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  • 2007 PA Population Estimates

    A news release I received in my inbox this morning, from the Pennsylvania State Data Center. It’s pretty interesting, for those of you anti-Jersians (read: Pennsylvanians) who read this blog.

    MIDDLETOWN, Pa – The U.S. Census Bureau today released July 1, 2007 estimates of the population based on age, sex, race and Hispanic origin. The release includes detailed population estimates for Pennsylvania at the state level. The data illustrates the commonwealth’s changing demographics, showing almost one in five Pennsylvania residents is a minority. Overall, the populations of several age groups, including persons 25-44 and children under the age of 18 have declined. The state’s total population has increased to 12,432,792, from 12,402,817 in 2006 (0.2 percent increase) and 12,281,054 in 2000 (1.2 percent increase).

    Hispanic Origin
    The Hispanic population in Pennsylvania (556,132) continued to increase in 2007. The number of persons of Hispanic or Latino Origin increased 5.0 percent from 2006 to 2007, and grew by 41.1 percent since 2000. In comparison, the non-Hispanic population increased by less than 0.1 percent last year and decreased 0.1 percent since 2000. Hispanics account for a significant portion of all population growth in Pennsylvania between 2000 and 2007, increasing 162,044 people from 2000-2007. The Non-Hispanic population fell by 10,306 during the same time period. However, in 2007 Hispanics made up just 4.5 percent of the total population in the commonwealth. Hispanic or Latino origin is considered an ethnicity by the U.S. Census Bureau and persons of Hispanic origin may be of any race.

    Race
    No single race group in Pennsylvania lost population, between 2006 and 2007, though the White Alone race group, which makes up 85.6 percent of the state’s population, was the slowest-growing, increasing by only 0.1 percent. Since 2000, the White Alone population has fallen by 35,088 persons (-0.3 percent). Between 2006 and 2007, Black and Asian (Alone) populations grew by 9,017 and 9,718 persons, respectively. In the last six years, Pennsylvania’s Black (+79,528) and Asian (+74,056) populations increased by 6.3 percent and 32.8 percent, respectively. Also, the population of Native Hawaiians or Pacific Islanders, and persons of two or more races have each grown quickly since 2000: 30.8 percent and 27.6 percent, respectively.

    Age and Sex
    Several age groups have declined in population over the last six years. Pennsylvania’s elderly population (65
    years or older) has dropped by 29,505 persons (-1.5 percent) since 2000. The 25-44 age group experienced a large population loss (-319,950 or -9.1 percent) and children (under 18) declined by 135,502, or -4.6 percent during this period.

    Pennsylvania remains one of the oldest states in the nation, ranking 3rd in percentage of persons 65 and over (15.2 percent) in 2007. The median age of all Pennsylvanians has increased from 38.0 to 39.7 since 2000. As of July 1, 2007, the commonwealth’s male (6,048,989) and female (6,383,803) populations stood at 48.7 percent and 51.3 percent of the total population, respectively. Among the elderly, the ratio shifts to 40.8 percent male, 59.2 percent female (in 2007).

  • Juno the Capital of Alaska?

    No, but I do know one more terrible awful no-good very bad script.

    OK, guys, you all got me good. This has been the biggest practical joke pulled on me in my life, everyone getting me to sit down and watch Juno. I’m reminded of the time my family received a juicer for Christmas and one evening in February we decided to try it out. It made great apple juice and orange juice. We decided to try the veggies, starting with carrots. My brother thought the carrot juice looked absolutely disgusting. I drank a small glass and told him it was great. He didn’t believe me, so I drank another. That got him to taste it and discover that it was, as he suspected, downright nasty. It was absolutely worth it.

    So, ha ha everyone. You got me to watch Juno. And not just a small taste of it; I made it a full 14 and a half minutes into the movie. I have to hand it to you; you had everyone in on this thing: my friends (even the ones with reasonably well-developed taste in movies), my bosses, the Academy–hell, even David Denby professed to like it.

    Like I said, a hearty “good job” is in order for all of you. Karin, you can return that DVD you pretended you were adding to your collection; Oscar committee, you can redact the nominations; Cheryl and Tom, you can make a bona fide recommendation to me; David Denby, you can write your real review (I now know that when you wrote that the movie had “not a single false note,” you meant the exact opposite).

    My review? It would be very short. “As a movie, Juno is a clusterfuck.”

  • Lately I’ve been playing Fable for XBox a lot. It’s a fantasy game where you start out as an orphaned kid who gets trained at the Guild of Heroes. As you go through the game, your choices affect who you become. I’ve played through as a good wizard, an evil wizard, a good warrior, and now an evil warrior.

    Motivated by the guilt caused by endless hours on my butt playing that game, I have also done one or two enriching and productive things. Last Friday Chelle scored us free tickets to the Lancaster Symphony concert. At work I’m delving into knowledge management in a serious way, alongside my typical duties. I also went to the grocery store last night, and I’ve been keeping the budget. Now that taxes and a stupid medical bill are out of the way, it feels like we’re gaining forward momentum toward our next goal of eliminating our debt. I thought I wouldn’t feel less stressed until we were actually out from under the weight of our debt, but I’ve found that simply sticking to a budget and having a plan have drastically reduced the money-related stress for me.

    Amanda has been under the weather the past couple days. Aside from that, it’s been really great to see her unleashing her serious artistic talent again, this time through painting. Guinea pigs, mostly.

    I am taking a stab at a bona fide cool-looking design for Frodo’s Notebook. The functionality is 85% in place, but the look and feel, and usability, were not on the mark. I always feel like I look so stupid trying to tackle this Web stuff that I’m not good enough at.

    It’s sunny and around 70 degrees today. I am really enjoying my walks to and from work again, now that spring seems to be here. In a year the convention center across the way will be completed, and it will be a thrill to walk by there every day, especially when there are gobs of convention-goers toting freebies.

  • A model of prosperity for 21st Century America

    Lancaster is on NPR this morning, rocking it with its world-rocking central farmers market.

    And, Oprah is doing an hour-long cut-it-the-hell-out-you-dumb-assholes show on Lancaster County puppy mills this afternoon. This may be the first time ever that I have been even remotely grateful for Oprah’s existence on the planet.

  • Burninating all the People

    Believe it: Nader is now polling 5–6%.

    It’s only going to go up from here. If the general election debates began today, Nader would be in them. Go democracy.


  • FCC Okays Nudity On TV If It’s Alyson Hannigan

  • Guezlo/Stewart 2008?

    For anyhow who somehow has missed this bit of news:

    Guelzo will be on The Daily Show tonight.

    I think the world may end. This is impossible.

  • Ralph Nader Is Running

    I have to be honest. I expected that when he appeared on NBC’s Meet The Press this morning, Ralph Nader would announce whether or not he was running. And when he announced, just an hour ago now, that he is running, I felt briefly disappointed. But once again, his thinking was clear and his words persuasive, so that by the end of his 20-minute interview with Tim Russert, I was happy that he is running.

    Briefly, some key parts of what he said:

    • All three leading-party candidates at this point oppose a having a single-payer health insurance system in this country, a system that a forthcoming poll indicates 59% of physicians support.
    • None of the major candidates are addressing bloated Pentagon spending and waste
    • They aren’t addressing the sad state of labor law, which currently keeps hard-working everyday Americans from organizing to protect their interests and their families in the face of massive globalization
    • They aren’t talking about cracking down on corporate crime, which over the past few years has resulted in trillions of dollars being fleeced from workers, investors, and pension-holders
    • In many ways Ralph’s candidacy is again about getting better ballot access, allowing voters the additional voices and choices that we want. He wants to make room for dissent in our political system.
    • One weakness of Barack Obama is how he has shifted his views on Israel-Palestine. While in Illinois, he consistently supported the rights of Palestinians. Now he supports Israel with a blind eye to the 300:1 civilian death ratio in that conflict (300 Palestinian civilians killed for every 1 Israeli).
    • Will he “spoil” this election for the Democrats? “If the Democrats can’t landslide the Republicans in this election, they ought to just wrap up, shut down.”
    • Perhaps the slogan this election should be “power to the babies.” We can’t continue to saddle the next generations with trillions of dollars of debt, and a democracy in which they as individuals have less and less power.
    • The Nader campaign will accept money only from individuals. No companies, corporations, political action committees, or lobbyists.
    • Tim Russert asked Ralph if he was concerned that running again in 2008, and perhaps once again being pegged as a “spoiler,” would ruin his legacy. Ralph said “no, Tim, my concern doesn’t come from that”–I’m concerned about making the country better for all its citizens, not about creating some legacy for myself.
    • 58,000 people die every year from workplace injuries and illness, and hundreds of thousands die yearly from other similarly-preventable causes (hospital infections, medicine mistakes, air pollution) and we’re not addressing those life-or-death problems.

    Where does this leave me? I have decided that in the presidential election this November, I will be a single-issue voter. And that single issue will be the sanctity of democracy. If Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, or their party henchmen attack my right to have a third viable candidate on the ballot, they will straight-up lose any chance at my vote. If they challenge the ability of a serious candidate to have a shot at elected office, I will vote either for Ralph Nader or for no one. BUT, if they walk the talk about believing in democracy and about giving me a voice and a choice, they will have a great shot at my vote.

    Will Barack or Hillary support Nader’s right to appear on televised debates? Will they restrain their party from sending teams of corporate lawyers to states like Pennsylvania to challenge Nader’s right to be on the ballot? The only way I will believe their claims that they believe in democracy will be if they do.

  • Holy shit, I went to church

    If it had been a while between political posts, it’s been even longer between religious-quest posts.

    I went to church this morning. With Amanda, Timothy, and Karin. We went to Wheatland Presbyterian (PCA, for those who care). My acquaintancey-type friend Ned Bustard (editor most notably of the outstanding anthology It Was Good: Making Art to the Glory of God) goes there, as do the folks behind the Word>>>Flesh Christmas album some of us were digging on this December. It turns out that one of Karin’s regular kids at the library goes there too, with his family. I thought it was a good service and that it felt like a solid church.

    So where am I in my whole religious questy thingy? Who knows. I haven’t done any serious reading on the subject for a few months. And in fact, while I’m in the middle of writing about it now, I just don’t feel like writing about it any more at the moment. Where’s everyone else in spiritual/religious terms?