Bastards

From CNN:

California has joined other states in acting against a private school that claimed to award high school diplomas while teaching its immigrant students a curriculum riddled with errors, including the wrong years for World War II and the wrong number of states.

The California Alternative High School in Los Angeles targeted Hispanic immigrants, charging $450 to $1,450 for a 10-week course it said would lead to a valid diploma and help them get into college, find better jobs and get financial aid, California Attorney General Bill Lockyer said last week.

But the school’s certificate isn’t recognized as a high school diploma, Lockyer said, and school officials ignored a previous court order that banned them from telling consumers it was.

Lockyer said the curriculum consisted of a slim workbook riddled with errors, including:

  • The United States has 53 states but the “flag has not yet been updated to reflect the addition of the last three states” — Hawaii, Alaska and Puerto Rico.
  • World War II began in 1938 and ended in 1942.
  • There are two houses of Congress — the Senate and the House, and “one is for Democrats and the other is for the Republicans, respectively.”

Link via Political Animal.

Hope is on the way

From The Albuquerque Tribune

Outside the window [of Kerry’s train]. Out on the fringes.

There were old ladies standing in 90-degree heat for a 90-second glimpse of Kerry’s train. A little girl dressed like “Star Wars'” Princess Leia, holding a sign for “Obi Won John Kerry.” Mud-splattered trucks on parallel streets speeding up and slowing down to keep pace as a 21st-century presidential campaign used 19th-century technology to reach its audience.

The second nuclear bomb…

was dropped on Nagasaki, Japan, on this date in 1945. The BBC provides some facts (the first two are as reported at the time of the bombing):

The bomb was dropped by parachute from an American B29 Bomber at 1102 local time.

It exploded about 1,625 ft (500m) above the ground and is believed to have completely destroyed the city, which is situated on the western side of the Japanese island of Kyushu.

About 30% of Nagasaki, including almost all the industrial district was destroyed by the bomb and nearly 150,000 people were killed or injured.

The bomb, nick-named “Fat Man” in a reference to Winston Churchill, measured just under 3.5m (11ft 4in) in length, had the power of 22 kilotons of TNT and weighed 4,050kg (9,000lbs).

Residents of both cities are still suffering the physical and mental consequences of radiation to this day.

On 14 August Japan surrendered to the Allies.

Sideline Chatter

From The Seattle Times‘ Dwight Perry —

Michael Ventre of MSNBC, on Lakers draft pick Marcus Douthit being charged in an identity-theft and embezzlement scam: “On the plus side, the development gives the club some depth at defendant.”

*****

George O’Leary, the Central Florida football coach, told reporters about a conversation he had with one of his punters, who was continuously shanking kicks during spring practice:

Coach: “Are you on scholarship?”

Punter: “Yes, but I get real nervous when you’re around.”

Coach: “Well, son, I intend on being at all the games.”

*****

Anna Benson, the wife of new Mets pitcher Kris Benson, has gone on record as saying she wants to make love with her husband in every city his team visits, the New York Post reported.

“In a related story,” wrote Cam Hutchinson of the Saskatoon StarPhoenix, “Kris Benson has asked for a trade to the Harlem Globetrotters.”

It’s also the birthday

… of Robert Shaw, born on this date in 1927. Shaw was Doyle Lonegan in The Sting and Captain Quint in Jaws. He was nominated for the Best Actor in a Supporting Role for his portrayal of Henry VIII in A Man for All Seasons. A favorite of NewMexiKen is his work as Mr. Blue in The Taking of Pelham One Two Three. Shaw died in 1978.

… of Sam Elliott, born on this date in 1944. Elliott just looks like a cowboy, or the image we think of when we think of cowboy. NewMexiKen liked him best as General John Buford in Gettysburg and he was good in The Contender.

Standin’ on a corner in Winslow, Arizona
and such a fine sight to see

From the East Valley Tribune:

Kerry was riding the 16-car train that he boarded in St. Louis. The train includes a car used by former President Harry Truman during his 1948 whistle-stop campaign for the presidency. Kerry was originally supposed to slow down to wave at supporters in Winslow, but with a huge crowd at the train station, he decided to make a brief stop. Kerry said he saw a sign that read, “Give us eight minutes and we’ll give you eight years.”

“Just for an insurance policy, I gave them 15 or 20,” he said.

Link via Atrios.

Capulin Volcano National Monument…

was authorized on this date in 1916. The monument is located in northeastern New Mexico.

Mammoths, giant bison, and short-faced bears were witness to the first tremblings of the earth and firework-like explosions of molten rock thousands of feet into the air. Approximately 60,000 years ago, the rain of cooling cinders and four lava flows formed Capulin Volcano, a nearly perfectly-shaped cinder cone, rising more than 1000 feet above the surrounding landscape. Although long extinct, Capulin Volcano is dramatic evidence of the volcanic processes that shaped northeastern New Mexico. Today the pine forested volcano provide habitat for mule deer, wild turkey, and black bear.

Souce: Capulin Volcano National Monument

Lassen Volcanic National Park…

was authorized on this date in 1916.

Lassen.jpg

Beneath Lassen Volcanic’s peaceful forests and gem-like lakes lies evidence of a turbulent and fiery past. 600,000 years ago, the collision and warping of continental plates led to violent eruptions and the formation of lofty Mt. Tehama (also called Brokeoff Volcano.) After 200,000 years of volcanic activity, vents and smaller volcanoes on Tehama’s flanks-including Lassen Peak-drew magma away from the main cone. Hydrothermal areas ate away at the great mountain’s bulk. Beneath the onslaught of Ice Age glaciers, Mt. Tehama crumbled and finally ceased to exist. But the volcanic landscape lived on: in 1914, Lassen Peak awoke. The Peak had its most significant activity in 1915 and minor activity through 1921. Lassen Volcanic became a national park in 1916 because of its significance as an active volcanic landscape.

All four types of volcanoes in the world are found in the park.

Source: Lassen Volcanic National Park

Jesse Owens…

won the fourth of his four Olympic gold medals on this date in 1936. In Berlin, Owens won gold for the 100 meters, 200 meters, long jump and — on August 9 — the leadoff leg of the 400 meter relay (a world record that lasted for 20 years).

It’s the birthday

… of Bob Cousy, basketball hall-of-famer, born on this date in 1928.

… of Rod Laver, tennis hall-of-famer, born on this date in 1938.

… of Ken Norton, boxing hall-of-famer, born on this date in 1943.

… of Brett Hull, future hockey hall-of-famer, born on this date in 1964.

… of Deion Sanders, future football hall-of-famer, born on this date in 1967.

The Creek War…

ended on this date in 1814, when Major General Andrew Jackson signed the Treaty of Fort Jackson. According to the Library of Congress:

The agreement provided for the surrender of twenty-three million acres of Creek land to the United States. This vast territory encompassed more than half of present-day Alabama and part of southern Georgia.

The war began on August 30, 1813, when a faction of Creeks known as the Red Sticks attacked a contingent of 553 American settlers at Lake Tensaw, Alabama, north of Mobile. In response, Jackson led 5,000 militiamen in the destruction of two Creek villages, Tallasahatchee and Talladega.

On March 27, 1814, Jackson’s forces destroyed the Creek defenses at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend. Eight hundred Creek warriors were killed and 500 women and children captured.

Atrios is on to something

Atrios is on to something that NewMexiKen has been saying for a couple weeks — it’s not going to be that close.

There are moments of disconnect, when the reality on the ground diverges sufficiently from the media spin that people start realizing something’s up.

The sheer size of the crowds attending Kerry/Edwards rallies are impressive. Something’s happening here.

There’s something we used to hear a lot — that incumbents with under 50% approval ratings are in deep deep trouble. We haven’t heard it much since Bush dropped below 50.

In national polls, Kerry is almost always ahead. In electoral vote analysis, Kerry has consistently been ahead.

…. but they [the press] do seem to be doing a pretty good job of not mentioning the obvious — right now, Kerry’s ahead, and that isn’t good news for that other guy.

The Physical Genius

What do Wayne Gretzky, Yo-Yo Ma, and a brain surgeon have in common? Malcolm Gladwell tells us in a truly remarkable article published in The New Yorker in 1999. Three excerpts:

Wayne Gretzky, in a 1981 game against the St. Louis Blues, stood behind the St. Louis goal, laid the puck across the blade of his stick, then bounced it off the back of the goalie in front of him and into the net. Gretzky’s genius at that moment lay in seeing a scoring possibility where no one had seen one before. “People talk about skating, puck-handling, and shooting,” Gretzky told an interviewer some years later, “but the whole sport is angles and caroms, forgetting the straight direction the puck is going, calculating where it will be diverted, factoring in all the interruptions.”

*****

On his days in the operating room, at the height of his career, [neurosurgeon Charlie] Wilson would run his morning ten or twelve miles, conduct medical rounds, operate steadily until six or seven in the evening, and, in between, see patients, attend meetings, and work on what now totals six hundred academic articles.

*****

The most successful performers improvise. They create, in [Yo-Yo] Ma’s words, “something living.” Ma says he spends ninety per cent of his time “looking at the score, figuring it out–who’s saying this, who wrote this and why,” letting his mind wander, and only ten per cent on the instrument itself. Like [Michael] Jordan, his genius originates principally in his imagination. If he spent less time dreaming and more time playing, he would be Karl Malone.

Link via Baseball Musings.

Oops!

Another in a series of occasional household tips based on NewMexiKen’s personal experience:

When making coffee with an automatic coffee-maker, always remember to place the carafe in the coffee-maker before starting to make coffee.

Springsteen — his music has been so non-political until now

TBogg on Springsteen and politics:

“I really appreciate his music, but I wish he wouldn’t interject his music with politics,” said [Republican Governor Tim] Pawlenty, co-chairman of Bush’s re-election campaign in Minnesota.

Where do I start?

American Skin (41 Shots)
Balboa Park
Brothers Under the Bridge
Born In the USA
Car Wash
Factory
Galveston Bay
Land of Hopes and Dreams
Mansion On the Hill
My City of Ruins
My Hometown
Sinaloa Cowboys
Souls of the Departed
Streets of Philadelphia
The Ghost of Tom Joad
Youngstown

Tim Pawlenty is the guy who talks over the music to his friends all through the concert until he hears the one song that he knows and then stands up and pumps his fist and yells “Yeah!”.

You know. An asshole bandwagon-jumper.

(Yes. I know I probably missed a half dozen other songs.)