Little States/Big States.

10-18-18 SHORT HILLS: At the beginning of the month, I thought October wanted to be August, but now I think she wants to be November. Today is windy and cold, but sunny for a change. The heat is on, and it’s time for the storm doors to replace the screens. Usually I do that at the end of October.

I was thinking about the Kavanaugh confirmation vote that the Yes votes won 50-48, as everyone remembers. I wondered how many people the yesses represented as compared to the noes. I looked up how each Senator voted, and what the population of each state is. If the Senators voted alike, I put the whole state population in the appropriate column. If they voted differently, I put half of the population figure on each list. I ignored the non-voting Senators. The Senators from 38 states voted together, while 12 states’ Senators split their votes.

The fifty Yes votes represented 142.97 million people, but the forty-eight No votes represented 180.98 million. As in the Electoral College, small states have more influence per capita than states with large populations.

New blooms: witch-hazel.


Witch-hazel is a delicate little flower with four ribbon-like petal and four stamens in the center. This one in NJ is just like the one that I showed a few weeks ago from VT. At the beginning of the growing season, VT lags behind NJ, but by the end VT is ahead. The plants know what to do. They learn from photo-period and/or temperature changes.

Witch-hazel back lit by the afternoon sun.

This is a real sign for a real Congressional candidate. At first I thought it was a joke. He, first name Richard, is running, not as a Dem. or Rep. or Lib., but as a fourth candidate, apparently without a party affiliation. The list of possible wisecracks if virtually endless, make up your own.