Word: almanacers
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...making lists of the best and the worst, then arguing about the results. Since 1939, when Psychologist E.L. Thorndike devised a "goodness index" to rate U.S. cities, no rankings have inspired more disagreement than those about home sweet home. The latest edition of Rand McNally's Places Rated Almanac can only add to the controversy. According to the 449-page paperback released last week, the best all-round metropolitan area in which to live in the U.S. is Pittsburgh. The worst: Yuba City, Calif...
...choices are far from the only revelations in the $14.95 Almanac, which ) ranks all of the nation's 329 metropolitan areas, where more than 75% of all Americans reside. Since 1981, when the first edition appeared, the fortunes of a number of cities have changed. One reason: this time around Authors Richard Boyer and David Savageau have refined their nine "livability" criteria. Data about climate, housing, health care, crime, transportation, education, culture, recreation and economics are now weighted by such qualities as "fortunate circumstances of geography" and "outdoor recreational assets." Third-ranked Raleigh-Durham, N.C., moved up from ninth place...
...almanac's most unexpected result: of the top 20 areas, only four are in the western part of the country. In the 1981 study, cities stood or fell on their own merits. Now the authors give smaller areas credit for the amenities of nearby major cities. Suburban Norwalk, Conn., for example, gained points for New York City's top standing in the arts and health care, but was not penalized for New York's last-place rating in crime. Thus Norwalk went from 148th place to ninth. New York's rank is 25th...
...Pine Bluff's 328th-place rating: "They don't contact one person or make one phone call. Other people use their data, and the damage proliferates." Said Mayor Edward Bartholomew of Glens Falls, N.Y., which ranked 290th: "We're going to have a public burning of (Rand McNally's) almanac and all their maps." Responded Rand McNally Public Relations Director Conroy Erickson: "All we've done is supply the raw material. Readers need to make their own judgments...
...wait, the senator's aides argue: that's only half of the Illinois Advantage. Percy's also Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. And what a boon for Illinois citizens he's been there. According to The Almanac of American Politics, during his 18 years in the senate, Percy has not sponsored or written one major piece of legislation. And Percy seldom uses his position as Chairman to advocate enlightened initiatives, or even to voice concern about troubling issues, as did his predecessor, the late Frank Church of Idaho. Where, for instance, were the Senate investigations after the Beirut...