Some will rob you with a six-gun
And some with a fountain pen

Charles Arthur Floyd was born on this date in 1904. From a desciption of The Life and Death of Pretty Boy Floyd:

Charles Arthur Floyd, better known as Pretty Boy Floyd, was one of the last of the so-called Robin Hood outlaws in the tradition of Jesse James, Billy the Kid, and John Dillinger. He engaged in numerous bank-robbing exploits across the Midwest until federal agents and local police shot him down near East Liverpool, Ohio, on October 22, 1934–a feat which helped build the image of the modern FBI….

Neither highly intelligent nor polished, Floyd relied on his cool demeanor, shrewd cunning, and expert gun-handling ability, but he was also considered by those who knew him to be generous and honest. During the depression, many people saw banks as enemies and Floyd as a hero, and helped screen him from the police. Once he left a large contribution at an Oklahoma church–and no one reported his visit. He was known to drop in at country dances, dance with the prettiest girls, and pay the fiddler well. One story claims that he kept a rural school in fuel one winter. He attended church regularly, even during intense manhunts, and visited his father’s grave each Memorial Day, despite the risk of capture.

Court TV’s Crime Library has a multi-part biography of Charles Arthur Floyd: “Pretty Boy” from Cookson Hills.

In the end, Choc Floyd was betrayed. Not by a woman in red, as was Indiana bank robber John Dillinger; not by his own taste for blood, as was the mad-boy child “Baby Face” Nelson; not by a death wish that was Bonnie and Clyde’s. But, allegedly, by an ambitious protector of American Justice called J. Edgar Hoover who thought Floyd would be better a stepping stone to higher things if killed and not incarcerated. In short, America betrayed him when it forecast an end to its tolerance for wild oats to make way for progressiveness and modernity.

Choc, or Choctaw, was Floyd’s preferred nickname.

If you’ll gather ’round me, children,
A story I will tell
‘Bout Pretty Boy Floyd, an outlaw,
Oklahoma knew him well.

It was in the town of Shawnee,
A Saturday afternoon,
His wife beside him in his wagon
As into town they rode.

There a deputy sheriff approached him
In a manner rather rude,
Vulgar words of anger,
An’ his wife she overheard.

Pretty Boy grabbed a log chain,
And the deputy grabbed his gun;
In the fight that followed
He laid that deputy down.

Then he took to the trees and timber
To live a life of shame;
Every crime in Oklahoma
Was added to his name.

But a many a starving farmer
The same old story told
How the outlaw paid their mortgage
And saved their little homes.

Others tell you ’bout a stranger
That come to beg a meal,
Underneath his napkin
Left a thousand dollar bill.

It was in Oklahoma City,
It was on a Christmas Day,
There was a whole car load of groceries
Come with a note to say:

Well, you say that I’m an outlaw,
You say that I’m a thief.
Here’s a Christmas dinner
For the families on relief.

Yes, as through this world I’ve wandered
I’ve seen lots of funny men;
Some will rob you with a six-gun,
And some with a fountain pen.

And as through your life you travel,
Yes, as through your life you roam,
You won’t never see an outlaw
Drive a family from their home.

Lyrics as recorded by Woody Guthrie, RCA Studios, Camden, NJ, 26 Apr 1940

Harper’s Index

Harper’s Magazine publishes its Index each month, putting it on-line the first of the month following publication in the magazine. Some items from the January 2004 Harper’s Index:

Percentage of Americans who say they would prefer a universal health-care system to the current one : 62

Estimated number of times a one-year-old was bitten by his peers at a Croatian day-care center one morning last fall : 30

Days in 1970 that northern Alaska was cold enough to operate oil-drilling machinery without damaging the tundra : 213

Days in 2002 that it was cold enough : 106

Number of cast members of the movie Predator who have run for governor : 3

Number who have won : 2

Minimum amount boxer Mike Tyson earned in the nine years before filing for bankruptcy last August : $300,000,000.

The Feast of St. Blaise

St. Blaise was, so far as is known, a bishop in Armenia who was martyred in the early fourth century. According to the Catholic Encyclopedia, St. Blaise (or Blasius)

was taken prisoner at the command of the governor, Agricolaus. The hunters of the governor found him [Blaise] in the wilderness in a cave to which he had retired and while in prison he performed a wonderful cure of a boy who had a fishbone in his throat and who was in danger of choking to death. After suffering various forms of torture St. Blasius was beheaded….In many places on the day of his feast the blessing of St. Blasius is given: two candles are consecrated, generally by a prayer, these are then held in a crossed position by a priest over the heads of the faithful or the people are touched on the throat with them. In other places oil is consecrated in which the wick of a small candle is dipped and the throats of those present are touched with the wick. At the same time the following blessing is given: “Per intercessionem S. Blasii liberet te Deus a malo gutteris et a quovis alio malo” (May God at the intercession of St. Blasius preserve you from throat troubles and every other evil).

While having his throat blessed each year as a kid, NewMexiKen often wondered why Blaise — if he was the protector of throats — didn’t save his own throat from the ax.

Dead Bob

The Los Angeles Times has a detailed and informative article about the French ship La Belle, which sank off Texas in 1686 — The End of a 300-Year Journey.

Archeologists discovered the sunken wreck of La Belle, a ship commanded by the famed and tortured French explorer Rene-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, in 1995.

The ship, which sank in 1686 in Matagorda Bay, north of Corpus Christi, became a significant marine archeological find, largely because the bay’s fine silt appears to have entombed La Belle almost immediately after it went down. The silt created a coffin of sorts for the wreck, keeping oxygen out and decay to a minimum, preserving even the items that are typically the first to go, from hemp rope to the oaken hull.

The excavation yielded more than one million artifacts, from bronze cannons artfully inscribed with the crest of King Louis XIV to a brass colander whose holes formed the shape of a delicate flower.

Amendments

Two Amendments to the Constitution of the United States were ratified on this date.

In 1870 the 15th Amendment was ratified:

The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.

In 1913 the 16th Amendment was ratified:

The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes on incomes, from whatever source derived, without apportionment among the several States, and without regard to any census or enumeration.

The day the music died

On this date in 1959, Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and J.P. “The Big Bopper” Richardson were killed when their chartered aircraft crashed. Richardson, who had a cold, talked Waylon Jennings into giving up his seat.

John Edwards’ Penknife Taken at Airport

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) – Sen. John Edwards had a penknife confiscated as part of a stepped up security search that caused a one-hour delay for the Democratic presidential candidate and others boarding his chartered plane.

Albuquerque security officials gave extensive screenings to those traveling with the senator, including hand inspections of everyone’s luggage and carry-on bags.

“We must look dangerous,”‘ joked the North Carolina Democrat, who was forced to go through a metal detector along with other passengers, and to have all his bags X-rayed, before being allowed to board his campaign plane.

A small knife was confiscated from Edwards’ luggage. “It was a pocket knife,” Edwards said. “I didn’t even know it was there.” He said he was told it would be returned to him later.

A pair of scissors, tweezers and assorted small tools used by photographers and television cameramen also were confiscated. The extra scrutiny, which was not explained, caused Edwards to be an hour late for his next scheduled appearance, a speech at a union hall in Oklahoma City.

Halftime at Super Bowl Became Quite Revealing

Columnist T.J. Simers of the Los Angeles Times takes off on the halftime show.

I remember when Disney used to produce these halftime shows.

CBS cuts away quickly, but not quick enough.

I check with witnesses on the field, who are staring at the scoreboard waiting for the replay. They say Jackson ran from the stage with both arms across her chest, although the placement of the silver star suggests it was part of the game plan….

“There was no indication that any such thing would happen,” the CBS statement said. “That moment did not conform to CBS broadcast standards, and we would like to apologize to anyone who was offended.”

I can’t imagine Fox ever issuing such a statement.

NewMexiKen suggests a return to the halftime show of the first Super Bowl — the University of Arizona Marching Band.

James Joyce…

was born in Rathgar, a suburb of Dublin, on this date in 1882. Joyce only wrote four books of fiction in his life, but they’re all considered masterpieces: Dubliners (1914), A Portrait of the Artist as Young Man (1916), Ulysses (1922) and Finnegans Wake (1939).

But, of course, it is on June 16th that we should celebrate Joyce.

The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo…

was signed on this date in 1848. Its provisions called for Mexico to cede 55% of its territory (present-day Arizona, California, New Mexico, Texas, and parts of Colorado, Nevada and Utah) in exchange for $15 million in compensation for war-related damage to Mexican property. Other provisions stipulated the Rio Grande as the Texas border, protection for the property and civil rights of Mexican nationals living in the United States and a U.S. promise to police its side of the border.

The Library of Congress has an on-line exhibition of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. The site was the source for the summary of the Treaty above. To see an image of the map used in the negotiations, click here.

Good talk from Car Talk

From Tom & Ray:

Car Talk will now be available via the Windows Media Player, rather than RealMedia. That’s right, we’re unceremoniously dumping RealMedia.

Why? Because, for a long time, we’ve had tons of complaints about RealNetworks. And the one that ticks us off the most is the perceived trickery they use to sell their premium products. This is just our opinion, mind you, but it’s shared by enough of our listeners, that we finally decided to take action.

Here’s the problem. In order to hear our audio, you have to go to Real.com and download their “free” RealPlayer. But when you get to the web site, the free player is harder to find than Osama Bin Laden at night. And the site seems to do everything it possibly can to get you to “buy” a player instead. You have to work very hard to get the free player. And we think that stinks. And get this. It stinks so much that it even makes Microsoft look good by comparison. That’s something, huh?

We’ve heard from many of our fans that have been duped, and who have accidentally shelled out their hard-earned dineros. And we won’t even get into the ways that the RealPlayer tries to take over your computer once you install it. So, after surveying the alternatives, we’re switching to Windows Media Player (which works on Macs, too).

NewMexiKen understands that you can download a spyware free copy of RealPlayer from BBC Radio.

When? When? When?

As of January 29th dooce was still pregnant but her site had a new masthead.

The woman teaching the class has never had a baby, and she openly scolded me and Jon when we shouted out, “Cigars!” in response to the question What should you bring with you to the hospital? I’m certain she was looking for a more obvious answer, like The Book of Mormon or an extra set of Heavenly Underwear, two VERY important items in a birthing plan, right up there with tequila and porn, if you ask me. I think I may have crossed the line when earlier this week during a discussion about the pros and cons of breastfeeding I suggested that one of the advantages of formula feeding was being able to get back to my rock and roll lifestyle. You’ve never seen a more frightened group of pregnant women, many of them obviously terrified that their child would one day encounter my child and be introduced to the evils of coffee and MTV.

Movie immortals…

John Ford and Clark Gable were born on this date. Ford in 1895; Gable in 1901.

John Ford won six Oscars for Best Director: The Informer (1935), The Grapes of Wrath (1940), How Green Was My Valley (1941) and The Quiet Man (1952). The other two Oscars were for World War II documentaries: The Battle of Midway and December 7th. Other memorable films include Drums Along the Mohawk, Young Mr. Lincoln, Stagecoach, My Darling Clementine and The Searchers. Regardless of where Ford’s westerns were set, most of the exteriors were filmed in Monument Valley Arizona/Utah.

Clark Gable won the Best Actor award in 1935 for It Happened One Night. He was nominated for Best Actor for Mutiny of the Bounty and Gone With the Wind.

Norman Mailer…

was born on this date in 1923.

Mailer has not only published 39 books (including 11 novels), he has written plays (and staged them), screenplays (and directed and acted in them), poems (in The New Yorker and underground journals), and attempted every sort of narrative form, including some he invented. No record of “new journalism” is complete without mention of his 1960s Esquire columns, essays and political reportage. He has reported on six sets of political conventions (1960, 1964, 1968, 1972, 1992, 1996), participated in scores of symposia, appeared and debated hundreds of times on college campuses, boxed (and fought) in several venues and led a vigorous public life in New York and Provincetown, Massachusetts, his current home. His passions, feuds, imbroglios, litigations and loyalities are numerous, notorious and complex. Happily married for nearly a quarter of a century to Norris Church, he was wed five times previously and has nine children all told. A stalwart on radio and television talk shows, he may have been interviewed more times than any writer who has ever lived. Without being paid for his pains, he has given advice to several presidents, has run for office himself (mayor of New York), served as president of the American chapter of the writers organization, P.E.N., and won most of the major literary awards, but for the Nobel. Co-founder of The Village Voice, he also named it, and has been the equivalent of a decathalon athlete in the effort to break down barriers between popular, elite and underground publications. He has written for at least 75 different magazines and journals.

J. Michael Lennon, Professor of English, Wilkes University [for PBS, American Masters]

Pearl Zane Grey…

was born in Zanesville, Ohio, on this date in 1872.

Zane Grey was the first American millionaire author. According to the Zane Grey’s West Society web site:

The breakthrough success of Heritage of the Desert in 1910 enabled Zane Grey to establish a home in Altadena, California, and a hunting lodge on the Mogollon Rim near Payson, Arizona; and the family of five moved West for good. A lifelong passion for angling and the rich rewards of his writing also allowed Grey to roam the world’s premier game-fishing grounds in his own schooner and reel in several deep-sea angling records which stood for decades. A prodigiously prolific writer, Grey would spend several months each year gathering experiences and adventures, whether on “safari” in the wilds of Colorado or fishing off Tahiti, and then spend the rest of the year weaving them all into tales for serialization, magazine articles, or the annual novel.

Zane Grey wrote to live and lived to write — surely a balance rarely attained — until his untimely death of heart failure on October 23, 1939. He left us almost 90 books in print, of which about 60 are Westerns, 9 concern fishing, and 3 trace the fate of the Ohio Zanes, the rest being short story collections, a biography of the young George Washington, juvenile fiction and baseball stories.

Everyone should read the classic Riders of the Purple Sage.