The Blogger MEME

Dr. Spo of Spo-Reflections has made a MEME about blogging.  These questions are a conglomerate of questions bloggers and non-bloggers have asked him over the years. Here are my answers:

What you like most about being a blogger?

I first started blogging in 2009 with a genealogical blog. That led to personal blogs and a blog for my local homeowners association.  I have always blogged about things of interest to myself.  There are three genealogists which regularly contribute to my Stephen Moore of Mt. Tirzah blog, which is great for adding content.  My Lady Slipper Cove blog represents my rather liberal feelings on topics, and has a great deal of information about my professional life from which I am now retired.  Also has information about my farm and my city life as well as a great deal of traveling.

How many bloggers have you met?

Since the March 2013 Blogger Palooza in Lewes, DE, I have met approximately 24 bloggers, including some bloggers who are actually cousins.

Do you ever go back and read your old entries?

Rarely, unless I want to check on what I had to say earlier about a topic, so as not to be too redundant.  I never change old entries.  On very rare occasions, I have deleted a post that just didn't seem relevant anymore.

Do you share your job skills?

Yes, I have mentioned sleep disorders and neuro-diagnosis a number of times.  I often also do this in comments to other bloggers' posts.

Have you changed your views about anything thanks to blogging?

I think I have become more progressive and liberal minded from reading others' blogs.

Do your coworkers know about your blog?

A couple of former coworkers have found my blog searching on the internet, but I am retired now, so really don't have any coworkers. A lot of relatives know about my genealogical blog, and some also know about my personal one. 

What advice would you give for successful blogging?

In general, check out your references for the truth and mostly depend on original sources; this is especially true for genealogical blogging.  Use good editing skills for brevity when possible so that the content will be interesting and/or educational.  No diatribes.

What is your opinion of aardvarks?

No opinion and just what is the relevance of that question?

Do you publish everything you write ?

Most everything. My problem is that I cannot find enough time to write all the posts that are floating around in my mind.

If you could make ‘three rules’ for blogging, what would they be?

1# "Readers should leave a comment to tell the blogger they were there and this acts as a thank you for your work." says Dr. Spo and I do agree.  Very few people comment on my posts which is a real disappointment.

2# Bloggers are not required to post on any particular schedule.  Some like to post daily, but that is not my style, especially since I have more than one blog.

3# Bloggers should provide a post at a minimum of six months just to keep me from worrying about them.

Do people help you write your blog?

As I said above, some genealogists do contribute posts, which I really appreciate.  Sometimes, I get ideas for posts from other bloggers, such as this example.

Who are your blogger super-heroes?

I shall refrain from this question for fear of insulting quite good bloggers for not naming them. However, Dr. Spo must be on the list considering that he encouraged me to do this! I will mention Joe of "The Closet Professor" because we started blogs about the same time; he and I consulted with each a lot in the beginning.  Though rarely NSFW, I have learned so much from this excellent history professor.

Final question (if you dare!):

Have you slept with any bloggers? 

No.

North Carolina Districts 1 and 12 are racially gerrymandered

BY ANNE BLYTHE

ablythe@newsobserver.com  

November 15, 2013  News & Observer.

Note the FOUR different colored districts in Durham County (outlined in the red box). See all the slivers of districts here, there, and yon!

New congressional districts have resulted in six U.S. House members representing the Triangle (Raleigh, Durham & Chapel Hill). Durham County (one of the smallest counties in the state) alone has four representatives.

Three North Carolina voters have mounted new accusations of racial gerrymandering in a federal lawsuit challenging the shapes of Congressional Districts 1 and 12.

Republicans at the helm of both N.C. General Assembly chambers led the redrawing of legislative and congressional districts in 2011. Voter rights organizations challenged the new maps in state court, and a three-judge panel upheld the new boundaries in July, though the case remains on appeal to the N.C. Supreme Court.

In October, David Harris, a registered voter in Durham County, filed a federal lawsuit with Christine Bowser and Samuel Love, both registered voters from Mecklenburg County, seeking an invalidation of the two districts, which are represented by Democrats – G.K. Butterfield in District 1 and Mel Watt in District 12.

Their challenge came after a U.S. Supreme Court decision in June opened a new legal front for challenging the maps.

The 1st Congressional District, according to the lawsuit, is “akin to a Rorschach inkblot” that weaves through 24 counties, containing only five whole counties. The district is mostly in the northeastern part of the state and includes Durham, Elizabeth City, Roanoke Rapids, Rocky Mount, Goldsboro and New Bern.

The length of the district’s perimeter, according to the lawsuit, is 1,319 miles – “almost precisely the distance from Chapel Hill to Austin, Texas.”

The architects of the 2011 redistricting, the three voters contend, “ignored the common rural and agricultural interests” of Coastal Plain residents that federal courts have previously recognized. Durham, the newly added urban center, constitutes 25 percent of the district’s population.

The 12th Congressional District is 120 miles long but only 20 miles wide at its widest part. The district includes large portions of Charlotte and Greensboro connected by a thin strip – “averaging only a few miles wide” – that follows Interstate 85.

“A person traveling on Interstate 85 between the two cities would exit the district multiple times, as the district’s boundaries zig and zag to encircle African-American communities,” the federal lawsuit contends.

Comment by blog editor:

I own business property on Broad Street in Durham.  Walk across Broad Street to the houses on the other side, and you will be in a different district!

I live in Wilmington, NC about three miles from downtown, but downtown is in a different district.  In fact, I only have to walk about four blocks from my house to enter that district.