We only have a rear license plate in New Mexico and the new car has a front license plate holder than cannot be removed.
So I need a front plate.
How about NewMexiKen (like the script above) on a titanium silver metallic background (the car color)?
I’ve never even had a vanity plate. Is this too, too whatever?
Today is the birthday
… of Esther Williams, 88. When the national AAU 100 meter freestyle champion found out the 1940 Olympics were cancelled because of the War, she went to Hollywood.
… of Dustin Hoffman, 72 today. Hoffman has been nominated for the Oscar for Best Actor in a Leading Role seven times, winning for Kramer vs. Kramer and Rain Man. Dustin Lee Hoffman is his actual name.
… of Larry Wilcox, 62 today. That’s CHiPs officer Jon Baker.
… of Roger Federer, 28.
… of Marjorie Rawlings, born on this date in 1896. She won the Pulitzer Prize for her novel The Yearling.
… of Emiliano Zapata, born on this date in 1879. “There have been men who, dying, have become stronger. I can think of many of them — Benito Juárez, Abraham Lincoln, Jesus Christ — Perhaps it might be that way with me.”
I am a big fan of Sherman Alexie and have read a number of his books including The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven
Alexie has a wonderful story in the current New Yorker and it’s online.
The story — it’s called “War Dances” — was so good (funny and touching) that I’ve decided The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven would be a good way to spend a couple of hours today, and I just got it off the shelf.
After almost 300 years under Danish rule, the island of Greenland has just taken a big step toward sovereignty. Greenland passed a referendum last year requesting more powers from Copenhagen, and it was granted, taking effect on June 21st, 2009. Denmark still retains control of finances, foreign affairs, and defense, but will phase out an annual subsidy, and give over control of most of the islands natural resources. Additionally, Greenlandic is now the sole official language, and Greenlanders are now treated as a separate people under international law. Although the island is massive – with an area of over 2 million square kilometers (825,000 sq mi), its population is small, with just over 57,000 residents, 88% of Inuit descent and 12% of European descent. Collected here are some recent photographs from all around Greenland. (34 photos total)
The Writer’s Almanac has an interesting piece today on how New Yorker editor Harold Ross influenced John Hershey’s article on Hiroshima, published one year after the bomb in August 1946.
… was born on this date in 1908. Goldberg was appointed to the Supreme Court by President Kennedy in 1962. He subsequently made one of the great sacrifices for his country:
Three years after Goldberg took his seat on the Supreme Court, President Lyndon Johnson asked him to step down and accept an appointment as the United States Ambassador to the United Nations. At first, Goldberg declined the offer, but after much prodding by Johnson, he finally accepted. Goldberg’s change of mind was prompted by his sense of duty to the country during the war in Vietnam. He said, “I thought I could persuade Johnson that we were fighting the wrong war in the wrong place, [and] to get out…. I would have loved to have stayed on the Court, but my sense of priorities was [that] this war would be disastrous” (Stebenne, 348). On July 26, 1965, Goldberg assumed the responsibilities of Ambassador to the UN.
The ambassadorship proved frustrating for Goldberg, involving many confrontations with Johnson concerning the war in Vietnam. Goldberg came to believe that he could affect American foreign policy better as a private citizen than through a governmental position, and on April 23, 1968, he resigned from the ambassadorship. He returned to the practice of law in New York City from 1968 to 1971 with the firm of Paul, Weiss, Goldberg, Rifkind, Wharton, & Garrison.
[Source: The Supreme Court Papers of Arthur J. Goldberg, Northwestern University School of Law]
Goldberg died in 1990. He is buried in Arlington Cemetery near his friend, Chief Justice Earl Warren.
Click to hear a sound bite from this date in history, August 8th. [33k WAV file]
But no matter how cynical I get, I can’t keep up.
With the escalating standard of Republican craziness and whackadoodlism over recent days, I’d been wondering if Sarah Palin would feel pressed to get back into the game, if for no other reason than to defend her brand as chief Republican moonbat.
And I think my question has been answered.
Palin is now out claiming that Obama’s “death panel” might decide to euthanize her Down syndrome baby.
If you’ve ever read To Kill a Mockingbird, and especially if it is a favorite, you must read “The Courthouse Ring,” an article by Malcolm Gladwell in the current New Yorker. Fortunately it’s available online.
Or take the health care debate we’re presently having: members of Congress have recessed now so they can go home and “listen to their constituents.” An urge they should resist because their constituents don’t know anything. At a recent town-hall meeting in South Carolina, a man stood up and told his Congressman to “keep your government hands off my Medicare,” which is kind of like driving cross country to protest highways.
It’s a funny column — I had a hard time choosing a best line.
How about?
And I haven’t even brought up America’s religious beliefs. But here’s one fun fact you can take away: did you know only about half of Americans are aware that Judaism is an older religion than Christianity? That’s right, half of America looks at books called the Old Testament and the New Testament and cannot figure out which one came first.
Excerpts from an email today from Jill, my oldest daughter, and mother of three boys (ages 8, almost-6 and 3).
Anyway, [Byron is] going to go to at least three and maybe as many as six European cities and his flight and all the hotels would be paid for. I want to hide in his luggage for some of it if I can possibly work it out.
Would anyone be available and maybe willing to housesit in the first half of October? (I say housesit because I will lock the children in the basement with water dishes and bowls of food, and tell them not to make noise, if it means you are more willing to do this.)
Early October should be a pretty easy time – only one to two sports per kid, plus piano, plus school – a breeze.
All right, not looking for any commitments, just maybe a “maybe” or a “never going to happen” and an idea of when you might or might not be available in October, and how many days is your maximum possible allotment of the Boy Experience.
Your Devoted Daughter, Jill
I wrote her, “I’m in, as much as you need to make it happen.”
… of Nathanael Greene, born on this date in 1742. Greene was a major general in the American army during the Revolutionary War and was the primary architect of American success in the south.
… of Ernest Thayer, author of the baseball poem Casey at the Bat. Thayer was born on this date in 1863, attended Harvard where he was an editor of the Harvard Lampoon along with William Randolph Hearst. Hearst offered Thayer a job writing poems for the San Francisco Examiner and “Casey” was published in the Examiner in 1888.
… of Ralph Bunche, born on this date in 1904.
Like his world, Dr. Bunche was a man of many faces and talents, full of paradox and struggle. By training and temperament, he was an ideal international civil servant, a black man of learning and experience open to men and ideas of all shades.
At the United Nations, he had been a key diplomat for more than two decades since his triumphal success in negotiating the difficult 1949 armistice between the new state of Israel and the Arab states.
As the architect of the Palestine accord, he won the Nobel Peace Prize of 1950.
Source: The New York Times obituary for Bunche, 1971.
… of Gary Edward “Garrison” Keillor, born in Anoka (not Lake Wobegon), Minnesota, 67 years ago today.
… of Steve Martin, born in Waco, Texas (but grew up near Disneyland), 64 years ago today. “Well, EXCUSE me.”
… of Newman. Actor Wayne Knight is 54 today.
… of Oscar winner Charlize Theron, born in South Africa, 34 years ago today.
… was authorized on this date in 1961.
Cape Cod National Seashore comprises 43,604 acres of shoreline and upland landscape features, including a forty-mile long stretch of pristine sandy beach, dozens of clear, deep, freshwater kettle ponds, and upland scenes that depict evidence of how people have used the land. A variety of historic structures are within the boundary of the Seashore, including lighthouses, a lifesaving station, and numerous Cape Cod style houses. The Seashore offers six swimming beaches, eleven self-guiding nature trails, and a variety of picnic areas and scenic overlooks.
Source: Cape Code National Seashore
First posted here five years ago today.
The limitations of Albuquerque sometimes get the better of me — e.g., the Sweeties are too far away, no Crate & Barrel — but Friday night the city won me back. First, margaritas outdoors at Garduno’s Balloon Saloon; then, hitting a few more balls at the New Mexico Golf Academy driving range at dusk, thunderstorms and the smell of rain all around; last, strawberry-rhubarb pie at the Flying Star on Rio Grande.
USA Today preseason football coaches’ poll:
1. Florida (53)
2. Texas (4)
3. Oklahoma (1)
4. Southern Cal (1)
5. Alabama
6. Ohio State
7. Virginia Tech
8. Penn State
9. LSU
10. Mississippi
The recent attacks by Republican leaders and their ideological fellow-travelers on the effort to reform the health-care system have been so misleading, so disingenuous, that they could only spring from a cynical effort to gain partisan political advantage. By poisoning the political well, they’ve given up any pretense of being the loyal opposition. They’ve become political terrorists, willing to say or do anything to prevent the country from reaching a consensus on one of its most serious domestic problems.
Under the previous administration every major policy initiative — and I mean every one, from tax cuts to Social Security privatization to the Iraq war — was sold on false pretenses; there was never any effort to resolve problems, as opposed to exploiting those problems to further an unrelated agenda. Terrorists attack America? Now we can have the war we always wanted!
Not to mention their racist, anti-Hispanic, anti-gay, anti-science overtones.
“‘The Hurt Locker’ is the best American film of the summer.”
“I was asked to congratulate a guy’s son for making Eagle scout. BSA doesn’t allow Atheists or gays, so I said no. He was pissed at me.”
Penn Jillette (pennjillette) on Twitter (July 19th)
The playwright David Mamet and the theatre director Gregory Mosher affirm that some years ago, late one night in the bar of the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Chicago, this happened:
Ricky Jay, who is perhaps the most gifted sleight-of-hand artist alive, was performing magic with a deck of cards. Also present was a friend of Mamet and Mosher’s named Christ Nogulich, the director of food and beverage at the hotel. After twenty minutes of disbelief-suspending manipulations, Jay spread the deck face up on the bar counter and asked Nogulich to concentrate on a specific card but not to reveal it. Jay then assembled the deck face down, shuffled, cut it into two piles, and asked Nogulich to point to one of the piles and name his card.
“Three of clubs,” Nogulich said, and he was then instructed to turn over the top card.
He turned over the three of clubs.
Mosher, in what could be interpreted as a passive-aggressive act, quietly announced, “Ricky, you know, I also concentrated on a card.”
After an interval of silence, Jay said, “That’s interesting, Gregory, but I only do this for one person at a time.”
Mosher persisted: “Well, Ricky, I really was thinking of a card.”
Jay paused, frowned, stared at Mosher, and said, “This is a distinct change of procedure.” A longer pause. “All right—what was the card?”
“Two of spades.”
Jay nodded, and gestured toward the other pile, and Mosher turned over its top card.
The deuce of spades.
A small riot ensued.
From the beginning of a Mark Singer profile of Ricky Jay in The New Yorker (1993).
The next trick described is even more fantastic. If you ever play cards (especially if you play for stakes), you should read at least the first part of this lengthy piece.
Ricky Jay portrayed the character Eddie Sawyer in Deadwood.
As a temporary experiment I am going to take items out of the sidebar and see if NMK loads faster.
As it generally loads fast for me, I have no way of testing the results. I would appreciate it if those who see any change could take a minute to add a comment to let me know. If I get any feedback, I may try restoring one or two items at a time to see if there is a particular culprit.
Those of you relying on news readers to read NMK — as I recommend to all who frequent the same web sites often — shouldn’t see any changes.
The problems with Twitter did make NMK slow this morning. I am trying to solve the longer-term problem that I had not been aware existed until yesterday.
Kid: Why is it raining so much?
Mom: The rain is god’s tears, because Michael Jackson is dead.
–Livingston & Court, Brooklyn
On DriverSide, users register the type of car they drive. The most popular feature on the site, Mr. Traina said, is a tool that tells you what parts and labor should cost for repairs, based on the type of car and location, and includes reviews of local mechanics. It comes up with estimates based on data it collects from 35 sources, including car companies and repair shop receipts that other users have uploaded.
It was great fun, that image showing one Coca-Cola logo over the years to all those Pepsi logos. Except, well, it wasn’t totally accurate.
Lucille Ball was born on this date in 1911. NewMexiKen once read that Ms. Ball’s image had been seen more times by more people than that of any other person in history.
Miss Ball, noted for impeccable timing, deft pantomime and an endearing talent for making the outrageous believable, was a Hollywood legend: a contract player at RKO in the 1930’s and 40’s who later bought the studio with Desi Arnaz, her first husband.
. . .The elastic-faced, husky-voiced comedian was a national institution from 1951 to 1974 in three series and many specials on television that centered on her ”Lucy” character. The first series, ”I Love Lucy,” was for six years the most successful comedy series on television, never ranking lower than third. The series, on CBS, chronicled the life of Lucy and Ricky Ricardo, a Cuban band leader played by Mr. Arnaz, who was Miss Ball’s husband on and off screen for nearly 20 years.
I recently saw an early Three Stooges film with Lucille Ball in a bit part.
If Lucy isn’t enough for a holiday, how about Andy Warhol? He was born Andrew Warhola on this date 81 years ago.
His father was a Czechoslovakian immigrant and a coal miner. His mother was extremely protective, and she let him spend all his time as a child drawing copies of Maybelline advertisements.
He got a job as an advertising illustrator in New York City in the 1950s, but he wanted to be a serious artist. One day, he got the idea to start painting pictures of advertisements, movie stars, and other popular images. He made silk-screened pictures of Campbell’s soup cans and sculptures of Brillo boxes, and his style became known as Pop Art.
Though he was surrounded by hard-partying rock stars and artists, he lived with his mother, and he went to a Catholic church almost every Sunday. His friends said that he never took drugs and only drank occasionally.
Or maybe one of America’s foremost historians, Richard Hofstadter, born on this date in 1916. Sam Tanenhaus, writing three years ago in a review of a Hofstadter biography:
At his death in 1970, Richard Hofstadter was probably this country’s most renowned historian, best known as the originator of the “consensus” school, whose measured siftings of the American past de-emphasized conflict — whether economic, regional or ideological — and highlighted instead the nation’s long tradition of shared ideas, principles and values.
This school had a limited shelf life, but Hofstadter’s work has outlived it, owing to the clarity and nuance of his thought and his talent for drawing parallels between disparate episodes in our national narrative, almost always bringing the argument around to the concerns of midcentury America. “I know it is risky,” he acknowledged in 1960, “but I still write history out of my engagement with the present.” The gamble, of course, was whether questions so pressing in his time would continue to engage later generations. To a remarkable extent they have, and so Hofstadter remains relevant — in some respects more relevant than ever.
M. Night Shyamalan is 39 today. David Robinson is 44.
Neither Twitter nor Facebook seem to be working this morning. Anyone else having a problem?
Also NMK is loading slowly at times. My brother John told me yesterday that this is a constant problem for him. Anyone else having continuing problems loading NMK? Normally it comes up in a few seconds for me.
