Preface To The Suburbs: Where You From?

According to a Pew Research Center poll from 2008, "more than six-in-ten adults (63%) have moved to a new community at least once in their lives, while 37% have never left their hometowns."

There's more: "The most rooted region" is the Midwest - 46% of adult residents there have spent their entire lives in one community. The West is the "least rooted" - 30% have stayed in their hometown. Where I'm from, the South (if you consider Texas the South, & many Texans do) is 36%, while the East is 38%.

I live in the Midwest now, & it does seem like a lot of the people I meet are from Lexington. However, the poll data says that Texas is a much more "sticky" state - more people who were born there still live there (75%) than people in Kentucky (62%).

More more: 77% of people who went to college & graduated have moved around, while 56% of those who just finished high school or less stayed in their same communities.

Might it be because one often goes away to college & therefore realize there is more out there? There's a reason the word provincial has the word "province" in it.

I dunno. The poll allowed for "stayers" to have the exemption of military duty & college, so some people just really love their hometowns.

The study, which is now three years old, says that the American population is settling down - only 11% of respondents had moved in the last year, which is the lowest amount since researchers started tracking that data in the 1940s. But that was right before the The Great Recession started - I believe more Americans are moving now.

I don't have any data to back that up, though!

Being An Oblate Spheroid...

I was reading about Hipparchus, an ancient Greek astronomer, on the Wikipedia just now (I know, I'm a nerd) (would it be cooler if I mention that he invented trigonometry? no?) because I was reading earlier about the phenomenon called precession.

That is not, by the way, the miserable period of time when you realize you're going to be depressed all day. Unless we're still collecting sniglets? Are we?

Anyway, the article says that Hipparchus is "known for being almost universally recognized as discoverer of the precession of the equinoxes." That basically means that the sky, as we perceive it, tends to move around, so the "fixed stars" aren't quite so fixed. & to annoy astrologers, this is mentioned every few years because the constellations that they think determine their fates are not where they're supposed to be anymore, having moved one sky-segment over.

Why does precession happen? It's all about the shape of the Earth. This is what I read:

"Being an oblate spheroid, the Earth has a nonspherical shape, bulging outward at the equator." This makes the earth spin not like a top (as we imagine when we spin a globe) but more like a gyroscope.

It's all the more amazing because Oblate Spheroid was my nickname in high school. That, or "Fatty Fatty Fat Pants Faggot."

I feel more proud of the first one. After reading this today, I mean.

The Age Of Self Help Radio Began This Morning!

Then ended ninety minutes later. Oh well. That was the shortest recorded Age in the History Of The Ages. It was so short, in fact, that Self Help Radio is not allowed to be included in the running for those things that Belong To The Ages. Instead, it will probably be consigned to Those Things You Haven't Thought About In Ages.

The show nonetheless managed to feature lots of songs about different ages, & discussed therein were the three ages of prehistory, a possible answer to the question "What comes after the Iron Age?", & a complete avoidance of all those geologic ages that are harder to pronounce than the epochs. Truly, a most edifying experience.

The shows that were played are listed below. The show is sitting at the Self Help Radio website, wondering if it's still in the Information Age or now the Big Data Age. For your convenience, the show has been bifurcated & part one is available at this link while part two is available at this link.

Please enjoy. It's the Age of Tiny Radio Shows, after all!

(part one)

"Stone Age Woo" Nervous Norvus _Stone Age Woo: The Zorch Sounds Of Nervous Norvus_
"Space Age" The Monks _The Early Years 1964 - 1965_
"Fabled Age" Barcelona _Simon Basic_

"Ice Age" Joy Division _Still_
"Age Of Progress" A-Frames _Black Forest_
"Sons Of The Silent Age" David Bowie _"Heroes"_
"2nd Dark Age" The Fall _Dragnet_
"Diamond Age" Blue Orchids _A Darker Bloom: The Blue Orchids Collection_
"Bronze Age" Dawn Of Man _In The Bronze Age_

"The Atom Age" Bill Nelson's Red Noise _Sound On Sound_
"Computer Age" Neil Young _Trans_

(part two)

"Space Age Renegade" Mandroid _B-Boy No Comply_
"The Age Of Information" Momus _Ping Pong_

"Aquarius" Paul Jones _Best Of The Sixties_
"Another Age" Phil Ochs _Rehearsals For Retirement_
"New Age" Velvet Underground _Loaded_
"Golden Age" Peter Blegvad _Hangman's Hill_
"Age Of Kings" Mountain Goats _All Eternals Deck_

"The Golden Age Of Aviation" The Lucksmiths _Staring At The Sky_
"Space Age Mom" Damien Jurado _Waters Ave S._
"Space-Age Couple" Captain Beefheart _Lick My Decals Off, Baby_

Whither Ages?

I wanted to do a show about ages a million moons ago when I was listening to Joy Division's song "Ice Age" on my iPod while walking somewhere in the hot Texas summer. I thought it would be funny to have an entire show about ice ages when it was going on forty days of plus one hundred degree temperature. Funny? Cruel.

I could never find a lot of (good) songs about ice ages so my definition expanded. I finally decided I had enough songs. That's the reason it's happening. I wish I could be all like Stan Lee was when he proclaimed "The Age of Marvel Comics is here!" & be like "The Age Of Self Help Radio is here!" But I am not that bold.

Besides, Self Help Radio is only eight years old. If I did try to shout that, someone might shush me & say "Act your age!"

There will be many ages discussed & many songs about ages played tomorrow morning at 7:30 am on 88.1 fm WRFL in Lexington, & you can listen to it anywhere at wrfl dot fm. I'll put it up later tomorrow on the Self Help Radio Web Page.

I have a feeling, though, that the Age Of Self Help Radio may only last ninety minutes. So you might want to listen live. To get that "I was there" feeling. It'll be something kind queasy.