Day: December 18, 2025💾

Download the PDF Map Pack
🗺️ Maps 🖼️ Photos 📽️ Videos

Sadness as the year draws to a close but hope for the future 😔

|

I can be sad about what was, but there is only 13 days left in the year, so I might as well maximize them before it’s done forever. Put on as many miles, see as much as possible before the year is forever done.

Truth is that I am quite excited about going to Michigan and Upper Peninsula next summer, and this does remove a major mental impediment to the trip. And it will give me a chance to build a better rig, with fewer worries in first few years. Seeing the Midwest with the forests, farms, dirty hick towns that smell like burn barrel, manure and paper plants, all while singing along with Ian Tyson and Dick Curless. Seeing places that might be on a map, but aren’t on many people’s mental maps except but the locals, and certainly can’t be found in any tourist brochure.

But the internet is like, don’t you want a plastic house in suburbs, heated and cooled to 72 year round, with a 100 foot square television in XXX High-tech 200000 Resolution and high 62G speed internet and a 30 yard plastic “recycling” dumpster in front yard? That you can drive your frugal 20-year old Honda Civic to and from, because that’s the financially responsible thing to do. Please put a bullet through my brain if it ever comes to that. Thanks.

SVGZ Graphic: Secondary School Teacher Median Annual Wage

Median Household Income in New York State, a Hexagram

|

Hexagrams are a trendy thing these days. Folks like 538 and NPR do a lot of them, but I haven't seen many local ones for New York State. Then I discovered this "R" library that can convert geospatial polygons into regular or hexagonal grids known as J Bailey's geogrid. It turns out it's a pretty good library, and has decent output, but requires a bit of minor editing to improve the computer output to make more sense of county locations.

Median Household Income in New York State, a Hexagram

Map: Shelving Rock Road and Dacy Clearing Road
Map: Tomannex State Forest

Cancers in Albany County, compared to expected Cancers

|

Some of the spikes in cancer are due to the small populations of the town, where one cancer case can quickly spike above what the state-wide average would suggest for a similar demographic.

Cancers compared to expected cancer levels based on age/gender demographics in Albany County
Municipality Bladder Bone Brain Breast Colorectal Esophagus Kidney Larynx Leukemias Liver Lung Mesothelioma Nasal NHL Oral Other Ovary Pancreas Prostate Soft_Tissue Stomach Testis Thyroid Uterus Total
Albany city 19% −38% −18% 11% 5% 32% 6% 44% −6% 67% 26% −7% −10% 7% −4% 19% −4% 10% −4% −7% 6% 15% −36% −10% 9%
Berne town −3% −100% 110% 5% 1% 32% 32% −76% 3% −5% 8% −100% −34% 3% −4% 16% −22% −39% −16% 50% −15% 55% 7% 34% 3%
Bethlehem town 33% −11% −6% 21% −16% 11% 29% −0% 5% 8% 9% 63% −27% 13% 23% 20% 6% 13% −4% −22% −12% 45% 1% −21% 9%
Coeymans town 26% 53% −0% −4% 3% −6% 39% −12% −15% −5% 68% −28% −7% 42% 80% 17% −68% 23% −12% 24% −32% 66% 23% −3% 15%
Cohoes city 37% −100% −16% −6% 11% 10% 39% −5% −7% 12% 58% −49% 98% 20% −27% −9% −4% −29% −3% −30% −52% 32% −28% 9% 6%
Colonie town 19% −46% −4% 7% 3% −22% −2% 10% 10% −14% 16% −26% −50% 14% 9% 11% −12% −1% −8% −25% −22% 3% −5% −6% 4%
Green Island town 60% −100% −19% −11% 45% −5% 37% 27% −19% 61% 81% −1% 21% 10% 11% 7% 27% −20% 3% 1% −40% 30% −33% 19% 17%
Guilderland town 27% −78% 32% 15% −17% 28% −1% −23% −14% −25% 6% 45% −20% −9% −10% 6% −9% −8% −9% −27% −1% −15% −2% 9% 1%
Knox town −20% −100% 77% 39% −0% 69% 9% −73% 2% 47% −15% 135% −28% −25% 6% 13% −49% −32% −22% 32% 32% 9% 2% 46% 3%
New Scotland town 34% −47% 30% 24% 15% 21% 15% −3% 9% −21% 2% 102% 27% −7% 45% 18% −50% −15% −9% 14% −32% 90% 15% −4% 9%
Rensselaerville town 25% −100% 35% −6% 4% −50% −3% −67% −10% −49% 37% −100% −8% 9% −4% 30% 31% −73% −12% 189% −29% 133% −43% −7% 3%
Watervliet city 54% −100% 10% 19% 21% 2% 0% 40% 0% 38% 56% −14% −45% 0% 40% 8% −22% 18% −1% 35% 6% −19% −23% −27% 15%
Westerlo town −4% −100% 98% 9% −0% 71% −11% −75% −27% −52% 22% 1% −100% 4% 25% 26% −5% −60% −14% 143% −25% 171% 17% 2% 5%
Andy Arthur, 12/23/22. NYS Cancer Mapping Project, aggregated to town level.
Map: Golden Hill State Forest
Map: Stewart State Forest