final legislative approval of the Department’s budget, the Department intends to deploy new laptop computers to teachers, librarians, principals and technology coordinators in the summer of 2006 to begin preparing for the 2006-7 school year. New laptop computers for all grade 7 and 8 public middle school students will be issued at the start of the school year. In all, the Department estimates that over 36,000 laptops will be deployed.

“Apple Computer, Inc. was selected as the top-scoring bidder for services and equipment.”