Author: NewMexiKen

It May Be Flighty, But This Sport Is Truly a Guy Thing

Ski jumping — in its pure form and paired with cross-country skiing in the Nordic combined — is the only Winter Olympic event in which women do not compete. There just aren’t that many at the top level. Maybe it’s because they have the good sense not to zoom down a ramp up to 70 mph, fly the length of a football field without wings, then land and come to a stop without brakes.
…

Ski jumping isn’t just a male thing. It’s an oddball male thing. You have to be a little bit different to get into this sport, which explains why among the competitors gathered at these Games you’ll find a Slovenian who owns a two-foot boa constrictor (Rok Benkovic), an Italian who kept his ski-jumping activities a secret from his parents until they read about it in the newspaper (Alessio Bolognani) and an Austrian soldier whose motto is “Only dead fish swim with the current” (Martin Koch).

J.D. Adande in the Los Angeles Times

Abraham Lincoln, the Greatest American

Worth reading at least once a year:

The Address at Gettysburg (November 19, 1863):

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth, upon this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation, so conceived, and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met here on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of it as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

But in a larger sense we can not dedicate — we can not consecrate — we can not hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled, here, have consecrated it far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember, what we say here, but can never forget what they did here. It is for us, the living, rather to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they have, thus far, so nobly carried on. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us — that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they here gave the last full measure of devotion — that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain; that this nation shall have a new birth of freedom; and that this government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

And, from his Second Inaugural Address (March 4, 1865):

Neither party expected for the war the magnitude or the duration which it has already attained. Neither anticipated that the cause of the conflict might cease with or even before the conflict itself should cease. Each looked for an easier triumph, and a result less fundamental and astounding. Both read the same Bible and pray to the same God, and each invokes His aid against the other. It may seem strange that any men should dare to ask a just God’s assistance in wringing their bread from the sweat of other men’s faces, but let us judge not, that we be not judged. The prayers of both could not be answered. That of neither has been answered fully. The Almighty has His own purposes. “Woe unto the world because of offenses; for it must needs be that offenses come, but woe to that man by whom the offense cometh.” If we shall suppose that American slavery is one of those offenses which, in the providence of God, must needs come, but which, having continued through His appointed time, He now wills to remove, and that He gives to both North and South this terrible war as the woe due to those by whom the offense came, shall we discern therein any departure from those divine attributes which the believers in a living God always ascribe to Him? Fondly do we hope, fervently do we pray, that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. Yet, if God wills that it continue until all the wealth piled by the bondsman’s two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must be said “the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.”

With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation’s wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.

It’s the birthday

… of Bill Russell. He’s 72 today. Back-to-back NCAA championships at the University of San Francisco, 1955-1956 — 55 consecutive wins. Eleven NBA championships with the Celtics in 13 years, 1957-1969 — Russell was the only player there for all 11. Simply the greatest winner in basketball history. (And the best laugh.)

… of author Judy Blume. She’s 68.

… of Ray Manzarek. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee is 67.

The Doors formed in the summer of 1965 around Morrison and Manzarek, who’d met at UCLA’s film school. A year later the group signed with Elektra Records, recording six landmark studio LPs and a live album for the label. They achieved popular success and critical acclaim for their 1967 debut, The Doors (which included their eleven-minute epic “The End” and “Light My Fire,” a Number One hit at the height of the Summer of Love), and all the other albums that followed.
(Rock and Roll Hall of Fame)

… of actress Maud Adams. Octopussy is 61.

… of actress Christina Ricci. Wednesday Addams is 26.

Lorne Greene (aka Ben Cartwright) was born on this date in 1915.

Omar Bradley, the G.I General, was born on this date in 1893.

And it’s the birthday of artist Thomas Moran, born on this date in 1837. The National Gallery of Art has an outstanding online exhibit on Moran. Click to see a replica of his classic painting Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone.

Rhapsody in Blue

George Gershwin’s phenomenal blending of jazz and classical music, premiered at Aeolian Hall, in New York, on this date 82 years ago. Gershwin wrote it in three weeks, reportedly improvising some of the piano parts during the premiere.

You can hear an acoustical recording by the Paul Whiteman Orchestra made on June 10, 1924, by clicking here [RealPlayer]. That’s the composer, Mr. Gershwin, at the piano.

Rhapsody in Blue was one of NPR’s 100 most important American musical works of the 20th century. You can listen to the NPR report here [RealPlayer].

Pandas Eat Up Much of Zoos’ Budgets

Lun Lun and Yang Yang have needs. They require an expensive all-vegetarian diet — 84 pounds a day, each. They are attended by a four-person entourage, and both crave privacy. Would-be divas could take notes.

But the real sticker shock comes from the annual fees that Zoo Atlanta and three other American zoos must pay the Chinese government, $2 million a year, essentially to rent a pair of pandas.

The financial headache caused by the costly loan obligations has driven Dennis W. Kelly, chief executive of Zoo Atlanta, to join with the directors of the three other United States zoos — in Washington, San Diego and Memphis — that exhibit pandas to negotiate some budgetary breathing room. If no agreement with China can be made, Mr. Kelly said, the zoos may have to return their star attractions.

“If we can’t renegotiate, they absolutely will go back,” Mr. Kelly said. “Unless there are significant renegotiations, you’ll see far fewer pandas in the United States at the end of this current agreement.”

San Diego’s contract with China is the first to expire, in 2008. The last contract, in Memphis, ends in 2013.

The New York Times

Albuquerque Mayor Martin Chavez six months ago, in his 2005 State of the City Address:

They can look at the bio park, it’s incredible. They can see animals from all over the world, and I can tell you this evening, we are going to have pandas next year at the Albuquerque zoo. And I think we should have them just because its great to have Albuquerque be part of a world breeding program for one of the most marvelous species ever thought of by our Creator. But, it will also attract investment. Everyone, that maybe in the past went to Santa Fe, Taos and we were just the way to get there, will stop and see the pandas.

Sounds like Albuquerque might be able to get a sub-let set of Panda’s from Atlanta or Memphis.

Sheryl Crow gets fugged

That’s not cleavage — that’s a cutting board.

We consider this a high alert situation that needs to be monitored and, as quickly as possible, repaired. Somebody please make her some fried chicken, or take her to Jack In The Box for some meat and cheese between slices of butter-soaked sourdough. Britney? Where are you, dear? You’re needed. Sheryl can hold Sean Preston on her lap (if she has the strength) while you take her through the drive-thru.

Go Fug Yourself

Go see the photo.

Gettysburg National Military Park (Pennsylvania)

… was established on this date in 1895.

Located 50 miles northwest of Baltimore, the small town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania was the site of the largest battle ever waged during the American Civil War. Fought in the first three days of July 1863, the Battle of Gettysburg resulted in a hallmark victory for the Union “Army of the Potomac” and successfully ended the second invasion of the North by General Robert E. Lee’s “Army of Northern Virginia”. Historians have referred to the battle as a major turning point in the war, the “High Water Mark of the Confederacy”. It was also the bloodiest single battle of the war, resulting in over 51,000 soldiers killed, wounded, captured or missing.

Gettysburg National Military Park

Their Own Version of a Big Bang

WAYNE, N.J. — Evangelist Ken Ham smiled at the 2,300 elementary students packed into pews, their faces rapt. With dinosaur puppets and silly cartoons, he was training them to reject much of geology, paleontology and evolutionary biology as a sinister tangle of lies.

“Boys and girls,” Ham said. If a teacher so much as mentions evolution, or the Big Bang, or an era when dinosaurs ruled the Earth, “you put your hand up and you say, ‘Excuse me, were you there?’ Can you remember that?”

The children roared their assent.

“Sometimes people will answer, ‘No, but you weren’t there either,’ ” Ham told them. “Then you say, ‘No, I wasn’t, but I know someone who was, and I have his book about the history of the world.’ ” He waved his Bible in the air.

“Who’s the only one who’s always been there?” Ham asked.

“God!” the boys and girls shouted.

“Who’s the only one who knows everything?”

“God!”

“So who should you always trust, God or the scientists?”

The children answered with a thundering: “God!”

Los Angeles Times

Key quote: “He shows his audiences a graphic that places the theory of evolution at the root of all social ills: abortion, divorce, racism, gay marriage, store clerks who say ‘Happy Holidays’ instead of ‘Merry Christmas.'”

300,000 acres, must go

From a report in th Los Angeles Times:

The Bush administration Friday laid out plans to sell off more than $1 billion in public lands over the next decade….

Most of the proceeds would help pay for rural schools and roads, making up for a federal subsidy that has been eliminated from President Bush’s 2007 budget.

Congress must approve the plans, which several experts said would amount to the largest land sale of its kind since President Theodore Roosevelt established the U.S. Forest Service in 1905 and created the modern national forest system.

Here’s the list of Lands Potentially Eligible for Sale by State and National Forest from USDA.

Totals for a few states:

Arizona……….1,030
California…..85,465
Colorado……21,572
New Mexico..7,447
Oregon………10,581

MRI

Scott Adams, aka Dilbert’s creator, gets an MRI. Here’s part of his report:

First you fill out a questionnaire designed to discover if you have any metal hidden in your body, such as shrapnel or IUDs or surgical leave-behinds and whatnot. This is important because the MRI is a gigantic magnet.

I’m almost positive that I don’t have an IUD, but the idea of metal ripping through my body and coming out of my ear really made me think about it carefully. I’m not what you call a good detail person, and it’s exactly the sort of thing I would forget having done, perhaps as a college prank. I took a chance and checked “no.”

I didn’t know how forgiving the MRI machine would be, so when I got to the question that asked if I ever worked around metal shaving, I started to panic. I spent countless hours in my youth working with an Etch-a-Sketch, and I don’t know what that grey stuff in there really is. I’d hate to die because I forgot to disclose how many times I tried and failed to draw a circle using only two knobs. But I also didn’t want to appear too concerned. For some reason I felt it was important to impress the MRI technician with my unnatural state of calm. So I took a chance and checked “no.”

Death Valley

… was proclaimed a national monument on this date in 1933. It became a national park in 1994.

Death Valley

Hottest, Driest, Lowest: Death Valley is a land of extremes. It is one of the hottest places on the surface of the Earth with summer temperatures averaging well over 100 degrees Fahrenheit. At 282 feet below the level of the sea, it is the driest place in North America with an average rainfall of only 1.96 inches a year.

This valley is also a land of subtle beauties: Morning light creeping across the eroded badlands of Zabriskie Point to strike Manly Beacon, the setting sun and lengthening shadows on the Sand Dunes at Stovepipe Wells, and the colors of myriad wildflowers on the golden hills above Harmony Borax on a warm spring day.

Death Valley National Park

Sacajawea gives birth

From the Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, February 11, 1805:

Meriwether Lewis:

The party that were ordered last evening set out early this morning. the weather was fair and could wind N. W. about five oclock this evening one of the wives of Charbono was delivered of a fine boy. [1] it is worthy of remark that this was the first child which this woman had boarn and as is common in such cases her labour was tedious and the pain violent; Mr. Jessome informed me that he had freequently adminstered a small portion of the rattle of the rattle-snake, which he assured me had never failed to produce the desired effect, that of hastening the birth of the child; having the rattle of a snake by me I gave it to him and he administered two rings of it to the woman broken in small pieces with the fingers and added to a small quantity of water. Whether this medicine was truly the cause or not I shall not undertake to determine, but I was informed that she had not taken it more than ten minutes before she brought forth perhaps this remedy may be worthy of future experiments, but I must confess that I want faith as to it’s efficacy.

Background by Journals editor:

Jean Baptiste Charbonneau would have a varied and lengthy career on the frontier, starting with his role as the youngest member of the Corps of Discovery. Clark nicknamed him Pomp or “Pompy,” and named Pompey’s Pillar (more properly Clark’s “Pompy’s Tower”) on the Yellowstone after him in 1806. Clark offered to educate the boy as if he were his own son, and apparently took him into his own home in St. Louis when the child was about six. In 1823 he attracted the notice of the traveling Prince Paul of Wurttemburg, who took him to Europe for six years. On his return to the United States he became a mountain man and fur trader, and later a guide for such explorers and soldiers as John C. Frémont, Philip St. George Cooke, W. H. Emory, and James Abert. He eventually settled in California and died in Oregon while traveling to Montana in 1866.

Source: Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition Online February 11, 1805

It’s the birthday

… of actor Leslie Nielsen. Lt. Frank Drebin is 80.

… of Conrad Janis. Mindy’s father on Mork and Mindy is 78.

… of Tina Louise. Ginger, the movie star from Gilligan’s Island, is 72.

… of Burt Reynolds. Bandit is 70. Burt — his real name is Burton Reynolds — was nominated for a supporting actor Oscar for Boogie Nights.

… of Gerry Goffin. Married to Carole King while they were still teenagers, Goffin is 67.

Songwriting partners Gerry Goffin and Carole King composed a string of classic hits and cherished album tracks for a variety of artists during the Sixties. A brief sampling: “Up On the Roof” (the Drifters), “One Fine Day” (the Chiffons), “I’m Into Something Good” (Herman’s Hermits), “Will You Love Me Tomorrow” (the Shirelles), “Take Good Care of My Baby” (Bobby Vee), “Chains” (the Cookies), “Don’t Bring Me Down” (the Animals), “Take a Giant Step” (the Monkees) and “Goin’ Back” (the Byrds). The prolific duo, who remained married for much of the Sixties, even tapped their babysitter to sing one of the songs they’d written, and the result was a Number One hit and a new dance craze: “The Loco-Motion,” by Little Eva. (Rock and Roll Hall of Fame)

… of Bobby “Boris” Pickett. Still doing the “Monster Mash” at 66.

… of Sheryl Crow. She’s 44.

I wanna rock and roll this party
I still wanna have some fun
I wanna leave you feeling breathless
Show you how the west was won
But I gotta fly
I gotta fly o

Like Steve McQueen
All I need’s a fast machine
I’m gonna make it all right
Like Steve McQueen
Underneath your radar screen
You’ll never catch me tonite

… of Jennifer Aniston. She’s 37. Had her photo taken enough to be 137.

… of Q’orianka. Pocahontas (The New World) is 16.

Turn the Page

An excerpt from Friday night’s posting from an Oregon hotel room by La Queen Sucia — bestselling author Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez:

I love the opportunities my life has afforded me. I love the people I meet along the way. But there is something terribly sad about meeting so many fantastic people, like Tiffany, the student director of the Women’s Program I’m speaking at tomorrow, knowing that in a day or two I will fly off and most likely never see or speak to them again. Brief connections. Lots of them. Conversations filled with meaning, ephemeral. Giving, giving, giving. Energy. Lots of it. Almost like a high-class literary call-girl. In one day, used up, out the next. Needed only for the time it takes to entertain the client.

Chappelle Show

Virginia Heffernan reviews Chappelle’s appearance with James Lipton (Sunday on Bravo). She begins:

Dave Chappelle’s comeback tour has so far included two enigmatic television interviews. The first was that awkward and poetic interview Feb. 3 on “The Oprah Winfrey Show,” in which he told Ms. Winfrey that the creepy laugh of a white person contributed to his decision to quit “Chappelle’s Show,” walk away from his $50 million television deal and flee to Africa in May 2005.

The second performance comes Sunday on Bravo. It’s a more calculated, more antic but ultimately more satisfying interview with James Lipton on “Inside the Actors Studio.” The special is two hours long, and you may wish it were four. These simple showdowns — minimalist two-person plays, really — have become high art on television lately, and watching Mr. Chappelle square off with the wonderful prig-buffoon Mr. Lipton, it’s possible to conclude (as Mr. Chappelle himself does, half in earnest) that the two men should take their show on the road.

Mr. Chappelle tells a student on the program tonight that an early influence on him was Bugs Bunny, and you can see what he means. At every second, he seems to have available to him a much wider range of physical choices even than most slapstick comedians. He lurches, leaps, glares, crumples, slumps, mopes, gloats, blurts, retreats, beams.

NewMexiKen isn’t getting cable for the time being. Someone please TiVo this for me.