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Domain: statemaster.com

Stories and comments across the archive that link to statemaster.com.

Comments · 69

  1. Re:Alabama? by tfoss · · Score: 5, Informative · on Alabama Schools to be First in US to Get XO Laptop
    To be statistically blunt:


    Etc. etc. I have no doubt there are plenty of smart, healthy, wealthy, open-minded folks there; however the statistics tend to suggest that overall AL (like much of the deep south) has a pretty unhealthy, uneducated and poor population.

    -Ted
  2. Re:Alabama? by tfoss · · Score: 5, Informative · on Alabama Schools to be First in US to Get XO Laptop
    To be statistically blunt:


    Etc. etc. I have no doubt there are plenty of smart, healthy, wealthy, open-minded folks there; however the statistics tend to suggest that overall AL (like much of the deep south) has a pretty unhealthy, uneducated and poor population.

    -Ted
  3. Re:Alabama? by tfoss · · Score: 5, Informative · on Alabama Schools to be First in US to Get XO Laptop
    To be statistically blunt:


    Etc. etc. I have no doubt there are plenty of smart, healthy, wealthy, open-minded folks there; however the statistics tend to suggest that overall AL (like much of the deep south) has a pretty unhealthy, uneducated and poor population.

    -Ted
  4. Re:Alabama? by tfoss · · Score: 5, Informative · on Alabama Schools to be First in US to Get XO Laptop
    To be statistically blunt:


    Etc. etc. I have no doubt there are plenty of smart, healthy, wealthy, open-minded folks there; however the statistics tend to suggest that overall AL (like much of the deep south) has a pretty unhealthy, uneducated and poor population.

    -Ted
  5. Re:Alabama? by tfoss · · Score: 5, Informative · on Alabama Schools to be First in US to Get XO Laptop
    To be statistically blunt:


    Etc. etc. I have no doubt there are plenty of smart, healthy, wealthy, open-minded folks there; however the statistics tend to suggest that overall AL (like much of the deep south) has a pretty unhealthy, uneducated and poor population.

    -Ted
  6. Re:Alabama? by tfoss · · Score: 5, Informative · on Alabama Schools to be First in US to Get XO Laptop
    To be statistically blunt:


    Etc. etc. I have no doubt there are plenty of smart, healthy, wealthy, open-minded folks there; however the statistics tend to suggest that overall AL (like much of the deep south) has a pretty unhealthy, uneducated and poor population.

    -Ted
  7. Re:Alabama? by tfoss · · Score: 5, Informative · on Alabama Schools to be First in US to Get XO Laptop
    To be statistically blunt:


    Etc. etc. I have no doubt there are plenty of smart, healthy, wealthy, open-minded folks there; however the statistics tend to suggest that overall AL (like much of the deep south) has a pretty unhealthy, uneducated and poor population.

    -Ted
  8. Re:Alabama? by tfoss · · Score: 5, Informative · on Alabama Schools to be First in US to Get XO Laptop
    To be statistically blunt:


    Etc. etc. I have no doubt there are plenty of smart, healthy, wealthy, open-minded folks there; however the statistics tend to suggest that overall AL (like much of the deep south) has a pretty unhealthy, uneducated and poor population.

    -Ted
  9. Re:Alabama? by tfoss · · Score: 5, Informative · on Alabama Schools to be First in US to Get XO Laptop
    To be statistically blunt:


    Etc. etc. I have no doubt there are plenty of smart, healthy, wealthy, open-minded folks there; however the statistics tend to suggest that overall AL (like much of the deep south) has a pretty unhealthy, uneducated and poor population.

    -Ted
  10. Re:Alabama? by tfoss · · Score: 5, Informative · on Alabama Schools to be First in US to Get XO Laptop
    To be statistically blunt:


    Etc. etc. I have no doubt there are plenty of smart, healthy, wealthy, open-minded folks there; however the statistics tend to suggest that overall AL (like much of the deep south) has a pretty unhealthy, uneducated and poor population.

    -Ted
  11. Re:Alabama? by tfoss · · Score: 5, Informative · on Alabama Schools to be First in US to Get XO Laptop
    To be statistically blunt:


    Etc. etc. I have no doubt there are plenty of smart, healthy, wealthy, open-minded folks there; however the statistics tend to suggest that overall AL (like much of the deep south) has a pretty unhealthy, uneducated and poor population.

    -Ted
  12. Re:Carbon credits = lame by greenbird · · Score: 1 · on Move to a Mainframe, Earn Carbon Credits

    When it comes to environment: California != USA.

    California would be the 8th country in GDP so what it does has more impact than the vast majority of other countries. And for good or bad the US can claim California.

  13. Re:Some of the locals seemed to know... by Thorrablot · · Score: 1 · on The Science of Bridge Collapse Prevention

    There's conflicting reports about it. The Feds inspected it a few years ago and said it was in immediate need of repair, but the state sent in people who claimed it would be viable until 2020. While it might appear that the state just didn't want to spend money, keep in mind that Minnesota has the third lowest percentage of structurally deficient bridges, so it's not like there were other major priorities that were sucking up funding.
    Thanks for the statemaster link - good research link.

    I have heard about these conflicts, and have an incredibly hard time understanding why:
    1. If a federal inspection says it needs repair, how does a state inspection override this?
    2. Why should the state be responsible for the safety and inspection of a federal bridge?
    3. What oversight is there to insure that the state doesn't "pay for what they want to hear", and that they make sure they get a contractor who saves them from expensive maintenance?

    Something is rotten (aside from the beams) about the whole situation. Why would a random engineer happen to know this bridge was unsafe and avoid driving on it? Why wouldn't the legislature listen to the more cautious reports from a "higher authority", instead of the less cautious ones (money?)

    And the really terrifying question is of course, what's to keep this from happening again?
  14. Re:Some of the locals seemed to know... by Paktu · · Score: 4, Informative · on The Science of Bridge Collapse Prevention

    There's conflicting reports about it. The Feds inspected it a few years ago and said it was in immediate need of repair, but the state sent in people who claimed it would be viable until 2020. While it might appear that the state just didn't want to spend money, keep in mind that Minnesota has the third lowest percentage of structurally deficient bridges, so it's not like there were other major priorities that were sucking up funding.

  15. Re:The Nanny State Strikes Again ... by grassy_knoll · · Score: 2, Informative · on Manhunt 2 Banned In Britain

    From another view, there's this.

    Note that Washington DC leads the nation in per-capita violent crime, even though they have very restrictive firearms ownership laws ( until recently, private ownership of handguns was illegal ).

    Number 49 on the list, Vermont, permits it's citizens to carry concealed weapons without a permit.

    So, to those who think more restrictive firearms laws somehow equal a safer society... would you care to explain that?

  16. Re:It ain't liberal, it is republican by An+Onerous+Coward · · Score: 1 · on Identity Thief Apprehended By Victim

    Invading a country that might maybe someday think about conspiring to pose a threat to you is a proper function of government? How about funneling vast amounts of taxpayer money to corporate cronies under the guise of rebuilding the infrastructure of another country? How about using military and political power to compel the supposedly independent government (which your government basically imposed on the country) to enact an oil bill that gives undeservedly huge windfalls to international energy corporations?* Of course not. Hell, no conservative since Goldwater has had a shot at the presidency.

    When it comes to prisons, the primary difference between conservatives and liberals isn't about how harsh prison should be, how many people should be incarcerated, how prisons should be paid for, or whatever. For conservatives, the primary purpose is punishment. A sin has been committed, and a price must be extracted. Sure, there is the hope that if prison is made awful enough an experience, people will behave better to avoid getting entangled in the system. But that's a secondary motivation.

    For liberals, prisons are supposed to be about rehabilitation. Imprisoning the clinically insane is therefore futile, since prisons aren't equipped to handle serious mental disabilities. In fact, imprisoning *anyone* is stupidity, if that person can be more effectively rehabilitated another way. I think that's a far more reasonable position to take than the conservative position. But when we suggest actually trying to figure out a criminal's motivations and focus on fixing them, we're accused of coddling. Whereas, taking every single person, locking them up for a specified amount of time, and hoping the experience magically 'scares them straight' is called being tough on crime. I'd call it, 'living in a fantasy land'.

    Criminals go free in every state in the Union. California is very unexceptional in its incarceration statistics, compared to the U.S. as a whole. Of course, as you've noticed, the U.S. is exceptionally incarceration-happy. I believe we're second only to China. And yet we have a higher murder rate than any one of those failed socialist states in western Europe. Perhaps this most capitalistic of cultures is breeding a bit of tension and resentment.

    Nah.

    * Show me one Middle East nation that has ever voluntarily chosen profit-sharing agreements as the mechanism for purchasing extraction expertise.

  17. Re:finally! by imunfair · · Score: 1 · on Blu-ray Disc Among Top Selling DVDs at Amazon

    Except that the Wii problem doesn't seem to be undersupply to me. The SuperTarget near me gets 60 Wii consoles per week. Multiply that times the number of other Target, Walmart, etc stores around the country.

    Walmart alone has over 2000 *SuperCenters* judging from this statistic:
    http://www.statemaster.com/graph/lif_wal_sto_num_o f_sup-lifestyle-walmart-stores-number-supercenters
    (That means they have more regular stores as well)

    So we're talking about a minimum of a quarter of a million consoles being shipped each week - maybe more like half a million? That fits in with reports of them boosting production capacity to a million a month. (Maybe more now, that was January) There are only 300 million people in the US - my guess is that they just underestimated demand. I doubt they would carry intentional undersupply this far along from release date. (Remember, Nintendo MAKES money on their consoles..)

  18. Re:Still in business by drinkypoo · · Score: 1 · on Diebold Security Foiled Again

    If you want to see a city where cars are in control, go to LA. Jaywalking will get you much more than a $20 fine there, it will probably get you killed.

    I don't think you have any idea what you are talking about. If we look at the statistics we see that depending on what year you look at, New York is either far and away higher than California, or just a touch lower.

    My understanding is that in the city of Los Angeles, anywhere but the freeway, pedestrians have the right of way, any time, any place. This is definitely true in the city of Santa Cruz, from whence I come, but the population's not all that high there so it's not very exciting.

    Note that even if you have the right-of-way, crossing anywhere but where you are supposed to is still jaywalking and can come with a fine. Also note that ANYWHERE in the state of California, pedestrians ALWAYS have the right of way in a crosswalk, MARKED OR NOT. That means if a pedestrian is crossing from corner to corner, you are required to stop whether there is a marked crosswalk there or not. Furthermore, California state law prevents crossing a crosswalk while there is a pedestrian anywhere in it, although that is seldom enforced.

  19. Re:It makes sense that this comes from Canada... by airlynx · · Score: 1 · on Canadian Scientists Regrow Teeth
    Okay, but Kentucky ranks #2 in the loss of natural teeth by the United States. Can you guess the #1 state? See link

    http://www.statemaster.com/graph/hea_ora_hea_los_o f_nat_tee-health-oral-loss-natural-teeth