A myth debunked

Contrary to popular opinion, the U.S. is not a nation of red states and blue states (and in case you just arrived from another planet, red means Republican and blue means Democrat). Far from it, except in the states of Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Hawaii (where Democrats carried every county), and Oklahoma (where Republicans carried every county). In the other 43 states, when viewed county by county, we are a crazy quilt of red splotches and blue splotches. What we are, basically, is a nation of red counties and blue counties. Click on the following map to get a better look.


A close examination of the 2008 presidential election map, coupled with a geographer’s eye for where the major metropolitan areas are, reveals that people living in cities and suburbs tended to vote Democratic (blue), except where they didn’t, and people living in rural areas tended to vote Republican (red), except where they didn’t.

Next time, just to be different, I’m hoping they’ll use purple and green.

A solution and a self-directed ramble

If you tried the Books of the Bible search in my November 28th post, the solution is shown below. Whether you did or didn’t [try the Books of the Bible search], you are invited to go on a different sort of ramble by clicking, in no particular order, on the green links.


Puzzle Solution (with detours)

In these remarks are hidden the names of twenty-four books of the Bible. Yes, there are some that are easy to spot; others are harder to judge. So we admit it usually results in lamentations when we can’t find them. This test is a lulu -- kept me looking so hard for the facts that I missed the revelation.

I was in a jam, especially since not all of the names are capitalized and space separates some of the letters. The truth will come to numbers of you, but to others it will be a real job. To all it will be
a most fascinating search. We offer some hints. It helps if you are
in a humming mood. One lady said she brews coffee while she puzzles over it. Another tries to hose a part of her lawn. (She may try to josh u a little, too.) My friend Joe looks for a hero -- man’s best friend, but he has a pet ermine, not a dog. (He also keeps alms under a door mat. The weird ideas some have.) If you find all twenty-four in an hour, you’re a real pro. Verbs are not as helpful as nouns. Begin by reviewing the books of the Bible; then happy hunting!

Here endeth the reading and the solving of the Hidden Books of the Bible Puzzle. Thanks be to God.

Test Yourself

Don’t worry. I am not going to urge you to check once a month in the shower for lumps in your breasts or in your testicles (and rare is the reader who can do both). No, this is a Bible quiz, sort of.

In these remarks are hidden the names of twenty-four books of the Bible. Yes, there are some that are easy to spot; others are harder to judge. So we admit it usually results in lamentations when we can’t find them. This test is a lulu -- kept me looking so hard for the facts that I missed the revelation.

I was in a jam, especially since not all of the names are capitalized and space separates some of the letters. The truth will come to numbers of you, but to others it will be a real job. To all it will be a most fascinating search. We offer some hints. It helps if you are in a humming mood. One lady said she brews coffee while she puzzles over it. Another tries to hose a part of her lawn. (She may try to josh u a little, too.) My friend Joe looks for a hero -- man’s best friend, but he has a pet ermine, not a dog. (He also keeps alms under a door mat. The weird ideas some have.) If you find all twenty-four in an hour, you’re a real pro. Verbs are not as helpful as nouns. Begin by reviewing the books of the Bible; then happy hunting!

This is how people used to amuse themselves in the days before Rubik's Cube and Sudoku.

Let me know via a comment how many you found! I’ll post the solution in a couple of days.

Thanksgiving Day

Norman Rockwell said it much better with with paint than I can with words, but the familiar words of an old song are my prayer for America today:


BLESS THIS HOUSE

Bless this house, O Lord, we pray,
Make it safe by night and day.
Bless these walls so firm and stout,
Keeping want and trouble out.

Bless the roof and chimneys tall,
Let Thy peace lie over all.
Bless this door that it may prove
Ever open to joy and love.

Bless these windows shining bright,
Letting in God’s heavenly light.
Bless the hearth ablazing there,
With smoke ascending like a prayer.

Bless the folk who dwell within,
Keep us pure and free from sin.
Bless us all that we may be
Fit, O Lord, to dwell with Thee,
Bless us all that one day we
May dwell, O Lord, with Thee.

(copyright 1927 by May H. Brahe & Helen Taylor)

Award time!

Having just returned with Mrs. RWP from a whirlwind four-day trip to Tampa, Florida, to visit our son’s family, I was catching up on some blog reading last evening when what to my wondering eyes should appear but:

1. A miniature sleigh with eight tiny reindeer.
2. Seven swans a-swimming, six geese a-laying, FIVE GOLD RINGS!
3. Ezio Pinza singing “Some Enchanged Evening” to Mary Martin across a crowded room.
4. An award with my name on it!

The correct answer, class, is 4, an award with my name on it! I discovered that I have been named a Superior Scribbler by none other than Jeannelle of Iowa, not to be confused with Eleanor of Aquitaine, the mother of Richard the Lion-Hearted. Of the six awards this blog has received in its short life, three of them have been from Jeannelle. I am beginning to think she really likes my blog. Here’s the award:


The rules associated with the Superior Scribbler award are:

1. Pass the award on to five (5) deserving bloggers. (More on this below.)
2. Link to the person who gave the award to you. In this instance, that’s Jeanelle, whose fascinating blog about everyday life in Iowa and a few other things as well is called Midlife By Farmlight.
3. Display the award. (I just did.)
4. Link to the blogpost at The Scholastic Scribe that explains the award.
5. Add your own name to the list of recipients at the Scholastic Scribe blogpost and leave a comment.
6. Post these rules on your own blog.

If a Superior Scribbler is anything like a Superior Doodler, I was probably in like Flynn. I have been known to doodle all over a sheet of paper placed in front of me, especially when the person I’m supposed to be listening to is as boring as all get out. I can’t help it; it’s just part of the charm that makes me, well, me. But if the award is meant to recognize the quality of the content of my scribbles, not the quantity, I guess the jury is still out on that one. Nevertheless, I am grateful to Jeannelle for thinking of my blog in her deliberations.

Here are the recipients of my newly-acquired largesse (translation: here are the blogs I have decided to give the award to):

1. The Golden Hill by Sam Gerhardstein, because it is increasingly fascinating. Sam, who lives in Ohio, has had cataract surgery recently and also is a personal friend of one of the astronauts on the space shuttle Endeavor.

2. Ask Dr. Jim, just for fun. Dr. Jim lives near Houston, Texas, and tries to gives serious, well-thought out answers to some pretty quirky questions.

3. Yorkshire Pudding, written by a man in England who has taught school for thirty years. His wife’s name is Shirley and his children are named Ian and Frances, but I have yet to learn his name.

4. My Dad’s A Communist. In spite of its shocking name, this blog is written by a woman named Daphne who lives in England and whose job involves role-playing as a patient to help medical students practice their interviewing techniques. Recently she traveled to Barcelona, Spain, and Paris, France. Tough work, but someone had to do it.

5. The Depp Effect is written by a woman named Jay who also lives in England. She is married to a fellow named Andy and has an inexplicable fascination with actor Johnny Depp.

6. Retirement Rocks is the blog of Ian, who calls himself Silverback. Also English, he spends half the year in England and half the year in Sebring, Florida. Daphne just arrived in America with her husband, Stephen, on her first trip to our fair land, and Ian is showing them Florida.

7. Putz’s blog. It is written by a Mr. Barlow in Utah who has a big family and refers to himself as Putz. I included Putz’s blog because everyone should experience him at least once. His readers love him and cut him a lot of slack to say and do whatever he wants, even though his spelling is inventive and he never corrects typos and his stories can seem a little disconnected. But that’s part of the fun of reading Putz. For a while he didn’t create new posts; he just kept adding to his most recent one. Fortunately, something I said persuaded him to return to a more conventional style of posting. This is blogging without borders. I hereby challenge you to read Putz’s stuff and not judge him based on his spelling, grammar, paragraphing abilities, or lack of any part thereof.

8. All About Whatever is an interesting blog written by Tracie, who calls herself Rosezilla. I envision a cross between Rose Kennedy and Godzilla. Tracie leaves interesting comments on my blog. Tracie lives somewhere near Cape Coral, Florida.

I know, I know, that’s eight, not five. So sue me.

I hope I have introduced you to some new corners of the blogosphere today.

Things you learn after a baptism

At a get-together for family and friends after my grandson's baptism a couple of weeks ago, I met Phil H., who works where my son works. Phil mentioned that he felt he already knew me and my family because he has been reading my blog for several months. I was unaware of this fact because he has never left a comment. That sort of person is called a “lurker,” which has no negative connotations; it just means a person who doesn’t leave a comment. As proof that Phil has read my blog, he asked Mrs. RWP about her new knees during the course of the get-together.

When I said that I thought I probably had only a few readers since I receive only a few comments, he said, “You might be surprised how many people are reading your blog. Why don’t you add a live traffic feed and find out!”

I had never considered doing this, but after thinking about it for a few days I added a live traffic feed about a week ago. It displays the last ten visitors; as a new visitor arrives, the oldest one is dropped from the list. I have been absolutely amazed to learn that in addition to people from several states in the U.S., my blog has been visited in the past week by people from New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Canada, France, India, Turkey, even three or four people from China.

[Update: In the couple of days since I wrote the preceding sentence, this blog has also had visitors from Australia and South Korea. Build a better mousetrap, and the world will beat a path to your door. I understand that President-elect Obama was personally leaning toward selecting me as his new Secretary of State, but Senator What's-Her-Name's people have somehow managed to convince his people that she would be the better choice. Although I am truly disappointed, I remain gracious even in defeat. And humble, of course. And speaking of being humble, my new book, Humility And How I Attained It, will be available soon at your local bookstores. --RWP, 11/22/2008]

Having a live traffic feed has been a real eye-opener for me. Now if more of you lurkers would just comment....

I was going to end this post by saying, “Here’s to the Internet!” and include a photograph of people toasting with champagne, but all of the ones I found cost money. I now reveal another fact about myself: I am nothing if not frugal.

One Mississippi, Two Mississippi, Three Mississippi

Last night we caught the evening news just in time to hear Atlanta TV anchorwoman Brenda Wood say that the space shuttle Endeavor would be passing over Atlanta about an hour later and would be visible for three minutes. We were instructed to look west, where Jupiter and Venus are the brightest objects in the sky, at 6:54 p.m. to see the spacecraft rising. By 6:57 p.m., the show would be over.

Mrs. RWP and I went out to the patio just in time to see the event, and it was quite impressive, the space shuttle Endeavor shining every bit as brightly as Jupiter and Venus and at the same time moving rapidly across the evening sky. To realize that the craft went all the way from one horizon to the other that quickly just boggles the mind, especially when the mind is mine and usually given to such thoughts as, “Why, at a few minutes before seven in the evening, is the sky already midnight blue?”. Suddenly I’m reminded of a bit of Longfellow’s poetry: “One if by land and two if by sea/And I on the opposite shore will be/Ready to ride and spread the alarm/To every Middlesex village and farm” and also of how dumbstruck Paul Revere would be at today’s space riders.

Vehicles orbiting the earth have become so commonplace that we rarely think twice about them any more. The space shuttle orbits the earth every 90 minutes, traveling at a speed of about 18,000 miles per hour. For the mathematically challenged among you, that translates to 300 miles per minute, or five miles per second. On the surface of the earth, traveling that rapidly would be downright phenomenal. For each second that you count -- here’s where the One Mississippi, Two Mississippi, Three Mississipi, and so on come in -- you would be an additional five miles away from where your counting started. For example, if you began counting in West Palm Beach, Florida, each succeeding second would find you in Lake Worth, Boynton Beach, Delray Beach, Boca Raton, Pompano Beach, Lauderdale-by-the-sea, Fort Lauderdale, Hollywood, North Miami Beach. Now that’s traveling. You would arrive at each town nearly as fast as you could say its name. The only way I know of to travel faster is to say, “Beam me up, Scotty” and hope that the Enterprise’s trans-porter has enough dilithium crystals to work properly.

Get out a map and try my little experiment with your own locale. Think about the effect such speeds would have on your morning commute. (Note. Women living on farms are exempted from this exercise as their morning commute consists of walking from the house to the chicken coop in Vonda’s case or from the house to the tractor shed in Jeannelle’s case. My mother was transplanted from suburban Philadelphia to our acreage in rural Texas, and her favorite joke was about the farmer’s wife who went crazy. As the men in white coats were taking her away, they asked her husband, “Do you have any idea what caused her to snap?” and he replied, “Absolutely none. Why, she hasn’t even left the farm for fourteen years.” Thinking about that for a while might be enough to make any of us say, “Beam me up, Scotty.”)

P.S. -- We are leaving on a little trip to Tampa, Florida, in the morning. I probably won’t be writing any more posts until we return.