Car dealers ARE getting desperate. Today the mail brought a first class envelope from a local Jeep-Chrysler dealer addressed to the guy who used to live my house.
I bought the house 10 years ago!
That’s REALLY working the Rolodex.
Does BCS violate anti-trust laws?
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Utah’s attorney general is investigating the Bowl Championship Series for a possible violation of federal antitrust laws after an undefeated Utes team was left out of the national title game for the second time in five years.
Attorney General Mark Shurtleff contends the BCS unfairly puts schools like Utah, which is a member of a conference without an automatic bid to the lucrative bowl games, at a competitive and financial disadvantage.
Shurtleff said Tuesday that his office is still in the initial stages of reviewing the Sherman Antitrust Act to see if a lawsuit can be filed. To succeed in a lawsuit, Shurtleff would have to prove a conspiracy exists that creates a monopoly.
Epiphany
Today is the Epiphany, one of the three major Christian celebrations along with Christmas and Easter. The Epiphany is celebrated by most Christians on January 6 to commemorate the presentation of the infant Jesus to the Magi or three wise men.
The celebration of the Epiphany began in the Eastern Church and included Christ’s birth. However, by the 4th century, the various calendar reforms had moved the birth of Christ to December 25, and the church in Rome began celebrating January 6 as Epiphany.
Epiphany is derived from the Greek epiphaneia and means manifestation or to appear. In a religious context, the term describes the appearance of a divine being in a visible or revelatory manifestation.
In Latin America, today is Día de los Santos Reyes, the day to exchange Christmas presents to coincide with the arrival of the three gift-bearing kings or wisemen.
Fra Angelico and Filippo Lippi
The Adoration of the Magi, c. 1445
Samuel H. Kress Collection
National Gallery of Art
Today is the wedding anniversary
… of George and Martha Washington, married on this date in 1759.
… of George and Barbara Bush, married on this date in 1945.
George and Martha had no children (she had two surviving children from her previous marriage).
Alas, George and Barbara did have children.
New Mexico
… was admitted to the Union as the 47th state on this date in 1912.
Oh crap, I feel about 100 years old
Yes, that’s Patty Duke reprising the Lane cousins.
The Blu-Ray Problem
James Surowiecki takes a look at The Blu-Ray Problem. He begins:
With the Consumer Electronics Show starting this Wednesday in Vegas, we’re seeing another raft of predictions of the inevitable demise of Blu-Ray, Sony’s high-definition video disk technology. The most common prediction is that Blu-Ray is doomed because it will soon be eclipsed by streaming video and downloadable movies.
Surowiecki disagrees, “Blu-Ray’s real problem, it seems to me, is much simpler: it’s too expensive.”
He makes a good case.
Photo Contest
The Toilet Bowl Cleaner You Can Drink
When your toilet’s got rings and lime scale stains and you’ve got no cleaning gear on hand, grab a can of Coke out of the fridge.
According to wikiHow, you can pour Coke into a dirty toilet and the carbonic, citric, and phosphoric acids in it will break down stains, especially if you can leave it overnight to do the work.
New Mexico Favorite Books
“Clear some space on your bookshelf as six of our state’s best authors name the New Mexico books that have influenced them. At the top of the list: A collection of moving environmental essays, a novel with a conscience, a historical diary, and three Southwestern classics.”
Big Ten’s play not worthy of BCS
“There are a lot of little things that go on in there,” Paterno said following the loss. “I think in all fairness without, again, being a crybaby, I think in all fairness when you play Southern Cal, they’re home and they practice where they normally practice. It’s a lot easier for them to get ready.”
If the traveling parameters are too much for the conference, then perhaps the Big Ten should pull out of the BCS altogether and commit its conference champion to the Motor City Bowl.
I say the BCS should be like European futbol — realign after each season and throw out next year’s automatic bid for the conference that performs worst. Out with the Big East, in with the Mountain West. Out with the Big 10, in with the WAC.
• The Big Ten is winless in six Rose Bowls this decade, losing by almost a two-to-one margin in those defeats — 219-121.
• It’s now lost its last five BCS games by more than a two-to-one margin — 198-97.
• The Big Ten’s BCS record of 4-10 this decade is the second-worst winning percentage of the six major conferences.
Anybody think Ohio State is going to improve upon that against Texas tonight?
Ouch
Jan. 5 (Bloomberg) — General Motors Corp.’s 2008 U.S. sales plunged to a 49-year low, dragged down by a 31 percent plunge in December as demand was ravaged by the recession and concern that the biggest domestic automaker might collapse.
Toyota Motor Corp.’s U.S. deliveries plummeted 37 percent last month, while Honda Motor Co. slipped 35 percent, Ford Motor Co. fell 32 percent and Nissan Motor Co. was down 31 percent, pointing toward the industry’s worst annual volume since 1992.
… Ford’s annual U.S. sales sagged to a 47-year low, while GM’s total of 2.98 million was the least since 1959, according to trade publication Automotive News.
Update: Wow, Chrysler sales off 53%. We won’t be seeing those Dodge truck ads much longer — because we won’t be seeing Dodge trucks much longer.
Oh, and an old complaint with me. Why can’t the coverage of these statistics be more meaningful? How about a three or better yet five-year running average to compare sales against. Any one year or month can be an anomaly.
Works for me
The end of the holidays, cold weather and economic gloom will make today one of the most stressful days of the year for returning to work.
But experts have come up with an unlikely remedy – throwing a tantrum.
…‘When stress threatens to overwhelm you, try a short sustained burst of shouting, or alternatively, go somewhere quiet, close your eyes and take a few deep breaths to help calm you down.’
I’m taking the tantrum remedy.
Oh, wait, I’m retired. I don’t have to return to work today. I don’t have to do anything today.
There are heroes, and then there are super heroes
Originally posted here three years ago:
Mack, official oldest grandchild of NewMexiKen, watched much of the Rose Bowl with his mother Wednesday night. Here’s the story as told by his mother, Jill:
The honorary marshal came onto the field, before the game, to flip the coin. I saw that it was Sandra Day O’Connor.
I said, “Oh, Mack, that is one of my heroes.”
“Why?”
I referenced conversations we’ve had in the past, “You know how we’ve talked about how, for thousands of years, men got to be in charge of everything and women didn’t get to do lots of things?” (Mack has a fairly solid background knowledge in this stuff, at least for a five-year-old boy.)
“Yes, like how they couldn’t vote or have a house or do lots of jobs?”
“Right. Well one job they didn’t get to do was be a judge. A judge gets to decide the laws for all the people to follow. It’s a really important job. Well, that lady was the first woman who got to be a judge. So she is one of Mommy’s heroes.” (Not strictly accurate, I know.)
Mack looked at me for a minute, then said, “Then she is one of my heroes, too.”
My heart melted. I put my arms out for a hug, so proud of my brilliant, sensitive child.
He continued, “Yes. Also Batman.”
60 Years Ago Today!
President Harry S. Truman in his State of the Union Address:
We must spare no effort to raise the general level of health in this country. In a nation as rich as ours, it is a shocking fact that tens of millions lack adequate medical care. We are short of doctors, hospitals, nurses. We must remedy these shortages. Moreover, we need–and we must have without further delay–a system of prepaid medical insurance which will enable every American to afford good medical care.
On the 12th Day of Christmas
Though advertisers and merchants would have us believe that the Christmas season begins at Thanksgiving (or possibly Halloween, or even Labor Day), liturgically it begins on Christmas Eve and extends until Twelfth Night, the eve of the Epiphany.
The Twelve Days of Christmas are Christmas through January 5th. Tonight is Twelfth night.
January 5th
Robert Duvall was born in San Diego 78 years ago today. Duvall won the best actor Oscar for his portrayal of Mac Sledge in Tender Mercies in 1983. Among other characters he has portrayed are Boo Radley, Frank Burns, Tom Hagen, Lt. Col. William ‘Bill’ Kilgore, Bull Meechum and the unforgettable Augustus McCrae.
Walter F. Mondale is 81.
Umberto Eco is 77 today.
Eco had never written any fiction, but the idea intrigued him, so he told the publisher that he would work on something. He got the idea of a murder mystery set in the Middle Ages, and he wrote about a Franciscan friar who stumbles upon a series of interrelated deaths in the Italian abbey he is visiting. He filled the book with the history of the 14th century, as well as philosophy and theology. He also used every trick he’d ever learned from studying detective novels and spy movies to create his protagonist, William of Baskerville.
When Eco finished the novel, titled The Name of the Rose, he thought that his publishers were being way too optimistic when they ordered 30,000 copies to be printed. But when it came out in 1980, The Name of the Rose sold 2 million copies.
Charlie Rose is 67 today.
Diane Keaton was born in Los Angeles 63 years ago today. Keaton won the best actress Oscar for her portrayal of Annie Hall in 1977. She has had three other Oscar nominations. She has never married but has adopted two children. Her real name is Diane Hall; she changed to Keaton, her mother’s maiden name, because there was already a Diane Hall in the Actor’s Guild.
Marilyn Manson is 40.
January Jones is 31 today.
The End of the Financial World as We Know It
I thought this was good, not great, but it’s all the rage today so maybe you should take a look at Michael Lewis and David Einhorn’s The End of the Financial World as We Know It from Sunday’s New York Times.
The link is to the first of two parts. The second part is How to Repair a Broken Financial World.
In this morning’s column Krugman says, “The fact is that recent economic numbers have been terrifying, not just in the United States but around the world. Manufacturing, in particular, is plunging everywhere. Banks aren’t lending; businesses and consumers aren’t spending. Let’s not mince words: This looks an awful lot like the beginning of a second Great Depression.”
The 10 Best American Movies
“… like everyone else I have a list, in my case a list of the 10 best American movies ever. Here it is, with brief descriptions and no justifications. Only the first two films are in order. The others are all tied for third.”
Go take a look. I think I’ll add the ones I haven’t seen to my Netflix queue — and maybe the ones I have seen need another look, too.
I do agree that his number one, The Best Years of Our Lives, is among the very best films ever.
The lifesaving songbook ‘Rise Up Singing’
Emily Bazelon sings to her child and tells us where to learn the songs. Interesting review that begins:
Bedtime at our house has two rituals: stories and songs. (Yes, some children take nightly baths. Ours prefer dirt.) The books come first, the lights go out, and then Simon, who is 5, asks me or my husband, Paul, to sing. Three or four or five songs later, he asks us to sing some more.
We oblige. Going to sleep has never come easily to Simon. And so the lullaby medley at our house often turns into a miniconcert, in terms of quantity if not quality. This is all very sweet, I know—whenever I complain about the singing, people whose children have grown up tell me I’ll miss it desperately someday. But at the moment, singing night after night gets tedious. I’m tired of my standard repertoire, and so is Simon. He has ruled out “Tender Shepherd” (“No more sheep”), “Hush Little Baby” (“I’m not a baby”), and “I Gave My Love a Cherry” (“Mommy stop singing that boring song!”). Also, almost anything in Hebrew and absolutely everything from Free To Be … You and Me. This is why, in our house, the songbook Rise Up Singing represents a nightly form of deliverance.
Bush first ex-prez to face limit on Secret Service protection
President George W. Bush’s “after-life,” as Laura Bush calls the post-presidency, is shaping up to be pretty comfortable, with a Dallas office, staffers, Secret Service protection, a travel budget, medical coverage and a $196,700 annual pension, all at taxpayers’ expense.
However, Bush will be the first president not to benefit from one former lifetime benefit: Secret Service protection.
Facebook Status Updates for 2009
Andy Borowitz has already posted his Facebook Status Updates for 2009.
In B.C.S., Dollars Are the Only Relevant Numbers
. . . Under the rules, the championship teams of the Atlantic Coast, Big 12, Big East, Big Ten, Pacific-10 and Southeastern Conferences go to the B.C.S. automatically. This season, the first team in each conference to qualify receives $18 million — win, lose or draw — and that money is distributed in that team’s conference. If a second team from a conference qualifies, the conference shares an additional $4.5 million.
But the rules for the other five conferences are different. One champion from one of the non-B.C.S. conferences gets in if it is ranked in the top 12 or ranked in the top 16 but higher than a B.C.S. conference champion. That is how Utah, ranked sixth, found its way to the Sugar Bowl against Alabama and an $18 million payday, to be shared among the five smaller conferences.
But no other small-conference team made it. Boise State went 12-0, won the Western Athletic Conference and finished the regular season ranked ninth in the B.C.S. For this, the Broncos earned a trip to the inventively named San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl and collected $750,000 — a set of steak knives compared with the Cadillac that is a B.C.S. berth, even after sharing the revenue. Boise State lost that game to Texas Christian, another non-B.C.S. program. The Horned Frogs finished second to Utah in the Mountain West and ranked 11th in the final B.C.S. standings.
Boise State and T.C.U. ranked higher in the B.C.S. than the Orange Bowl participants: No. 12 Cincinnati, winner of the Big East, and No. 19 Virginia Tech, winner of the Atlantic Coast. For their efforts, the Bearcats and Hokies came away with $18 million each for their leagues to share. Strange? It becomes even stranger.
Notre Dame, an independent, goes to the B.C.S. if it ranks eighth or higher in the standings — not a consideration this year because the team made no one’s top 25. But no matter: Notre Dame gets an automatic $1.3 million payout whether it makes it to the championship series or not.
January 4th
Don Shula is 79.
Dyan Cannon is 72.
Doris Kearns Goodwin is 66.
Patty Loveless is 52.
Julia Ormond is 44. Ormond plays 39-year-old Cate Blanchett’s daughter in a small part in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.
Issac Newton was born on this date in 1643. The NOVA website devoted to Einstein talks also of the genius of Newton.
There is a parlor game physics students play: Who was the greater genius? Galileo or Kepler? (Galileo) Maxwell or Bohr? (Maxwell, but it’s closer than you might think). Hawking or Heisenberg? (A no-brainer, whatever the best-seller lists might say. It’s Heisenberg). But there are two figures who are simply off the charts. Isaac Newton is one. The other is Albert Einstein. If pressed, physicists give Newton pride of place, but it is a photo finish — and no one else is in the race.
Newton’s claim is obvious. He created modern physics. His system described the behavior of the entire cosmos — and while others before him had invented grand schemes, Newton’s was different. His theories were mathematical, making specific predictions to be confirmed by experiments in the real world. Little wonder that those after Newton called him lucky — “for there is only one universe to discover, and he discovered it. “
The physician, political leader and signer of the Declaration of Independence Benjamin Rush was born on this date in 1746 — or on December 24, 1745, depending. When he was six, Britain and its colonies converted to the Gregorian calendar, skipping forward 11 days.
Is it Grimm’s Fairy Tales, or Grim Fairy Tales?
It’s the birthday of Jacob Grimm, born in Hanau, Germany (1785), one of the men responsible for collecting fairy tales like “Little Red Riding Hood,” “Rumpelstiltskin,” “Snow White,” “Rapunzel,” and “Hansel and Grethel.” He and his younger brother, Wilhelm, collected more than 200 German folk tales and published Grimm’s Fairy Tales in 1812.
Lots of people thought the stories weren’t appropriate for children. There was violence, grief, an old woman who ate kids, abandoned children, and young women chopping off pieces of their feet to fit in slippers. But the book was still a big success, and it changed the way scholars collected folklore — trying to present straightforward narratives as people told them, instead of taking the basic story and turning it into a sophisticated literary piece.
In “Hansel and Grethel,” Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm wrote: “The old woman had only pretended to be so kind; she was in reality a wicked witch, who lay in wait for children, and had only built the little house of bread in order to entice them there. When a child fell into her power, she killed it, cooked and ate it, and that was a feast day with her.”