NOVEMBER 18 2007 UPDATE
CORRECTION
SPY error: the correct web site for Jennie Finch’s camp with three other Olympians is: www.jenniefinch27.com
COMMITMENTS
Cassidy Bowen, C/3B, Claremore High school, Claremore OK, University of Tulsa
Irvine
Sting Gold
Caitlin Bradac '08- RHP/1B has signed with Fairleigh Dickinson University, New
Jersey
WINTER CLINICS
Check the special section on the left side of the home page. We just added Joe French’s winter clinics at UMBC.
DID YOU KNOW?
Garcias Are Catching Up to Joneses
SAM ROBERTS,
The New York Times
Posted: 2007-11-17 16:53:26
Filed Under: Nation News
(Nov. 17) - Step
aside Moore and Taylor. Welcome Garcia and Rodriguez.
Smith remains the most common surname in the United States, according to a new
analysis released yesterday by the Census Bureau. But for the first time, two
Hispanic surnames — Garcia and Rodriguez — are among the top 10 most common in
the nation, and Martinez nearly edged out Wilson for 10th place. The number of
Hispanics living in the United States grew by 58 percent in the 1990s to nearly
13 percent of the total population, and cracking the list of top 10 names
suggests just how pervasively the Latino migration has permeated everyday
American culture. Garcia moved to No. 8 in 2000, up from No. 18, and Rodriguez
jumped to No. 9 from 22nd place. The number of Hispanic surnames among the top
25 doubled, to 6.
And because recent Hispanic and Asian immigrants might consider themselves more identifiable by their physical characteristics than Europeans do, they are less likely to change their surnames, though they often choose Anglicized first names for their children. The latest surname count also signaled the growing number of Asians in America. The surname Lee ranked No. 22, with the number of Lees about equally divided between whites and Asians. Lee is a familiar name in China and Korea and in all its variations is described as the most common surname in the world. Altogether, the census found six million surnames in the United States. Among those, 151,000 were shared by a hundred or more Americans. Four million were held by only one person.
But the fact that about 1 in every 25 Americans is named Smith, Johnson, Williams, Brown, Jones, Miller or Davis “suggests that there’s a durability in the family of man,” Mr. Kaplan, the author, said. A million Americans share each of those seven names. An additional 268 last names are common to 10,000 or more people. Together, those 275 names account for one in four Americans.
In 1984, according to the Social Security Administration, nearly 3.4 million Smiths lived in the United States. In 1990, the census counted 2.5 million. By 2000, the Smith population had declined to fewer than 2.4 million. The durability of some of the most common names in American history may also have been perpetuated because slaves either adopted or retained the surnames of their owners. About one in five Smiths are black, as are about one in three Johnsons, Browns, and Joneses and nearly half the people named Williams. The Census Bureau’s analysis found that some surnames were especially associated with race and ethnicity. More than 96 percent of Yoders, Kruegers, Muellers, Kochs, Schwartzes, Schmitts and Novaks were white. Nearly 90 percent of the Washingtons were black, as were 75 percent of the Jeffersons, 66 percent of the Bookers, 54 percent of the Banks and 53 percent of the Mosleys.
POTPOURRI
For the man who has everything. A robot with flapping arms you can insert into your gutters and guide by remote control.
For the woman who has everything. The Smartshopper ($150) is a recording device; each time you think of something you need from the store, just say it aloud. When you’re ready to go out, the machine prints out your shopping list.
For those on the go. For $50, Tec Touch gloves with silicon pads implanted in the thumb and forefinger so you can dial, type or scroll without fear of frostbite.
What to do with all those digital photos. The DVDirect ($229) links to your digital camera, camcorder or memory card, and transfers the images to a DVD to entertain all your friends over the holidays. (I once made a one-hour slide show of one of my African safaris; held a dinner party; then put on the show; when I turned the lights on again, one friend was sound asleep.)
The wheels came off the Sooner Schooner. A friend called at halftime to remind me that the Sooners were getting their butts kicked by Texas Tech. The final score could have been different, even though Oklahoma spent most of the game playing catchup. Twice they were within the red zone in the fourth quarter and did not score; one of the better running teams resorted to passes. Actually, the outcome was predictable. Stoops teams have been notoriously bad for years defending the pass. Not just the failure to cover the hot reads – Carpenter and Crabtree were open wider than Sadie Thompson’s joint on Hotel Street in Honolulu – but through the years, eg, the debacle against Southern Cal, and the debacle against Boise State, and before them the loss to LSU, and this year’s loss to Colorado. My brother-in-law, who was a quarterback at Oklahoma, insists Stoops does not know how to defend against the spread offense. Did I tell readers that I went to Georgetown?
Look out your window. The world tilted on its axis. The Washington Post said in an editorial today that President Bush was correct – and Congressional Democrats and the media were wrong – when he ordered the surge – which the Post says is working as a military strategy. Of course, the Post was quick to note that the surge had created the window for the political strategy which Iraq’s many groups have yet to implement.
rfh