Category: default || By jt3y

And now, for something completely different: Maps showing the concentration of various religious groups, county by county, across the United States. They've been compiled by the Valapariso University Department of Geography and Meteorology. (Presumably, if you're praying for rain, they count you twice.)

To no one's surprise --- at least if you've seen all of the churches around here --- more than 50 percent of people in Allegheny, Washington and Westmoreland counties consider themselves religious. (Less than 50 percent in Fayette or Greene counties make the same claim --- heathens.)

In fact, the most religious parts of Pennsylvania are the Pittsburgh and Philadelphia areas --- the parts of the Commonwealth traditionally considered "liberal" or "Democratic." The "T" --- the center and northern parts of the state, traditionally considered "conservative" or "Republican" --- are comparatively less religious.

Roman Catholicism is the leading religion in most Pennsylvania counties (a papist plurality?), with several counties reporting more Methodists than any other faith, and three claiming a Lutheran majority. (Paging Garrison Keillor.) The best place to find a potluck supper, of course, is still the Upper Midwest.

And if you're looking for Baptists, you go through St. Louie and Joplin, Missouri, then take a sharp left: You can't miss 'em.

On the other hand, you're hard-pressed to find a Unitarian around here, with many counties reporting no Unitarians, and all of the remainder reporting fewer than 1 percent. There are even fewer Muslims in the Keystone State, and not many Quakers in the Quaker State, either.

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In other news, gas prices are still under $3 in the Mon-Yough area, at least as of this morning. OK, one-tenth of a cent under $3, but still. The Mon-Yough Gas Gauge --- a copyrighted, award-seeking feature of Tube City Online, a division of Tube City Omnimedia --- is at $2.961 as of Sunday, up 18.5 cents from the week before.

Which reminds me of one of my all-time favorite gags from "The Simpsons." Neighbor Ned Flanders is lost in the countryside somewhere and doesn't know how to get back, so he stops at a pay phone.

"I'm not sure where I am, but the gasoline is a dollar forty-nine and eight-tenths," he says.

To which someone replies, "Donny's Discount Gas!"

So, why do they still price gas in 9/10ths of a cent, anyway? Opinions vary. A story from the Washington Post concludes that it's just to make the gasoline seem cheaper.

There's circumstantial evidence that it first began in the 1930s, when the federal government put a fractional tax on each gallon of gas; station owners started posting the decimal behind the price to show consumers the impact of the tax. Then, other station owners started shaving tenths of a cent off of their prices.

But that made a lot more sense (or is that "cents"?) when gasoline was 25 cents a gallon or so --- the fractional cent was a much larger proportion of the actual price. Why are we still clinging to this? You don't buy anything else in fractional cents. At least one gas station owner in California is dropping the practice altogether. Bully for him.

Then again, a state senator from Minnesota is trying to outlaw the practice, which seems like using a hammer to kill a fly.

Maybe the next time I stop at the gas station, I'll ask for $20 and 9/10ths worth of gasoline. Odds are I'll get a punch in the nose, but it will be worth it. I think everyone else should do the same thing: We'll start a movement!

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Meanwhile, gas prices at Doneldo's II Citgo near the Duquesne Village Shopping Center in West Mifflin are still at 89 cents for regular, 99 cents for high-test and $1.09 for premium!

It's a pity the place has been closed for at least seven or eight years, which is the last time anyone changed the numbers on the sign. Every time I drive pass, it's like getting a glimpse of Brigadoon, or maybe Shangri-La.