Friday / Weekend Open Lines


A triumph of mobile computing was achieved on this date in 1961. A division of the Sperry Rand Corporation equipped a trailer truck to haul a UNIVAC I computer from New York City down to North Carolina to process data for the Douglas Aircraft Corporation. The UNIVAC I, fully assembled, weighed in at a nimble 7,237 pounds. In 2013, nearly 84 percent of America’s 116 million households had computers. Even the country’s seniors participate heavily. Nearly two-thirds of senior households have computers, and 58 percent access the Internet. In marked contrast to the unwieldy UNIVAC of 1961, over 45 percent of Americans over the age of 25 are using smartphones for true mobile computing. Profile America is in its 18th year as a public service of the U.S. Census Bureau.

Saturday, March 28th. One of the most frightening industrial accidents in the U.S. occurred on this date in 1979 at the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant on the Susquehanna River, south of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. A cascade of alarms and emergency responses started when someone mistakenly cross- connected air and water lines in the plant’s number two reactor. The plant reportedly came close to a hydrogen gas explosion and a meltdown of its uranium core, which would have caused extensive radiation contamination. The incident led to greater caution and safety reviews of nuclear power. Today in the U.S., there are 61 commercially operating nuclear power plants with 99 nuclear reactors in 30 employing about 50,000 workers. You can find more facts about America from the U.S. Census Bureau online at <www.census.gov>.

Sunday, March 29th. While openings of a major department store or a branch of a big-box chain are often welcomed by shoppers and communities, they are also the cause of some concern. Small local businesses face greater competition, yet those small businesses are an outsized engine of economic growth. Additionally, they are important distinguishing features in local communities. That’s why today is Mom and Pop Business Owners Day. In 2008, there were nearly 27 million business firms in the U.S.  Over 21 million, or about 75 percent, of domestic businesses are without paid employees, with an additional 3.6 million enterprises having four or fewer workers. These small firms do around $1 trillion in annual business. You can find current data on the country’s economy by downloading the America’s Economy mobile app at <www.census.gov/mobile>.