… was proclaimed a national monument on this date 98 years ago. It was redisignated a national historical park in 1990.
Tumacácori NHP protects three Spanish colonial mission ruins in southern Arizona: Tumacácori, Guevavi, and Calabazas. The adobe structures are on three sites, with a visitor center at Tumacácori. These missions are among more than twenty established in the Pimería Alta by Father Kino and other Jesuits, and later expanded upon by Franciscan missionaries.
This was sent along by Emily, official younger daughter of NewMexiKen. It’s from a colleague of hers.
Two years ago Jacob was a typical 3-year-old. But in mid-August 2004, everything changed. I noticed that he was drinking a lot of water. He would beg to go outside to play with the hose. Rather than splashing around like most 3-year-olds, he would just suck down all the water he could. He started having multiple “accidents” every night where he could easily flood the bed three times in one night. Despite a HUGE appetite, Jacob started to lose weight. The final weekend before diagnosis he stopped eating, lost all energy, and threw up twice. He was in ketoacidosis—a life threatening complication of very high blood sugar. His blood sugar was not able to get to his body cells as needed so instead his body had to use many, many of his fat cells. When fat cells get destroyed rapidly they can leave an acidic buildup of ketones.
I took Jacob to the doctor, and she immediately sent him to the emergency room. When they tested his blood sugar, his level was so high that it was beyond what the meter could read. He was in PICU for two full days. At one point he was at risk of brain damage, but that was avoided.
By the third day in the hospital, Jacob was in a regular room and it was time for the education to begin. He had to take a shot at every meal plus one extra at dinner. I was taught how to count the carbohydrates in his food, how to give him his four shots a days, how to poke his little fingers 4–10 or more times a day, how to balance the food he eats with his insulin and activity, and how to give a big shot of Glucagon to save his life in case of severe low blood sugar. He handled things very well, but it was very hard to see that he was having nightmares about the shots. He knew the shots would be four times a day, every day. He learned that there is no cure. This is a lot for a little guy to have to deal with. On the fifth day we went home, and I was to somehow keep everything balanced for him—something that used to be the job of his pancreas.
Jacob is now on an insulin pump. Every 2–3 days, I insert a little tube into his hip, stomach, or leg for the insulin to be transferred from his pump to his body. Sometimes I miss the numbing cream and the infusion site hurts for a while. He must wear this pump every day and night. He now has the flexibility to eat almost like any other five-year-old, but sometimes things still go wrong and we must deal with high or low blood sugar. Jacob cannot just run into a sprinkler or go into a pool without me first taking off his pump. I must then test frequently to adjust for the pump not giving insulin while he is in the water.
Now that he is in kindergarten, there is the added challenge of keeping him healthy while finding ways to not let his diabetes get in the way of his school experience. On a good day, he must go to the nurse three times a day. On days that his blood sugars refuse to stay in range despite my best efforts, he finds himself in the nurse’s office more often and for longer periods of time. He should be listening to stories, participating in circle time, and enjoying recess. He should not have to spend time every day going to and from the nurse. But, until there is a cure, this will remain a part of his school experience.
If you’d like to donate to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, you can do so online. If you would like to support Jacob, go to Support a Walker in the lower right-hand corner and search under Team Name for “Jacob’s Space Walkers.”
California joins Connecticut, New Jersey and the District of Columbia.
Under the law, which will take effect in July 2008, Californians risk a minimum $20 fine for driving while yakking into a phone — unless they are using a headset, speaker phone, ear bud or some other technology that frees both hands while they talk. Drivers in emergency situations would be exempt.
… of Jackie Cooper; he’s 84. Cooper’s first appearance in film was in 1929; his last 60 years later. He played Perry White in the Superman films but his real fame was as a child actor, most notably Jim Hawkins in Treasure Island (1934). He was nominated for the best actor Oscar for Skippy in 1931. This is the role where the director got him to cry on camera by telling Jackie (falsely) that his dog had just been run over by a car.
… of Tommy Lee Jones. He’s 60. Jones has been nominated for the Best Supporting Actor twice, winning for The Fugitive, but not for JFK. NewMexiKen thought he was best in The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada. Jones and Harvard roommate Al Gore were the inspiration for Oliver Barrett IV in Erich Segal’s best-seller Love Story.
… of Oliver Stone, also 60. Stone has been nominated for seven Oscars and won three — he won for writing for Midnight Express and for best director for Platoon and Born on the Fourth of July.
And humorist Robert Benchley was born on this date in 1889. Last year The Writer’s Almanac wrote:
He started writing humor as a kid in school. Assigned to write an essay about how to do something practical, he wrote one called “How to Embalm a Corpse.” When he was assigned to write about the dispute over Newfoundland fishing rights from the point of view of the United States and Canada, he instead chose to write from the point of view of the fish.
He’s the grandfather of Peter Benchley, author of Jaws.
… was born on this date in 1890. The Writer’s Almanac has this (and more):
During World War I, she was working as a Red Cross nurse, and she started reading detective novels because, she said, “I found they were excellent to take one’s mind off one’s worries.” She grew frustrated with how easy it was to guess the murderer in most mysteries, and she decided to try to write her own. That book was The Mysterious Affair at Styles (1920) about a series of murders at a Red Cross hospital.
Christie’s first few books were moderately successful, and then her novel The Murder of Roger Ackroyd came out in 1926. That same year, Christie fled her own home after a fight with her husband, and she went missing for 10 days. There was a nationwide search, and the press covered the disappearance as though it were a mystery novel come to life, inventing scenarios and speculating on the possible murder suspects, until finally Christie turned up in a hotel, suffering from amnesia. During the period of her disappearance, the reprints of her earlier books sold out of stock and two newspapers began serializing her stories. She became a household name and a best-selling author for the rest of her life.
… was designated a national historical site on this date in 1951. It was redesignated a national monument in 1958.
For over 400 years Ojibwe families of Grand Portage have tapped maples every spring on a ridge located just off Lake Superior. During the summer, Ojibwe fishermen harvest in the same areas their forefathers have. Before the United States and Canada existed, the trading of furs, ideas and genes between the Ojibwe and French and English fur traders flourished. From 1778 until 1802, welcomed by the Grand Portage Ojibwe, the North West Company located their headquarters and western supply depot here for business and a summer rendezvous. Today, Grand Portage National Monument and Indian Reservation form a bridge between people, time and culture.
“Rocket scientists, long considered the gold standard in intelligence among all professionals, are not nearly as smart as originally thought, according to a controversial new study published today by the American Association of Brain Surgeons.”
“The heightened security restrictions on the airlines in August made the journey back from New York interesting, as I refused to be parted from the manuscript of book seven (a large part of it is handwritten, and there was no copy of anything I had done while in the US). They let me take it on, thankfully, bound up in elastic bands. I don’t know what I would have done if they hadn’t; sailed home, probably.”
The beginning of an article in The Washington Post:
ALIR JEGK, Ariz. — Elsie Salsido was breast-feeding her baby when Border Patrol agents walked into her house unannounced this summer. “Are you Mexicans?” they demanded.
Salsido’s four other children cowered on the bed of her eldest, a girl in second grade. Night had fallen on this village on Arizona’s border with Mexico, nestled in a scrubland valley of stickman cactuses hemmed in by mountains that look like busted teeth. The agents explained their warrantless entry into Salsido’s house as “hot pursuit.” They said they were chasing footprints, she recalled, of illegal immigrants sneaking in from Mexico, just 1,000 feet away. But the footprints belonged to Salsido’s children — all Americans.
As the United States ramps up its law enforcement presence on the border with Mexico, places like Alir Jegk, a village of 50 families in south-central Arizona, are enduring heightened danger, as they are squeezed between increasingly aggressive bands of immigrant and drug smugglers and increasingly numerous federal agents who, critics say, often ignore regulations as they seek to enforce the law.
Alir Jegk’s experience is complicated by the fact that it is on the second-biggest Indian reservation in the United States, belonging to the Tohono O’odham, or Desert People, who hunted deer and boar and harvested wild spinach and prickly pear in this region before an international border was etched through their land in 1853. Now, the Tohono O’odham Nation occupies the front line of the fight against drug and immigrant smuggling — costing the poverty-stricken tribe millions of dollars a year and threatening what remains of its traditions.
Continue reading from The Washington Post.
“Last week the NFL on NBC was the highest rated program. You know what this means — next we’ll have NFL: Criminal Intent and NFL: Special Victims Unit.”
— Jay Leno
NewMexiKen installed Windows Vista (Release Candidate 1) today on my Toshiba laptop. A release candidate means the software is out of beta testing and almost ready for prime time. Microsoft is reportedly giving away 5 million free copies — they will expire next June 1. I plan to replace the Toshiba with a new Apple laptop by then, so I figured what the hell.1 See Microsoft’s caveat below.
For reference, my laptop PC is a 2.0 GHz Pentium 4 with 512 MB of RAM and a 60 GB hard drive. Vista would like 1 GB of RAM and likes a fancier graphics card than I have, but will run satisfactorily Microsoft says. We’ll see.
Downloading the 2.52 GB file took quite awhile (sorry, I didn’t time it) — maybe two hours. It then had to be burned to an install DVD.
The install program gave me a choice. I chose the upgrade installation, rather than a clean install because I did not want to reload other programs and files. The install was very straightforward and required very little action on my part (entering the 25-character code being about the most difficult). Copying the files from the DVD to the hard drive, however, took a few hours. That seemed strange and I do not know what might have caused it. Possibly there was something peculiar about the DVD I created (I doubt it) or my Toshiba laptop was just slow (possibly). Once the files were installed, “completing upgrade” also took some time — more than I would expect, or than the public will like (90 minutes ±).
First impressions: NewMexiKen will write more as I learn more, but so far, other than the slow install, so good. A cold boot takes just less than two minutes, which is a little faster than with XP. Programs seem to load faster and close faster. The interface is very pretty (I’ve always thought Microsoft made things look pretty.) Security needs seem more obvious to the user. My touch pad did not work [fixed with updated driver] (but a Microsoft USB mouse did). No files were lost.
As I said, more when I know more.
1 If I want to continue using the Toshiba laptop after next June I’ll need to buy and install Vista, or reinstall Windows XP from scratch.
Microsoft’s caveat:
Note: This is beta code and should not be used in a production environment or on a primary computer in the home. RC1 is intended for developers, IT professionals, and technology experts to continue or begin their testing of Windows Vista. Before you decide to use RC1, you should feel comfortable with installing operating systems, updating drivers, and general PC troubleshooting. Some risks of using beta operating systems include hardware and software incompatibility and system instability. If you have concerns about installing this beta software on your computer, we encourage you to obtain the final release version of Windows Vista when it is available in 2007.
Female tourist: I don’t get it. This isn’t a square, it’s like… triangular.
Male tourist: No, no, they just call it that because… well… it’s like… a square… a square of people. I don’t know, it has something to do with algebra.
— Times Square
A friend sent NewMexiKen this amazing story:
I was in Wal-Mart buying a large bag of Purina for my Labrador Retriever and was in line to check out.
A woman behind me asked if I had a dog.
On impulse, I told her that no, I was starting The Purina Diet again, although I probably shouldn’t because I’d ended up in the hospital last time, but that I’d lost 50 pounds before I awakened in an intensive care ward with tubes coming out of most of my orifices and IVs in both arms. I told her that it was essentially a perfect diet and that the way that it works is to load your pants pockets with Purina nuggets and simply eat one or two every time you feel hungry & that the food is nutritionally complete so I was going to try it again.
I have to mention here that practically everyone in the line was by now enthralled with my story, particularly a tall guy behind her.
Horrified, she asked if I’d been poisoned and was that why I was in the hospital.
I said no … I’d been sitting in the street licking my balls and a car hit me.
NewMexiKen is reading Mark Katz’s Capturing Sound: How Technology Has Changed Music. It’s a well-regarded book that I am finding interesting, though actually I was looking more for a history of the early recorded music business. Katz’s interest is mostly from the musicologist point of view.
Still, some interesting stuff.
One of the most basic manipulations is splicing, in which passages recorded at different times are joined together. The Beatles’ “Strawberry Fields Forever” (1967) provides a famous example. The Beatles did over two dozen takes of the song, none of which completely satisfied John Lennon. But he did like the first half of Take 7 and the second half of Take 26. So he asked George Martin, their producer, to put the two together. Unfortunately, they were in different keys and tempos. The two takes, however, were related in such a way that when one was sped up and the other slowed down so that the tempos matched, the pitches also matched. Thus the two takes could be joined, the splice occurring at about 0:59 on the word going in “Let me take you down ’cause I’m going to Strawberry Fields.” Although the splice is nearly undetectable, the slightly altered speed of Lennon’s voice helps give the song its distinctively dreamlike quality.
Another passage notes the impact of the Depression and free radio on the phonograph business:
“In 1927, 104 million discs and 987,000 machines were sold; by 1932, the numbers had plummeted to 6 million and 40,000.”
Maybe our present day music industry should quit its whining.
As NewMexiKen had noticed, there are some inconsistencies, dare I say bugs, in the iTunes 7 Cover Art feature.
For myself, I have imported a couple of CDs this week and added the art the old-fashioned way — by going to Amazon or All Music and dragging the art to each track.
I see iTunes 7.1 in our future.
Update: A Report on iTunes Bugs
This video is strangely fascinating.
Link via Yee-haw.
… was formed on this date in 1950 by combining the much smaller national park established in 1929 (which included just the Tetons and the lakes) and the Jackson Hole National Monument established in 1943. Today the park includes nearly 310,000 acres.
Located in northwestern Wyoming, Grand Teton National Park protects stunning mountain scenery and a diverse array of wildlife. The central feature of the park is the Teton Range — an active, fault-block, 40-mile-long mountain front. The range includes eight peaks over 12,000 feet (3,658 m), including the Grand Teton at 13,770 feet (4,198 m). Seven morainal lakes run along the base of the range, and more than 100 alpine lakes can be found in the backcountry.
Elk, moose, pronghorn, mule deer, and bison are commonly seen in the park. Black bears are common in forested areas, while grizzlies are occasionally observed in the northern part of the park. More than 300 species of birds can be observed, including bald eagles and peregrine falcons.
Illinois has laid down the law for five-year-olds:
“The 172 new ‘benchmarks,’ or skills, cover language arts, math, science, social science, physical development and health, fine arts, foreign language and social/emotional development.”
Read all about Illinois kindergarten standards from the Chicago Sun-Times. Some examples:
LANGUAGE ARTS
• Read one-syllable and high-frequency words
• Explain past events with accurate detailMATH
• Estimate numbers of objects in a set
• Represent data using concrete objects, pictures and graphsSCIENCE
• Understand the purpose of recycling
• Describe the effects of forces in natureSOCIAL SCIENCE
• Participate in voting as a way of making choices
• Understand that each of us belongs to a family and recognize that families varySOCIAL/EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT
• Demonstrate control of impulsive behavior
• Describe positive qualities of others
Beyoncé’s album B’Day is number one this week, relegating Bob Dylan to number three after one week at the top. Audioslave’s Revelations is second. Albums have a tendency these days, like movies, to get a big push when they are released, then settle into their run, however long it might be. Both the Beyoncé and Audioslave album were released just last week, as Dylan’s was the week before it became number one.
Justin Timberlake’s SexyBack is in its third week as the number one track. His album is expected to be number one next week.
An article in today’s New York Times suggests Mr. Dylan’s lyrics are derivative.
Perhaps you’ve never heard of Henry Timrod, sometimes known as the poet laureate of the Confederacy.
But maybe you’ve heard his words, if you’re one of the 320,000 people so far who have bought Bob Dylan’s latest album, “Modern Times,” which made its debut last week at No. 1 on the Billboard album chart.
It seems that many of the lyrics on that album, Mr. Dylan’s first No. 1 album in 30 years (down to No. 3 this week), bear some strong echoes to the poems of Timrod, a Charleston native who wrote poems about the Civil War and died in 1867 at the age of 39.
It seems to me that all lyrics are derivative. All writing, in fact, is derivative. If it weren’t for the Bible, Shakespeare would have been short many a phrase. Some disagree:
That’s exactly what bothers Chris Dineen, a middle school Spanish teacher and casual fan of Mr. Dylan’s in Albuquerque. “It seems kind of duplicitous,” he said. “Even casual fans know that Dylan has a history of doing this and it’s part of what makes him great, but this is different. This is one poet who’s used over and over and over again.”
Mr. Dineen said he would have been happy if Mr. Dylan had just given Timrod credit for the lines. “Maybe it’s the teacher in me. If I found out that he had done this in a research paper, he’d be in big trouble.”
Bill Richardson has a new television commercial for his run to be reelected governor of New Mexico. Something a little lot different.
NewMexiKen thinks politicians should be required to run on their own record or positions. And they shouldn’t be permitted to run ads discussing their opponents, freedom of speech notwithstanding. Cut out the negativity I say.
Richardson is certainly running on his own record here. But has he trivialized the issues?
I think it’s fun, it’s positive and it doesn’t trivialize the issues any more than any other 30 second ad. What do you think?
Link via Steve Terrell.
NewMexiKen thought this was curious, though it makes sense once you think about it.
In the early decades of the 20th century when recorded music first became available, it was considered unusual or strange for a person to listen to music during the day or while alone.
Previously, of course, music was a social event requiring performers and an audience. For the first time in human existence, recorded music made it possible for an individual to hear music while alone without playing it his or herself.
It was another 50 years before the transistor radio, Walkman and iPod made it possible for listening to become a truly private experience.
(Commercial music recording began in 1889. Victor’s recordings of Enrico Caruso in 1902 are considered the first musically satisfactory recordings.)
A venti — or 20-ounce — Caffé Mocha with whipped cream has 490 calories, equivalent to a Quarter Pounder with cheese. And a 24-ounce Java Chip Frappuccino with whipped cream has 650 calories, not to mention almost an entire day’s allowance of saturated fat.
According to the center, a nutritional advocacy group, the Frappuccino is equivalent in calories to a McDonald’s coffee plus 11 of their creamers and 29 packets of sugar.
For those not in the know, ‘Tall’ is Starbuckian for small.
Jill reports:
“The school sent home a letter today that we are not to send in snacks for our child that may have been made in a factory where anything including nuts is made.”
NewMexiKen understands the need to protect children from allergies, but is the nut problem that severe? I don’t mean to sound insensitive, but I don’t remember classmates dropping in the lunchroom while we all ate PB&J day-after-day when I was kid.
I asked Jill what she would do if one of her boys had an allergy. She replied:
If my child had a peanut allergy, I would teach them from the age of six months never to accept food from other people. I would ask the teacher to remind the class of this rule and to “police” snack sharing. I would request that children not be allowed to bring peanut butter or peanuts into the classroom. I would provide special snacks/treats that were safe for my child to have when the other children were having something potentially unsafe. I would provide my child with an epi-pen.
I would NOT expect 1,000 people to basically act as if all of their children had a peanut allergy.
Opinion anyone?
American Airlines is prepared to pull its advertising from ABC in order to protest its portrayal in the network’s recently aired movie The Path to 9/11, according to a source. The carrier also said it is considering legal action against the network.
…The airline spends $25 million annually on broadcast TV ads; it could not immediately determined how much is spent on ABC, but according to one source, “It’s extensive.”
— ADWeek
American should quit flying to Orlando for a while, too.
The University of Northern Colorado’s reserve punter was arrested Tuesday, accused of stabbing his rival in his kicking leg.
Mitch Cozad, a sophomore from Wheatland, Wyo., allegedly attacked starting punter Rafael Mendoza in a parking lot in Evans on Monday night, Evans police Lt. Gary Kessler said.
— SI.com
