On This Day
1812 – Massachusetts governor Elbridge Gerry is accused of “gerrymandering” for the first time.[7]
Gerrymandering (/ˈdʒɛrimændərɪŋ/)[1] is a practice intended to establish an unfair political advantage for a particular party or group by manipulating district boundaries, which is most commonly used in first-past-the-post electoral systems.
Two principal tactics are used in gerrymandering: “cracking” (i.e. diluting the voting power of the opposing party’s supporters across many districts) and “packing” (concentrating the opposing party’s voting power in one district to reduce their voting power in other districts).[2] The top-left diagram in the graphic is a form of cracking where the majority party uses its superior numbers to guarantee the minority party never attains a majority in any district.
In addition to its use achieving desired electoral results for a particular party, gerrymandering may be used to help or hinder a particular demographic, such as a political, ethnic, racial, linguistic, religious, or class group, such as in Northern Ireland where boundaries were constructed to guarantee Protestant Unionist majorities.[3] Gerrymandering can also be used to protect incumbents. Wayne Dawkins describes it as politicians picking their voters instead of voters picking their politicians;[4] Thomas Hofeller, the Redistricting Chair of the Republican National Committee, stated “Redistricting is like an election in reverse. It’s a great event. Usually the voters get to pick the politicians. In redistricting, the politicians get to pick the voters.” in reference to the 2000 Census.[5]
The term gerrymandering is named after American politician Elbridge Gerry (pronounced with a hard “g”; “Gherry”,[6] Vice President of the United States at the time of his death, who, as Governor of Massachusetts in 1812, signed a bill that created a partisan district in the Boston area that was compared to the shape of a mythological salamander. The term has negative connotations and gerrymandering is almost always considered a corruption of the democratic process. The resulting district is known as a gerrymander (/ˈdʒɛriˌmændər, ˈɡɛri-/). The word is also a verb for the process.[7][8]
Born On This Day
1900 – Ellen Broe, Danish nurse, pioneer in nursing education (d. 1994)[76]
Ellen Johanne Broe (1900–1994) was a Danish nurse who spent several decades working and seeking education abroad before returning to Denmark and helping to establish educational and training initiatives in Denmark. She helped draft minimum curriculum requirements for nursing students, as well as continuing education guidelines. She was active in the International Council of Nurses (ICN) and sought to find ways to bring nursing education to developing areas most in need of trained nursing staff. She received the Florence Nightingale Medal in 1961 for her contributions to nursing excellence.
FYI
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Francis Ngannou (born 5 September 1986) is a Cameroonian-French professional mixed martial artist competing in the Heavyweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship.
He is known for being the hardest recorded puncher in UFC history and holds knockout victories over Alistair Overeem, Cain Velasquez, Junior Dos Santos and Andrei Arlovski. As of January 25, 2021, he is #13 in the UFC men’s pound-for-pound rankings[5] and as of 31 August 2020 #1 in the UFC heavyweight rankings. [6]
Background
Ngannou was born and raised in the village of Batié, Cameroon.[7] He lived in poverty and had little formal education growing up.[8] Ngannou’s parents divorced when he was six years old, and he was sent to live with his aunt. At 10 years old, Ngannou started working in a sand quarry in Batié because of a lack of funds.[9][10] As a youngster, he was approached by several gangs in his village to join them.[11] However, Ngannou refused and instead decided to use his father’s negative reputation as a street fighter as motivation to do something positive and pursue boxing.[11]
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Ideas
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Recipes
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DamnDelicious
- Red and Green Chicken Enchiladas December 21, 2024This post may contain affiliate links. Please see our privacy policy for details. Can’t decide between red or green enchilada sauce? Now you can have both and have the best of both worlds! Sometimes you need red enchiladas, and sometimes you need green. This is where I have you completely covered. Called divorciadas or […]Chungah @ Damn Delicious
- Creamy Mushroom Pasta December 14, 2024This post may contain affiliate links. Please see our privacy policy for details. Creamy, garlicky, mushroom fettuccine that’s oh-so-fancy (and so stinking easy). An absolute weeknight staple here! Need a fancy dinner in? For company/friends/family/spouse/kids/all of the above? We have you covered with the creamiest mushroom fettuccine here, whipped up in no time, of […]Chungah @ Damn Delicious
RecipeTinEats
- 2024 Ultimate Christmas menu planning guide December 12, 2024Here’s a handy list of my Christmas recipes, organised by make-ahead and reheating suitability, and those best made fresh. Perfect for menu planning, especially alongside the new Christmas recipe index! I thrive on holiday menu planning. It’s like the Olympics of cooking – except less athleticism and more butter! The goal, as always, is a... […]Nagi
- Easy Christmas Cheesecake Slab – no bake! December 6, 2024This no bake Christmas cheesecake is designed for sizzling Aussie summers – no sweating over a hot oven! Designed to serve a crowd, it’s the easiest cheesecake recipe I know yet it still captures all the hallmarks of a beautiful classic baked cheesecake. Decorate with whipped cream, berries and rosemary sprigs for an effortless, pretty... […]Nagi
wikimedia
- Wikimedia Commons picture of the day for December 24 December 24, 2024Picture of the day Silhouettes at the Fort of Santo Antônio da Barra, Salvador, Bahia, Brazil. It was constructed to guard the entrance to the Bay of All Saints, during the time of the Portuguese Empire.
- Wikimedia Commons picture of the day for December 23 December 23, 2024Picture of the day Carved wooden bench, furniture, textile crafts, lanterns and suspended mobile sculptures, at the wooden Heuan Chan heritage house, stilt building with wooden ceiling, Luang Prabang, Laos.
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Welcome to the Stump the Bookseller blog!
Stump the Bookseller is a service offered by Loganberry Books to reconnect people to the books they love but can’t quite remember. In brief (for more detailed information see our About page), people can post their memories here, and the hivemind goes to work. After all, the collective mind of bibliophiles, readers, parents and librarians around the world is much better than just a few of us thinking. Together with these wonderful Stumper Magicians, we have a nearly 50% success rate in finding these long lost but treasured books. The more concrete the book description, the better the success rate, of course. It is a labor of love to keep it going, and there is a modest fee. Please see the How To page to find price information and details on how to submit your Book Stumper and payment.
Thanks to everyone involved to keep this forum going: our blogging team, the well-read Stumper Magicians, the many referrals, and of course to everyone who fondly remembers the wonder of books from their childhood and wants to share or revisit that wonder. Isn’t it amazing, the magic of a book?