On December 6, 1884, workers placed the 3,300 pound marble capstone on the Washington Monument, and topped it with a nine-inch pyramid of cast aluminum, completing construction of the 555-foot Egyptian obelisk.
The Library of Congress has more. That’s their photo (click to view larger version). NewMexiKen doesn’t even like being up that high on the inside.
[Update: Looking at that photo, I’m wondering where was the photographer standing? The photo is not from the completion in 1884.]
So bring us some figgy pudding
That’s a line from “We Wish You a Merry Christmas.” I know, I just heard it.
My question is, when was the last time you had a fig, let alone any figgy pudding?
The bug in NewMexiKen is back, if less troublesome than before.
I am switching back to last weekend’s look as it seemed just fine. And even got a compliment.
I will improve it as I can.
Let’s face it: Christmas is not the exclusive property of those who think God came to earth 2000 years ago as a baby in Bethlehem. I caught the Christmas bug from my parents, who were militant atheists of the Richard Dawkins ilk. I celebrated it with my first husband, the son of Jewish atheists. True, we tried Chanukah too one year, but it bombed with the kids. What’s a little Chanukah gelt compared to a floor-full of presents? My second husband, who had been inadvertently converted to atheism by the nuns at Catholic school, was the worst. We fought over whether to measure the extent of our excess by the volume of presents under the tree or their weight as determined by the bathroom scale.
Barbara Ehrenreich, who has more.
… of Dave Brubeck. Dave’s taken five for 86 years.
… of Tom Hulce. The actor who played Mozart in Amadeus is 53. (The film came out in 1984.) Hulce got an Oscar nomination for that performance. He shows up from time-to-time, but the only other role that comes to mind is Larry Kroger in Animal House.
… of Steven Wright. He’s 51.
One of America’s great lyricists, Ira Gershwin was born on this date in 1896.
Summertime
And the livin’ is easy,
Fish are jumpin’
And the cotton is high.
Oh yo’ daddy’s rich
An’ yo’ ma is good lookin’
So hush, little baby,
Don’t you cry.
[with Dubose Heyward]
*****
You’ve made my life so glamorous
You can’t blame me for feeling amorous.
Oh! ‘S wonderful! ‘S marvelous!
That you should care for me!
‘S wonderful! ‘S marvelous!
That you should care for me!
‘S awful nice! ‘S paradise!
‘S what I love to see!
*****
The way you wear your hat,
The way you sip your tea,
The mem’ry of all that —
No, no! They can’t take that away from me!
The way your smile just beams,
The way you sing off key,
The way you haunt my dreams —
No, no! They can’t take that away from me!
If you skipped an attempt at Edison’s pre-employment test when I posted it last year, here it is again.
“I look after animals, so I’d have a lot to give my kids.”
Paris Hilton who says, “It’s been my dream to have four babies by 30.”
FunctionalAmbivalent thinks a toaster that “allows you to assemble the sandwich and then toast the bread” might lead to some “cheese leakage issues.”
Thinking Tom might be on to something, NewMexiKen is considering acquiring the internet domain cheeseleakageissues.com.
Walt and Katie take a look at software for making photo books. Key finding:
In our test, MyPublisher, which runs on Mac and Windows operating systems, reigned supreme, though Apple wasn’t far behind. MyPublisher offers three book sizes, three cover materials, two ways to display a cover photo, an intuitive assembling software program and elegant layouts. Though Apple’s iPhoto books were a pleasure to make and produced some of the most artistically appealing books with 19 optional themes, iPhoto runs only on Macs, leaving out most computer users. And it doesn’t offer as much overall variety as MyPublisher.
Kodak’s books cost the same or more than those from MyPublisher and Apple, yet stood out as the most difficult to assemble and the least attractive. And because Kodak EasyShare Gallery’s book-making software lives online, it’s slower.
Debby, official younger sister of NewMexiKen, reports from her new home (since summer) near Antietam Battlefield, site of the greatest one-day loss ever of American fighting men.
Saturday night we went to the 18th Memorial Illumination at Antietam where they light a candle for every soldier who was killed, wounded, or went missing in battle there. They had over 23,000 luminaries lining the roadways and fields. It was quite a sight to behold—spread over more than 4 miles (which took an hour to drive) with row after row after row of glowing paper bags about as far apart as a man is tall. I’ve never seen anything quite like it.
Debby wasn’t able to take any photographs, but she sent two links. This site has an nice selection of photos (one of which you see above — click it for a larger version). The National Park Service has details and some photos as well.
… was born on this date in 1839.
The PBS series The West has a fair essay on his life, career and legacy.
Custer’s blunders cost him his life but gained him everlasting fame. His defeat at the Little Bighorn made the life of what would have been an obscure 19th century military figure into the subject of countless songs, books and paintings. His widow, Elizabeth Bacon Custer, did what she could to further his reputation, writing laudatory accounts of his life that portrayed him as not only a military genius but also a refined and cultivated man, a patron of the arts, and a budding statesman.
NewMexiKen is partial to this photographic legacy.
… was born on this date in 1901. At The New Yorker Anthony Lane has an assessment.
Even now, forty years after his death, the slight figure of Walt himself is almost impossible to pick out from the parti-colored throng of movie clips, projects, and moral tendencies that march under the banner of “Walt Disney.” Say the name to most people and you know what will flash onto their mind’s eye: unashamedly bright hues, flying elephants, singing bears, corporate dominance, happy endings, and a helping of values that slip down as easily as ice cream. How did we arrive at this blinding apotheosis? One attempt at an answer, the most comprehensive to date, is provided by Neil Gabler, in “Walt Disney: The Triumph of the American Imagination” (Knopf; $35). Gabler takes more than eight hundred pages to tell and note his tale, which sounds excessive, but then Disney himself was a model of unflagging thoroughness, and, as Thumper would say, if you can’t do nice annotations, then don’t do nuthin’ at all.
DECEMBER 5–A South Carolina boy, 12, was arrested Sunday morning after his mother called police to report that he had unwrapped a Christmas present without her permission. According to a Rock Hill Police Department report …, the child opened a Nintendo Game Boy, though he had been directed not to by family members. When the boy’s mother learned that the $85 gift had been opened, she called cops, who charged the juvenile with petty larceny. In an interview with The Herald newspaper, the boy’s mother, a 27-year-old single parent, described her son as a disruptive child, noting that she hoped his arrest would serve as a corrective to disorderly behavior at school and home.
“The game should be a boon to New Orleans’ ravaged economy. Not only will Irish fans descend on the city, but there’s also a decent chance they’ll be hitting the Bourbon Street bars by halftime.”
Stewart Mandel referring to the Sugar Bowl game between Notre Dame and LSU. Or, as he calls it, “the Blowout on the Bayou.”
Enough already with politics, the sins of the media elite, education in America, and the wrongs done Al Gore. Today Bob Somerby gets to the serious matters. College football!
Unlike Kevin Drum, we weren’t real surprised when Southern Cal fell to the Bruins on Saturday. Yes, the Trojans had trampled the best of the rest, beating Arkansas, Nebraska and Notre Dame by an average of 25 points. But they struggled within the potent PAC-10—they went 7-2, with several close calls—and UCLA was always capable of beating them. The real pain of this weekend’s games? Being forced to hear all that tired old pap about the SEC’s manifest greatness.
Nothing says Happy Holidays like a photo of sweet little toddlers screaming at Santa. A couple of years ago, the Chicago Tribune asked readers to send in their “Scared of Santa” photos. Those photos are included here, as well as additional photos sent in by SouthFlorida.com, Sun-Sentinel.com and Chicago Tribune readers in subsequent years. Enjoy.
Girl: So, like, I totally want this job… Should I sleep with this guy?
Friend: No, but just show a little bit more panty when you cross your legs and you should be okay.
–51st & 6th
Lincoln and Washington bobblehead dolls from the National Constitution Center store.
“Contrary to popular belief, smoking marijuana need not be a steppingstone between using alcohol and tobacco and experimenting with illegal drugs such as cocaine and heroin.”
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette in a report on a University of Pittsburgh study.
“This is actually quite novel, this idea,” Dr. Tarter said. “It runs counter to about six decades of current drug policy in the country, where we believe that if we can’t stop kids from using marijuana, then they’re going to go on and become addicts to hard drugs.”
A freakin’ Eureka moment.
iTunes is giving away James Taylor’s very stylized version of Jingle Bells this week.
On December 5, 1776, Phi Beta Kappa, America’s most prestigious undergraduate honor society, was founded at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia. Membership in the organization is based on outstanding achievement in the liberal arts and sciences and typically limited to students in the upper tenth of their graduating class.
Organized by a group of enterprising undergraduates, Phi Beta Kappa was the nation’s first Greek letter society. From 1776 to 1780, members met regularly at William and Mary to write, debate, and socialize. They also planned the organization’s expansion and established the characteristics typical of American fraternities and sororities: an oath of secrecy, a code of laws, mottoes in Greek and Latin, and an elaborate initiation ritual. When the Revolutionary War forced William and Mary to close in 1780, newly-formed chapters at Harvard and Yale directed Phi Beta Kappa’s growth and development.
Astronomy Picture of the Day has a photo, a little information and some links about the Antikythera Mechanism, the 2000-year-old mechanical computer.
… of Joan Didion and Calvin Trillin, two of America’s finest writers, both of whom have written movingly about the loss of their spouse. Didion is 72 and Trillin is 71.
Another writer born on this date is becoming a septuagenarian today. That’s James Lee Burke, author of the “Dave Robicheaux” detective novels.
The Writer’s Almanac has brief essays today about Burke, Trillin and Didion.
Richard Penniman was born 72 years ago today.
He claims to be “the architect of rock and roll,” and history would seem to bear out Little Richard’s boast. More than any other performer – save, perhaps, Elvis Presley, Little Richard blew the lid off the Fifties, laying the foundation for rock and roll with his explosive music and charismatic persona. On record, he made spine-tingling rock and roll. His frantically charged piano playing and raspy, shouted vocals on such classics as “Tutti Frutti,” “Long Tall Sally” and “Good Golly, Miss Molly” defined the dynamic sound of rock and roll. Onstage, he’d deliver wild, piano-pounding epistles while costumed in sequined vests, mascara, lipstick, and a pompadour that shook with every thundering beat. (Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum)
J.J. Cale is 68. The author of “Cocaine” and “After Midnight” has a great new album with Eric Claption.
Frankie Muniz is 21 today. Party On Malcolm.
‘Tis better to give than to receive. Charity Navigator is a well-regarded web site to consult before entrusting your gift to a charitable institution.
Charity Navigator, America’s premier independent charity evaluator, works to advance a more efficient and responsive philanthropic marketplace by evaluating the financial health of America’s largest charities.
We offer the following list as a quick reference guide to the highest and lowest-rated charity in each cause that we evaluate. In providing this list, our goal is to help you navigate the crowded charitable marketplace and make intelligent giving decisions.
[Special Note: This is post number 10,000 for NewMexiKen.
Since I began in August 2003, some posts were drafted but never published, and several were published but have since been deleted (those with nothing but broken links, for example). So, net, there are just 9,557 “live” posts at this moment.
Nonetheless, as far as the database is concerned, and as far as I am concerned, this is post 10,000.]
At Slate Chris Suellentrop takes a contrary point of view about the BCS — one I find convincing. You should read it all, but here’s a couple excerpts:
Playoff systems are designed to determine, in a fair manner, which is the single best team in a particular sport. Their purpose is not to pit the two finest teams against each other in a season-ending game. The Yankees and Red Sox do not play annually in the World Series. The Indianapolis Colts will never be given a chance to play the New England Patriots in the Super Bowl. When the two best college basketball teams in the country face off, as they routinely do, in a Final Four semifinal or even in the round of eight, does anyone think that the loser deserves a rematch?
Do we know if Florida is the second-best team in the country? Of course not. Here’s what we do know: Michigan is not the best. How do we know that? By the traditional criterion: They scored fewer points in a football game than Ohio State did. The only team that has the “right” to play in the BCS championship game is the best team, Ohio State. And the only teams that should be scratched without question are teams that have already been determined to be “not the best,” like Michigan.
