Best States To Live In

This is the first of a two-part series on the best place to live. Here I will rank the states according to just two criteria: the ratio of debt to gross state product, and homicide rate. Unlike some other ranking systems, I wanted to use criteria that is completely objective, and criteria that actually measures how moving to the place is likely to affect you. For comparison, the American Human Development Index ranks states by health, education, and income. I don't think this criteria is bad, but just because other people in a state are healthy and rich doesn't mean that you will become healthy and rich just by moving there. A states debt can be expected to impact the level of government services you will receive relative to the amount of taxes you will pay. I used 'total state debt', which includes unfunded pension liability. I obtained gross state product from the Bureau of Economic Analysis. Many people discuss crime rate, but I use homicide rate because it is a more reliable figure. Crime rate can be influenced by differences in reporting rates, and in differences in what is considered a crime from one location to another. Homicide has a nearly 100% reporting rate. While most people don't think of homicide as something they are seriously at risk of, it correlates with other crime that is more common. In the table the 2012 rate per 100,000 population is expressed.

Rank	State	GSP (millions)	Debt	Homicide Rate	GSP/(Debt*HR)
1	New Hampshire	64,697	18,425,567	1.1	3,192
2	Iowa	152,436	37,783,060	1.5	2,690
3	Vermont	27,296	7,866,666	1.3	2,669
4	Nebraska	99,557	13,139,045	2.9	2,613
5	Idaho	58,243	15,094,322	1.8	2,144
6	Utah	130,486	35,727,752	1.8	2,029
7	Wisconsin	261,548	45,026,643	3.0	1,936
8	Minnesota	294,729	85,879,526	1.8	1,907
9	South Dakota	42,464	7,707,458	3.0	1,836
10	Massachusetts	403,823	129,550,263	1.8	1,732
11	Maine	53,656	16,717,250	1.9	1,689
12	Wyoming	38,422	9,951,523	2.4	1,609
13	Washington	375,730	89,579,477	3.0	1,398
14	Indiana	298,625	46,377,635	4.7	1,370
15	Virginia	445,876	91,339,102	3.8	1,285
16	North Dakota	46,016	9,263,742	4.0	1,242
17	Kansas	138,953	39,025,693	2.9	1,228
18	Tennessee	277,036	41,049,738	6.0	1,125
19	Colorado	274,048	86,879,414	3.1	1,018
20	Oregon	198,702	86,678,268	2.4	955
21	Montana	40,422	15,769,183	2.7	949
22	Texas	1,397,369	340,944,239	4.4	931
23	New York	1,205,930	387,465,667	3.5	889
24	North Carolina	455,973	107,580,297	4.9	865
25	Rhode Island	50,956	18,863,153	3.2	844
26	Arizona	266,891	61,082,635	5.5	794
27	Florida	777,164	197,871,611	5.2	755
28	Hawaii	72,424	46,100,856	2.1	748
29	West Virginia	69,380	24,972,461	3.9	712
30	Delaware	65,984	15,991,093	6.2	666
31	Oklahoma	160,953	44,151,947	5.7	640
32	Georgia	433,569	115,193,862	5.9	638
33	Pennsylvania	600,897	184,903,767	5.4	602
34	Nevada	133,584	52,838,629	4.5	562
35	New Jersey	508,003	213,933,875	4.4	540
36	Maryland	317,678	94,211,004	6.3	535
37	Missouri	258,832	76,489,010	6.5	521
38	California	2,003,479	777,918,403	5.0	515
39	Connecticut	229,317	112,372,072	4.1	498
40	Arkansas	109,557	37,704,936	5.9	492
41	Kentucky	173,466	86,245,730	4.5	447
42	Alaska	51,859	29,780,396	4.1	425
43	Michigan	400,504	142,668,026	7.0	401
44	Alabama	183,547	68,343,597	7.1	378
45	Illinois	695,238	321,354,115	5.8	373
46	Ohio	509,393	321,340,764	4.3	369
47	South Carolina	176,217	71,105,557	6.9	359
48	New Mexico	80,600	50,137,504	5.6	287
49	Louisiana	243,264	83,280,815	10.8	270
50	Mississippi	101,490	54,686,815	7.4	251

Obama vs. Romney: Most Recent Polls

To update my previous post, as of November 4 the polls indicate that Ohio, Florida, and Virginia have all become Obama territory, while Colorado is now tied. This means 323 electoral votes for Obama, and 191 for Romney. To win the election Romney will need another 79 electoral votes. He could do this by picking up the two tied states, North Carolina and Colorado, as well as the currently Obama leaning states of Virginia, Florida, Ohio, and Wisconsin. 

Here is an updated chart, the poll numbers are shown above the columns, the electoral votes of the respective states are shown below the state abbreviations.

Obama's Lead by State

This shows Obama's lead over Romney as of November 2 (states where Romney leads are shown as negative). The states are ranked from Obama's greatest lead on the left to Romney's greatest lead on the right. For most states I used the most recent available poll results. If more than one poll was done at about the same time, I used the results of the one with the smaller margin of error. For the few states where no poll has been conducted, I used the results of the 2008 presidential election. This places the electoral vote count at 272 to 251, with Obama in the lead (I didn't count North Carolina on either side since the polls say there is an equal split there). To pull off a victory, it now appears Romney would have to win over North Carolina and Iowa. I'll try to make some improvements for future versions on this chart.

G-Rated Academy Award Winning Movies

Here is a list of every G-rated Academy Award winning movie since 1968 (the year that the modern rating system was established). The list does not include a few earlier movies that were retroactively rated. You'll probably notice the evolution to more and more strict criteria for the G rating over time. In 1968 four G-rated movies won Academy Awards. Today it averages about one every two years. Originally, the G rating was given to any movie that didn't contain anything particularly objectionable. By the late 1970's, only movies directed at children typically received a G rating. Later, it practically became a requirement that G rated movies be animated. Now even animated movies like Happy Feet and Up can't get a G rating. 

Oliver! (1968) Best Picture, Best Original or Adaptation Score, Best Sound Mixing, Best Art Direction

Funny Girl (1968) Best Actress

The Subject Was Roses (1968) Best Supporting Actor

Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day (1968) Best Animated Short

2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) Best Visual Effects

It's Tough to Be a Bird (1969) Best Animated Short

Hello, Dolly (1969) Best Original or Adaptation Score, Best Sound Mixing, Best Art Direction

Marooned (1969) Best Visual Effects

Airport (1970) Best Supporting Actress

Let It Be (1970) Best Original or Adaptation Score

Cromwell (1970) Best Costume Design

Tora! Tora! Tora! (1970) Best Visual Effects

The Hellstrom Chronicle (1971) Best Documentary Feature

Sentinels of Silence (1971) Best Documentary Short, Best Live Action Short

Fiddler on the Roof (1971) Best Original Song Score or Adaptation Score, Best Sound Mixing, Best Cinematography

Bedknobs and Broomsticks (1971) Best Visual Effects

The Great American Cowboy (1973) Best Documentary Feature

Frank Film (1973) Best Animated Short

Dersu Uzala (1975) Best Foreign Language Film

The Man Who Skied Down Everest (1975) Best Documentary Feature

The Black Stallion (1979) Best Sound Editing

From Mao to Mozart: Isaac Stern in China (1981) Best Documentary Feature

The Dollar Bottom (1981) Best Live Action Short

Babette's Feast (1987) Best Foreign Language Film

The Little Mermaid (1989) Best Original Score, Best Original Song

Beauty and the Beast (1991) Best Original Score, Best Original Song

Aladdin (1992) Best Original Score, Best Original Song

The Lion King (1994) Best Original Score, Best Original Song

Pocahontas (1995) Best Original Song, Best Original Musical or Comedy Score

Babe (1995) Best Visual Effects

Geri's Game (1997) Best Animated Short

Tarzan (1998) Best Original Song

For the Birds (2000) Best Animated Short

Monsters, Inc. (2001) Best Original Song

The Chubbchubbs! (2002) Best Animated Short

Finding Nemo (2003) Best Animated Feature

Wallace & Gromit in the Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005) Best Animated Feature

March of the Penguins (2005) Best Documentary Feature

Ratatouille (2007) Best Animated Feature

Wall-E (2008) Best Animated Feature

Toy Story 3 (2010) Best Animated Feature

Electoral College Math- Updated and Corrected

In my last post I totaled the electoral votes Obama and Romney would get as predicted by state polls. I noticed that my totals were six short of the 538 electoral votes for the country as a whole. This was because I missed Delaware and the District of Columbia. No state polls were done in either of these states. 

I totaled the votes again with the most recent polls as of September 25, 2012. The polls predict 341 electoral votes for Obama, and 181 for Romney. No state polls have been conducted in Alaska, Idaho, or Wyoming. These will certainly be won by Romney, bringing his total to 191. Again, no state polls have been conducted in Delaware or the District of Columbia, and these will certainly be won by Obama, bringing his total to 347. This still implies a closer election than the 365 to 173 Obama scored against McCain in 2008, but things are starting to look less interesting.