Today is the 4th of July. For those of you who haven’t already left for the 4th of July weekend, I thought it would be appropriate to celebrate the USA by looking at it in various ways. This post was prompted by a post today of 22 maps that define America. So (as Harry Shearer would say), let’s take a tour of American… through maps…
- Business Insider has an article with 22 Gorgeous Maps that Define America. These maps include NFL loyalties, how Google autocomplete sees each state, the mean center of population, states labeled with the country that has equal population, and so forth.
- Zip Codes turn 50 years old this week. So here are some zip code maps. The first shows each state labeled with the leading portions of the zip code for that state. The second is a zoomable Google map that shows zip codes as of 2010.
- Perhaps you prefer politics. Here are a few political maps for you. The first allows you to see how presidential elections went from the first (1789) to the next (2016). The second site provides all sorts of statistical maps for elections from 1840 through 2008. The last looks at electoral college reform, and shows the US divided into 50 states with equal population.
- Perhaps you want some perspective. Here’s a collection of maps that does just that: it overlays the USA with outlines of various countries so that you can see how small we really are.
- Are numbers your thing? Here are 25 interesting US census maps, shows all sorts of stuff, from minority concentrations, changes in population growth, and much more.
- Don’t know what you want? Here’s a Pinterest board of creative US maps. All sorts of interesting stuff here, including the US made of cast iron pans. As we’re talking miscellaneous maps, how about maps of US roadside attractions, a map of what each state is the worst at, or a map where the US states have been given porcine nicknames.
- Language your thing? We close out with a map American English dialects.
Music: Under Fire (NYMF) (Demo Cast): “Follow Me”
Every year I post this on the 4th of July. For all that certain groups purport to know what this country’s founders wanted, I think it is best expressed in the sentiment “life, liberty, and the purſuit of happineſſ”. We still have that, for all the complaints. At times we may not like our leadership, and at times we may be frustrated at how our government is working (or not), but it is still the best system out there. Lastly, as much as I get annoyed at what those on the other side of the political spectrum say, I am still pleased to live somewhere where they have the right to say it. Happy Independence Day!
OK, I’ll fess up. I’m not running for state senator. I didn’t get a lot of “yeah, go for it”, nor do I think I could do the “press the flesh” and raise all the money. Although Kickstarter is a great idea given 
Today is Halloween. So, not surprisingly, over lunch I’ve been thinking about Halloween costumes (and customs) in general, and three articles that I read this week in particular. This is something I’ve been thinking about since Saturday night when we went to the theatre in Hollywood on Metro, and were exposed to a large number of revelers in Halloween costumes going to various parties and clubs.
Last night was the first night of Passover. It was a busy day.. I’m still exhausted. Still, I promised you pictures of the table, so I need to do that.
Of course, there was a complicating factor. There’s always a complicating factor. In this case, the factor was that my wife, two days ago, walked into a plate glass window at Disneyland. Yesterday morning, she was feeling dizzy and unsettled… so around 10am, she had a friend take her to the ER at Valley Presbyterian (on the advice of our family doctor). So all that cooking above… she left written instructions. Now, I’m the table-setter, the leader of the ceremony, and the dish washer (I was up to 1am washing dishes afterwards). So guess who picked up the gauntlet to do the cooking? Nope, not me, although I helped. The credit goes entirely to my daughter Erin, our dear friend Nicole, and my uncle Ron. Erin did a lot: the night before, she backed two pecan pies, two apple pies, and an apple cobbler.
One of the nice things about last night is that this is one of the first time we’ve had the full family at the house (or a close facsimile thereof — my wife’s brother couldn’t make it, and her other sister is in Tucson). We had my sister-in-law and her family; my uncle Ron, his daughter, and her three children; my uncle Tom and his wife; three of Tom’s friends, and two of Erin’s friends. A full house!