State Of The Nation Spreadsheet

"A prominent fundamentalist organization is making headlines after creating an "anti-Christian bigotry map" which includes lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) advocacy groups.

The American Family Association's interactive map, which can be found here, breaks down groups into four categories: anti-Christian, humanist, atheist and those with a "homosexual agenda.""

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/02/25/american-family-association-bigotry-map-_n_6754528.html

"Parents have made news recently after being detained for purposefully leaving children on their own, prompting renewed debate about so-called "free-range parenting."

That includes Danielle and Alexander Meitiv, a Silver Spring, Md., couple who are being investigated after they let their children, ages 10 and 6, walk home from a park last month by themselves."

http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2015/02/18/384050825/kids-solo-playtime-unleashes-free-range-parenting-debate

"Craving some silence? Head (quietly) toward the blue regions on the map above. Based on 1.5 million hours of acoustical monitoring from places as remote as Dinosaur National Monument in Utah and as urban as New York City, scientists have created a map of noise levels across the country on an average summer day. After feeding acoustic data into a computer algorithm, the researchers modeled sound levels across the country including variables such as air and street traffic. Deep blue regions, such as Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming and the Great Sand Dunes National Park in Colorado, have background noise levels lower than 20 decibels—a silence likely as deep as before European colonization, researchers say."

http://news.sciencemag.org/environment/2015/02/new-map-shows-americas-quietest-places

"A leading advocacy group warns of a “worldwide deterioration in freedom of information” last year.

Out of the 180 countries being surveyed, two-thirds have slipped in standards compared to last year, according to the Reporters Without Borders’ World Press Freedom Index 2015."

http://www.juancole.com/2015/02/drastic-decline-freedom.html

'With a country as large as the United States, winter comes in all forms. And some more than others, will suffer from the bitter cold that comes with snowy days.

The slideshow on this page counts down the greatest snow depth ever officially recorded in each of the 50 states, in order from lowest to highest. Our list comes from the certified records maintained by the National Climatic Data Center (NCDC).

Click through to find out where your state ranks - and to see which state tops them all. You may be surprised!"

http://www.weather.com/sports-recreation/ski/news/deepest-snow-50-states-record-snow-cover-20130220

"Figures are from the 2011 revision of the United Nations World Population Prospects report, by five years averages,[1] and the CIA World Factbook.[2]

The infant mortality rate (IMR) is the number of deaths of infants under one year old per 1,000 live births. This rate is often used as an indicator of the level of health in a country. The infant mortality rate of the world is 49.4 according to the United Nations and 42.09 according to the CIA World Factbook.

Note that due to differences in reporting, these numbers may not be comparable across countries; while the WHO recommendation is that all children who show signs of life should be recorded as live births, in many countries this standard is not followed, artificially lowering their infant mortality rates relative to countries which follow those standards."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_infant_mortality_rate

"State and local school vaccination requirements are implemented to maintain high vaccination coverage and minimize the risk from vaccine preventable diseases (1). To assess school vaccination coverage and exemptions, CDC annually analyzes school vaccination coverage data from federally funded immunization programs. These awardees include 50 states and the District of Columbia (DC), five cities, and eight U.S.-affiliated jurisdictions.* This report summarizes vaccination coverage from 48 states and DC and exemption rates from 49 states and DC for children entering kindergarten for the 2012–13 school year. Forty-eight states and DC reported vaccination coverage, with medians of 94.5% for 2 doses of measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine; 95.1% for local requirements for diphtheria, tetanus toxoid, and acellular pertussis (DTaP) vaccination; and 93.8% for 2 doses of varicella vaccine among awardees with a 2-dose requirement. Forty-nine states and DC reported exemption rates, with the median total of 1.8%. Although school entry coverage for most awardees was at or near national Healthy People 2020 targets of maintaining 95% vaccination coverage levels for 2 doses of MMR vaccine, 4 doses of DTaP† vaccine, and 2 doses of varicella vaccine (2), low vaccination and high exemption levels can cluster within communities, increasing the risk for disease. Reports to CDC are aggregated at the state level; however, local reporting of school vaccination coverage might be accessible by awardees. These local-level data can be used to create evidence-based health communication strategies to help parents understand the risks for vaccine-preventable diseases and the benefits of vaccinations to the health of their children and other kindergarteners."

http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm6230a3.htm?s_cid=mm6230a3_e

"*We used data from the Census Bureau, which has two catch-all categories: "managers not elsewhere classified" and "salespersons not elsewhere classified." Because those categories are broad and vague to the point of meaninglessness, we excluded them from our map."

http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2015/02/05/382664837/map-the-most-common-job-in-every-state

"This interactive map visually plots global outbreaks of measles, mumps, whooping cough, polio, rubella, and other diseases that are easily preventable by inexpensive and effective vaccines. Red triangles indicate attacks on vaccinators and healthcare workers, as well as announcements from both governments and non-state actors that have had an impact—either positive or negative—on the successful implementation of vaccination programs.

http://www.cfr.org/interactives/GH_Vaccine_Map/index.html#map

http://news.distractify.com/mark-pygas/sad-state-facts