Alex Haley…

was born on this date in 1921. Haley was the author of two publishing phenomena — The Autobiography of Malcolm X (6 million copies) and Roots, which was not only a best-seller, but led to one of the most successful television series ever. Nearly half the people in the country watched the last episode in January 1977. Haley won a special Pulitizer for Roots, “the story of a black family from its origins in Africa through seven generations to the present day in America.”

NewMexiKen co-chaired a symposium at the University of California, Santa Barbara, in 1979, that included Haley. He was a very self-possessed and self-assured speaker, confident yet pleasant and informal. He spoke for some time without notes, telling the story about the story — that is, how he learned about his family. Along with the Archivist of the U.S. and Professor Wesley Johnson, I sat on the stage behind Haley as he spoke and could see the rapture on the faces of his listeners. To an audience of genealogists this was the Sermon on the Mount.

Subsequently it bothered me to learn he plagarized sections of the book and possibly fudged some of the genealogy. Clearly, that wasn’t right. Even so, the good his work did in educating both black and white America (and I include both books) was a legacy of major proportion.

Haley, who served in the U.S. Coast Guard 1939-1959, before becoming a full-time writer, died of a heart attack in 1992. The Coast Guard has named a cutter for him.

Terry Gene Bollea …

was born on this date in 1953. Who’s that, you ask?

Does 6’8″ (2.03m) help?
How about 275 pounds (124.7kg)?
Long blonde hair, but balding? Fu Man Chu mustache?

Twenty years ago NewMexiKen saw this man in the St. Louis Airport. I had no idea who he was, but knew he had to be somebody. He was huge. His shirt was artistically slit. Twelve-year-old boys were all a twitter.

I finally asked one of the boys, “So, who is that?”

He looked at me like I had just arrived from Mars.

“Hulk Hogan, of course!”

Kerry Unveils One-Point Plan for Better America

From America’s Finest News Source, The Onion —

Delivering the central speech of his 10-day “Solution For America” bus campaign tour Monday, Democratic presidential nominee Sen. John Kerry outlined his one-point plan for a better America: the removal of George W. Bush from the White House.

“If I am elected in November, no inner-city child will have to live in an America where George Bush is president,” Kerry said, addressing a packed Maize High School auditorium. “No senior citizen will lie awake at night, worrying about whether George Bush is still the chief executive of this country. And no American—regardless of gender, regardless of class, regardless of race—will be represented by George Bush in the world community.”

Subversive, hot-rod styling

Dan Neil on the prototypical Dodge Magnum RT consumer —

Killer was wearing a bowling shirt and baggy shorts, several earrings and a couple of ounces of high-quality tattoo ink swirling around his calves, forearms and neck — flaming dice, crossed pistols, hearts and death’s heads, Bettie Page in fishnets. You know, the illustrated psychobilly.

Killer explained that he and his wife — huh? — had been trying to find a Dodge Magnum RT in Los Angeles because they had a 2-year-old daughter — wha?! — and they needed a family car. None of the local dealers had the RT edition — with the 340-horsepower Hemi V8 — and he was thinking of driving to Las Vegas to find one.

“Aw, man,” Killer said, “that thing is just so money!”

It occurred to me as I closed the door and put down my can of “Welcome Mace” that Killer was the Magnum’s ideal demographic: a middle-finger-waving anti-establishmentarian, bad-beer connoisseur, breeder.

Sometime between being hip and breaking a hip, even kool kats need a family car.

Bad Checks Spell Trouble for Forger

Apparently this bad check artist attended the alternative school mentioned below. The cashier checks he used to buy two Escalades misspelled the name of the bank.

Of course, the geniuses at the Cadillac dealers didn’t notice until the checks bounced.

Story, and copy of one of the checks, from The Smoking Gun.

More on the phony school

Monday NewMexiKen posted an item on an alternative school that is apparently bilking students and not even providing them with accurate learning materials. The Smoking Gun has the workbook and has highlighted the errors, beginning with instructions to read “Death of a Traveling Salesman” and a list of the four branches of government. (Gee, and my Congressperson thinks there are only two branches.)

National Museum of the American Indian…

opens on the Mall in Washington September 21st.

NMAIArt.jpg

Set against the dramatic backdrop of the U.S. Capitol building on the National Mall, the museum’s location symbolizes a deeper understanding and reconciliation between America’s first citizens and those who have come to make these shores their home. The opening of NMAI on the National Mall marks an unprecedented cultural achievement as Native Americans from North, Central, and South America realize a long-awaited dream to share and honor their vibrant cultures with visitors from throughout the world.

Learn about NMAI, a part of the Smithsonian Institution.

Showers predicted

Meteor showers that is — Wednesday night and Thursday morning in North America. From NASA:

The best time to look for these “traditional Perseids” is during the hours before dawn on Thursday, August 12th. Set your alarm for 2 o’clock in the morning; go outside; lie down on a sleeping bag with your toes pointed northeast. You’ll soon see meteors racing along the Milky Way.

Can’t wake up at 2 a.m.?

Try looking around 9 or 10 p.m. on Wednesday, Aug. 11th when Perseus is hanging low in the eastern sky. You won’t see many meteors then, but the ones you do see could be memorable. Shooting stars that emerge from the horizon and streak horizontally through the atmosphere are called “Earthgrazers.” Slow and colorful Earthgrazers are a good target for city dwellers, because they are so bright.

Which corner?

“First Lady Laura Bush said that people shouldn’t be saying that the benefits from stem cell research are ‘right around the corner’ because it gives people false hope. Then later her husband said that the economic recovery is ‘right around the corner.'”

Jay Leno

Herbert Clark Hoover…

was born on this date in 1874. Mr. Hoover, who was the 31st President of the United States, lived until 1964. Among the presidents, only Reagan, Ford and the first Adams have lived longer.

Born in Iowa, orphaned at nine, Hoover grew up in Oregon. He was in the first class at Stanford University, graduating as a mining engineer. Hoover earned millions in mining before turning his attention to public service. He was instrumental in relief and humanitarian efforts during and after World War I. He was Secretary of Commerce under Presidents Harding and Coolidge. Hoover, the Republican, defeated Al Smith, the Democrat, handily in the 1928 election with 58% of the popular vote.

President at the time of the stock market crash and subsequent depression, Hoover believed that, while people should not suffer, assistance should be primarily a local and voluntary responsibility. Even so, he supported some measures to aid businesses and farmers; indeed, among his party he was moderate. But he was simply not bold enough to meet the crisis.

Hoover lost to Franklin Roosevelt in 1932, 57.3% to 39.6% of the popular vote, 472-59 in the electoral vote.

Copyrighting the President

NBC is refusing rights for documentary film producer Robert Greenwald to use a clip from President Bush’s appearance on Meet the Press where he defends his decision to go to war. The clip, according to NBC in refusing permssion, is “not very flattering to the president.”

Lawrence Lessig discusses the ins and outs of the issue at Wired News.

Veronica Bennett …

was born on this date in 1943. That’s Ronnie Spector, one-time Mrs. Phil Spector (1968-1974), and lead singer of The Ronettes (with her sister and cousin). Hits included Be My Baby and Walkin’ in the Rain.

“I like to look the way Ronnie Spector sounds: sexy, hungry, totally trashy. I admire her tonal quality.” — Madonna, quoted at RonnieSpector.com.

Bobby Hatfield…

was born on this date in 1940. When Hatfield died last November NewMexiKen posted this:

The Righteous Brothers — blue-eyed soul. No one believed they were white. The name had something to do with that, but it was the sound that fooled everyone.

Bobby Hatfield had the higher voice; Bill Medley the lower. In the book accompanying the Phil Spector compilation, Back to Mono, songwriter Cynthia Weil recalls that:

After Phil, Barry [co-writer Barry Mann] and I finished the song, we took it over to The Righteous Brothers. Bill Medley, who has the low voice, seemed to like the song. I remember Bobby Hatfield saying, “But what do I do while he’s singing the whole first verse?” and Phil said, “You can go directly to the bank!”

On AM radio in those days deejays didn’t like songs that lasted more than three minutes. Lovin’ Feelin’ is 3:46. On the label Spector printed 3:05. It was number one for two weeks in February 1965.

The Righteous Brothers had four other top five hits. Unchained Melody made it to number four; Ebb Tide to five. [You’re My] Soul and Inspiration was number one for three weeks in 1966. In 1974 Rock and Roll Heaven got to number three.

Bear with me

From the Casper Star-Tribune:

While residents often grumble that the billionaires are running the millionaires out of scenic northwestern Wyoming, the animal kingdom has a similar scenario taking shape in the area:

The grizzlies are pushing the black bears out of the wild — and closer to humans.

At least, that is the theory of two wildlife biologists who were asked to explain the recent rise in human-black bear conflicts in that part of the state.

Steve Cain, wildlife biologist with Grand Teton National Park, and Eric Shorma, bear management officer with the Wyoming Game and Fish Department, said the expanding grizzly bear population may be causing black bears to seek different turf to call their own.

“It could be the changes in bear populations themselves are forcing others into more developed areas,” Cain said Friday. “We have had several good years of good grizzly bear cub production. It makes sense that as grizzlies expand, some black bears may be looking for new places to live. Often, those places become the less desirable ones to live, like roadsides and developed places.”

The article continues.

It’s Prozac time

From BBC News:

Traces of the antidepressant Prozac can be found in the nation’s [Britain’s] drinking water, it has been revealed.

Apparently the English are thinking about doing something about it but no one is getting very worked up.

NewMexiKen is thinking this might be a good time to start a new product — The Queen’s Water, direct from England. Maybe we could get an endorsement from Norah Jones.

Nights with a heavenly view

From Laura Bly in USA Today:

Chaco Culture National Historical Park, N.M. — Several years ago, a woman approached the visitors center desk at this remote Southwestern outpost, eager to report that she had spotted something remarkable the evening before.

Bracing for another overwrought tale of alien UFOs, park ranger and amateur astronomer G.B. Cornucopia listened politely as the bedazzled tourist described a “lane of white powder” spanning the heavens above her campsite.

“It was my great joy,” Cornucopia says, “to tell her that for the first time in her life she had actually seen the Milky Way.”

*****

One of the best-known portals to New Mexico’s nighttime marvels is Chaco Canyon, eerie, windswept desert ruins about midway between Grants and Farmington (or the proverbial Middle of Nowhere).

Chaco began offering astronomy programs in 1991 and opened its own observatory — the only one in a national park — seven years later. Park managers have designated Chaco’s night sky a critical resource in need of protection, and they have retrofitted all park lighting to enhance after-dark viewing and reduce light pollution from cities as far afield as Albuquerque, about 150 miles to the southeast.

Today, about 14,000 self-sufficient visitors a year come to gaze and graze on ancient tales.

Link via Ah, Wilderness!

NewMexiKen visited Chaco last autumn and posted some photos.

Best line of the day, so far

“Have you noticed how the Republicans and Democrats try to copy each other at their conventions. Like at the Democratic convention John Kerry’s daughter told a story about how he once gave CPR to her hamster. At the Republican convention the Bush girls are going to tell a story about how when their hamster was bad, their dad built them a little electric chair.”

Jay Leno