Fast-and-dirty numbers

Someone said, in a discussion of Flight 93, that she thought it was unreasonable for most Americans, especially those who don't live within a day's drive of New York City, to have taken the 9/11 attacks personally or be traumatized thereby. She said that she thought most of the trauma was because of [I'd guess news] media "exploitation" of images of the attack. (I'm not linking this time, because the person who originally posted is seeming a little overwhelmed, and has asked that we drop that thread.)

I don't have an exact definition for a day's drive, but I did some quick proxy numbers, courtesy of the census. I figured that the number of people who live in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Delaware [thanks, Nancy], or Maryland would do as a very rough approximation: some parts of upstate New York and western Pennsylvania are a long day's drive from New York City, but some parts of Virginia are well within reach.

That's about 56 million people, or just over one out of every six Americans.

Now consider the mobility of modern Americans--there are a lot of people elsewhere in the U.S. who grew up here (my brother has lived in Texas for 20 years), have close family here, or both.

[Given that the original subject was Flight 93, not the two that hit New York, people in a day's drive of the Pentagon might reasonably be included as well, but I was in part just curious about where people live these days.]

Fast-and-dirty numbers

Someone said, in a discussion of Flight 93, that she thought it was unreasonable for most Americans, especially those who don't live within a day's drive of New York City, to have taken the 9/11 attacks personally or be traumatized thereby. She said that she thought most of the trauma was because of [I'd guess news] media "exploitation" of images of the attack. (I'm not linking this time, because the person who originally posted is seeming a little overwhelmed, and has asked that we drop that thread.)

I don't have an exact definition for a day's drive, but I did some quick proxy numbers, courtesy of the census. I figured that the number of people who live in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Delaware [thanks, Nancy], or Maryland would do as a very rough approximation: some parts of upstate New York and western Pennsylvania are a long day's drive from New York City, but some parts of Virginia are well within reach.

That's about 56 million people, or just over one out of every six Americans.

Now consider the mobility of modern Americans--there are a lot of people elsewhere in the U.S. who grew up here (my brother has lived in Texas for 20 years), have close family here, or both.

[Given that the original subject was Flight 93, not the two that hit New York, people in a day's drive of the Pentagon might reasonably be included as well, but I was in part just curious about where people live these days.]

errands run

This morning I took julian_tiger in for more booster vaccinations. He has one more appointment, three weeks from now.

This afternoon, I went back up to Kingsbridge, by bus this time, to look for a new cat toy and to see if a housewares/kitchen supply shop had some things we need. None of the cat toys appealed--our boy isn't big on catnip, and PetSmart is--but Kornblau was happy to sell me a covered baking dish (o frabjous day! Calloo! Callay!), a pint Pyrex measuring cup, and some wooden spoons.

Other than that, I've had an exciting day of drinking tea, eating soup, and hoping that this probably-cold decides to migrate out of my body soon.

errands run

This morning I took julian_tiger in for more booster vaccinations. He has one more appointment, three weeks from now.

This afternoon, I went back up to Kingsbridge, by bus this time, to look for a new cat toy and to see if a housewares/kitchen supply shop had some things we need. None of the cat toys appealed--our boy isn't big on catnip, and PetSmart is--but Kornblau was happy to sell me a covered baking dish (o frabjous day! Calloo! Callay!), a pint Pyrex measuring cup, and some wooden spoons.

Other than that, I've had an exciting day of drinking tea, eating soup, and hoping that this probably-cold decides to migrate out of my body soon.