A Picture's Worth . . . .

Seeing is Believing -- Electoral Results Using Cartograms

Check this out. This site uses mapping techniques to show, proportionately, how blue and how red the United States is, according to population, electoral college votes, etc. Super interesting. The cartogram above uses red, blue, and shades of purple in between to indicate percentages of votes by county. There are more cartograms on the site. All are worth taking a look at.

Nick's Photo From the Richmond Parade on Election Night 2008

Here it is. Taken with a shaky cell phone. But you can still see all the kids, some of them holding up signs, heading down Broad Street.

Gettin' Down Just For The Funk Of It . . .

Today's suggestion. That we keep the Star Spangled Banner -- because who can't resist the charm of a national anthem with a tune so difficult no-one can really sing it properly -- but add Funkadelic's "One Nation Under a Groove." We could have the traditional option. And the cool option. Just thinking out loud . . .

The Bias Belt

Here is a map of counties where McCain outpolled Bush. Look at the trail of red going south, along the ridges of the Appalachian mountains. It's the Bias Belt -- as in racial bias. Look at Arkansas! It's almost completely filled in. That Obama didn't win the traditional democratic states of West Virginia and Arkansas suggests that racial bias did play a role in the election -- just not a determining one.

Can I Say Again How Much I Love This Man?

From a Newsweek roundup of campaign highlights.

The debates unnerved both candidates. When he was preparing for them during the Democratic primaries, Obama was recorded saying, "I don't consider this to be a good format for me, which makes me more cautious. I often find myself trapped by the questions and thinking to myself, 'You know, this is a stupid question, but let me … answer it.' So when Brian Williams is asking me about what's a personal thing that you've done [that's green], and I say, you know, 'Well, I planted a bunch of trees.' And he says, 'I'm talking about personal.' What I'm thinking in my head is, 'Well, the truth is, Brian, we can't solve global warming because I f---ing changed light bulbs in my house. It's because of something collective'."

Unicorn. Rainbow. Puppy

You know where this unicorn flying over the rainbow with a puppy on its back is going, right? Straight to the White House. Malia and Sasha -- here's your new puppy. Awwwwww!!