Author: NewMexiKen

iPod Shuffle

From The Mossberg Solution:

I’ve been testing the new iPod Shuffle for a couple of days, and, in my tests, it fulfilled — and even exceeded — Apple’s claims for convenience, battery life and song capacity. Sound quality is so good you can barely believe the music is coming from something so small.

…

Apple puts the new player’s battery life at 12 hours on a single charge. But, in my testing, it did much better than that, lasting 15 hours and 44 minutes.

Similarly, I found that the iPod Shuffle could hold many more songs than Apple claims. By choosing manual mode to load the player, I was able to cram as many as 188 songs onto my 512-megabyte test model, rather than the 120 Apple claims, without reducing the audio quality of the songs. That’s because Apple’s calculation is based on four-minute songs, but many pop and rock tunes, especially those from the ’60s and ’70s, are actually much shorter than that.

It weighs less than an ounce.

Just shutting up would work for me

More from Tuesday Morning Quarterback:

TMQ gets a lot of email about network announcers, but rarely critiques them; my feeling is these gentlemen are not expected to be Roman orators. I accept that the bobbleheads will contradict themselves. But not in the same minute! Point one: St. Louis 7, Seattle 3, Les Mouflons faced third-and-3. The Dropped Passes Group came out in the dime. Paul Maguire, who had been urging Seattle to blitz, intoned, “With six defensive backs on the field, they have got to bring at least one!” Seattle blitzed two defensive backs, leaving the wide receivers single-covered; easy slant to Torry Holt for the first down. Maguire then huffed, “Any time you leave Holt one-on-one like that, the Rams are going to go to him.” Point two: Minnesota 24, Green Bay 17 in the fourth quarter. Randy Moss was hobbling to the huddle — but Moss is smart, he knows people saw him hobbling and assumed this meant he could not run. How hobbled was Randy, really? Cris Collinsworth declared, “The Packers have got to recognize that Moss cannot go deep. Al Harris can cover Moss one-on-one. He doesn’t need safety help.” Two plays later, Moss was covered one-on-one by Harris during a safety blitz, and caught a 34-yard touchdown pass that iced the game. “Harris really bit on that move,” Collinsworth deadpanned.

NewMexiKen generally has to use the mute when there are three announcers in the booth.

The NFL playoffs

From the Tuesday Morning Quarterback:

Since the current playoff formation was adopted in 1990, home teams in the divisionals are 45-11, an .803 winning figure. The home teams have just finished a bye week and relaxing in hot tubs as their opponents are out in the cold while being pounded. Usually the reason the home teams had byes in the first place is that they are better than the wild-card round teams. Home teams dominate the NFL divisionals, so check-mark them in your office pool. You don’t even need to know which team is playing! Just go for the home team in the divisional round.

A week later at the championship round, the home advantage dissipates. Since 1990, home teams in conference championships are 16-12, a .571 winning figure. That is nearly identical to the rate at which home teams win all games: During the 2004 regular season, home teams went 145-111, a .566 winning figure. At the championship round, nobody’s had the previous week off and the Super Bowl is just one “W” away. Players leave everything on the field at championship contests.

Just One More Tribal Tale of Abuse

Writer Paul VanDevelder writes in the Los Angeles Times that the lobbyist scam of several Indian tribes is just the latest in a long line. He begins with a story as told by Indian elders:

A black man, a white man and an Indian arrived at the Pearly Gates, begins one of their favorite tales. After welcoming them to heaven, St. Peter invites each man to pick the afterlife of his dreams. The black man asks for great music and lots of friends. St. Peter grants his wish and sends him on his way. Up steps the Indian, who asks for beautiful mountain streams, deep forests and plenty of food. “Say no more, chief,” says St. Peter, sending him off. Lastly, he turns to the white man and asks, “What do you want heaven to look like?” And the white man says, “Where did that Indian go?”

Where do I buy Apple stock?

The iPod Shuffle. Up to 250 tunes and smaller than a pack of gum. $99.

The Mac mini. 2.9 lbs. 6.5 X 6.5 X 2. $500 base price. $1000 fully packaged.

iLife ’05

iWork ’05

Update June 6, 2007: Apple stock closed at $64.56 the day the above was written. It later split 2:1. At this writing it is $123.00. So $1000 in Apple stock when the Shuffle and Mini were announced would be worth $3810 today.

The Grand Canyon …

was first designated for preservation on this date in 1908 when President Theodore Roosevelt proclaimed the area a national monument. It was designated a national park in 1919.

NewMexiKen photo, 1995

Edgar Allan Poe

was born on this date in 1809.

Once upon a midnight dreary,
As I pondered weak and weary,
Over many quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore,
As I nodded, nearly napping,
Suddenly there came a tapping As of some one gently rapping,
rapping at my chamber door.
“‘Tis some visitor,” I muttered,”
“tapping at my chamber door,
Only this and nothing more.”

“The Raven,”
Edgar Allan Poe

The Library of Congress has a wealth of material on Poe available on-line.

Muir Woods National Monument …

was established on this date in 1908. From the National Park Service —

Redwoods.jpg

“This is the best tree-lovers monument that could possibly be found in all the forests of the world,” declared conservationist John Muir when describing the majestic coast redwoods of Muir Woods.

Until the 1800’s, many northern California coastal valleys were covered with coast redwood trees similar to those now found in Muir Woods National Monument. The forest along Redwood Creek in today’s Muir Woods was spared from logging because it was hard to get to. Noting that Redwood Creek contained one of the San Francisco Bay Area’s last uncut stands of old-growth redwood, Congressman William Kent and his wife, Elizabeth Thacher Kent, bought 295 acres here for $45,000 in 1905. To protect the redwoods the Kents donated the land to the United States Federal Government and, in 1908, President Theodore Roosevelt declared it a national monument. Roosevelt suggested naming the area after Kent, but Kent wanted it named for conservationist John Muir.

It’s the birthday

… of Bart Starr. The hall-of-fame quarterback is 71.

… of Bob Denver. Gilligan (and Maynard Krebs) is 70.

… of Dick Enberg. The sportscaster is 70 (oh, my!).

… of Joan Baez. The singer is 64.

… of Jimmy Page. The Led Zeppelin rocker is 61.

… of Crystal Gayle. Loretta Lynn’s little sister is 54.

… of Dave Matthews. He’s 38.

Best line of the day, so far

“How about a federal program that would let citizens try to sink a basket from midcourt for double or nothing on their Social Security payments? We need to appoint a blue-ribbon presidential commission to research old “Honeymooners” episodes to find can’t-lose, get-rich-quick schemes. The problem for Ralph Kramden was probably in the execution, not the underlying ideas.”

John Schwartz writing about Social Security reform in The New York Times. He also notes that the “k” in 401(k) could stand for keno.

Richard Nixon …

was born in Yorba Linda, California, on this date in 1913.

NewMexiKen was contacted by the staff working with Richard Nixon on his memoirs, RN, many years ago. I was asked to see if I could determine — from among the Nixon papers in my custody — the time of day he was born. As I remember it, my research was inconclusive. Someone else’s must have been helpful.

The memoirs begin:

I was born in a house my father built. My birth on the night of January 9, 1913, coincided with a record-breaking cold snap in our town of Yorba Linda, California.

Judge Hardy wouldn’t approve either

From USATODAY.com —

A year after Janet Jackson’s breast brought a crackdown on indecency, Fox has rejected an ad for the Super Bowl offering a rare view of another celeb: Mickey Rooney’s backside.

In the spot for Airborne, a natural cold remedy, the 84-year-old star of such 1940s staples as National Velvet and the Andy Hardy films is in a sauna when someone behind him coughs. He overreacts, jumps up, screams and heads for the door. In his rush, his towel drops, baring his buns for about two seconds.

New type of TV — no off switch

From CNN.com —

A viewer is suing NBC for $2.5 million, contending that he threw up because of a “Fear Factor” episode in which contestants ate rats mixed in a blender.

Austin Aitken told The Associated Press he watches “Fear Factor” often and had no problem with past installments where the reality show’s participants ate worms and insects in pursuit of a $50,000 prize — but eating rats went “too far.”

“It’s barbaric, some of the things they ask these individuals to do,” Aitken said Thursday.

Aitken’s handwritten lawsuit contends …

Paper or plastic?

From the Des Moines Register —

A 65-year-old Wal-Mart greeter has been fired for greeting customers with a computer-generated photograph of himself wearing nothing but a Wal-Mart sack.

Dean Wooten was fired in September from his job as a greeter at the Muscatine Wal-Mart store where he had worked for seven years, state records show. He was accused of greeting customers with a picture of himself in which he appeared to be naked except for the carefully placed sack.

Wooten allegedly told customers that Wal-Mart was cutting back on expenses and that the sack represented the new employee uniform.

Well, they might want to rename the school

From The Indianapolis Star —

IPS police and Marion County child protection workers are investigating an incident involving two first-graders who officials said were caught trying to have sex Wednesday at an Eastside school.

District officials worried that the incident may have signaled that at least one of the 6-year-olds had been abused before. A child psychologist acknowledged that possibility but said the behavior simply could have been an attempt to copy something seen on a video or cable TV.

“One of them may be a victim,” said Indianapolis Public Schools Superintendent Duncan Pat Pritchett. “We’re waiting for the conclusion of the two investigations. At that age, that’s learned behavior.”

The names of the two children have not been made public. But the girl and boy, who were released to their parents, received five-day suspensions and could be booted from classes at School 69 for the rest of the year.

“It’s extremely troubling because of their young ages. I have never in my life experienced anything like this,” said School 69 Principal Gary W. Davis, a 22-year educator.

Charity is as charity does

A couple of well-dressed young men tapped on my door this morning to bring me a moment of scriptural reading. I really wasn’t interested.

But what I didn’t understand is why they walked past the newspaper in the driveway without bringing it up to the door. Random acts of kindness and all.

It’s also the birthday

… of Stephen Hawking. The physicist and author is 63.

… of newscasters Sander Vanocur (77) and Charles Osgood (72).

… of Shirley Bassey. The singer of “Goldfinger” is 68.

… of Bob Eubanks. “The Newlywed Game” emcee is 67.