This article is too good not to share. From Cocoposts:
New Mexico Horse Wins Derby 50-1
When a $9,500 horse coming out of the gate at 50-1 came from dead last Saturday along the rail to blow away the field in its premier event, it was as if the sport let out a cathartic scream.
I know I did. Yes, that was me you might have heard yelling and squealing through the last third of that race. And that was before I realized who the horse was – a Sunland Park gelding named Mine That Bird.
And then the crying too. From Joe Drape’s story in the New York Times:
Sometimes this game brings you to tears. Sometimes it feels right to be wrong. And always it is better than O.K. when the tears streaming down your face are caused by a man in a black cowboy hat and an almost handlebar mustache, a Cajun jockey with more horse than book sense and a scrawny $9,500 gelding.
Chip Woolley, Calvin Borel and Mine That Bird, an improbable — no, impossible — 50-1 long shot, did just that Saturday, running away with the 135th running of America’s greatest race, the Kentucky Derby.(…)
Baffert’s Santa Anita Derby winner, Pioneerof the Nile, was closing in the middle of the track, but it was much too late. He finished second.
“Those cowboys came with a good horse,” Baffert said.
This is great news for New Mexico if Mint.Com has its calculations right.
According to the map, New Mexico will benefit more than most states from new stimulus funds. The map states that according to White House estimates of job creation, the calculations below represent the percentage of unemployment in the state that stands to be eliminated by the bill, with some reservation. New Mexico’s number is 50%!! Nice. As a side note, Mint.Com is a fabulous financial organizer that I recommend to anyone – I use it everyday.
Two pilots headed for the Sun n’ Fun 2009 show in Lakeland, Florida, on Saturday put their “IFR” (I follow roads) skills to good use when they landed their SkyRanger light sport aircraft (N514GS) on an urban street in Winter Haven. The pilots were enroute from Winter Haven to Lakeland when the video-equipped aircraft’s 2-cycle engine failed. The engine did come back to life several times after pilots turned the starter, but each time the powerplant appears to have shutdown on its own. Both men walked away.
First published at NMFBIHOP, a local New Mexico blog on April 22, 2009.
I have to give Representative Lujan some love for this news today: “Rep. Lujan cosponsors Credit Cardholder’s Bill of Rights.”
Here’s something scary: A survey of more than 1,500 college students by US PIRG in Washington found that two-thirds had at least one credit card. Seniors with balances had an average debt of $2,623 on their cards. Here are some more scary stats from Future Majority:
Three out of four young people report having gone deeper in debt over the past year.
More than half of young adults say they are only paying their minimum monthly amount on their credit card.
Nearly one in five (19%) report having had their phone, cable, or utilities cut off, and more than one in seven (15%) have faced repossession or had their credit card canceled due to non-payment.
One in three young people who owe money on a credit card owe more than $10,000 overall.
28% of all young adults are carrying medical debt.
More than half of all young people have gone without health insurance at some point in the past five years – including 75% of those who are now carrying medical debt.
Debt incurred by students is a handicap that plagues many students well into the beginning of their professional careers. Profit-bearing agreements between universities and credit card companies to leverage symbol marketing and gain access to student lists doesn’t help our situation. We have to do a better job educating young people on the burden they undertake by using credit cards frivolously. Of course, cards may be necessary and serve some purpose when used responsibly, but without education they’re only plastic money to people who don’t understand the long-term debt they can accrue.
Please contact Representative Lujan and tell him this bill is important to you, your children, your peers, and everyone. Please thank him for being a strong first-term legislator.
