NewMexiKen is the father of four — and their four terrific spouses too — and grandfather of six. I think I’ll take the rest of the day off. Watch some golf, watch some basketball, water my flowers.
That’s Dad with Reid, the youngest of the six Sweeties two years ago. Miss you Dad.
But Saturday afternoon the humidity dropped to 4% at Casa NewMexiKen.
When I was a kid and we first moved to Tucson and didn’t have a clothes dryer, on a day like today you could hang the clothes on the line and by the time you finished with the basket you could take them down.
For the record, the temperature in Tucson today at noon is 104º and the humidity a downright sodden 7%.
More Alaskan salmon caught here end up in the dog pot these days, their orange-pink flesh fouled by disease that scientists have correlated with warmer water in the Yukon River.
The sorting of winners and losers at Moore’s riverbank fish camp illustrates what scientists have been predicting will accompany global warming: Cold-temperature barriers are giving way, allowing parasites, bacteria and other disease-spreading organisms to move toward higher latitudes.
“Climate change isn’t going to increase infectious diseases but change the disease landscape,” said marine ecologist Kevin D. Lafferty, who studies parasites for the U.S. Geological Survey. “And some of these surprises are not going to be pretty.”
The Quad, The New York Times college sports blog, is counting down the 120 bowl division college football teams.
The season begins on Aug. 28 and to get you ready for that momentous date, The Quad is ranking all 120 Football Bowl Subdivision teams. We’ll begin today with No. 120 and reveal one each day until we get to No. 1. In addition to ranking the teams, we’ll provide plenty of relevant on-the-field facts as well as some fun off-the-field tidbits that you can use to impress your friends. Feel free to disagree with our rankings. As we all know, the great thing about college football is that it all gets settled on the field. Oh, wait …
Alas, they’re only to number 76, and there’s my alma mater, The University of Arizona.
Toughest quote: “Entering his third year as the starter, Tuitama is in position to set all of Arizona’s meaningful quarterback records. Except victories, of course.”
NewMexiKen read somewhere recently — no doubt in The Omnivore’s Dilemma — that experts calculate that on average hunter-gatherers spent about 17 hours a week hunting and gathering. And that for the most part, they lived a well-nourished, healthy existence.
And we think we’re so advanced because we invented agriculture and business school.
On this date in 1777 the Continental Congress approved a national flag:
In 1916 President Wilson issued a proclamation declaring June 14 Flag Day. The present design of the flag was established in 1818 — thirteen stripes to represent the original states and a star for each state. Until 1912 the arrangement of the stars was left to the discretion of the flag-maker. The current flag with 50 stars was established on July 4, 1960, when Hawaii was admitted to the Union. The Star-Spangled Banner at Fort McHenry during the War of 1812 had 15 stars and 15 stripes. |
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“Under God” was added to the Pledge of Allegiance by Act of Congress on this date in 1954.
88º F. 5% humidity.
Five.
BTW, yesterday morning (June 12) was the earliest sunrise of the year here (5:52 AM MDT). The latest sunset of the year will be June 28th or 29th (8:25 PM MDT). The longest day of 2008 is June 20th (14h 31m 28s).
The solstice is June 20th at 5:59 PM MDT (23:59 UTC).
“Lately, however, there always seems to be at least one food-safety crisis in the headlines — tainted spinach, poisonous peanut butter and, currently, the attack of the killer tomatoes.”
“You can’t eat tomatoes because they’re tainted with deadly salmonella. Yeah, now listen to this. First, of course, we went through tainted lettuce. Now, tainted tomatoes. Who would have thought that the healthiest part of a B.L.T. would be the bacon?”
David Letterman
What if merely waking up and smelling coffee powers up your brain, without ever taking a sip? Most people drink coffee for its taste and its caffeine jolt, but the smell may bring its own benefits.
New research is shedding light on how drinking and smelling coffee might affect genes and proteins in the brain.
Triskaidekaphobia — the fear of 13.
Paraskevidekatriaphobia — the fear of Friday the 13th.
About.com has pages of background on the superstition.
And Urban Legends has a lengthy page.
Bob McGrath — that’s Bob from Sesame Street — is 76.
Siegfried Fischbacher is 69.. That’s Siegfried of Siegfried and Roy.
John-Boy Walton is 57. That’s actor Richard Thomas.
The voice of Buzz Lightyear is 55. That’s Tim Allen.
Alexandra Elizabeth Sheedy is 46.
And the Olsen twins are 44.
mental_floss Blog has a collection of passive-aggressive notes that are pretty funny.
But the mother lode is at passiveaggressivenotes.com.
“How resounding was the Celtics’ comeback from a 24-point deficit to beat the Lakers in Game 4?
“Cemetery workers swear they could smell cigar smoke wafting up from Red Auerbach’s grave.”
[T]he data on cellphone safety is mixed, although a few recent international studies have suggested a link with three types of brain tumors. The Food and Drug Administration also says there’s not enough information to determine conclusively whether cellphones are safe or unsafe.
CNET has some facts:
Ten highest-radiation cell phones
Ten lowest-radiation cell phones
The sidebar at the CNET cites lists all manufacturers. 1.6 is the U.S. maximum allowed.
Thanks to Bob Ormond for the links.
In Boumediene today, the Supreme Court decided 5-4:
Whether Article I, Section 9, Clause 2, (the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus) applies to aliens designated as enemy combatants detained at the U.S. Naval Station at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
It does.
Whether procedures established for those prisoners by Congress are a constitutionally adequate and sufficient guarantee of that privilege.
They aren’t.
Approximately 250 prisoners are held at Guantanamo without charges, some for six years. Only a few were petitioners in the subject case, but the decision should apply across the board.
250 alleged bad guys now get a day in court to find out why they are being held.
And this puts the nation more in peril?
And, if so, why did we move them 7,500 miles closer to the U.S. in the first place?
(Here’s the opinion [pdf].)
“Every day is a gift. But does it have to be a pair of socks?”
Tony Soprano, “The Ride,” Episode 74
“The laws and Constitution are designed to survive, and remain in force, in extraordinary times.”
Justice Anthony M. Kennedy writing for the Supreme Court in Boumediene v. Bush.
Sixty-nine years ago today.
Back row: Honus Wagner, Grover Cleveland Alexander, Tris Speaker, Nap Lajoie, George Sisler, Walter Johnson.
Seated: Eddie Collins, Babe Ruth, Connie Mack, and Cy Young.
Ty Cobb is absent from the photo; he had missed a train and arrived late.
The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum was officially dedicated in colorful ceremony on June 12, 1939. The game’s four ranking executives of the period — [Kenesaw M.] Landis, [Ford] Frick, [William] Harridge and William G. Bramham, President of the National Association — participated in the ribbon-cutting. Of the 25 immortals who had been elected to the Hall of Fame up to that point, 11 were still living; and all of them journeyed to Cooperstown to attend the centennial celebration. A baseball postage stamp commemorating the occasion was placed on sale that day at the Cooperstown post office, with Postmaster General James A. Farley presiding.
Check out the Babe’s socks. He was into the low-cut sock look long before anyone else.
President George H.W. Bush is 84 today.
Well, gawwwleee and shazzayam, Jim Nabors is 78.
Marv Philip Aufrichtig was born 67 years ago today. We know him as Marv Albert.
Armando Anthony Corea is also 67. We know him as Chick.
Anne Frank should have been 79 years old today. The Writer’s Almanac has a brief essay about Frank. Beginning with: “It was on this day in 1942 that she received a red and white plaid journal, from her father, for her 13th birthday, and she started to write her diary, a diary that she called by the name of ‘Kitty.'”
Fourteen years ago today someone killed Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman.
NewMexiKen doesn’t watch Fox News and I try not to mention it too often around here, even to complain about it. But this is too much.
In case you can’t read it: “OUTRAGED LIBERALS: STOP PICKING ON OBAMA’S BABY MAMA!”
Excuse me, but Michelle Robinson Obama is not Obama’s baby mama.
A “baby mama” is a woman who has been left by the the father.
You know, like the first Mrs. McCain.
As if “Liberals” would use the term anyway.
“Of course, the boys have already been reading other books, but the truth is Calvin and Hobbes is the standard to which all other great literature is held.”
Testosterhome on her sons’ summer reading. She goes on to note that the boys will be required to report on their summer books — “I’m sure there will be ice cream or weapons involved in this equation as well.”