The Golden 15

The Los Angeles Times picks 15 places you must see to appreciate California.

Today, with full expectation of howling dissent and snorts of derision, we present the Travel section’s first California Golden 15. We, your neighbors, do so as the holiday travel season approaches and as distant strangers peddle their compendiums of places you should visit before you die. These are 15 places we think you must visit to grasp the wonder of this state.

This is not California for beginners — not Disneyland, not Hearst Castle, not the San Diego Zoo, not even Sutter’s Mill. (Those and 11 other basic must-see destinations get their own sidebar; see below.) This is the California that speaks to the seasoned native and the thoughtful newcomer, the California that waits beyond the well-explored city limits of Los Angeles, San Diego and San Francisco.

Before you click to learn the 15 places to visit to see the real California, see if you can guess them. Alas, I believe I have only been to three.

And here are the destinations they say are the 15-must-see spots for California beginners. It’s much easier to guess these. NewMexiKen has been to 11 of them. (I was a resident of the Golden State for about 12 years total.)

Race, genes, and intelligence

William Saletan challenges the politically correct conventional wisdom. I recommend you go read the entire thing (the first in a series), but here are a couple of his most provocative statements.

Among white Americans, the average IQ is 103. Among Asian-Americans, it’s 106. Among Jewish Americans, it’s 113. Among Latino Americans, it’s 89. Among African-Americans, it’s 85. Around the world, studies find the same general pattern: whites 100, East Asians 106, sub-Sarahan Africans 70. One IQ table shows 113 in Hong Kong, 110 in Japan, 100 in Britain, and 67 in South Africa. White populations in Australia, Canada, Europe, New Zealand, South Africa, and the United States score closer to each other than to the worldwide black average. It’s been that way for at least a century.

Remember, these are averages, and all groups overlap. You can’t deduce an individual’s intelligence from her ethnicity.

In fact, there’s a mountain of evidence that differential evolution has left each population with a balance of traits that could be advantageous or disadvantageous, depending on circumstances. The list of differences is long and intricate. On average, compared to whites, blacks mature more quickly in the womb, are born earlier, and develop teeth, strength, and dexterity earlier. They sit, crawl, walk, and dress themselves earlier. They reach sexual maturity faster, and they have better eyesight. On each of these measures, East Asians lag whites and blacks. In exchange, East Asians get longer lives and bigger brains.

Time after time

From The History Channel:

At exactly noon on this day [in 1883], American and Canadian railroads begin using four continental time zones to end the confusion of dealing with thousands of local times. The bold move was emblematic of the power shared by the railroad companies.

The need for continental time zones stemmed directly from the problems of moving passengers and freight over the thousands of miles of rail line that covered North America by the 1880s. Since human beings had first begun keeping track of time, they set their clocks to the local movement of the sun. Even as late as the 1880s, most towns in the U.S. had their own local time, generally based on “high noon,” or the time when the sun was at its highest point in the sky. As railroads began to shrink the travel time between cities from days or months to mere hours, however, these local times became a scheduling nightmare. Railroad timetables in major cities listed dozens of different arrival and departure times for the same train, each linked to a different local time zone.

Efficient rail transportation demanded a more uniform time-keeping system. Rather than turning to the federal governments of the United States and Canada to create a North American system of time zones, the powerful railroad companies took it upon themselves to create a new time code system. The companies agreed to divide the continent into four time zones; the dividing lines adopted were very close to the ones we still use today.

Most Americans and Canadians quickly embraced their new time zones, since railroads were often their lifeblood and main link with the rest of the world. However, it was not until 1918 that Congress officially adopted the railroad time zones and put them under the supervision of the Interstate Commerce Commission.

The first Thanksgiving and the ‘Made Up Americans’

Reposted from one year ago today:

This is Mack’s first Thanksgiving in school, so of course he’s hearing the public school version of the First Thanksgiving story. Some teachers don’t use the correct name for the indigenous people near Plymouth — Wampanoags — or even the preferred generic term — American Indians. No, they use the presumed politically correct name — Native Americans.

That’s what the teacher says, but what do the children hear?

Mack’s mother Jill reports:

“At school, Mack is learning about the first Thanksgiving. He came home today with a short story about it, which I asked him to read to me. It went well until he got to the first reference to what he called the ‘Made Up’ Americans.”

Best line of the day, so far

Discussing an audience question to John McCain which asked “How do we beat the bitch?”

[MIKE] ALLEN: All right. But what Republican voter hasn’t thought that? What voter in general hasn’t thought that? And what people like about McCain is his straight talk, his candor, and if he had folded or buckled under that question, that would have looked ridiculous…But Kiran, this was just a funny moment on the campaign trail.

[KIRAN] CHETRY: Well, it’s only funny unless you’re offended by somebody calling a woman the b-word.

Quoted at Daily Howler.

Ghost birds

NewMexiKen has clerestory windows on both the east and west side of my living room. These are delightful in innumerable ways — the morning light, the evening color, seeing the moon and stars or the glow of the Albuquerque lights reflected on the mountains at night.

There are alas, two downsides. For one, it is almost impossible to watch TV when the sun shines directly in the west windows in the afternoon or early evening (depending on the time of year). And two, the bird-brained birds fly into the windows because (I’m guessing) they can see straight through the house.

Ghost bird

At the moment there are three “etchings” in the glass from these collisions. The impact is so hard the bird leaves an imprint of itself that would do the Shroud of Turin proud. Of the three impressions currently, one is head on, one appears to be an oblique shot, and one is wings extended. If you click on the image and look carefully you can see this last image, almost like a ghost.

And perhaps it is a ghost, though in nearly nine years I have found just one carcass.

There are by the way six or seven quail gobbling up this morning’s birdseed as I speak. Still time to get in your Thanksgiving orders.

The photo was taken from the living room at around 9:30 this morning. The plants on the berm are — ah choo! — chamisa (Chrysothamnus nauseosus), its fall yellow dying away, and Russian sage (Perovskia atriplicifolia), its lavender flowers long gone.

Two best lines about last night’s debate

“… Kucinich, who is the presidential candidate most likely to be secretly a member of the X-Men. (We should abide by international law, he said at one point, but you know he was thinking to himself, ‘And also intergalactic law.’)”

“… Richardson, ever the diplomat, said, ‘Let us stop this mudslinging. Let us stop going after one another on character and trust. Let us debate the issues that affect the American people, and let us be positive.’ NOOOOOO, screamed the CNN producers. Get that guy off stage!!”

Joel Achenbach in a post entitled “Steel Cage Death Match in the Desert.”

Dead Tree Delivery May Be Down, but . . .

Newspaper circulation may be decreasing, but newspaper websites demonstrate that content is still in demand thank you. Here’s the top five in October with number of visitors (in thousands) and time for each person. I guess The New York Times was wise to give up on its paid features — 17½ million visits.

NYTimes.com — 17,502 — 0:34:53
USATODAY.com — 9,469 — 0:16:13
washingtonpost.com — 8,681 — 0:17:22
Wall Street Journal Online — 5,867 — 0:14:19
LA Times — 5,812 — 0:09:51

30 Most Popular Newspaper Sites for October

It was a long wait

The students at The University of Arizona showed great patience before taking the field in celebration last night as the Wildcats beat #2 Oregon 34-24. The ‘Cats, (5-6) have a chance for their first winning season since 1998 if they beat ASU and win a bowl game.

Oregon became the fifth number two team in seven weeks to lose to an unranked opponent.

November 16th

It’s the birthday of Maggie Gyllenhaal (30), Lisa Bonet (40), and Diana Krall (43).

Burgess Meredith, like Oklahoma and Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument, was born 100 years ago today. Meredith was twice nominated for the best supporting actor Oscar — at the age of 68 and 69 — The Day of the Locust and Rocky.

W. C. Handy was born on this date in 1873, the son of former slaves.

I hate to see that evenin’ sun go down,
I hate to see that evenin’ sun go down,
‘Cause my baby has left this town.

If I’m feelin’ tomorrow, just like I feel today,
If I’m feelin’ tomorrow, like I feel today,
I’ll pack my trunk and make my get-away.

St. Louis woman, with all her diamond rings,
Stole that man of mine, by her apron strings;
If it wasn’t for powder, and her store-bought hair,
That man I love wouldn’t’ve gone nowhere!
Nowhere!

W.C. Handy is widely recognized by his self-proclaimed moniker, “Father of the Blues” due to his steadfast and pioneering efforts to document, write and publish blues music and his life-long support of the genre. Although much of his musical taste leaned toward a more sophisticated and polished sound, Handy was among the first to recognize the value of the blues, and Southern black music in general, as an important American legacy. Handy was an accomplished bandleader and songwriter who performed throughout the South before continuing his career in New York. He came across the Delta blues in the late 1890s, and his composition “Memphis Blues,” published in 1912, was the first to include “blues” in the title. Some historians don’t consider “Memphis Blues” to be an actual blues song, however it did influence the creation of other blues tunes, including the historic “Crazy Blues,” which is commonly known as the first blues song to ever be recorded (by Mamie Smith in 1920). A Memphis park was named after Handy in recognition of his contribution to blues and the Blues Foundation recognizes the genre’s achievements annually with the prestigious W.C. Handy award.

The Blues | PBS

NPR told the Handy and St. Louis Blues stories as part of the NPR 100. Click to hear the NPR report, which includes Handy’s own reminiscences and the complete recording of the song by Bessie Smith accompanied by Louis Armstrong, possibly the most influential recording in American music history. (RealPlayer file.)

Oklahoma!

…became a state 100 years ago today. It was the 46th state to enter the Union.

The official song and anthem of the State of Oklahoma is “Oklahoma,” composed and written by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein.

Brand new state, Brand new state, gonna treat you great!
Gonna give you barley, carrots and pertaters,
Pasture fer the cattle, Spinach and Termayters!
Flowers on the prairie where the June bugs zoom,
Plen’y of air and plen’y of room,
Plen’y of room to swing a rope!
Plen’y of heart and plen’y of hope!
Oklahoma, where the wind comes sweepin’ down the plain,
And the wavin’ wheat can sure smell sweet
When the wind comes right behind the rain.
Oklahoma, ev’ry night my honey lamb and I
Sit alone and talk and watch a hawk makin’ lazy circles in the sky.
We know we belong to the land
And the land we belong to is grand!
And when we say – Yeeow! Ayipioeeay!
We’re only sayin’ You’re doin’ fine, Oklahoma! Oklahoma – O.K.

Gila Cliff Dwellings (New Mexico)

… was proclaimed a national monument 100 years ago today by President Theodore Roosevelt.

Gila Cliff Dwellings

Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument offers a glimpse of the homes and lives of the people of the Mogollon culture who lived in the Gila Wilderness from the 1280s through the early 1300s. The surroundings probably look today very much like they did when the cliff dwellings were inhabited.

Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument

Social Security is not a problem

But it could use a few adjustments. Andrew Tobias offers his, illustrating among other things how minimal the fix is.

My tweaks:  (1) I’d keep 62 as the age for early retirement.  But, where currently the full-benefits retirement age rises one month per year to 67 in 2027, I would let it keep rising to 68 in 2039.  (Hey: “Seventy is the new fifty-five.”)  (2) Where the 6.2% tax rate you and your employer each pay drops to zero on wages above a certain cap, I’d have it drop to 1% instead.  Annoying, but not a killer.  (And worth paying so that grandma – much as we love her – doesn’t have to move in.)  (3)  I’d keep raising benefits with inflation.  But for higher-income recipients, I’d calculate those benefits based on price inflation, not wage inflation, in years when prices rose slower than wages.  Bang: you’re done.  A bit of pain around the edges, with plenty of time to prepare for it, and the Social Security problem is solved.]

But, as they point out over at AlterNet, there’s no crisis and no hurry:

To say that Social Security’s surplus “has been spent,” is like saying that when you buy a U.S. government bond, your money “has been spent.” Whatever has been done with the money, you are still holding a bond, and you will get your interest and principal so long as there is a US government. If there is no US government when you retire, well then you will have other things to worry about than Social Security, including your private savings.
…

In fact, even if nothing were ever done to close the projected gap – and that is a wildly implausible scenario – Social Security would, after 2046 still have enough money to pay, indefinitely, a bigger benefit than it does today. That’s in real terms, adjusted for inflation. Of course, this benefit would be less than what seniors in the distant future would be entitled to, so we will eventually make some adjustments. But there’s no hurry.

Certain people in our society hate social security. For the past 20 years they’ve spun a tale about the looming crisis. It’s bullshit. And, unfortunately, even Barack Obama, has been drinking their Kool Aid.

Medicare and Medicaid, now those, on the other hand, are serious matters.

Getting Lost in History in the Other Las Vegas

LAS VEGAS, N.M., laid claim to its name about 70 years before that upstart neon metropolis sprang out of the sands of Nevada — and it shows. With only about 14,000 people, this Las Vegas has 900 buildings on the National Register of Historic Places, four grand old hotels (two still accepting guests), and not one but two period-piece downtowns.

Its Old West credentials are solid. Doc Holliday had a dentist’s office in town, and Billy the Kid hung out there. Teddy Roosevelt recruited some of his Rough Riders in Las Vegas and spent a not-so-rough stay at the local hot-springs castle. And before that, this was a stop on the Santa Fe Trail.

Read more about Las Vegas from The New York Times.

Youngest big leaguer

Cincinnati Reds broadcaster Joe Nuxhall has died. Long before he was a broadcaster Nuxhall set a major league record:

Nuxhall’s place in baseball lore was secured the moment he stepped onto a big-league field. With major league rosters depleted during World War II, he got a chance to pitch in relief for the Reds on June 10, 1944.

No one in modern baseball history has played in the majors at such a young age — 15 years, 10 months, 11 days old. He got two outs against St. Louis before losing his composure, then went eight years before pitching for the Reds again.

SI.com

November 15th

Judge Wapner is 88 today. Raymond Babbitt sends his greetings.

Ed Asner, who will always be Lou Grant to me, is 78.

Petula Clark will be headed downtown to celebrate her 75th birthday.

When you’re alone
And life is making you lonely
You can always go
Downtown

Sam Waterston is 67.

Our guv, Bill Richardson, is 60 today.

Kevin Eubanks, The Tonight Show bandleader, is 50.

Justice Felix Frankfurter (1882-1965), artist Georgia O’Keefe (1887-1986), Field Marshal Edwin Rommel (1891-1944), Governor (of New York) Averell Harriman (1891-1986), and U.S. Air Force General (and George Wallace running-mate) Curtis LeMay (1906-1990) were all born on this date.

The Georgia O’Keeffe Museum is in Santa Fe. American Masters has a brief biography.

Pretty Good Jokes

An old man was lying on his death bed, wishing for one more pleasure out of life. Suddenly, he smelled the scent of cookies coming from the kitchen. With all the strength left in him, he made his way to the kitchen, where his wife was busy baking. It took all he had to reach out for a cookie. Just when he got his hands on one, his wife slapped him on the wrist. “Leave those alone,” she said. “They’re for the funeral.”

Here’s another, both from A Prairie Home Companion: Pretty Good Jokes.

An atheist was hiking through the woods. He thinks he hears something behind him so he turns and sees a bear. Not wanting to spook the bear, he continues to walk, not run. The noise behind him gets louder so he turns to look and sure enough the bear is gaining on him. He decides to walk a little faster, but the noise continues to get louder. The bear catches up to him, so man begins to run, but it’s no use because the bear is right behind him now, with one claw raised high in the air ready to come down on him. The man, gripped with fear, shouts out loud, “Oh dear God, don’t let me die.”

With that everything freezes in time, and the man hears a loud, ominous voice from above. He says “I can save you my son, but first you must believe. Do you believe?”

The man, confused and terrified, says “No, I’m an atheist, you don’t exist.”

God replies, “So be it, that is your choice, but I cannot save you.”

The man, scrambling to save his life, asks “If you can’t save me, can you at least make the bear a Christian?”

God thinks about this for a minute and replies, “I have granted you your wish my son, the bear is now a Christian.” And with that everything goes back into motion. The bear, having lost all it’s momentum, drops to ground dizzy and confused. The man wondering if the bear is now a Christian doesn’t know what to think. The bear looks up rubbing its eyes and sees the man standing there. The bear’s eyes get really big which leaves the man breathless. Then the bear puts its front paws together and bows its head. This brings great relief to the man because he can see the bear is in fact a Christian and merely saying a prayer.

Then the bear speaks, “Thank you Lord, for this meal I’m about to receive…”