Sightings of the gerrymander in its native habitat

Today's Financial Times contains a nice summary of contemporary gerrymandering in the U.S. The etymology of "gerrymander" I covered in a previous post; the FT article also provides a nice picture (at least in the print version) of the first sighting of a gerrymander:

Take it away Walt...

"Afoot and light-hearted, I take to the open road,
Healthy, free, the world before me,
The long brown path before me, leading wherever I choose."
- Walt Whitman, Song of the Open Road

It's happy time

The beginning of baseball spring training is best savored after one has had to endure a long, cold winter. In New England, December is tolerable due to the Christmas and New Year holidays that one can look forward to and eventually enjoy (deer season is also nice). January is spent in a bit of the holiday afterglow. Recently there has been the added bonus of Patriots Super Bowl wins. After that, the only thing to look forward to in February is the day when pitchers and catchers report. The beginning of spring training that this day inaugurates makes March less intolerable. I consider March the most brutal of winter months; it's like extra time being tacked onto a prison sentence.
Now, in Berkeley spring is already in bloom and the worst that winter had to offer was rain and some occasional chilly nights. In some way the lack of suffering that one has to endure here during the winter takes away some appreciation of the dawn of spring training, at least for me. Boo hoo.

It's probably best to take Big Papi's lead:



"People ask me what I do in winter when there's no baseball. I'll tell you what I do. I stare out the window and wait for spring."
- Rogers Hornsby

"It's the fans that need spring training. You gotta get 'em interested. Wake 'em up and let 'em know that their season is coming, the good times are gonna roll."
- Harry Caray

Go Anglosphere!?

Magnesium Skies points to a New Scientist article on teenage pregnancy. While this is a topic I typically don't really ever think about, it is an interesting fact that the top six countries in percentage of females aged 15-19 who gave birth in 2002 are (in decreasing order) the US, UK, New Zealand, Ireland, Canada, Australia: all English-speaking. All of the other countries on the list are highly developed and with the exception of Japan, European: another interesting fact. It would be interesting to see the uncertainties on these percentage points and determine whether this English-speaking phenomenon is significant. Regardless, I personally think this is less interesting than the fact that there seems to be a correlation with economic development (and amount of secularism?: how do you explain Ireland then?)

Dunkin Donuts: "high-quality coffees without the cultural pretension"

An enjoyable article in Slate I think perfectly encapsulates in spots the "charm" of Dunkin Donuts and coins what should be their slogan. Sure, the coffee is almost intolerably sweet and your average location isn't really a place were you would want to have a seat and enjoy the atmosphere (they're typically dirty and the color-scheme is offensive to the eye), but as a New Englander I can't help but feel a little nostalgic. On a cold winter morning there is nothing that wakes and warms you up better than a "large regular". I have a particular fondness as well for a "sesame bagel with veggie".

Granted, an actual "good" cup of coffee isn't hard to find here in Berkeley, but

1) there are no places lower down the quality ladder like Dunkin Donuts where convenience (and the biggest caffeine bang for the buck) is a priority
2) there are just too damn many coffee shops here (more pubs please)

For Christ sakes, there is a Dunkin Donuts in the Santiago (Chile) airport.