New iPods

Incorporating the fabulous Apple Click Wheel that was first introduced on iPod mini. Offering up to 12 hours of battery life. Weighing in at just 5.6 ounces. And getting slightly thinner with each new generation. iPod continues to define the perfect digital music player for Mac and Windows. You can now purchase a 20GB iPod for $299. Or a 40GB iPod for $399.

Check ’em out.

No wonder Coach K stayed

From the Raleigh News & Observer —

Duke University freshmen will get something even more trendy than a Blue Devils T-shirt when they arrive next month: a free Apple iPod digital music player.

On Monday, the university announced a deal with Apple to distribute 1,650 of the hand-held gizmos to first-year students. Duke will get a discount and give them free to freshmen — for keeps.

The iPods generally are used to store and play music; the 20-GB model, which the students will get, can hold up to 5,000 tunes. But the Duke students, being brainy and all, will use the iPods mostly for academics.

Or so Duke hopes.

Link via Boing Boing.

Stop, thief!

From AP via Seattle Post-Intelligencer —

A 36-year-old man led police on a brief car chase, driving on sidewalks, through parking lots and even against traffic on a busy boulevard, so he wouldn’t get caught with stolen library books, according to police.

“The officers were a little taken back when they found out what the deal was. They couldn’t believe it,” said Syracuse police spokesman Sgt. Tom Connellan, who added police broke off pursuit because the situation Sunday became too dangerous.

“It was stupid and reckless,” said Connellan.

There were no injuries, and – even more amazingly, Connellan said – no property damage.

Apparently the books had no particular value (that is, they were not rare books or anything).

Link via Moose & Squirrel (great name for a blog).

Hitler assassination attempt

Sixty years ago today, German military officers failed in an attempt to assassinate Adolf Hitler with a bomb in a briefcase. Four were killed but Hitler, though wounded, was saved by the heavy wooden table on which he was reviewing maps. This from the BBC —

Adolf Hitler has escaped death after a bomb exploded at 1242 local time at his headquarters in Rastenberg, East Prussia.

The German News Agency broke the news from Hitler’s headquarters, known as the “wolf’s lair”, his command post for the Eastern Front.

A senior officer, Colonel Claus Schenk von Stauffenberg, has been blamed for planting the bomb at a meeting at which Hitler and other senior members of the General Staff were present.

Hitler has sustained minor burns and concussion but, according to the news agency, managed to keep his appointment with Italian leader Benito Mussolini.

*****

Von Stauffenberg was arrested the same day and shot. The rest of the conspirators were tried and hanged or offered the chance to commit suicide.

Eight of those executed were hanged with piano wire from meat-hooks and their executions filmed and shown to senior members of the Nazi Party and the armed forces.

Carlos Santana…

is 57 today. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame introduces inductee Santana this way —

Guitarist Carlos Santana is one of rock’s true virtuosos and guiding lights. Since 1966, he has led the group that bears his surname, selling over 30 million albums and performing before 13 million people. Though numerous musicians have passed through Santana’s ranks, the continuing presence of Carlos Santana at the helm has insured high standards. From the earliest days, when Santana first overlaid Afro-Latin rhythms upon a base of driving blues-rock, they have been musical sorcerers. The melodic fluency and kineticism of Santana’s guitar solos and the piercing, sustained tone that is his signature have made him one of rock’s standout instrumentalists. Coupled with the polyrhythmic fury of drums, congas and timbales, the sound of Santana in full flight is singularly exciting. Underlying it all is Santana’s belief that music should “create a bridge so people can have more trust and hope in humanity.”

Men Walk on Moon

It was 35 years ago this evening (U.S. time) that man first walked on the moon, an event that NewMexiKen believes centuries from now will rank as the most historic happening in our lifetimes.

The New York Times has its next day coverage on-line, including the historic front page (of which I have two copies).

I can remember watching the TV that evening thinking how cool it would be if some creature came crawling over the horizon into the field of view of the live camera.

Cormac McCarthy…

is 71 today. The Writer’s Almanac has an excellent little bio.

And there’s this from the Cormac McCarthy web site —

Critics have compared Cormac McCarthy’s nightmarish yet beautifully written adventure masterpiece, Blood Meridian, or the Evening Redness in the West, with the best works of Dante, Poe, De Sade, Melville, Faulkner, Flannery O’Connor and William Styron. The critic Harold Bloom, among others, has declared it one of the greatest novels of the Twentieth Century, and perhaps the greatest by a living American writer. Critics cite its magnificent language, its uncompromising representation of a crucial period of American history, and its unapologetic, bleak vision of the inevitability of suffering and violence.

More Linda (see below first)

From The Corner —

Mr. Goldberg —

My wife & I were at the Linda Ronstadt performance in question, at the Aladdin in Las Vegas, and quite frankly, Aladdin President Bill Timmins’ account of what happened is complete crap. There was mixed booing and cheering at Ronstadt’s pro-Michael Moore comment, and that was about the extent of the “bedlam” that supposedly broke out. I saw no posters being torn down or cocktails being thrown in the air, and if people stomped out of the theatre unhappy, it was because 1) that was the last song Ronstadt performed; it was her encore; and 2) she mainly sang her standards repertoire, with the Nelson Riddle orchestrations, and a large part of the crowd wanted to hear more of her rock-‘n’-roll stuff; she got the biggest round of applause for doing a lackadaisical run-through of her version of “Blue Bayou.”

Frankly, my suspicion is that Timmins is way overdramatizing what happened, in order to justify giving Ronstadt the boot. It simply wasn’t that big a deal.

Linda’s the Man

Aladdin President Bill Timmins ordered security guards to escort pop diva Linda Ronstadt off the property following a concert Saturday night during which she expressed support for controversial documentary filmmaker Michael Moore.

Timmins, who was among the almost 5,000 fans in the audience at the Aladdin Theatre for the Performing Arts, had Ronstadt escorted to her tour bus and her belongings from her hotel room sent to her. Timmins also sent word to Ronstadt that she was no longer welcome at the property for future performances, according Aladdin spokeswoman Tyri Squyres.

How much weight that carries is debatable, since the bankrupt Aladdin is in the process of being sold to a group headed by Planet Hollywood International Inc. Chairman and Chief Executive Robert Earl.

Near the close of her performance, Ronstadt dedicated the Eagles hit “Desperado” to Moore, producer of “Fahrenheit 9/11,” and the room erupted into equal parts boos and cheers.

She said Moore “is someone who cares about this country deeply and is trying to help.”

Ronstadt has been making the dedication at each of her engagements since she began a national tour earlier this summer, but it has never sparked such a reaction.

Hundreds of angry fans streamed from the theater as Ronstadt sang. Some of them reportedly defaced posters of her in the lobby, writing comments and tossing drinks on her pictures.

Source: Las Vegas Sun

Jennings criticizes Trebek

Letterman Top Ten Ways To Irritate Alex Trebek presented by “Jeopardy” Champion Ken Jennings —

6. “Whenever he says the word ‘potpourri,’ you mumble, ‘Woman'”

4. “Remind him that although he’s a naturalized citizen, he’ll always be a product of the evil Canadian empire”

3. “Complain that he’s not nearly as Trebek-y in person”

2. “Your only response: ‘Who gives a rat’s ass?'”

1. “Insist on buying a vowel”

Fortunate son

“One of Osama bin Laden’s chief confidants turned himself in to Saudi Arabian officials yesterday … He’s confined to a wheelchair due to injuries he sustained 10 years ago while fighting in Bosnia and Chechnya. How is it we know more about this guy’s military background than we do our own president’s? How come his records are still on file and Bush’s are not?”

Jay Leno

Electioneering

“The Bush administration may postpone the November election if there’s a terrorist attack. If there’s a terrorist attack, they may postpone the election. Or, they’ll postpone it if there’s scattered showers.”

“Republicans say they don’t want the terrorists to determine the election. No they want the governor of Florida to determine the election”

David Letterman

Opinions You Should Have

From Tom Burka —

Major record labels, CD and DVD manufacturers decided today that they would hitherto release only CD’s and DVD’s in permanently sealed, unopenable packages to combat piracy.

“We feel that the packaging we have used so far, which hinders the buyer from opening his purchase for a good ten to fifteen minutes, was too tentative and weak,” said Blad Futtworth, a musician and representative of the RPMAA, an anti-piracy group.

Read more.

Yikes! We’re getting old

Dion (DiMucci) of Dion and The Belmonts is 65.

Martha (Reeves) of Martha and The Vandellas is 63.

Martha Reeves endeared herself to NewMexiKen forever about 10 years ago. She was being interviewed on Britain’s Sky TV during a European tour and was asked about touring now that she was middle-aged. Wasn’t it a lot more fun when she was younger? No, she said, now they knew how to enjoy themselves.