I'm a Greenpeace member, and I think denying climate change is very, very, veeery dangerous.

Yes, but somehow it strikes me as less dangerous than chaining oneself to giant redwood trees or going out in the open ocean in inflatable rafts to chase oil tankers and sneak aboard them.

poor.  dead tired.  

Went to a family fitness fest yesterday where they had free food and games and prizes, but the price was to run a 5K fun run.  I actually ran it.  Well, I stopped once for about 20 seconds but otherwise I ran the whole time.  Man, five thousand meters is a long way!  All these 20-something and 30-something guys kept passing me, but I thought, well, they're into running and they're young.  Then children passed me and I thought, well, they're young and excitable.  Then a white-haired woman passed me and I thought, man am I outta shape or what?  Actually, I finished somewhere in the middle.  34:21 was my time according to the big clock at the end.  Not bad I suppose for a middle-aged guy who never runs.  About halfway through a 13- or 14-year old girl with long muscular legs and very short shorts passed me and I decided to keep her about ten feet ahead of me for the remainder and enjoy the view.  She was my inspiration.  The perspiration was all mine.

Today my legs ache.

hippie organic farmers

Lots of organic farmers in Iowa, but they're not hippies.  I used to think of Iowa as monocultural commercial farming, and to a large extent that's true, but there are plenty of small farmers there.  One thing that struck me is how very well educated most of them are.  They were always encouraging us to "Buy local!" with the pasties and posters on telephone polls and postcards in the mail, so we went to lots of farmers' markets.  When I'd get into conversations with them it was always like, "These are great, did you study agriculture or something?"  "Well, no, I have a PhD in physics and my wife has a PhD in English Literature, but we have been farming full-time for ten years now so we know what we're doing."  Or, "Well, we don't farm full-time.  I'm a cardiologist but I put as much time as I can into it in the summer."  All the farmers I asked had at least four-year university degrees, and many of them had graduate degrees as well.  I don't think it's like that everywhere.

Men's Wearhouse.  You're gonna like the way you look.  I guarantee it.

Actually I've never bought anything there but I'm told that they have good suits cheap.  Last two decent suits I bought were at Macy's and Dillard's.  Both between $300 and $350 and both look and feel great.  Macy's also has nice shoes.

Don't worry about the size.  The guy that works there will measure you, but often they send it out for tailoring so be sure to order it a week or so before you actually need it.  And remember, it is normal for them to run their hands up the inside of your things, fondle your sack, and squeeze your buttocks a little bit.  That's just how they do it.

PROGRAMMING ALERT:  Inglorious Basterds begins at 8PM EDT tonight on TNT.  Just FYI. 

With all the "good stuff" cut out.

haha.  I suppose.  You'd hear Lt. Raine say, "We're going to (pause) those Nazis up."  Or "Every one of you (pause) owes me a hundred scalps!"

It was intelligible, though, and still required much suspension of disbelief to appreciate.  On TNT, it ran from 8PM till 11:35PM last night.  I watched most of it.  Commercials were perfect.  Some of those channels don't do any, so I have to miss some when I refill my glass or pee, both of which I do often.  On some channels, there's a commercial every fifteen minutes, which is annoying.  On this one, they had them about every 30 minutes and they lasted maybe 2 minutes.  Perfect.

You can really see the influence of Sam Peckinpah in this film.  If I didn't know who directed it I would have guessed Sam Peckinpah.

I still find something odd in the title's spelling, and nothing in the movie quite explains it.

apparently very, very fast.  It's a long-standing complaint, to be honest, and one aspect of my professional demeanor that I should probably work harder to change.  I suppose that I just have so much to say and precious little time to say it.  Tempus fugit.

PROGRAMMING ALERT:  Inglorious Basterds begins at 8PM EDT tonight on TNT.  Just FYI. 

Mike Haridopolos

A little bit like Dana Carvey. 

Option 2 for the city in Kentucky.  Never heard anyone put a long-E sound into it.

The city in Mississippi is pronounced "Lewis-ville" though.

Ha!  Yes, I was corrected by a Mississippian once when I pronounced Louisville.  It was on the way to somewhere from Columbus.  I forget where.  New Orleans, maybe, or Jackson.  I said something about going through Louisville and he said, "We call it Lewisville." 

The Governors house isn't far from mine. He's given plenty of speeches out this way and I've heard him many times, but I can't say I ever thought Danny DeVito, my friend. 

Fair enough.  I can't say I thought of Kermit.  Maybe it's dependent upon the day or time or even the sound system.  I'm certain that he sounded like Danny DeVito yesterday just before noon.

If you google "Governor Corbett sounds like" in an attempt to see if anywhere on the world wide web anyone has ever compared his voice to anyone, you'll see several interesting words that follow.  Yesterday, I noticed that they included

"an idiot"
"a dimwit"
"Kermit the Frog"
"like he doesn't know what he's talking about"

None of these satisfied me, but I decided to include Kermit in the poll anyway.  No mention of Danny or Kermit in today's Lancaster Intelligencer-Journal write-up on line:

http://lancasteronline.com/article/local/851271_In-speech--Corbett-stresses-the-value-of-determination.html

Also there's no mention of the severe controversy surrounding the decision to invite Corbett.  Apparently there was a sort of protest, but I just didn't recognize it.  The student daily newspaper, The Snapper, had many articles over the past several weeks, but I hadn't really paid much attention to them.  Here's an excerpt from May 8:

"... the Student Senate is planning to facilitate a silent demonstration of dissent during the 2013 Spring Undergraduate Commencement for those graduating seniors and/or their families who wish to participate. By providing a visual symbol of dissent, those who wish can show their protest during commencement, without disrupting the ceremony for the other graduates or their families. The Student Senate with the assistance of some students has selected a symbol which is a gold armband. The Student Senate will be distributing the armbands to those who sign the corresponding “Declaration of Dissent.” This declaration is available in the Student Senate office...."

It's disgusting is what it is

I found the speech pleasantly surprising.  I actually have to sit through a politican's long speech, about this time every year, as part of my job.  Some are better than others.  Often they make it political, but sometimes they don't.  This Corbett speech wasn't overtly political, and I only counted two instances of politicking in a ~20-minute speech.  It was a commencement speech to the 1200 or so graduates of the oldest of the 14 universities and colleges in the Commonwealth's system of higher education.  This choice of commencement speakers was a particularly controversial decision, one which caused a letter of objection, signed by an huge majority of the university's faculty, to be published as a editorial in several local daily newspapers.  Student groups had threatened various measures, and rumors about potential protests ranged from having all 1200 baccalaureate candidates turn their chairs around backward when he approached the podium to the pelting of the Governor with delicious and juicy projectiles.  In the end, none of these protests materialized. 

But I don't want to make this a political thread.  Nor a thread about regional accents.  None of those things entered my psyche as I created it.  It is simply to point out that this man's voice was so reminiscent of the late 80s/early 90s Danny DeVito that it was uncanny.  I was seated about 20 feet from him, and I could have heard him even without the mic, but the sound system was true.  It was well wired and clean, so that even those in the back probably got a good listen.  I must say that I'd never heard the man speak.  In fact, I didn't even know what he looked like.  I actually asked the colleague seated next to me, "Which one is the Governor of Pennsylvania?" once we were seated. 

For my money, he was a dead ringer.  If I'd had my eyes closed, I would have pictured a balding but not yet grey Danny DeVito when I heard this guy talking.

Three more glaring omissions on my part.  I thank Gramps, dingojoe, and muon for their insightful posts.  I am familiar with all of those ottos as well.

I was torn between Otto Frank and Otto Cycle, but in the end I went with Otto Cycle, since most of the time when I say otto (professionally) it is followed immediately by the word cycle.  

His accent is not as strong as Danny DeVito's and his pitch is higher. So I'd say he sounds like none of the above. Really kind of a a toned down version of a Philadelphia accent, which makes sense since that's where he's from.



He does have a much more pleasant speaking voice than Bob Corker, who sounds like an antebellum plantation owner speaking with his nose pinched shut.

What a bullshit map.  I do appreciate your post--the words in it--and I thank you for the analysis, but I gotta suspect any dialect map that puts Philadelphia and Topeka together.

other:  Danny DeVito

After he ditched his twin brother Governor Arnold several times in that movie?  Blah!

Politicians aren't really to be trusted.  They only partially serve one's interests for the country at best.

Twins!  Now you're telling how old you are.

You're right about politicians, though.  I can't really vote for either one.  To be honest, I do trust Obama more than any Republican or Democrat group of legislators, but that is a general long-standing attitude on my part and this whole Benghazi episode isn't special in that regard.  Also, it has gotten way under my radar.  It was sad from the beginning, and now it seems that the only ones interested are the members of congressman Darrel Issa's committee in the House and a few others who really want to find a conspiracy there.  I hope the talking heads find something else to talk about.

other:  Danny DeVito

I heard Governor Corbett speak for the first time today.  I'd never heard his voice before.  What struck me most was that he sounded exactly like the actor Danny Devito.  It was uncanny.  I asked people seated near me in the audience what they thought and all except one agreed, "oh, yeah, he totally sounds like Danny Devito!"  The one who didn't simply asked, "What?  Who is Danny Devito?"

I googled it after I got home to see if I could find any blogs about this but I couldn't find any.  I did notice that one commentator says that he sounds like Kermit the Frog.  Another said he sounds like a 50's sci-fi kids' show hero.  I think it was a dead ringer for Danny DeVito, from around the Throw Mama from the Train era.  Have any of you ever heard him in person?  What do you think?

oooh, I love jazz as well.  I have to admit that I'd forgotten him when I made the poll.  I assume that he's a Dane, but I remember him in some 60s rockabilly singing songs in English.  I'd imagine that he must have lots of songs in other languages (Danish?  German?) but I guess the jazz stations I listen to probably don't play those very often.

What's really weird is the way you put a space in front of every question mark. 

Otto von Bismarck was a German statesman and wearer of facial hair.  He has figured prominently in at least two recent Atlas Forum polls.  

Otto Frank was a genuine Frankfurter and businessman who lost his citizenship as a result of those pesky Nuremberg Laws, immigrated with his family to Amsterdam, and spent much of World War II holed up in the small annex behind a building in the Merwedeplein.  After his daughters and wife died, he acquired his youngest daughter's diary, typed out the entries into a single manuscript, and published them in what would become known in the Anglosphere as "Diary of a Young Girl."  Apparently he edited out sections he thought too personal to his family or too mundane to be of interest to the general reader, but a new edition has those bits included.  

Otto I - IV, Holy Roman Emperors of the Ottonian dynasty.  Otto I sported a very chic mullet, reminiscent of Lord Farquhar from Shrek.  Otto II's hobbies included making war with Denmark, making war with France, making war with Bavaria, murdering slavs, murdering poles, and oppressing Italians.  Otto III became king at the age of 15 and died at 22, never having lost his virginity.  Otto IV was less closely related than the other Ottos, but he also sported the Lord Farquhar mullet and actually managed to make the pope his bitch.

Ottoman can refer to the empire that renamed Constantinople Istanbul.  There's a song about that.  It can also refer to a piece of foot furniture.  Ottoman the furniture is perhaps the best-known of all the ottos, but not necessarily the most useful.

Otto Knows is a Swedish DJ.  He is the only otto in this poll to have a Facebook page during his lifetime.

Otto Everett Graham, Jr. was a quarterback who played for the Cleveland Browns back in the day when there were no super bowls or Dallas Cowboys or sufficient head protection.

The Otto Cycle, of course, is a thermodynamic path explaining the changes of temperature, pressure, and volume in a four-stroke combustion engine.

There are many other ottos as well.  Which is your favorite otto?

the white voters of Iowa are the most liberal

I think rather that the converse is true:  the liberal voters of Iowa are the most white. 

As for the urbanization, I would have thought it was more urbanized than 61%.

It does seem just a tad low, doesn't it?  I googled it and the 61% comes from Census 2000 numbers, so it's official, but dated.

Iowadatacenter.org gives 64% as the 2010 Census number, and 66% as the 2013 estimate.  66% seems reasonable, based on my experiences.  

The only places where I've spent any time that struck me as very rural are New England, where I lived for five years, and Mississippi, where I lived for three years.  There's actually a post in here with figures that support that contention.  The general trend, every year since the Census started collecting in 1790, has been from rural to urban.  Even those New England states may be more urban than rural in the next census.  

You know what's way more surprising?
Yep.  All alone in the Midwest.  (I'm sure you all know what this is a map of.)

That's not really surprising.  In Iowa it happened like in Massachusetts.  It was a court case.  Not like in those states where people actually democratically decided the thing.  And the court case started in Johnson County.  That's where Captain Kirk was from.  (Actually, Kirk was born in adjacent Washington County, but it's close enough.)

The only surprising thing about Iowa is what Jack Kerouac says:  "Iowa has the prettiest girls in the world."  But that's only surprising at first.  Then you remember that Kerouac lived during the 40s and 50s, when the standard of beauty was busty, Germanic, blonde cheesecake.  This was all before the time of dark tanning, exotic foreign models, and rail-thin supermodels.  If curvaceous and pale is your thing, you'll love Iowa women. 

laid back.

*very* laid back.  That's one thing I miss about the upper midwest.  I don't miss the climate, and I don't miss the lack of cultural diversity, but I have to admit that I do miss the "mind your own business and I'll mind mine" attitude. 

Not like that in the East.  Everyone here wears a suit and everyone is fast and everyone is ready to sue one another over just about anything.

Oh, and everyone back East calls each other "sir."  How annoying is that?  But then you have already learned about that in another thread. 

Not too surprised, given that "urban" is a fairly loose term.

I don't think so.  At least not if the figure is from a site that quotes a U.S. Census bureau's numbers.  We may waste a huge amount of money on taxes, but one thing we're pretty good at is coming up with exact legal definitions.  There's a very tight, very bureaucratic, people per square land unit definition of "urban" set up by the government and Hockey's number is likely from that.

I noticed long ago in my travels that there are places where large numbers of people actually do live in the country.  Often such places are in other countries.  Iowa never struck me as such a place.  The first time I ever drove through Iowa was about 15 years ago, when I was moving from Boston to the SF Bay area, and all the way through the state all I noticed was cornfields.  No people, no houses, except in cities, and those cities were very far apart.  I'd have guess less than 39% were rural, but as I said I have never driven on every road in the state.  

Iowa's population is 61% urban. Does this surprise you?

not really.  I lived in Iowa for five years and I noticed a few inhabited spots in the country.  Not many, but a few, so I'd have expected it to have a non-zero rural population.  39% seems a tad high.  I'd have guessed maybe a third or a even a quarter, but it's not as if I've driven all over the state.  In the part of Iowa where I lived, it seemed that nearly everyone was urban.  You could drive for 20 miles between cities and count the number of houses on the fingers of one hand.

I think your surprise stems from the fact that you're an Easterner.  I've spent a good deal of my life in the East.  Back here, you really don't find those long, lonesome stretches.  When you're in the Eastern country, you still pass house after house, so if you have never been out West it's hard to imagine a land where the population density is very low.  Wyoming is lower still.  On the other hand, a Chinese person's idea of "country" is different as well.  You can have a density of 2000 people per square mile (what we think of as suburban or even urban) and in China that's considered very country.  It's all relative.