Recreational Poli Sci
hedge industries from yesteryear, combined with politics and politicology from deepest suburbia
Heads up, friends, it’s Census time. Yes, the Ye Olde Tradition from the first article of the Constitution says we must count heads to apportion congressional juice, but we also learn a lot about population changes from the form that folks fill out. I’m looking forward to learning what percent of Americans self-describe themselves with Scotch-Irish ancestry. That “ethnicity,” as you might describe it, is central to a particular senator’s identity without doubt (who sought to “redeem them from their redneck, hillbilly stereotype and place them at the center of American history and culture”).
Yet, there was a massive drop in the number of people identifying as Scotch-Irish between 1990 and 2000— according to the Census Bureau’s report on ancestry, from 5.6m to 4.3m, representing a 23% drop. So, if you’re S-I, fight your way to that census and make your belligerent presence felt!
Almost the anniversary of the start of my little tumblrblog, and I thought I’d celebrate bemoan visually how the number of entries appears like most folks’ gym membership usage patterns for their new year’s resolutions…
A late development in MA’s off-cycle senate race involves AG Martha Coakley, the Democrat, committing an unthinkable gaffe in Boston: referring to Curt Schilling as a Yankee fan. Oops. Maybe Coakley should take heart from John Kerry, though. As ‘Sconis can remember, John Kerry referred to the hallowed ground in Green Bay as “Lambert Field,” and still carried the state (if only by a whisker) two months later despite mangling Curly Lambeau’s name.
"We see vast untapped grounds in our home base and we believe there are still plenty of prizes to be claimed by the best players."
In all this Google / Beijing dust-up, I wanted to see what this “Baidu” engine was about, so I went there. My Chinese literacy, is, shall we say, poor, but I did see the “Baidu Story,” where the last line cracked me up. Link to About Baidu.
What is the North? What is the South? Does it matter where we draw our fuzzy lines defining groups? Turns out, this is a common question. The Brits do it. The Americans have the post-carnage Civil War legacy that will continue to bedevil us, but it’s good to remember that the M/D line is too far north and not extrapolatable westward. Try Zelinsky instead. But the most recent and most amusing one is North Jersey v. South Jersey. Ben Franklin called Jersey a barrel tapped at both ends, and it’s a suburban zone divided by its NYC and Philly sides (media markets too). The Yankees / Phillies world series made this even more evident. Turns out that someone has made a documentary about where this fuzzy barrier is in the Garden State (here’s their blog) (trailer). Maybe I’ll pop in in my netflix queue.
Extra credit goes to knowers of which side Jay and Silent Bob are on.
