From Best Life Magazine, “Eat these eight foods every day to cover all your nutritional bases.”
Spinach
Yogurt
Tomatoes
Carrots
Blueberries
Black Beans
Walnuts
Oats
Link via Lifehacker, which elsewhere had a list of six foods that help prevent disease: broccoli, pumpkin, blueberries, fish, spinach, and tomatoes.
From now on, I’m having spinach, tomato and blueberry ice cream sundaes!
From Tim Page in a fascinating memoir in The New Yorker (not online):
“It would be easier for me to improvise an epic poem at a sold-out Yankee Stadium than to approach an attractive stranger across the room and strike up a conversation.”
And:
“([H]ere I concur with Virgil Thomson, who once said that worry was one form of prayer that he found acceptable).
David Owen has a fascinating and informative piece in the current New Yorker on our lost night skies. The article, alas, isn’t online but this is from the abstract:
“Diminishing the level of nighttime lighting can actually increase visibility. The key to visibility is contrast. Much so-called security lighting is designed with little thought for how eyes of criminals operate. A burglar who is forced to use a flashlight, or whose movement triggers a security light is much more likely to be spotted.”
Roger Angell puts a good perspective on Barry Bonds.
… is the birthday of Fess Parker, the actor who played Davy Crockett and Daniel Boone. He’s 83.
Actor Robert Culp is 77 today. He was Bill Cosby’s sidekick (or Cosby was his) in the first TV series to feature an African-American, I Spy.
Frank Gifford is 77 today. Kathie Lee Gifford is 54 today.
Oscar-winner James Cameron is 53. Cameron won, of course, for Titanic — writer, director, best picture.
Madonna Louise Veronica Ciccone is 49.
Supporting actor Oscar-winner Timothy Hutton is 47.
Steve Carrell is 44.
Emily Robison of the Dixie Chicks is 35. Originally Emily Erwin (Robison is her married name), she and her sister Martie (now Maguire) founded the group with two other classmates. The other two left and the group added Natalie Maines as the lead singer in 1995.
Football coach Amos Alonzo Stagg was born on this date in 1862. Stagg, Skull and Bones at Yale, was on the first All-America team ever (1889). He coached most famously at the University of Chicago, 1892-1932. Stagg developed the man-in-motion and the lateral pass — and developed basketball as a five man game. He is in both the college football and basketball halls of fame.
Elvis Presley died 30 years ago today, he was 42. Babe Ruth died 59 years ago today, he was 53. Robert Johnson died 69 years ago today, he was 27.
But [Romney] is smart and pleasant and tells the most risqué joke that I’ve ever heard from a presidential candidate: “I asked Ann, my wife, ‘Did you ever in your wildest dreams believe I would be running for President?’ She told me, ‘You weren’t in my wildest dreams.'”
A guy at the Isotopes games last night had a tattoo (among others) on his upper arm. It was a baby’s footprints — like you get with a newborn at the hospital. Kinda cool.
Oh, and the ‘Topes lost 10-4 to the Round Rock Express when the Express broke open a 4-4 tie with 5 runs in the 8th. There was a small crowd as the new school year began yesterday in Albuquerque. The paid attendance was announced at 6,964, but that included a lot of no shows. We were in the fifth row behind the visitor’s dugout (for $11 each).
Tim Raines Jr. was the Round Rock lead off hitter. His dad was a National League All Star for seven seasons and is still fifth all-time in career stolen bases. Tim Jr. went one for five, but drove in two runs with that one hit, a double.
The red chile won.
Things I would change if I ran the team:
… was killed on this date in 1057. But not as Shakespeare portrayed it. Here’s the story from the BBC:
Mac Bethad mac Findláich, known in English as Macbeth, was born in around 1005. His father was Finlay, Mormaer of Moray, and his mother may have been Donada, second daughter of Malcolm II. A Mormaer was literally a high steward of one of the ancient Celtic provinces of Scotland, but in Latin documents the word is usually translated as ‘Comes’, which means earl.
In August 1040, he killed the ruling king, Duncan I, in battle near Elgin, Morayshire. Macbeth became king. His marriage to Kenneth III’s granddaughter Gruoch strengthened his claim to the throne. In 1045, Macbeth defeated and killed Duncan I’s father Crinan at Dunkeld.
For 14 years Macbeth seems to have ruled equably, imposing law and order and encouraging 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 Duncan’s son Malcolm Canmore, who was his nephew, to the throne. In August 1057, Macbeth was killed at the Battle of Lumphanan in Aberdeenshire by Malcolm Canmore (later Malcolm III).
… is Napoleon’s birthday. He was born August 15, 1769 (and died in 1821, at age 51). As an adult, Napoleon was just over 5-feet, 6-inches tall (1.686 m), about average for his countrymen at the time.
Four time Oscar nominee for best supporting actress (one win), Ethel Barrymore was born on this date in 1879.
Pulitzer-winning author Edna Ferber was born 120 years ago today. She’s known best for So Big (Pulitzer prize in 1924), Show Boat, Cimarron, Giant and Ice Palace.
TV chef Julia Child was born in Pasadena, California, on this date in 1912.
Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer is 69.
Pro Football Hall of Fame member Gene Upshaw is 62 today. Upshaw played for the Raiders, 1967-1981. (Ahh, the glory years.) Upshaw has had a second career as Executive Director of the National Football League Players Association since 1983.
Princess Anne, daughter of Queen Elizabeth, is 57.
Grace, that is, actress Debra Messing, is 39.
Ben Affleck is 35.
The Wizard of Oz premiered 68 years ago tonight.
Try to unscramble a rack of letters from GRE Vocabulary Word Scramble. Hit play again (after checking the answer) or refresh your browser to get a new word.
Here’s a short item on a Pregnant Woman On The Way To Hospital Charged With Reckless Driving And Subject To Virginia’s Abusive Driver Fee of $1050. 57 mph in a 35 zone. (She wasn’t in labor, but thought she was.) What d’ya think?
It still surprises me a little when I click on a page and it knows where I am.
Some of these are LOL. Annoying things to do on an elevator.
The Fifteen Most Dynamic Duos in Pop Culture History.
Somebody’s idea of The 20 Most Beautiful Colleges in the USA.
Confusing headline of the day: Men’s Undiagnosed Diabetes Down. How could they know?
The most recent list of recalls centers on the magnet worries and includes an expansion of a recall first announced in November. The 7.3 million Polly Pocket play sets have small magnets inside the dolls and accessories that can come loose.
…The recalls also include a die-cast toy car based on “Sarge” from the movie “Cars,” because the surface paint could contain lead levels in excess of federal standards. The 2-1/2-by-1-inch car looks like a military jeep.
Also recalled were 345,000 Batman and “One Piece” action figures, 683,000 Barbie and Tanner play sets and 1 million Doggie Day Care play sets.
“Dan Daly of the Washington Times, on belated gift ideas for 7-foot-6 Yao Ming and his 6-2 bride: ‘How about a gift certificate to Bed, Bath, Above and Beyond?'”
And you can use this week’s coupon for 20% off!
Edith Cullen Shain is the nurse in the famous Alfred Eisenstaedt photo V-J Day in Times Square taken 62 years ago today. She kept her identity secret for 34 years, then identified herself to Eisenstaedt and he confirmed it was her when they met.
From an interview two years ago:
“The street was just wild with people. It was exuberant. They were dashing around and hugging and kissing and we walked in on that. And a sailor grabbed me and held me and kissed me a long time.
“When he grabbed me, I didn’t see him, and when he kissed me, I didn’t see him because I closed my eyes. And then I turned around and walked the other way, and so that was the end of the story as far as the recognition is concerned,” she said.
Shain later became a school teacher in California where she married and had three children.
Sixty years later, Shain, who says she was kissed by only one sailor that day, still has no idea who the sailor was. More than 20 men have come forward through the years claiming to be the kisser but none has ever been confirmed.
A statue in Times Square commemorates the moment. It’s called “Unconditional Surrender.”
Click image for larger version of the original photo.
Saturday’s Powerball jackpot is worth $181 million (or $84.6 million in cash).
Just sayin’.
Oh, and here’s the scoop on the latest winners:
The Harvey’s elected to take the “lump sum” cash option of $46,837,771, rather than the larger 29-year, 30-installment annuity.
A trucker since the age of 17, Don says he will buy a used truck with some of the winnings. When asked why he wouldn’t buy a new truck, he said because a used truck doesn’t immediately depreciate in value. They plan to share the money with family and pay bills.
A used truck and paying bills. They really haven’t a clue, do they? Doesn’t anyone ever win and think Paris, Rome, the Greek Islands?
… was signed into law by President Franklin Roosevelt on this date in 1935.
… of Earl Weaver. The former Orioles manager is 77.
… of Dash Crofts. The Crofts of Seals and Crofts is 67.
… of David Crosby. The Crosby of Crosby, Stills and Nash is 66. Mama Cass introduced Crosby, Stills and Nash to one another in 1968. Before that, of course, Mr. Crosby was in another Hall of Fame group, The Byrds.
… of Steve Martin, born in Waco, Texas. He’s 62 today.
… of Susan St. James. The wife of McMillan and Wife is 61. McMillan was played by Rock Hudson.
… of Danielle Steel. The author is 60.
… of Gary Larson. The Far Side cartoonist is 57.
… of Earvin “Magic” Johnson. Magic is 48, as is actress Marcia Gay Harden.
… of Susan Olsen. Cindy, of The Brady Bunch, is 46.
… of Halle Berry. The Academy Award winner is 41.
… of Ernest Thayer, the man who wrote “Casey at the Bat,” born on this date in 1863.
Today is the 62nd anniversary of the end of World War II; V-J[apan] Day or V-P[acific] Day. The Writer’s Almanac has a nice piece on what it meant. That’s Alfred Eisenstaedt’s famous photo. The nurse has been identified as Edith Cullen Shain. She was 27 that day. No one knows who the sailor was. Click the image for a larger version.
Edison film with Annie Oakley, 1894.
… was born on this date in 1899. The director was nominated for the Academy Award for best director five times, but never won. The nominations were for Rebecca, Life Boat, Spellbound, Rear Window and Psycho.
CNN did a nice retrospective on Hitchcock on his 100th birthday. It includes a list of his “ten best” films.
10. “Strangers on a Train” (1951)
9. “The Man Who Knew Too Much” (1934, 1956)
8. “To Catch a Thief” (1955)
7. “Dial M for Murder” (1954)
6. “The 39 Steps” (1935)
5. “North by Northwest” (1959)
4. “The Birds” (1963)
3. “Psycho” (1960)
2. “Vertigo” (1958)
1. “Rear Window” (1954)
… is 81 today. Castro took control of Cuba in 1959.
NewMexiKen saw Castro give a speech outside the Hotel Nacional in Havana in 1993. It was interesting to see the man who has been so much a focus of America for more than 40 years.
Castro wrote a letter to President Franklin Roosevelt in 1940. (He says he was 12, but should have been 13 or 14.) “If you like, give me a ten dollars bill green american in the letter [back] because never have I not seen a ten dollars bill green american and I would like to have one of them.” Castro went on to say, “I don’t know very English but I know very much Spanish and I suppose you [FDR] don’t know very Spanish but you know very English because you are American but I am not American.”
A more complete copy of the letter is here.
Biography.com has more information about Castro.
… was born on this date in 1860. Larry McMurtry’s excellent essay “Inventing the West” from the August 2000 issue of The New York Review of Books tells us about this famous performer.
Annie Oakley (Phoebe Ann Moses—or Mosey) grew up poor in rural Ohio, shot game to feed her family, shot game to sell, was pressed into a shooting contest with a touring sharpshooter named Frank Butler, beat him, married him, stayed with him for fifty years, and died three weeks before he did in 1926.
When Annie Oakley and Frank Butler offered themselves to Cody the Colonel was dubious. His fortunes were at a low ebb, and shooting acts abounded. But he gave Annie Oakley a chance. She walked out in Louisville before 17,000 people and was hired immediately. Nate Salsbury, Cody’s tight-fisted manager, who did not spend lavishly and who rarely highlighted performers, happened to watch Annie rehearse and promptly ordered seven thousand dollars’ worth of posters and billboard art.
Annie Oakley more than justified the expense. Sitting Bull, normally a taciturn fellow, saw her shoot in Minnesota and could not contain himself. Watanya cicilia, he called her, his Little Sure Shot. Small, reserved, Quakerish, she seemed to live on the lemonade Buffalo Bill dispensed free to all hands. In London she demolished protocol by shaking hands with Princess Alexandra. She shook hands with Alexandra’s husband, the Prince of Wales, too, though, like his mother the Queen, she strongly disapproved of his behavior with the ladies. In France the Parisians were glacially indifferent to buffalo, Indians, cowboys, and Cody—Annie Oakley melted them so thoroughly that she had to go through her act five times before she could escape. In Germany she likened Bismarck to a mastiff.
In 1901 she was almost killed in a train wreck. Annie claimed that it was the wreck that caused her long auburn hair to turn white overnight; skeptics said her hair turned white because she left it in hot water too long while at a spa. She continued to shoot into the 1920s. In her last years she looked rather like Nancy Astor. Will Rogers visited her not long before her death and pronounced her the perfect woman. Probably not until Billie Jean King and the rise of women’s tennis had a female outdoor performer held the attention of so many people. She became part of the “invention” that is the West by winning her way with a gun: a man’s thing, the very thing, in fact, that had won the West itself.
Annie was her nickname as a child. Oakley was a stage name. Offstage she referred to herself as Mrs. Frank Butler.
Photo taken 1902 when Oakley was 42. Click image for larger version.
An excellent analysis of why we shouldn’t have invaded Iraq.
From Dick Cheney.
Take a Cognitive Mental Abilities IQ test from the International High IQ Society. 36 questons; takes about 12-15 minutes. Yes, it gives you your result as an IQ. (I refer to the eCMA test.)
A video of a half-time show in Korea that has to be better than the game could have been — Incredible Halftime Show.
The books may be over but J.K. Rowling goes Beyond Hogwarts in interviews.
Oh, and from Scholastic, “find out how to say Hermione, Eeylops, and Azkaban, using our handy” Harry Potter: Pronunciation Guide.
According to Fred Bronson:
“Sean Kingston continues his domination of The Billboard Hot 100, as ‘Beautiful Girls’ tops the list for the second week. That chart-topper has put songwriters Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller in first place for the first time in 48 years.”
Leiber and Stoller wrote such songs as “Hound Dog,” “Jailhouse Rock,” “Stand By Me,” “Spanish Harlem,” “On Broadway,” “Love Potion #9,” “Kansas City,” “There Goes My Baby,” “Fools Fall In Love,” and “Ruby Baby.” And just about everything by The Coasters.
Meanwhile a song written by Lennon and McCartney is in the Country Top 100, “Revolution,” by Rascal Flatts.
And Ella Fitzgerald has an album in the Top 200, “Love Letters from Ella,” a Starbucks album. Bronson notes that Ella’s career began in 1934, her first “chart” appearance was 51 years ago.
Not an oldie, Carrie Underwood has “the highest new entry ever for a solo female artist” — “So Small.”
If you know anything about mythology you probably learned about it first from Edith Hamilton, born on this date in 1867. Hamilton’s book Mythology, written after she had retired as a school head mistress, was published in 1942.
Mark Knopfler is 58 today. Money for nothin’ and your chicks for free.
Pete Sampras is 36.
Cantinflas, the great Mexican comedian, acrobat and musician — and bullfighter — was born on this date in 1911. His actual name was Fortino Mario Alfonso Moreno Reyes. Cantinflas was Passepartout in Michael Todd’s 1956 Around the World in Eighty Days. In English-speaking countries, David Niven was billed as the star. Elsewhere Cantinflas took top billing — he was the highest paid actor in the world at the time. He saved the movie from the stiff Niven if you ask me.
The movie producer Cecil B. DeMille was born on August 12th in 1881. Known for his extravaganzas (e.g., The Ten Commandments), DeMille won his only Oscar for The Greatest Show on Earth.
“No life goes past so swiftly as an eventless one.”
— Wallace Stegner in Angle of Repose.
“The problem is it takes most of us most of our lives to understand what we should have known from the beginning.”
— Leon Uris in Trinity.
“Though finally the worst thing about regret is that it makes you duck the chance of suffering new regret just as you get a glimmer that nothing’s worth doing unless it has the potential to fuck up your whole life.”
— Richard Ford in Independence Day.
Henry Wiggen (Michael Moriarty): “Everybody’d be nice to you if they knew you were dying.”
Bruce Pearson (Robert De Niro): “Everybody knows everybody is dying. That’s why people are as good as they are.”
— Bang the Drum Slowly