Much is being made that the PGA is Tiger Woods’ tenth major without a win, after winning eight in 1997-2002. Yet, at roughly the same age, Jack Nicklaus, who had won seven majors, went 12 majors without a win (from the 1967 U.S. Open to the 1970 British).
To be fair Nicklaus was closer to winning a few times more than Tiger, but he also missed the cut once, something Tiger hasn’t done.
According to the Commission on Presidential Debates the schedule (with moderator) is:
First presidential debate:
Thursday, September 30
University of Miami, Coral Gables, FL
Jim Lehrer
Vice presidential debate:
Tuesday, October 5
Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH
Gwen Ifill
Second presidential debate:
Friday, October 8
Washington University, St. Louis, MO
Charles Gibson
Third presidential debate:
Wednesday, October 13
Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ
Bob Schieffer
Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area was authorized on this date in 1978.
The National Park Service tells us:
The Chattahoochee River and its valley is a place rich in natural and cultural resources. Sometimes the river is clear, cold, and slow-moving, while at other times it is a muddy torrent, plunging through rocky shoals. The valley contains a rich, diverse mix of plants and animals that represent an environment much larger than itself. For centuries, humans have been drawn to this river valley for life’s basics: food, water, and shelter as well as transportation and power to support the increasing numbers of mills and factories. By the 1970’s, the resources that made the river valley a special place to so many people were being threatened. On August 15, 1978, President Jimmy Carter signed the legislation that set aside a 48-mile stretch of river with a series of parklands to preserve a part of the river valley for future generations.
From The New York Times:
Mr. Kerry was taken to task in Wednesday’s Las Vegas Review-Journal for mispronouncing Nevada (it’s Ne-VAH-da, not Ne-VAD-uh) and its Yucca (he said YOO-kah instead of YUK-ah) Mountain. “I’ve got to stop saying Ne-VAD-uh the way they say it in Massachusetts,” he said the next day. “Ne-VAH-da.”
Let’s hope they coached him before he said Or-eh-GONE in Or-eh-GUN.
And I don’t even want to think about WARSH-ing-ton.
Update: Actually, NewMexiKen doesn’t think the Times helps much with pronouncing Nevada. It’s Ne-vad-a (vad rhymes with dad), not Ne-va-da (va rhymes with ma).
NewMexiKen attended the Beausoleil performance at the Rio Grande Zoo Friday night. As always the world’s best Cajun band was terrific. The evening was lovely, illuminated as dark came on by lightning to the north and west. The only problem for performers in coming to the zoo is that they have to share the green room with the seals getting ready for their own show.
Anyway, they sell refreshments at these outdoor concerts, including beer, wine and margaritas. I decided on a Corona, but just as the barmaid was pouring the bottle into the plastic cup she sneezed. Now, I’m not horribly fussy, but …
After she finished pouring, the barmaid lifted the cup to her nose and smelled. This doesn’t smell right, she said. What did I think.
Knowing an opening when I’m offered one, I smelled the cup of beer and said, no I don’t think it smells right.
She poured me another; I asked for a Heineken this time.
Said to be Clint’s favorites (from 10 to 1):
Gentle Giant (1967)
Backdraft (1991)
Rock ‘n’ Roll High School (1979)
Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997)
The Courtship of Eddie’s Father (1963)
I Never Promised You a Rose Garden (1977)
Cocoon (1985)
Parenthood (1989)
The Red Pony (1973)
Apollo 13 (1995)
The man has been a motion picture star for four decades!
NewMexiKen is number one at Google for Ron Howard’s brother, namely Clint Howard.
NewMexiKen had this entry June 17:
Ron Howard’s brother
Ron Howard’s brother, Clint Howard, has an Internet variety show, The Clint Howard Variety Show. It’s available in Quick Time and Windows Media. It has its moments.
And this April 20:
Ron Howard’s little brother…
Clint is 45 today. He has appeared in many of his brother’s films — Cocoon and Apollo 13 come to mind, but most will remember Clint Howard as the 8-year-old kid in the TV series Gentle Ben. (Dennis Weaver was the dad.) Howard was also the voice of Roo in the Disney Winnie the Pooh films.
was killed on this date in 1057. But not as Shakespeare portrayed it. Here’s the story from the BBC:
Shakespeare’s portrait of a great tragic hero, whose fate was linked to black magic and fuelled by the fire of greed and ambition, bears little resemblance to the historical figure. Duncan (1034-40) was not Shakespeare’s venerable, elderly monarch, but a young king who was killed in battle, possibly by Macbeth, although this is not certain. We do know that Duncan was not murdered in the home of a so-called host.
Macbeth, King of Moray, was elected King of Scotland in place of Duncan’s son Malcolm, who was only a child, and for 14 years Macbeth is believed to have ruled equably, imposing law and order and encouraging devout Christianity. In 1050 he is known to have travelled to Rome for a Papal Jubilee. He was also a brave leader and made successful forays over the border into Northumbria, England.
In 1054, Macbeth was challenged by Siward, Earl of Northumbria, who was attempting to return Malcolm (later Malcolm III) to the throne. It was not until 1057 that Macbeth was killed and not by MacDuff but in battle at Lumphanan. The battle of Dunsinane and the encampment in Birnam Wood referred to in Shakespeare’s tragedy are both earlier events. The final battle was probably not between armies, but between two champions – Macbeth, who was middle-aged or even elderly, and Malcolm, still a young man. The two fought in a stone circle near Lumphanan where Malcolm triumphed. It was Malcolm, not Macduff, who beheaded Macbeth.
Consistently, including in this rare for him Saturday post, Bob Somerby addresses the problems with media coverage of the campaign and other significant issues.
In NewMexiKen’s opinion, Somerby’s web site should be mandatory reading for people who want to understand what is really being said.
Kevin Drum, with Bob Somerby‘s help, does an excellent job of summarizing why Kerry’s position on Iraq is consistent and why Bush’s action was wrong.
This is an excellent, brief post. As tempted as NewMexiKen is to excerpt some of it, I recommend instead that you read it and decide for yourself.
For the most part NewMexiKen doesn’t watch the Olympics. I can’t stand the TV coverage; indeed, it drives me to such distraction that I have just given up watching. At Slate writer June Thomas agrees:
This year, at least some of NBC’s 1,200 hours of coverage (spread over seven networks) will be broadcast live. But it wasn’t just the tape delay that drove NBC viewers batty four years ago. It was the endless sob stories, the desire to impose a narrative arc on sporting events, and the boosterism that gave short shrift to non-U.S. athletes.
Exactly. And the commentators never shut up.
NewMexiKen was able to view the 1994 Winter Olympics women’s skating finals on Russian TV. (The Nancy Kerrigan/Tonya Harding year.) It was wonderful. The commentator (speaking in Russian, of course) was low key, generally quiet, but the ambient noises of the crowd, the music and skates on ice could be heard well. Every performance was shown in its entirety, one after the other. Almost like being there.
We have all these channels, all these sound options on modern televisions. Whenever I view sports I wonder why one choice isn’t listening to the sounds of the venue with the talking heads turned off.
Especially the Olympics. Especially golf. And especially Dick Vitale.
was born on the French owned Mediterranean island of Corsica on this date in 1769.
As an adult, Napoleon was just over 5-feet, 6-inches tall (1.686 m), about average for his countrymen at the time.
Union General and 18th President of the U.S., Ulysses S. Grant, and his wife, Julia Dent Grant. The General Grant National Memorial in New York City became part of the National Park Service on this date in 1958. General Grant died of throat cancer in 1885.
“No other terms than unconditional and immediate surrender can be accepted. I propose to move immediately upon your works.”
From WND books:
“Help! Mom! There Are Liberals Under My Bed! A Small Lesson in Conservatism” is a wonderful way to teach young children the valuable lessons of conservatism. In simple text, parents and children follow Tommy and Lou on their quest to earn money for a swing set their parents cannot afford. As their dream gets stuck in Liberaland, Tommy and Lou’s lemonade stand is hit with many obstacles.
Liberals keep appearing from behind their lemon tree, taking half of their money in taxes, forbidding them to hang a picture of Jesus atop their stand, and making them give broccoli with each glass sold.
Law after law instituted by the press-hungry liberals finally results in the liberals taking over Tommy and Lou’s stand and offering sour lemonade at astronomical prices to the customers.
You’ll probably want to pick up a copy of Conservatives are from Mars (Liberals are from San Francisco), too.
Link via pandagon.net.
Also from the L.A. Times:
The historic Max Whittier estate, known in the ’70s as the Beverly Hills home of Saudi Sheik Mohammed al Fassi, has been divided and sold as two parcels.
Fred Wehba, a founder of the privately owned, Century City-based commercial real estate investment company BentleyForbes, and his wife, Suzi, purchased a 2-acre parcel for $6.6 million. They plan to build a 14,000-square-foot house plus 7,000 square feet of underground parking, a pool and a tennis court.
The adjacent, 1.6-acre site was sold for about $5.6 million to a local buyer who also plans to build a home there. Details were not available.
The combined 3.6-acre property, two blocks east of the Beverly Hills Hotel on Sunset Boulevard, provoked neighbors when the sheik put brightly colored plastic flowers in the outdoor Grecian urns and painted the white plaster statues of nudes on the front veranda in natural skin and hair tones. The sheik also painted the stately white mansion lime green. The home was built for Beverly Hills co-founder Max Whittier.
From the Los Angeles Times:
The Beverly Hills home of the late actor Randolph Scott has come on the market for the first time since it was built in 1950. The asking price is $6 million.
Scott, who played a cowboy in many western movies, died in 1987 at 89. His widow, Patricia, died in May at 85. He was a top box-office star in the late ’40s and early ’50s.
His longtime home is at the end of a cul-de-sac backing the L.A. Country Club, and it has golf course and city views. The house was built for the Scotts at a cost of $400,000. It was designed by Burton Schutt, who gave the midcentury house a pan-Asian influence. The gated 1-acre property has six bedrooms and eight bathrooms in slightly more than 7,800 square feet.
A lanai overlooks the free-form pool. A sunroom with skylights is situated between the two master bedroom suites. The home also has rolling lawns, a circular driveway, a porte-cochere and a guest cottage.
“Is it me or is Bush going everywhere Kerry goes? So far in the past week, President Bush has followed John Kerry to Davenport, Iowa; New Mexico; Las Vegas; Los Angeles; and he follows him to Portland, Oregon. The only place he never followed John Kerry was Vietnam.”
“In a stunning announcement, New Jersey Governor James McGreevey announced that he had an extramarital affair with another man. Finally, a Democrat who can honestly say, ‘I did not have sex with that woman!'”
“President Bush appeared with Arnold Schwarzenegger at a huge campaign event. Only in California can a governor who speaks German and a president who can barely speak English try to make themselves clear to an audience that’s primarily Spanish. What a country we live in!”
Jay Leno
was signed into law by President Franklin Roosevelt on this date in 1935.
I’m 35 years old. If nothing is done to improve Social Security, what can I expect to receive in retirement benefits from the program?
Unless changes are made, at age 73 your scheduled benefits could be reduced by 27 percent and could continue to be reduced every year thereafter from presently scheduled levels.
I’m 25 years old. If nothing is done to change Social Security, what can I expect to receive in retirement benefits from the program?
Unless changes are made, when you reach age 63 in 2042, benefits for all retirees could be cut by 27 percent and could continue to be reduced every year thereafter. If you lived to be 100 years old in 2079 (which will be more common by then), your scheduled benefits could be reduced by 33 percent from today’s scheduled levels.
Should I count on Social Security for all my retirement income?
No. Social Security was never meant to be the sole source of income in retirement. It is often said that a comfortable retirement is based on a “three-legged stool” of Social Security, pensions and savings. American workers should be saving for their retirement on a personal basis and through employer-sponsored or other retirement plans.
Is there really a Social Security trust fund?
Yes. Presently, Social Security collects more in taxes than it pays in benefits. The excess is borrowed by the U.S. Treasury, which in turn issues special-issue Treasury bonds to Social Security. These bonds totaled $1.5 trillion at the beginning of 2004, and Social Security receives more than $80 billion annually in interest from them. However, Social Security is still basically a “pay-as-you-go” system as the $1.5 trillion is a small percent of benefit obligations.
More informative Q&A about Social Security.
Aggravating game, first mentioned on NewMexiKen one year ago today.
… of Earl Weaver. The former Orioles manager is 74.
… of Dash Crofts. The Crofts of Seals and Crofts is 64.
… of David Crosby. The Crosby of Crosby, Stills and Nash is 63. Before that, of course, Mr. Crosby was a founder of The Byrds. He was last arrested — charged with criminal possession of a weapon and possession of marijuana found in his luggage — in March.
… of Susan St. James. The wife of McMillan and Wife is 58. McMillan was played by Rock Hudson.
… of Danielle Steel. The author is 57.
… of Gary Larson. The Far Side cartoonist is 54.
… of Earvin “Magic” Johnson. Magic is 45.
… of Susan Olsen. Cindy, of The Brady Bunch, is 43.
… of Halle Berry. The Academy Award winner is 38.
A supporter once called out, “Governor Stevenson, all thinking people are for you!” And Adlai Stevenson answered, “That’s not enough. I need a majority.”
Via Daily Kos who got it from NPR.
Actually, you don’t need a majority, as four presidents can attest (J.Q. Adams, Hayes, B. Harrison, G.W. Bush). Gee, three of those were direct descendants of previous one-term presidents.
Today, not August 7, appears to be the birthday
… of Steve Martin, born in Waco, Texas, on this date in 1945.
… of Ernest Thayer, the man who wrote “Casey at the Bat,” born on this date in 1863.
Sorry for the error.
NewMexiKen had just told himself that enough was enough for today and to go do something else. Then I read this wonderful post at Body and Soul.
So I just had to add one more link. Go read it. It’ll do you good.
(And still my favorite blog subtitle — Body and Soul: The body politic, the human soul, and Billie Holiday.)
Powerball Jackpot estimate for Saturday: $97 million ($52.5 million cash option). Odds of winning the jackpot are the same as always—one in 120,526,770. Odds of an asteroid wiping out life on earth in this century—one in 5,000.
With my luck I’d win Powerball and the asteroid would hit.
was born on this date in 1912. Hogan was the great golfer of mid-century, overcoming injuries from a severe, near-fatal auto accident. Hogan won four U.S. Opens, two Masters, two PGAs and one British Open between 1946-53.
At some point NewMexiKen read a story about Hogan playing in a pro-am. The duffer with him kept asking how he, Hogan, did this and how he did that, as if the amateur could match Hogan’s skills if only he used the right club.
Finally, after a wonderful chip shot, the amateur asked Hogan which club he had used. That was too much. Hogan proceeded to pull out every club in his bag and to make perfect chip shots onto the green with each.
