New Mexico Politics with Joe Monahan

That flag photo accompanying today’s lead piece may not look familiar, but it was in our state’s early days. From 1912 to 1925 it was the official state flag. Since then the easily recognizable Zia symbol flag has flown proudly.

posted by mjh at December 3, 2004 11:13 AM

ABQjournal: Letters to the Editor

Thunderbolt in Motion

THE MUCH-CRITICIZED state motto "crescit eundo" is actually a quotation from the first-century B.C. Latin poet Lucretius in his epic poem De Rerum Natura, "On The Nature of Things," book 6.

In context it refers to the motion of a thunderbolt across the sky, which acquires power and momentum as it goes. Whoever chose that as a state motto in the old frontier days obviously knew the classics.

Once one realizes that the motto is comparing the state of New Mexico to a mighty thunderbolt flashing across the sky, it gives a whole new meaning to the expression.

WARREN SMITH
Professor of classics, University of New Mexico
Albuquerque

Other entry by mjh at March 22, 2005 11:19 AM

New Mexico’s official flag until 1925, plus a beautiful interpretation of “crescit eundo” is a post from: mjh's blog. Thank you for subscribing. Let me know what you think. peace, mjh

xkcd: Wrong Superhero

A big grin for everyone who is correct to a fault.

xkcd: Wrong Superhero – damn, I’m still laughing is a post from: mjh's blog. Thank you for subscribing. Let me know what you think. peace, mjh

© Jimmy Chin. Meru Expedition, Garwhal, India.

Surreal Scenics (9 Photos) | PDN Photo of the Day

Years ago, I saw a Nat Geo photo of someone “camped” on the face of Half Dome in Yosemite. The photo almost gave me vertigo, more so than this one, but this is beyond amazing.

OMG – I could NOT do that is a post from: mjh's blog. Thank you for subscribing. Let me know what you think. peace, mjh

Space shuttle era ends with Atlantis – The Big Picture – Boston.com

The space shuttle Atlantis flies over the Bahamas prior to a perfect docking with the International Space Station on July 10, 2011. Part of a Russian Progress spacecraft docked to the station is in the foreground. (AP Photo/NASA)

Space shuttle era ends with Atlantis – The Big Picture – Boston.com

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NewMexiKen | New Mexico

New Mexico officially became part of the United States 164 years ago today when 1,600 troops under General Stephen Watts Kearny raised the American flag over the plaza in the Royal City of the Holy Faith of Saint Francis (Santa Fe), reportedly as the sun broke through the overcast sky. There had been little or no resistance. (It came at Taos the following January.)

August 18. Gen. Kearney proceeded through the pass and at 5 pm reached hill that overlooks Santa Fe. …

NewMexiKen | New Mexico

Happy Dependence Day! is a post from: mjh's blog. Thank you for subscribing. Let me know what you think. peace, mjh

I have a warning for Republicans: Don’t underestimate Barack Obama. …

The net effect of 18 months of Obamaism will be to undo much of Reaganism. Both presidencies were highly ideological, grandly ambitious, and often underappreciated by their own side. In his early years as president, Reagan was bitterly attacked from his right. (Typical Washington Post headline: “For Reagan and the New Right, the Honeymoon Is Over” — and that was six months into his presidency!) Obama is attacked from his left for insufficient zeal on gay rights, immigration reform, closing Guantanamo — the list is long. The critics don’t understand the big picture. Obama’s transformational agenda is a play in two acts. …

The next burst of ideological energy — massive regulation of the energy economy, federalizing higher education, and “comprehensive” immigration reform (i.e., amnesty) — will require a second mandate, meaning reelection in 2012.

That’s why there’s so much tension between Obama and the congressional Democrats. For Obama, 2010 matters little. If the Democrats lose control of one or both houses, Obama will likely have an easier time in 2012, just as Bill Clinton used Newt Gingrich and the Republicans as his foil for his 1996 reelection campaign.

Obama is down, but it’s very early in the play. Like Reagan, he came here to do things. And he’s done much in his first 500 days. What he has left to do, he knows, must await his next 500 days — those that come after reelection.
So 2012 is the real prize. Obama sees far, farther than even his own partisans. Republicans underestimate him at their peril.

Obama’s Second Act – Charles Krauthammer – National Review Online

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“I think he will replace Jimmy Carter as the worst president of modern times.” [mjh: sayeth the Gingrinch] Only if you think ol’ Ronnie-baby or Georgie-boy left us in better shape than Jimmy. Carter created more jobs, and had a much smaller deficit, than all Republican Presidents since ‘80. That’s not ‘worst’ in my book. – garret p vreeland

Hear! Hear! What he said. is a post from: mjh's blog. Thank you for subscribing. Let me know what you think. peace, mjh

Defense Needs To Be Part of Budget Debate
By Winthrop Quigley
Journal Staff Writer

The United States spends more on its military than the defense budgets of the next 17 biggest spending nations combined. China, the second biggest military spender in the world, has a military budget of $98.8 billion. Russia, our traditional rival, has budgeted $61 billion.
        The American military owns, leases or otherwise controls acreage approximately equal to that of the state of New York. It has 539,000 buildings and other structures located at 4,700 sites in every state in the country, plus Washington, D.C., 121 sites in American territories and 716 sites in 38 other countries.

ABQJOURNAL UPFRONT: Defense Needs To Be Part of Budget Debate

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We never seem to know what we need to when we need to. It always takes too much time to recognize the lead in the pipes. Lives are ruined in the meantime.

Ruth Marcus – Our gadgets, ourselves

I must know — now — what has arrived in my inbox, even though almost all of it is junk. I live an alt-tab existence, constantly shuttling among the open windows on my browser. I have switched, in Carr’s formulation, from "reading to power-browsing." I am a lab rat "constantly pressing levers to get tiny pellets of social or intellectual nourishment."

I love technology. It lets me work better and faster. It untethers me from a physical office and allows me to, well, alt-tab efficiently between work and family. E-mail and social networking, with the combination of ease of access yet remoteness of interaction, help make and renew personal connections.

But technology also takes its toll — including physically. "The technology is rewiring our brains," Nora Volkow, director of the National Institute of Drug Abuse, told the New York Times. The brain is malleable, and, like any regular exercise, the instant gratification world of the Web helps build certain neural connections while others molder.

Ruth Marcus – Our gadgets, ourselves

Is Nicholas Carr right about the Internet and attention spans? – Newsweek 

There’s a lot that’s been written lately about how the Web is puréeing people’s gray matter. The most thorough take on the topic is Nicholas Carr’s new book, The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains, but anyone who’s been spending a lot of time surfing is probably going to be so distracted by e-mails and Facebook, etc., that he won’t be able to finish the book. Instead, he’ll turn, with irony, to the Web, where he’ll find plenty to read, especially if he’s looking for it today: The New York Times has just published two stories, a blog post, and an interactive feature arguing that the electronic methods by which they themselves are delivered are “intrusive, have increased [people's] levels of stress and have made it difficult to concentrate.” [mjh: Even more links in the rest of the article.]

Is Nicholas Carr right about the Internet and attention spans? – Newsweek

[Updated 9pm] Newmexiken posts a different view, but don’t let that distract you:

[begin Newmexiken’s entry]

‘[E]very time we learn a fact or skill the wiring of the brain changes’
[mjh: for some reason, this post title makes me think of the assertion that smell involves aroma molecules impacting smell sensors, therefore, when  you smell a fart …]

Originally posted Friday, June 11, 2010 

If you’re reading this blog post on a computer, mobile phone or e-reader, please stop what you’re doing immediately. You could be making yourself stupid. And whatever you do, don’t click on the links in this post. They could distract you from the flow of my beautiful prose and narrative.

Nick Bilton – Bits Blog – NYTimes.com

Bilton goes on to discredit that theory and survey some recent thinking on the topic. Among other things, his discussion led me to this:

“And to encourage intellectual depth, don’t rail at PowerPoint or Google. It’s not as if habits of deep reflection, thorough research and rigorous reasoning ever came naturally to people. They must be acquired in special institutions, which we call universities, and maintained with constant upkeep, which we call analysis, criticism and debate. They are not granted by propping a heavy encyclopedia on your lap, nor are they taken away by efficient access to information on the Internet.”

Steven Pinker

Both are worth reading if you’re not too distracted.

[/end Newmexiken’s entry]

I’m reminded of the word-nerds in Word Wars or Wordplay. They shaped their minds to be very fast with words. Did their checkbook-balancing skills suffer as a result?

The Hundredth Monkey Asks, ‘What are we doing to ourselves?’ [updated] is a post from: mjh's blog. Thank you for subscribing. Let me know what you think. peace, mjh

Be sure to move your mouse over the scene. Click the AB in the upper-left to get to the website.

Years ago, there was a gadget that put eyes in the taskbar that followed the mouse movements.

PS: I *hate* Flash most of the time – in large part because it is often used for advertising or misused as an alternative to (X)HTML. Still, there are decent uses for Flash – few and far between.

I don’t usually go for this sort of thing, but …. is a post from: mjh's blog. Thank you for subscribing. Let me know what you think. peace, mjh