Author: NewMexiKen

The evil empire

From The Wall Street Journal —

Brad Anderson, chief executive officer of Best Buy Co., is embracing a heretical notion for a retailer. He wants to separate the “angels” among his 1.5 million daily customers from the “devils.”

Best Buy’s angels are customers who boost profits at the consumer-electronics giant by snapping up high-definition televisions, portable electronics, and newly released DVDs without waiting for markdowns or rebates.

The devils are its worst customers. They buy products, apply for rebates, return the purchases, then buy them back at returned-merchandise discounts. They load up on “loss leaders,” severely discounted merchandise designed to boost store traffic, then flip the goods at a profit on eBay. They slap down rock-bottom price quotes from Web sites and demand that Best Buy make good on its lowest-price pledge. “They can wreak enormous economic havoc,” says Mr. Anderson.

The nasty people, applying for rebates. Shame on them.

‘Cuz I like numbers

The three closest states were Wisconsin (Kerry by 0.4%), Iowa (Bush by 0.9%) and New Mexico (Bush by 1.1%). New Hampshire, Nevada, Ohio, Michigan, Minnesota, Oregon and Pennsylvania were also close. That is, about 10 states were about as close or even closer than the nation as a whole.

The three most lopsided were D.C. (Kerry with 90%), Utah (Bush with 71%) and Wyoming (Bush with 69%). Idaho, Nebraska and Oklahoma were nearly as one-sided.

And when you’re thinking red states vs. blue states, keep in mind that 3.6 million Floridians and 2.8 million Texans voted for Kerry. And 4.4 million Californians and 2.8 million New Yorkers voted for Bush.

More from the history teacher

Red Ted is considering this question for his American history students —

The historical drama network has put out a call for new proposals for telemovies about American history. Write me two paragraphs presenting your proposal. The first is the precis of a true historical event, as you would tell it on the screen. The second is your explanation of why this particular story would provide compelling television while conveying useful historical information.

Read his example answer.

Let’s hope he’s right about Jackson

Red Ted teaches history:

I am also grading homework, including one poor student who when asked “Should Andrew Jackson be on the U.S. money?” responded by cutting and pasting some 200 words from his official biography on the White House web site. At least the student changed the plagarized material, if only by deleting about every 4th sentence.

Wine improves with age, but beer?

PORTAGE, Wis. – A woman has been arrested for digging up her dead boyfriend’s ashes from a cemetery more than 10 years ago and drinking the beer that was buried with him, possibly out of spite for his family, authorities say.

AP via Anchorage Daily News

Via Dave Barry

Update: NewMexiKen now realizes the crime was committed 10 years ago and the beer was consumed when reasonably fresh.

Analysis

Kevin Drum has a lengthy (for a blog) analysis of the CNN exit polls. He believes terrorism was the deciding issue.

Compared to 2000, three times as many people thought world affairs was the most important issue in the election, and among those people, Bush gained 5 points of support. Multiply those two things together, and that’s a lot of extra votes for Bush.

Drum believes the “moral issues” were no more decisive than in 2000.

We had three weeks to vote
They should have three weeks to count

If New Mexico is leaning red, it’s not because the state is any closer to declaring a presidential winner. It’s because some New Mexicans are embarrassed about how long it’s taking to get the votes counted. Again.

“It’s embarrassing to know this state has not been able to count all it’s votes,” said Tom Torres of Edgewood. “It’s not like this is a surprise. We saw it last election.”

In the 2000 election, it took about a month for the state to determine that Al Gore had defeated President George W. Bush by 366 votes.

Election officials said they are working to count all ballots by Friday in the race between President Bush and Sen. John Kerry. In Bernalillo County, the actual counting of more than 13,000 provisional and in-lieu-of ballots might not start until Tuesday, election officials said.

Albuquerque Journal

Spring forward, fall back (anyone can do it)

Watch out Arizona, you may soon be alone (Hawaii notwithstanding, as daylight time makes no sense there).

Gov.-elect Mitch Daniels wasted no time jumping into one of the state’s most politically treacherous issues, promising Thursday to fight to bring daylight-saving time to Indiana.

For years, the time-change issue has divided Hoosiers. And time and again, that division has killed efforts to have Indiana join the 47 other states that observe daylight-saving time.
…

Some farmers say changing the time twice a year would interfere with their daily work habits; parents fear children would be waiting for school buses in the dark; others fight over which time zone Indiana should join.

From Indystar.com

Via Three Bed Two Bath

Pushing their weight around

The thinest states (by percentage not considered obese) are Colorado (84.0%), Hawaii (83.6%) and Massachusetts (83.2%).

The fattest (by percentage that are considered obese) are Indiana (26.0%), West Virginia (27.7%), Mississippi (28.1%) and Alabama (28.4%).

All states listed here.

Obese is defined having a body mass index (BMI) of 30.0 or higher. BMI is equal to your weight in pounds divided by your height in inches squared and then multiplied by 703. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has a BMI Calculator.

Got insurance?

How about health insurance? 91.3% of the people in Minnesota have private or public health insurance. 90.5% are coverd in Vermont; 89.9% in Hawaii.

At the other end, 20.4% of the people in Oklahoma are not covered. 20.6% of the folks in Louisiana lack coverage; 22.1% in New Mexico; 24.6% in Texas.

All states listed here.

Speaking of state rankings

How about smoking?

Not too surprisingly, the fewest smokers are in Utah (11.9% of the population over age 18 in 2003). California is second (16.8%), followed by Hawaii (17.2%), Colorado (18.6%) and Connecticut (18.6%).

States with the most smokers are Alaska (26.2%), Louisiana (26.5%), Missouri (27.2%), West Virginia (27.3%) and Kentucky (30.8%).

New Mexico’s 22.0% places it 23rd (fewest).

Complete rankings here.

It’s the birthday

… of Bonnie Raitt. She turns 55 in the Nick of Time.

… of Patti Page. A good gift for Patti as she turns 77 might be A Doggy in The Window. Depends on how much, I suppose.

It’s also the birthday of Margaret Mitchell, born on this date in 1900. As you all must know (but just in case), Mitchell’s original name for Scarlett O’Hara was Pansy O’Hara. Just wouldn’t have been the same.

The Writer’s Almanac has quite a bit on Mitchell.

Sideline Chatter

A couple of items from Dwight Perry:

That’s the ticket, not

Saturday wasn’t a good day to be a ticket scalper at Husky Stadium, which appeared to be only about two-thirds full to watch Washington and Arizona battle it out for last place in the Pac-10.

In other words, it was a cellar’s market.

Food for thought

Timberwolves guard Latrell Sprewell, who makes $14.6 million this season, created quite a stir when the team’s three-year contract offer averaging $10 million a year left him feeling “insulted … I’ve got my family to feed.”

  • Bill Lankhof, Toronto Sun: “Exactly how big is this ‘family,’ anyway?”
  • Jim Armstrong, Denver Post: “Hey, that’s understandable. I mean, have you noticed the price of caviar lately?”
  • Jim Litke, The Associated Press: “Apparently the Sprewells have never been to Wendy’s.”

Behind bars

New statistics from the Department of Justice for the end of 2003:

  • 1,470,045 men and women in state and federal prisons
  • 742,430 in city and county jails and juvenile detention centers
  • 2,212,475 total behind bars
  • 44 percent are black
  • 35 percent are white
  • 19 percent are Hispanic
  • 101,179 are women (6.9%)

Another point of view

Byron, official first son-in-law of NewMexiKen, has written some thoughtful and provocative comments, which I repeat here in full. While I don’t agree with everything he says (and remind him that this site is billed as “Half Wisdom · Half Whimsy · Half Wit” and that no one should take NewMexiKen seriously except me), I do think what he has to say deserves your attention.

Here I go again: I am sure I will get blasted for this, go ahead. Just trying to do the right thing.

So to start off, I voted for Bush. I am probably the only member of Ken’s family (extended or otherwise that did). I could list a ton of reasons why I voted for him (and a ton why I shouldn’t have). But, I can’t think of one reason why I should have voted for Kerry. He never gave me any and neither did any of you. I am not alone.

I understand that I am an outsider and a guest to this forum. But,as I read this website, I am shocked by some of the comments and quite frankly the content that drives them.(Sorry,Ken) Continue reading Another point of view

The Incredibles (II)

Well now that NewMexiKen has actually seen The Incredibles I can say it’s entertaining, amusing, well-written and awesome visually. But a near great film — I think not. To me a great film is one you can watch time-and-again. I don’t think The Incredibles would hold up to that. It’s like Spiderman II — great fun for ages 6-60, well-worth seeing on a big screen, and what’s being released next weekend?

I just thought the planes were slower

From AP via Yahoo! News:

ATLANTA – Heavy suitcases aren’t the only things weighing down airplanes and requiring them to burn more fuel, pushing up the cost of flights. A new government study reveals that airlines increasingly have to worry more about the weight of their passengers.

America’s growing waistlines are hurting the bottom lines of airline companies as the extra pounds on passengers are causing a drag on planes. Heavier fliers have created heftier fuel costs, according to the government study. …

Dallas-based Southwest Airlines requires large people to buy a second seat for passenger safety and comfort.

The Sand Creek Massacre National Historic Site

On November 29, 1864, Colonel John M. Chivington led approximately 700 U.S. volunteer soldiers to a village of about 500 Cheyenne and Arapaho people camped along the banks of Big Sandy Creek in southeastern Colorado. Although the Cheyenne and Arapaho people believed they were under the protection of the U.S. Army, Chivington’s troops attacked and killed about 150 people, mainly women, children, and the elderly.

The Sand Creek Massacre National Historic Site was authorized by Public Law 106-465 on November 7, 2000. The purposes of the Act are to recognize the national significance of the massacre in American history, and its ongoing signficance to the Cheyenne and Arapaho people and descendents of the massacre victims. The Act authorizes establishment of the national historic site once the NPS has acquired sufficient land from willing sellers to preserve, commemorate, and interpret the massacre. Acquisition of a sufficient amount of land has not yet occured. Currently, the majority of land within the authorized boundary is privately owned and is not open to the public.

— National Park Service

The Gilbert Stuart Code?

Also from The Hill:

Ready for some conspiracy theories involving George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton and other Founding Fathers?

Then get ready for the next book by Dan Brown, author of The DaVinci Code, which will be set in the nation’s capital. Its plot is built around the murders of several current political leaders by someone with ties to the Freemasons, the secretive fraternity that included some of the Founding Fathers.

Bulge, what bulge?

In case you missed the rest of the story:

But sources in the Secret Service told The Hill that Bush was wearing a bulletproof vest, as he does most of the time when appearing in public. The president’s handlers did not want to admit as much during the campaign, for fear of disclosing information related to his personal security while he was on the campaign trail.

— The Hill