More from Confessions of a Listener:
I enjoy, in small doses, the over-the-top right-wingers who have leaked into AM radio on all sides in the past twenty years. They are evil, lying, cynical bastards who are out to destroy the country I love and turn it into a banana republic, but hey, nobody’s perfect.
The American Experience has a biographical essay on the abolitionist John Brown, who was born on this date in 1800. I recommend it.
He has been called a saint, a fanatic, and a cold-blooded murderer. The debate over his memory, his motives, about the true nature of the man, continues to stir passionate debate. It is said that John Brown was the spark that started the Civil War. Truly, he marked the end of compromise over the issue of slavery, and it was not long after his death that John Brown’s war became the nation’s war.
Buenos días Caballeros y Damas. It’s so clear this morning I can see the snow still on the top of Mt. Taylor 60 miles (96km) west.
Mike Wallace is 87 today. 60 Minutes is the only place where the average age is higher than that of the Catholic College of Cardinals.
Albert Finney is 69. He’s been nominated for an Oscar five times; no wins. Remind me to check out Tom Jones from Netflix.
Glenda Jackson is 69 today as well. She only has four Oscar nominations, but she’s won twice for Best Actress: Women In Love and A Touch of Class.
James L. Brooks is 65. Brooks won the Oscars for Best Picture, Director and Screenplay for Terms of Endearment. Broadcast News, Jerry Maguire and As Good as It Gets got him various nominations as well. For my money, I like his work as executive producer of Mary Tyler Moore and, of course, The Simpsons.
Candace Bergen is 59. Ms. Bergen was nominated for the Best Supporting Actress Oscar in 1980 for Starting Over.
Billy Joel is 56. If you need a couple notes of Billy Joel, click here.
Sir James Barrie was born on this date in 1860. NewMexiKen thought Johnny Depp was superb in his portrayal of Barrie in Finding Neverland. Barrie may or may not have been like the character portrayed, but Depp got the sensitive wuss down really well. And to think, the year before he was a pirate. If they’d nominated Jamie Foxx for Best Actor for Collateral, he’d have gotten my vote. But now that I’ve seen the five performances that were nominated, I gotta go with Johnny Depp.
Apostrophe boosters were in mourning at the University of Minnesota after it was decided to name a fancy new walkway the Scholars Walk, not the Scholar’s Walk. …
For weeks, the issue has bedeviled those at the university and beyond who care a great deal about such things. English professors, e-mailers from across the United States and even the Apostrophe Protection Society of England offered advice.
Key quote: “Apostrophes would be out of control!” said board member Margaret Carlson.
The National Park Service tells us about the Santa Fe Trail on this, the date the National Historic Trail was established in 1987.
Between 1821 and 1880, the Santa Fe Trail was primarily a commercial highway connecting Missouri and Santa Fe, New Mexico. From 1821 until 1846, it was an international commercial highway used by Mexican and American traders. In 1846, the Mexican-American War began. The Army of the West followed the Santa Fe Trail to invade New Mexico. When the Treaty of Guadalupe ended the war in 1848, the Santa Fe Trail became a national road connecting the United States to the new southwest territories. Commercial freighting along the trail continued, including considerable military freight hauling to supply the southwestern forts. The trail was also used by stagecoach lines, thousands of gold seekers heading to the California and Colorado gold fields, adventurers, fur trappers, and emigrants. In 1880 the railroad reached Santa Fe and the trail faded into history.
I am: 14%
Republican. |
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A high school junior in a central Georgia military town was suspended from school this week after refusing to end a long-distance cellphone call from his mother, an Army sergeant serving in Iraq.
Kevin Francois, a 17-year-old student at Spencer High School in Columbus, Ga., was in the school cafeteria Wednesday when his mother, Sgt. 1st Class Monique Bates, called to check in with him. When Francois went outside to get better reception, he was spotted by a teacher who — citing a district policy against cellphone use during school hours — told him to hang up.
Francois refused and was suspended for 10 days for disorderly conduct.
The story goes on to get into the he-said/she said details, but like Ralph I’ve got to side with the kid on this one barring something more damning. Ralph’s got all the details on who to write/fax/email your concern.
Happy Mother’s Day.
NewMexiKen posted entries on a number of interesting items a year ago today: on Thomas Pynchon — it’s his birthday, he’s 68 this year; an excerpt from Harry Truman’s diary – Truman was born on this date in 1884; on the magnificent Blues singer Robert Johnson, born on this date in 1911; lyrics from Garden Party — Rick Nelson was born on this date in 1940; and more, including this:
The very first Coca-Cola was sold at Jacob’s Pharmacy in Atlanta on this date in 1886. Dr. John S. Pemberton created the formula, which until 1905 had extracts of cocaine, as well as caffeine-rich kola nut. Bookkeeper Frank Robinson coined the name and it’s his handwriting we know from the trademark.
And I told the story of the day Jill arrived.
Which only makes me think that it’s too bad Jill can’t remember that day better herself. It would be great fun to read the telling of that silly story (with its happy ending) when told by as humorous and stylistic a writer as Jill. Happy Birthday Jill.
Did you realize the word “midget” is considered derogatory?
Neither did NewMexiKen. And neither did Roger Ebert. I encourage you to read this fascinating exchange between Ebert and Danny Woodburn, familiar to many of you from Seinfeld.
The use of the word midget is, for Little People, equated with any other hate word someone might use to describe a minority group.
From Science Daily, Slow Balls Take The Swing Out Of Young Ball Players:
Exasperated parents practicing throw-and-connect skills with their young children will be relieved to know that their child’s inability to hit a slow-moving ball has a scientific explanation: Children cannot hit slow balls because their brains are not wired to handle slow motion.
“When you throw something slowly to a child, you think you’re doing them a favour by trying to be helpful,” said Terri Lewis, professor of psychology at McMaster University. “Slow balls actually appear stationary to a child.”
This explains why a young child holding a bat or a catcher’s mitt will often not react to a ball thrown toward her, prompting flummoxed parents to continue throwing the ball even slower. By adding a little speed to the pitch, Lewis and her team found that children were able to judge speed more accurately. There are several reasons for the phenomenon.
As for NewMexiKen, slower is better.
Those who didn’t care much for Pete Nanos still seethed over the comment he made about some lab employees being “cowboys and butt-heads” during an all-hands meeting of Los Alamos National Laboratory employees last year.
From an article in The Albuquerque Tribune.
Not a good choice of words for a staff meeting, but I’ve got to admit that every place NewMexiKen ever worked had its share of “cowboys and buttheads.”
“As nightfall does not come at once, neither does oppression. In both instances, there’s a twilight where everything remains seemingly unchanged, and it is in such twilight that we must be aware of change in the air, however slight, lest we become unwitting victims of the darkness.”
William O. Douglas, quoted at A Voice in the Wilderness.
Every penny NewMexiKen bet was on Giacomo, how about you?
And I had a mint julep, too. My first I think. Usually I prefer to keep my salads and my drinks separate, or did I just get a poorly made Albuquerque mint julep?
Hey, the jockey is from New Mexico. Viva!
Apparently William and Mary is being asked to reconsider its team name. Once upon a time it was the William and Mary Indians. In an appropriate gesture to sensitivities they changed the name to the William and Mary Tribe. Now the NCAA is questioning Tribe (along with other colleges with even more potentially offensive mascots).
Blogger Herb Ely suggests the William and Mary Ethnics, which he says might offend no one or at least offend everyone. Better yet, he suggests an appropriate new fight song in response to all this. It ends:
From Rick Nelson’s Garden Party, of course.
Indeed, while NewMexiKen finds some mascot names offensive — Redskins in particular — Tribe seems pretty reasonable to me. Of course, I am using a mousepad with that very William and Mary logo on it right now.
NewMexiKen feels so much better about life now that I’ve learned you can toss the liquid Tide dispenser cup into the load of wash and then it won’t be sitting around all yukky and sticky all the time.
The Detroit Free Press tells us that Benton Harbor lifts “Louie Louie’ ban for middle school band.
“Louie Louie,” written by Richard Berry in 1956, is one of the most recorded songs in history. The best-known, low-fidelity version was a hit in 1963 for the Kingsmen. For decades, stories have circulated that the song contained obscenities.
In a letter sent home with McCord students, Dawning had said that “Louie Louie” was not appropriate for Benton Harbor students to play while representing the district — even though the marching band was not going to sing it.
But she reversed herself Thursday after consulting with parents.
It seems it was too late for the kids to learn a new song for today’s parade.
Key quote: “The FBI spent two years investigating the lyrics on the Kingsmen’s recording before declaring they not only were not obscene but also were ‘unintelligible at any speed.'”
1. Shouldn’t it be Jesus comma Christ (that is: Jesus, Christ), rather than Jesus Christ (no punctuation). Christ is a title right, not technically part of his name?
2. Why is “frigging” acceptable and “f***ing” not? Aren’t words just symbols? So in this case isn’t frigging just a symbol for f***king?
3. There’s a sign I’ve seen a couple of times this week:
SLOW
MY DADDY
AND MOMMY
WORKS HERE
Now, understand I mean no disparagement to highway construction workers. That people drive recklessly through construction zones and endanger workers is an obscenity. And the sign is cute with its attempt to copy a young child’s lettering.
But this particular sign is just wrong. “My Daddy and Mommy Works Here.” Plural noun, singular verb. (Gasp!) Furthermore, do you suppose some kid actually has both his/her dad and mom working on the site? Daddies and mommies might both work there, but “My Daddy and Mommy”? Are we into nepotism in road construction? Doubtful.
Here’s what NewMexiKen suggests:
JESUS, CHRIST
SLOW DOWN
YOU FRIGGING ASSHOLE
PARENTS WORK HERE
NewMexiKen did a little research on time travel and there is good news and bad news.
The good news is that it is possible.
The bad news is that according to Einstein’s theory of relativity, you will only be able to time travel to visit relatives.
NewMexiKen sees that the Time Travelers Convention mentioned here on NewMexiKen the other day is front page news in The New York Times today. Remember you saw it here first. (Of course, I suppose “first” doesn’t matter if we have time travel. Oh, well.)
Anyway, this time travel business got me thinking. The organizers talk about people from the future coming “back” to this convention. To me it would be a lot more interesting if the people from the future who have perfected time travel went back to the past and picked up some hitchhikers. You know, sort of like Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure.
Best line from The Times story: “Mr. Dorai and fellow organizers are the kind of people who transplant a snowblower engine into a sleeper sofa and drive the couch around Cambridge.”
At the southern end of the Cascade Range, Lassen Peak was designated a national monument on this date in 1907. It became a national park in 1916.
This from the National Park Service:
Beneath Lassen Volcanic’s peaceful forests and gem-like lakes lies evidence of a turbulent and fiery past. 600,000 years ago, the collision and warping of continental plates led to violent eruptions and the formation of lofty Mt. Tehama (also called Brokeoff Volcano.) After 200,000 years of volcanic activity, vents and smaller volcanoes on Tehama’s flanks-including Lassen Peak-drew magma away from the main cone. Hydrothermal areas ate away at the great mountain’s bulk. Beneath the onslaught of Ice Age glaciers, Mt. Tehama crumbled and finally ceased to exist. But the volcanic landscape lived on: in 1914, Lassen Peak awoke. The Peak had its most significant activity in 1915 and minor activity through 1921. Lassen Volcanic became a national park in 1916 because of its significance as an active volcanic landscape.
Fortunately for you, NewMexiKen cannot remember dreams very well. But today is Freud’s birthday, so I will make an effort.
Lately I have had a series of dreams — we’re talking a few dreams over many weeks, but a definite pattern. Each of these dreams has featured a woman I have known. I don’t mean that known. I mean women I’ve been friends with, women I’ve worked with or for, women who are ex one-thing or another. It’s like Sundance, only each film features the comeback of some actress who was once part of my life.
There doesn’t seem to be a theme running through these dreams, other than the main character being a woman I knew. But for someone like me who doesn’t remember dreams, the pattern is curious. What does this all mean? Where are the male leads? Why are some of these dreams musicals?
Can you answer the questions in the States Clues game?
It’s the last game listed on the page. Some of the others looked good as well. Beware: the audio is a little annoying.
“[Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens] loves to tell of moving to Washington, and, on a bank application, listing “Justice” as his occupation. The skeptical bank clerk replied, ‘OK, last week, I had a guy who said “Peace”.'”
From an essay on Stevens by a former clerk: In Praise of John Paul Stevens – Newsweek National News – MSNBC.com
… in 1937 the zeppelin Hindenburg exploded and crashed at the Naval Air Station Lakehurst, New Jersey. Thirteen of the 36 passengers and 22 of the 61 crew were killed, as well as one ground crew member.
Listen to Herbert Morrison’s famous broadcast [RealAudio] from Old Time Radio.
Here’s the video, albeit rather tiny.
And here’s The New York Times report on the disaster.
The Week Quiz has a nice new look.
NewMexiKen isn’t reporting my score, but let’s just say it would have been a total disaster if it weren’t for the American Idol and NBA questions.