Its the birthday of one of the people who helped invent the modern computer: Grace Hopper, born in New York City [one hundred years ago today]. She began tinkering around with machines when she was seven years old, dismantling several alarm clocks around the house to see how they worked. She studied math and physics in college, and eventually got a Ph.D. in mathematics from Yale.
Then World War II broke out, and Hopper wanted to serve her country. Her father had been an admiral in the Navy, so she applied to a division of the Navy called WAVES, which stood for Women Accepted for Voluntary Emergency Service. They turned her down at first[;] they said she was too old at 35, and that she didn’t weigh enough, at 105 pounds. But she wouldn’t give up, and they eventually accepted her. With her math skills, she was assigned to work on a machine that might help calculate the trajectory of bombs and rockets.
Hopper learned how to program that early computing machine, and wrote the first instruction manual for its use. And she went on to help write an early computer language known as COBOL — “Common Business-Oriented Language.” She remained in the Navy, and eventually she became the first woman ever promoted to rear admiral.
Adams National Historical Park (Massachusetts)
… was first designated Adams Mansion National Historical Site 60 years ago today.
Adams National Historical Park tells the story of four generations of the Adams family (from 1720 to 1927). The park has two main sites: the Birthplaces of 2nd U.S. President John Adams and 6th U.S. President John Quincy Adams, and Peacefield including the “Old House,” home to four generations of the Adams family, and the Stone Library which contains more than 14,000 historic volumes.
The Roundhouse
Yesterday, December 8th, was the 40th anniversary of the dedication of the New Mexico state capitol, The Roundhouse. Click image for slightly larger version.
Exciting New NewMexiKen Poll
This came up in conversation yesterday.
{democracy:3}
From Life Comes Art
DNA11, converting your body’s chemistry into works of art.
The perfect gift for someone who has everything including a big ego. Actually, pretty cool.
Link via kahunaburger.
Only in New Mexico
From kahunaburger via dangerousmeta! (two guys who can’t afford upper case keys for their computers, I guess) a long list of one-liners about being a New Mexican. I’d really love to steal the whole thing, but here’s just a sampler:
- Your high school’s name was a Spanish word (La Cueva, Eldorado, Sandia, Manzano…)
- You still call the “Flying Star” the “Double Rainbow” and it’s still the best place to get dessert in the world!
- There is a kachina somwhere in your home or yard.
- You believe that bags of sand with a candle in them are perfectly acceptable Christmas decorations.
And, “You iron your jeans to dress up.”
[Update: The high schools in English: The Cave, The Gilded One, Watermelon and Apple.]
Petrified Forest National Park (Arizona)
… was first proclaimed a national monument by President Theodore Roosevelt under the Antiquities Act 100 years ago today. It became a national park in 1962.
With one of the world’s largest and most colorful concentrations of petrified wood, multi-hued badlands of the Painted Desert, historic structures, archeological sites, and displays of 225 million year old fossils, this is a surprising land of scenic wonders and fascinating science.
Montezuma Castle National Monument (Arizona)
… was established by President Theodore Roosevelt under the Antiquities Act 100 years ago today.
This five-level, 20 room cliff dwelling nestled into a limestone recess high above Beaver Creek served as a “high-rise apartment building” for prehistoric Sinagua Indians over 600 years ago. It is one of the best preserved cliff dwellings in North America.
Erroneously named for the 16th century Aztec ruler, the site is a classic example of the last phase of southern Sinagua occupation of the Verde Valley.
El Morro National Monument (New Mexico)
… was established by President Theodore Roosevelt under the Antiquities Act 100 years ago today.
Paso por aqui . . . A reliable waterhole hidden at the base of a massive sandstone bluff made El Morro (the bluff) a popular campsite. Ancestral Puebloans settled on the mesa top over 700 years ago. Spanish and American travelers rested, drank from the pool and carved their signatures, dates and messages for hundreds of years. Today, El Morro National Monument protects over 2,000 inscriptions and petroglyphs, as well as Ancestral Puebloan ruins.
For events this weekend: One hundred years as a National Moument.
Top Ten Things: Dancing with the Stars
Top Ten Things I Have Learned From “Dancing With The Stars” presented by Jerry Springer
10. Sometimes your best choreographer is Johnny Walker
9. There are no disputes that can’t be settled by dancing — think about it North Korea
8. The fitness training will come in handy on my show when breaking up fights between hookers
7. I’m allergic to sequins
6. You do much better if you take the vitamins supplied by Barry Bonds’ trainer
5. The definition of “star” has really loosened up
4. This might be why the terrorists hate us
3. I have a whole new respect for the exotic dancers on my show
2. If there’s one thing more exciting than being on “Dancing With The Stars,” it’s no longer being on “Dancing With The Stars”
1. I need a new agent
Thunder on the Mountain
Slate Magazine has the Bob Dylan video.
The video for “Thunder on the Mountain,” which Slate is proud to premiere, is a whirlwind tour of the many phases, and faces, of Bob—from fierce ’60s folk-rock tyro to white-makeup-caked troubadour to craggy old bard with a gleam in his eye and a Vincent Price mustache. The video draws on several decades of archival footage, some of it previously unseen. It’s a panorama of 40-odd years of American musical history, and—for Dylan freaks—a trainspotter’s dream.
And a damn fine rock and roll tune.
Dick Cheney’s Google Searches
David Friend lists Dick Cheney’s Google Searches.
I think this is satire, but it might be the real list.
Link via kottke.
Cat Update
Tanya, official friend of Jill, official daughter of NewMexiKen, reports: “[I]n the first four school days of this week, Cat received 27 postcards!”
C’mon NMK readers, we’re in second place to the National Park Service: “Rangers from Carlsbad Caverns, NM, Chicamunga and Chattanooga, TN, Big Bend National Park, TX, Acadia National Park, ME, Ellis Island, Ft. Sumter, SC, Saratoga, NY, Apostle Islands, WI, Weir Farm, CT, and a park in Wyoming.” (Cat’s grandpa is a park ranger.)
Miss Cat Cunningham
Pre-k/K class
EEC, Inc.
730 Halstead Rd.
Wilmington, DE 19803
Tanya notes, “BTW, there have been far more than 27 email responses questioning my zeal and my sanity, over half from my husband alone.”
December 8th is the birthday
… of David Carradine. Kwai Chang Caine is 70.
… of James MacArthur. Danno can book 69 years worth.
… of Jerry Butler. His precious love is 67.
… of Gregg Allman. Not such a ramblin’ man now that he’s 59.
As the principal architects of Southern rock, the Allman Brothers Band forged this new musical offshoot from elements of blues, jazz, soul, R&B and rock and roll. Along with the Grateful Dead and Cream, they help advance rock as a medium for improvisation. Their kind of jamming required a level of technical virtuosity and musical literacy that was relatively new to rock & roll, which had theretofore largely been a song-oriented medium. The original guitarists in the Allman Brothers Band – Duane Allman and Dickey Betts – broke that barrier with soaring, extended solos. Combined with organist Gregg Allman’s gruff, soulful vocals and Hammond B3 organ, plus the forceful, syncopated drive of a rhythm section that included two drummers, the Allman Brothers Band were a blues-rocking powerhouse from their beginnings in 1969. (Rock and Roll Hall of Fame)
… of Bill Bryson. The humor writer is 54. Not much funny about that.
… of Kim Basinger. Might take her more than 9½ weeks now that she’s 53.
… of Teri Hatcher. She’s desperate at 42.
… of Sinead O’Connor. Nothing compares 2 her at 40.
Sammy Davis Jr. was born 80 years ago today.
John Lennon was killed on this date in 1980.
Jeanette Rankin cast the sole vote in Congress against the U.S. declaration of war on Japan on this date in 1941. She had also voted against entry into World War I. When elected in 1916, Rankin was the first woman member of the U.S. House of Representatives. She was not re-elected in 1918, after voting against entry in the First World War, but was returned to Congress for one term in 1940. Jeanette Rankin was a social worker and a lobbyist for peace and women’s rights. She died just before her 93rd birthday in 1973. She is one of the two Montanans honored in The National Statuary Hall Collection of the U.S. Capitol.
In 1702, the Duke of Alburquerque, Francisco Fernandez de la Cueva Enriquez, arrived in Mexico City to become Viceroy. In a kiss-ass move a few years later, some folks around here named a town after him.
One-hundred-years ago today was a good day for national parks: El Morro, Montezuma Castle, and Petrified Forest were all proclaimed national monuments on December 8, 1906.
Christmas Gift Bag#11
From FunctionalAmbivalent, though I assume by now you are already reading Tom each day and don’t need my linkage. Nonetheless, Christmas Gift Bag#11: Giving Good Bobblehead. Turn everyone you know into a bobblehead doll.
That’s What We Need, A Nice Civilized Discussion
Feedback Time
While fixing the bug in NewMexiKen, I decided to just go ahead and redo the whole site.
{democracy:2}
Polling mechanism supplied by Diebold.
