Patience and Fortitude

The New York Public Library (NYPL) is one of the leading public libraries in the world and is also one of America's most significant research libraries. It is unusual in a way because it is composed of a very large circulating public library system combined with a very large non-lending research library system. The library is a privately managed not for profit with a public mission, operating with both private and public financing.

Currently, the library consists of 89 libraries: four non-lending research libraries, four main lending libraries, a library for the blind and physically handicapped, and 77 neighborhood branch libraries in the three boroughs served. All libraries in the NYPL system may be used free of charge by all visitors.



The two famous stone lions guarding the entrance to the main branch of the library were sculpted by Edward Clark Potter. They were originally named Leo Astor and Leo Lenox, in honor of the library's founders. These names were transformed into Lady Astor and Lord Lenox (even though both lions are male; bet Astor didn't like that). In the 1930s they were nicknamed "Patience" and "Fortitude" by Mayor Fiorello La Guardia. He chose these names because he felt that the citizens of New York would need to possess these qualities to see themselves through the Great Depression. Patience is on the south side (the left as one faces the main entrance) and Fortitude is on the north.

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My State Capital is Smaller Than Your State Capital

Smallest US State Capitals:
Vermont (Montpelier) - 8,035
South Dakota (Pierre) - 13,876
Maine (Augusta) - 18,560
Montana (Helena) - 25,780
Kentucky (Frankfort) - 27,741
Alaska (Juneau) - 30,987
Delaware (Dover) - 32,135
Maryland (Annapolis) - 36,217
Missouri (Jefferson City) - 39,636

Mean Popitipop

The mean center of U.S. population is determined by the United States Census Bureau after tabulating the results of each census. The Bureau defines it to be:

"the point at which an imaginary, flat, weightless, and rigid map of the United States would balance perfectly if weights of identical value were placed on it so that each weight represented the location of one person on the date of the census."

During the 20th century, the mean center of population has shifted 324 miles (521 km) west and 101 miles (163 km) south. The southerly movement was much stronger during the second half of the century; 79 miles (127 km) of the 101 miles (163 km) happened between 1950 and 2000.

The following counties included the mean center of U.S. population since 1790:
* 1790: Kent County, Maryland
* 1800: Howard County, Maryland
* 1810: Loudoun County, Virginia
* 1820: Hardy County, Virginia (now in W. Virginia)
* 1830: Grant County, Virginia (now in W. Virginia)
* 1840: Upshur County, Virginia (now in W. Virginia)
* 1850: Wirt County, Virginia (now in W. Virginia)
* 1860: Pike County, Ohio
* 1870: Highland County, Ohio
* 1880: Boone County, Kentucky
* 1890: Decatur County, Indiana
* 1900: Bartholomew County, Indiana
* 1910: Monroe County, Indiana
* 1920: Owen County, Indiana
* 1930: Greene County, Indiana
* 1940: Sullivan County, Indiana
* 1950: Clay County, Illinois
* 1960: Clinton County, Illinois
* 1970: St. Clair County, Illinois
* 1980: Jefferson County, Missouri
* 1990: Crawford County, Missouri
* 2000: Phelps County, Missouri

Although the mean population centers between 1820 and 1860 were located in what is present day West Virginia, at the time they were located in Virginia (with West Virginia not having split from Virginia until 1862).

Recently, the Center for the Study of Global Christianity in Massachusetts declared that the world's Christian Center of Gravity was located in Timbuktu, Mali. According to their definition of Center of Gravity, half of all Christians live west of Timbuktu and half live south of Timbuktu. Presumably they had chosen the International Date Line to differentiate eastern from western people.

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