November in a nutshell -- biggest ocean, tallest mountain, most expensive election

Autumn begins the time for the land to rest, and so in like manner November has been my time to take a break from writing.  Nonetheless, a few ideas have formed and now push themselves out of the mind and onto this electron-empowered avatar for paper.

Much of November--after the election--has been occupied with a cruise out to the Hawaiian Islands and back again.  Most people--almost certainly including you--know that the Pacific Ocean is the world's largest body of water, covering about 30% of Earth's surface.  This is an interesting factoid, but here's what put it into perspective for yours truly -- for days on end, this is what the view looked like:

More than seven billion other people living on the planet, with who-knows-how-many thousands of of ships at sea at any given moment, but for day after day not a single one of them in sight!

Here's a question:  what is the tallest mountain in the world?  Most will guess Mt. Everest, but some will know--as we found out--that it is actually Mauna Kea, on the Big Island of Hawaii.  Mt. Everest rises to the highest reaches above sea level, but when measured from the base of the mountain the award for tallest goes to Mauna Kea by several thousand feet.  In the case of Everest, the base of the mountain is clearly visible on dry land; as for Mauna Kea, its base is thousands of feet beneath the surface of the ocean.  So, from base to peak, the prize for tallest goes to Mauna Kea.

As for the November elections here in America, you have probably already heard stories about this contest being the most expensive one in history; at something like US$6 billions--not just for the presidential race, but for all elections across the country--this is certainly the truth.  The election of 2012 goes into the record books as the most costly in all of American history.

But, that's a record that seems to be set every four years.

Any of us can probably find a better use for six billion dollars, and do so without breaking a sweat in the effort.  However, it doesn't hurt to put this into perspective.

There are over 300 million Americans.  Doing the simple math of dividing 300 million into six billion--let's do it here and now, out of consideration for those of us with MBAs and other such advanced degrees--yields the news that this works out to an average of $20 per person; less than that when you figure in the fact that the country's population is greater than 300 million.

Twenty dollars a year doesn't even put a dent in my annual expenditures for junk food.  (And I'm one of those who tries to stay away from the stuff.)  How much does one of those fancy coffee drinks cost?  About $3 or $4 (or more)?  So, $20 amounts to about a week's supply of those beverages for many people.

Considering the importance of electing a president and vice-president combo, thirty-three senators and 435 congressmen and congresswomen, the price tag for the year of $20 per capita looks pretty modest to me.

It seems that a few noteworthy things happened during the two week interval of paying little or no attention to the news, so there's some catching-up to be done in the  near future. All of that will come in good time.

And, let's not forget that the election that truly chooses the next President of the United States hasn't even happened yet.  The electoral college doesn't meet and vote for another couple of weeks or so, and according to the Constitution those are the folks who actually choose the president.  Don't expect any surprises; it's just another oddity of the American political system.

It's good to be back!