I wanted to share this wonderful short history lesson about Cinco de Mayo (wiki) written by Congressman Joe Baca for the Huffington Post:

Every year, as we approach the 5th of May, stores and companies begin to promote Cinco de Mayo in their storefronts and through their advertisements. There are office parties, full of festive decorations, and children at school might have the opportunity to take a swing at a piñata. This splendor is to celebrate a date of significance to Mexicans and Mexican-Americans alike.

While this is not Mexican Independence Day (that is on September 16th), it is a date pivotal to the history of Mexico. In 1861, Mexico was bankrupt, and had outstanding debts to Britain, Spain, France and the U.S. While the Monroe Doctrine warned European nations to avoid intrusion into the affairs of the Americas–France, England and Spain signed the Covenant of London, where they agreed to send troops to collect on those debts. England and Spain came to peaceful agreements with Mexico, while France prepared to attack.

On May 5th, 1862, the French attacked the city of Puebla, but under the leadership of Texas-born Mexican General Ignacio Zaragoza Seguin, the Mexican Army was triumphant in the battle. It brought the country together and helped create a sense of unity.

Interestingly, the first celebrations of Cinco de Mayo started one year later in California, which had recently become part of the United States. According to a paper published last year by the UCLA Center for the Study of Latino Health and Culture, as the French continued to attack Mexico, beginning with a subsequent attack on Puebla just one year after the initial attack, Cinco de Mayo brought together the people of California. The date brought together native-born Californios (individuals from the region prior to annexing by the U.S.); recent immigrants from Mexico, as well as Central and South-America; and the new generation of English-speaking American children. Since 1863, Californians have celebrated the fifth of May, and now people across the U.S. recognize the occasion as well. Yet it is virtually ignored in Mexico. From its inception, Cinco de Mayo has been a day for those with Mexican heritage in our country to celebrate our roots, marked with patriotic speeches and celebrations, displaying both U.S. and Mexican flags.

Another important fact to consider is how this battle played into U.S. history, as the Civil War waged on. France, and other European nations, were concerned about the rapid expansion of the United States, and had an interest in staving off U.S. expansion towards the South. Seeing the young nation split into two less powerful and less threatening nations was an ideal vision of Napoleon III, then ruler of France.

While the Covenant of London was being finalized, General Robert E. Lee was winning battles for the Confederacy. Had the French been victorious in that original Battle of Puebla on May 5th, 1862, they could have continued their influence across the Mexican nation, and would have likely supported the Confederacy in its battle against Union forces. Instead, the French had to regroup their forces and concentrate on their war with Mexico, which was much more united just one year after the first attack. Of course, just fourteen months after the Battle of Puebla, the U.S. Civil War would see a major battle when Union forces claimed victory at Gettysburg and effectively brought a close to the Civil War.

As we attend Cinco de Mayo celebrations, let us take a moment to remember the history behind this event– significant for its impact on Mexico, its impact on the U.S., and for bringing together those with ties to both countries.

I first read this post and thought, “How interesting!” and then realized it was written by Congressman Joe Baca of California! I then visited his website to learn about him, and found out that Joe Baca has a wonderfully unique background:

Joe was born in Belen, New Mexico, the youngest of 15 children in a house where little English was spoken. His father was a railroad laborer. When Joe was a young boy his family moved to Barstow, California. Joe worked shining shoes at age 10, delivered newspapers, and later worked as a laborer for the Santa Fe Railroad until he was drafted in 1966. He served in the U.S. Army as a paratrooper with both the 101st and the 82nd Airborne Divisions from 1966-68.

Following military service, Joe earned his bachelor’s degree in sociology from California State University – Los Angeles. He worked for 15 years in community relations with General Telephone and Electric. In 1979, he was the first Latino elected to the Board of Trustees for the San Bernardino Valley College District. He was elected to the State Assembly in 1992, where he became the first Latino Speaker pro Tempore, and was elected to the State Senate in 1998.

Joe and his wife, Barbara, began their own business, Interstate World Travel, in San Bernardino in 1989. They have four children – Joe Jr., Jeremy, Natalie and Jennifer. Joe Baca Jr. recently completed service as state assemblyman for California’s 62nd district, marking the first time a father and son have served alongside from the same district.

create your own visited countries map

create your own visited states map, or check out these Google Hacks.

Dear Congressman Thompson,

The philosopher and poet George Santayana once wrote: “Progress, far from consisting in change, depends on retentiveness. Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”

I write you today as an amateur historian and former history student at UC Davis to ask you to consider joining your colleague Congressman Waxman in co-sponsoring HR 1255, the Presidential Records Act Amendments of 2007. It is imperative for the sake of history that the records and papers of any and all presidents, not just this one, are safely preserved for posterity. It took an act of Congress in 1974 to protect the presidential records of Richard Nixon, and it appears history is already repeating itself. Steve Hensen, President of the Society of American Archivists wrote in 2001:

“Free and open access to information is the cornerstone to modern democratic societies around the world. For such access to be curtailed or abrogated by an executive process not subject to public or legislative review or scrutiny would violate the principles upon which our nation was founded—all the more troubling at a time when we should be holding the beacon of freedom higher than ever.”

I would also like to take the time to mention I have been duly impressed by the work you have been doing lately in Congress, and am very proud to have supported you in every election since I moved to your district almost a decade ago. Keep up the good work.

Your constituent,

Dan Fisher

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Agree? Disagree? Write your congressman too, or write a comment below.

Background: Nancy’s Blog - What started it all - So what, you ask? - More from the Wiki - Text of legislation - Current Cosponsors

Feynman quote of the day:

I have a friend who’s an artist and he’s some times taken a view which I don’t agree with very well. He’ll hold up a flower and say, “look how beautiful it is,” and I’ll agree, I think. And he says, “you see, I as an artist can see how beautiful this is, but you as a scientist, oh, take this all apart and it becomes a dull thing.” And I think he’s kind of nutty.

First of all, the beauty that he sees is available to other people and to me, too, I believe, although I might not be quite as refined aesthetically as he is. But I can appreciate the beauty of a flower.

At the same time, I see much more about the flower that he sees. I could imagine the cells in there, the complicated actions inside which also have a beauty. I mean, it’s not just beauty at this dimension of one centimeter: there is also beauty at a smaller dimension, the inner structure…also the processes.

The fact that the colors in the flower are evolved in order to attract insects to pollinate it is interesting – it means that insects can see the color.

It adds a question – does this aesthetic sense also exist in the lower forms that are…why is it aesthetic, all kinds of interesting questions which a science knowledge only adds to the excitement and mystery and the awe of a flower.

It only adds. I don’t understand how it subtracts.

– R. P. Feyman

Now if they just release an updated API that lets us definte driving directions based on estimated trip time per route!

The one thing that is still missing that Yahoo provides is traffic event descriptions, such as construction, accidents, CHP codes, etc. You can find that in a neat GMaps mash-up by Greg Sadetsky.

According to NASA’s Eclipse website, there will be a total lunar eclipse this Saturday March 3rd at 23:20:56 UT, or 6:20pm EST, 3:20pm PST. Lucky you if you happen to be in Africa.

Eclipses are cool. My brother’s father in-law has been an “eclipse hunter” for years, and I was fortunate to join his family and my parents on a trip to Turkey a year ago to view the total solar elipse there. It was incredible- I highly reccomend the experience to anyone and everyone. The photo here was taken by my dad at 2:00pm on a bright sunny day during totality. For only a few minutes, the sky darkened and the horizon became this incredible 360 degree sunset. The temperature dropped maybe 15 degrees, and the birds stopped chirping- other than “ooh’s” and “aahs”, it was silent. Truly an incredible experience.

So when’s the next one? Lunar eclipses happen frequently, so check with NASA. The next solar eclipses are nicely documented here on a site with some integrated Google Maps.

Well my girlfriend is abroad again and I went to Futurephone’s website, and a huge red banner slaps me in the face: “THIS SERVICE IS NO LONGER AVAILABLE.” Ah, crap. No such thing as a free lunch. A little googling and it turns out Futurephone, and other phone companies base these types of services out of Iowa due to the low population and some phone tax loopholes described here.

I guess it’s back to Skype.

Enter Google Reader. This thing is awesome. I can add all my rss feeds, group them in folders, star entries for later, even mark entries to share, which I will start doing once I figure out how to link the RSS feed from that into a sideblog on this site that you can also subscribe to (which was originally the need for a blog - there’s a lot of really cool stuff out there that I think is notable enough to make you read about since you’re here anyway. Hah.)

Already use Google Reader? Yay! Be my friend!

http://gotruckyourself.blogspot.com/

I haven’t picked a title yet, or even a theme I like. That’s okay, it will evolve, just as all good things do.

Lets begin, shall we?