Category: Places & Travel

Alabama

… was admitted to the Union as the 22nd state on this date in 1819.

Capital: Montgomery.
Nickname: Yellowhammer State, Heart of Dixie.
Motto: “We dare defend our rights.”

Total area: 52,419 sq. mi. (30th), including 1,675 sq. mi. inland water.
Population: 4,486,508 (23rd) (2002 estimate).

Bird: Yellowhammer.
Dance: Square dance.
Game bird: Wild turkey.
Fish: Tarpon.
Fossil: Basilosaurus oetoides.
Mineral: Hematite.
Nut: Pecan.
Song: “Alabama.”
Stone: Marble.
Tree: Southern (longleaf) pine.

Pennsylvania

… ratified the Constitution on this date in 1787, thereby becoming the second state.

Named fpr Adm. William Penn, father of William Penn.

Nickname: Keystone State.
Capital: Harrisburg.
Motto: “Virtue, liberty and independence.”

Pennsylvania Tag

Animal: White-tailed deer.
Beverage: Milk.
Bird: Ruffed grouse.
Dog: Great Dane.
Fish: Brook trout.
Flower: Mountain laurel.
Insect: Firefly.
Tree: Hemlock.

Total area: 46,055 sq. mi. (33rd), including 1,239 sq. mi. inland water.
Population: 12,335,091 (6th) (2002 estimate).

Indiana

… entered the Union on this date in 1816, the 19th state.

Motto: “The Crossroads of America.”
Nickname: Hoosier State.
Capital: Indianapolis

Bird: Cardinal.
Flower: Peony.
Poem: “Indiana.”
Song: “On the Banks of the Wabash, Far Away.”
Stone: Indiana limestone.
Tree: Tulip tree.

Indiana

Total area: 36,418 sq. mi. (38th), including 551 sq. mi. inland water.
Population: 6,159,068 (14th) (2002 estimate).

Mississippi

… entered the Union as the 20th state on this date in 1817. From the Ojibwa misi sipi, “great river.”

Nickname: Magnolia State.
Capital: Jackson.
Motto: Virtute et armis (By virtue and arms).

Mississippi

People: 2,871,782 (31st) (2002 estimate)
Total area: 48,430 sq. mi. (32nd), including 1,523 sq. mi. inland water.

Beverage: Milk.
Bird: Mockingbird.
Fish: Largemouth or black bass.
Flower: Magnolia.
Fossil: Prehistoric whale.
Insect: Honeybee.
Mammal: White-tailed deer.
Song: “Go, Mississippi.”
Stone: Petrified wood.
Tree: Magnolia.
Waterfowl: Wood duck.
Water mammal: Porpoise.

Note that Mississippi is a poor state that needs to use magnolia as both its state flower and state tree.

Windows Live Local

Microsoft has updated Virtual Earth and now calls it Windows Live Local. It’s just one more online mapping site until you look at the Bird’s Eye Images. Wow! I can count the skylights here at Casa NewMexiKen.

Here’s an example — Albuquerque’s Sandia Casino (with hotel that has just now opened shown still under construction). You can zoom in.

The software is beta and seems more difficult to navigate than some, but the Bird’s Eye Images (taken from aircraft, not satellite) are amazing.

The places with these images is limited. The site lists these metropolitan areas so far:

New York City, NY
San Francisco, CA
Boston, MA
Los Angeles, CA
Washington, DC
Seattle, WA
Philadelphia, PA
Las Vegas, NV
Atlanta, GA
Albuquerque, NM
Indianapolis, IN
Lexington, KY

Update: When viewing the aerial photos, be sure to click on the direction arrows on the compass to see the same object from every direction. Awesome!

Land of Superlatives

2006 Wonders Stamps

Forty natural and man-made wonders of the United States are depicted on this stamp pane. These remarkable places, plants, animals, and structures were selected from every region of the country.

On the front of each stamp, in large letters, are words that describe the superlative nature of a particular place or thing. Smaller type gives the name or location of the featured wonder. Text on the back of each stamp provides relevant statistics and other interesting information.

Stamps will be released next May (2006). Click image to enlarge.

Thanks to Lee, official middle brother of NewMexiKen, for the pointer.

El Morro National Monument (New Mexico)

was proclaimed such on this date in 1906.

Rising 200 feet above the valley floor, this massive sandstone bluff was a welcome landmark for weary travelers. A reliable waterhole hidden at its base made El Morro (or Inscription Rock) a popular campsite. Beginning in the late 1500s Spanish, and later, Americans passed by El Morro. While they rested in its shade and drank from the pool, many carved their signatures, dates, and messages. Before the Spanish, petroglyphs were inscribed by Ancestral Puebloans living on top of the bluff over 700 years ago. Today, El Morro National Monument protects over 2,000 inscriptions and petroglyphs, as well as Ancestral Puebloan ruins.

Source: El Morro National Monument

Petrified Forest National Park (Arizona)

… was first proclaimed a national monument on this date in 1906.

Petrified Forest

Petrified Forest National Park is a surprising land of scenic wonders and fascinating science. The park features one of the world’s largest and most colorful concentrations of petrified wood, the multi-hued badlands of the Chinle Formation known as the Painted Desert, historic structures, archeological sites, and displays of 225 million year old fossils.
…

The park is 93,533 acres, with a recently expanded boundary increasing the acreage to 218,533 acres.

Source: Petrified Forest National Park

The national monument became a national park in 1962.

Delaware

… was the first state to ratify the Constitution, on this date in 1787.

Named for Thomas West, Lord De La Warre, colonial governor of Virginia.

Nicknames: First State, Diamond State.
Motto: “Liberty and Independence.”
Song: “Our Delaware.”

Capital: Dover.
Total area: 2,489 sq. mi (49th), incl. 536 sq. mi. inland water.
Population: 807,385 (45th) (2002 est.).

Delaware Tag

Bird: Blue hen chicken.
Fish: Weakfish.
Flower: Peach blossom.
Insect: Ladybug.
Rock: Sillimanite.
Tree: American holly.

Edison was a tough grader

Thomas Edison would give prospective employees a general knowledge test before he would hire them. The National Park Service has compiled two versions from original Edison questions — one of 150 questions (like the original) and another of 30 questions. They’ve made each substantially easier than Edison did by providing multiple-choice answers.

NewMexiKen just tried the longer test and scored 78%. I thought I was doing well, but by Edison’s standards I failed. Screw it, I didn’t really think the job was a good match anyway.

The tests follow an introduction. This will take you a little while.

Oh yeah, Edison’s home was designated Edison Home National Historic Site on this date 50 years ago today. It was later combined with his laboratory into Edison National Historic Site.

America’s Most Literate Cities

The Top Ten

1. Seattle, WA
2. Minneapolis, MN
3. Washington, DC
4. Atlanta, GA
5. San Francisco, CA
6. Denver, CO
7. Boston, MA
8. Pittsburgh, PA
9. Cincinnati, OH
10. St. Paul, MN

“A total score was tallied for each city across six different literacy categories: Booksellers; Educational attainment; Internet Resources; Library Resources; Newspaper Circulation; and Periodical publications. All categories were compared against the city’s total population.” Central Connecticut State University

Sixty-nine cities with more than 250,000 people were surveyed. Complete rankings.

36. Albuquerque

One more geography question

Don’t know why I got on such a geography kick, but NewMexiKen thought of one more trivia question.

Assume you are in a canoe on the Mississippi River at New Orleans. Disallowing for any man-made obstacles like dams, or low water, but without leaving the water, through or past how many cities could you paddle that have an NFL franchise?

Don’t count the New Orleans Saints, who aren’t playing in New Orleans this season.

Answer in comments. No peeking.

Geographic trivia time

Anyone can look these up. How well can you do from knowledge you already have? Answers are in comments (no peeking).

1. Of the 50 states, 24 meet the sea (or tidewater); that is, their lowest elevation is sea level (well, actually Louisiana (minus 8 feet) and California (minus 282 feet) go below sea level, but that’s irrelevant here). Of the remaining 26 states that do not meet sea level, which has the lowest elevation?

Special bonus question: Which has second lowest elevation?

2. Of the 50 states, the 13 westernmost states have elevations above 11,000 feet. Texas has the next highest elevation (8,749) followed by South Dakota (7,242). The next highest elevation is in a state east of the Mississippi River. Which state is it?

3. As we all know since Katrina, New Orleans has sections of the city that are below sea level (minus 8 feet is the lowest). Which of the 50 largest cities (by population) has the highest elevation? (As a point of reference, the 50th largest city is Wichita, Kansas, population 354,000.)

4. The mnemonic for remembering the Great Lakes is HOMES. Arrange the letters by the size of the lakes.

Special bonus question: Four of the lakes are within 32 feet of the same elevation. The other is 326 feet lower. What comes in between the lowest lake and the next one upstream?

5. Of the 50 states, which is the easternmost, southernmost, westernmost and northernmost?

National park shrinking

Hawai'i VolcanoIn this photo provided by the U.S. Geological Survey’s Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, the collapse of 44-acres, (17.6-hectares) at Hawaii Volcanoes National Park is seen falling into the ocean Monday, Nov. 28, 2005, exposing a 60-foot cliff and a 6-foot in diameter stream of lava shooting from the cliff face. The glowing lava has since formed a ramp of new land as it continues to pour out into the ocean sending up a tower of steam. The collapse of solidified lava and sea cliff is the largest since Kilauea Volcano began its current eruption in 1983.

Click image to enlarge.

The Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act

… became law on this date in 1980, more than doubling the size of the national park system.

Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve

According to America’s National Park System: The Critical Documents edited by Lary M. Dilsaver:

In the waning days of the Carter Democratic administration, Congress acted to further protect and expand preserved areas in Alaska, many rescued from exploitation two years earlier by presidential proclamation. This complex and lengthy act defines preserved parks, forests, wilderness areas, wildlife refuges, wild and scenic rivers, and Native American corporation lands and the degrees of preservation and usage for each. It prescribes timber, fish, and wildlife protection and use by Native Americans and other citizens.

New areas for the national park system included Aniakchak National Preserve, Cape Krusenstern National Monument, Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve, Kenai Fjords National Park, Kobuk Valley National Park, Lake Clark National Park and Preserve, Noatak National Preserve, Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve, and Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve. The act also added new lands to Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve, Katmai National Monument and Preserve, and Denali National Park and Preserve (renamed from Mount McKinley National Park).

New wild and scenic rivers under Park Service administration included Alagnak, Alatna, Aniakchak, Charley, Chilikadrotna, John, Kobuk, Mulchatna, Noatak, North Fork of the Koyukuk, Salmon, Tinayguk, and Tlikakila rivers. Other wild and scenic rivers are designated or expanded in wildlife refuges and in other areas.

The vast majority of acreage in the Denali, Gates of the Arctic, Glacier Bay, Katmai, Kobuk Valley, Lake Clark, Noatak, and Wrangell-St. Elias units is designated wilderness.

Photo taken by Ken, official oldest son of NewMexiKen, 1998

27 years ago today

President Jimmy Carter took abrupt and sweeping action to preserve 17 endangered areas of Alaska. Carter used the 1906 Antiquities Act to prevent exploitation while Congress deliberated.

Admiralty Island National Monument
Aniakchak National Monument
Becharof National Monument
Bering Land Bridge National Monument
Cape Krusenstern National Monument
Denali National Monument
Gates of the Arctic National Monument
Enlarging the Glacier Bay National Monument
Enlarging the Katmai National Monument
Kenai Fjords National Monument
Kobuk Valley National Monument
Lake Clark National Monument
Misty Fiords National Monument
Noatak National Monument
Wrangell-St. Elias National Monument
Yukon-Charley National Monument
Yukon Flats National Monument

The richest and poorest counties

Median household income 2003 (Census Bureau)

Top 10

  1. Los Alamos County, N.M. $93,089
  2. Douglas County, Co. 92,732
  3. Loudoun County, Va. 89,890
  4. Hunterdon County, N.J. 84,016
  5. Fairfax County, Va. 82,481
  6. Hamilton County, Ind. 80,691
  7. Morris County, N.J. 79,977
  8. Howard County, Md. 79,455
  9. Somerset County, N.J. 77,988
  10. Montgomery County, Md. 76,546

Bottom 10

  1. Wilcox County, Ala. $19,524
  2. Hancock County, Tenn. 19,228
  3. Starr County, Texas 19,127
  4. Holmes County, Miss. 19,057
  5. Clay County, Ky. 18,724
  6. Zavala County, Texas 18,553
  7. McDowell County, W.Va. 18,344
  8. Ziebach County, S.D. 17,753
  9. Owsley County, Ky. 17,344
  10. Buffalo County, S.D. 17,003

Among the states Connecticut had the highest state household median at $56,409, edging out New Jersey at $56,356. New Mexico was 45th at $35,091. Mississippi 50th at $32,397.

Eisenhower National Historic Site (Pennsylvania)

… was established on this date in 1967.

Eisenhower Farm

Elvis gyrated and McCarthy railed. School children ducked and covered, suburbanites dug bomb shelters. Everyone loved Lucy, and a retired general in the White House played golf and struggled to keep a third world war at bay.

This is the life and the times reflected in Eisenhower National Historic Site, the home and farm of General and President Dwight D. Eisenhower.

Located adjacent to the Gettysburg Battlefield, the farm served the President as a weekend retreat and a meeting place for world leaders. With its putting green, skeet range, and view of South Mountain, it was a much needed respite from Washington. With its show herd of black Angus, it was a successful cattle operation and source of pride for the President.

Eisenhower National Historic Site

Joseph Wood Krutch

… was born on this date in 1893. He graduated from the University of Tennessee and received an M.A. and Ph.D. from Columbia. He became an author and lecturer and was drama critic for The Nation during the years 1924-1952. He wrote two criticially acclaimed biographies, Samuel Johnson (1944) and Henry David Thoreau (1948).

Krutch moved to Tucson in 1952 and turned his focus primarily to nature writing. Among his notable works were The Desert Year, The Voice of the Desert and The Great Chain of Life.

From The Voice of the Desert:

Here in the West, as in the country at large, a war more or less concealed under the guise of a “conflict of interests” rages between the “practical” conservationist and the defenders of the national parks and other public lands; between cattlemen and lumberers on the one hand, and the “sentimentalists” on the other. The pressure to allow the hunter, the rancher, or the woodcutter to invade the public domain is constant and the plea is always that we should “use” what is assumed to be useless unless it is adding to material welfare. But unless somebody teaches love, there can be no ultimate protection to what is lusted after. Without some “love of nature” for itself there is no possibility of solving “the problem of conservation.”