Visualizing the election results: now and then

After an busy week, in school and in politics, I return with some interesting figures of the breakdown of Tuesday's voting. The New York Times has an interactive electoral map that compares voting patterns this year with the previous four presidential elections. As you might expect, compared to 2004, the country swung heavily Democratic, even within states McCain won.



In this picture, blue areas represent counties that voted more Democratic than in 2004, whereas red areas are counties that went more Republican. You see a lot of blue, indicating a general increase in Democratic voting percentages across the country, except for parts of some southern states. Notably, you see a lot of blue in the Rocky Mountains, along the southern border, and among the northern plains states.

One might draw the conclusion from this map that the country has renounced conservatism and embraced liberal Democrats once more, underscoring Obama's mandate to change the country. Well, for some perspective, consider this year's election in comparison to 1992, when Bill Clinton defeated George H.W. Bush.


The 1996 map is similar.

Our heavily Democratic 2008 voting bloc was considerably more Republican than it was sixteen years ago. What do we glean from comparing these maps? The country remains much more conservative even now than it was in the 1990's. The Democratic shift is relative, and reflects just how strong Christian conservative turn out was in '00 and '04. With practical issues like the economy on voters minds, they worried less about abortion, but the gap in social issues remains sharp (sadly evidenced by the passage of gay marriage bans in several states).

Eight years of the Bush administration may have soured voters on George W. Bush, but it certainly didn't eliminate Republican support. What does this mean for Obama's presidency? Bipartisanship is key. Given that Democrats now control the executive and legislative branches, it will be interesting to see how they will get things done without alienating 46% of the country.

Continue reading "Visualizing the election results: now and then"!

Tuesday morning links - 9/30/08

I promise I'll start posting more than links. Until then, here are some interesting ones.

Snow on Mars!

Why calories taste good.

Rainbow compression wave from a jet caught on film.

Why can't we divide by zero?

A syllabus from one of the late David Foster Wallace's Pomona College classes.

Lighting up the brain to illuminate its secrets.

Are disposals green? Related - this site shows water consumption and drought conditions all over the country, in case you were wondering.

Hubble has a problem.

Can animals feel pain?

Order this kit and you can have your DNA lineage mapped. And here, you can have a DNA portrait made.

Continue reading "Tuesday morning links - 9/30/08"!

Tuesday morning links - 9/8/08

The semester has started. I'm (more) busy again. Tuesday is my one day without any scheduled obligations, so I'll take the opportunity to pass along some Internet fodder.

WATER BEARS FROM OUTER SPACE!

NASA chief Mike Griffin laments Bush administration dissin' his space missions.

Stem cells for the troops.

Harvard biologists get closer to building synthetic life.

Ten things you didn't know about the Earth.

The science of religion (via Nick).

UK former chief scientist Sir David King calls on "brilliant minds" to tackle climate crisis.

Thai prime minister ousted after appearing on cooking show, receiving money.

Roger Ebert's favorite movie.

Diddy needs gas. (Amazing)
Continue reading "Tuesday morning links - 9/8/08"!

Tuesday morning links - 8/26/08

For your perusal:

Awesome space pictures from the Chandra Observatory.

Large-scale x-ray photography by Nick Veasey.

It's possible for humans to run faster than Usain Bolt, but his performance at the Beijing Olympics broke the mathematical model that has fit sprinters for 100 years.

Researchers using Google Earth have determined that cows tend to align their bodies with the North-South axis of the earth. No one is sure why.

An Indian film company is being sued by Warner Brothers for its production of a movie entitled Hari Putar.

Recent research sheds light on what it takes to increase the lifespan of your body's cells.

Continue reading "Tuesday morning links - 8/26/08"!

Tuesday morning links - 8/19/08

For your perusal.

Inside brain surgery

Wild dolphins tail walk

Face your Manga

The neuroscience behind magic tricks (may post more about this later)

NSFW chimpanzee video of, erm, tool use

Finding NYC bagels in Beijing

Free 3D modeling program Google Sketchup (may also post on this more later)

Brief discussion of free will vs. determinism (again, more later)

Russian Proton rocket launches big satellite

Continue reading "Tuesday morning links - 8/19/08"!

Aptostichus stephencolberti

Jason Bond, a biologist who recently named a spider species after Neil Young, has named a new spider after Steven Colbert. This adds to the list of things already bearing Colbert's name, including a bald eagle from the San Francisco Zoo. Colbert reacts, talks to Bond in the hilarious video clip below.




Here's another awesome trapdoor spider video.



Continue reading "Aptostichus stephencolberti"!

Flat Earth? F**king Moron

According to this article from the BBC, the flat-earth community is alive and well these days in the 21st century. It's the 50th anniversary of the founding of NASA, an event that has sparked renewed interest in conspiracy theories about faked moon landings and fake, spherical pictures of the earth taken from space. One notable organization is the Flat Earth Society, whose motto "Deprogramming the masses since 1547" is almost too funny for words. (Check out their site for a good laugh/cry).

The flat earthers, as a group, deny that our planet is a sphere - that's clear and simple. The specific shape of the earth, however, is still a topic of debate. Some think the earth is a disc with infinite horizontal distance. Others think it a disc with a fixed diameter, like a giant coin.



Most interestingly, the article points out that flat-earth conspiracies were not pervasive during the Dark Ages, as is the common understanding, and only received widespread attention in the 19th century, as Christian authorities sought to counter the progression of scientific rationalism. Faced with the popularizing of naturalistic accounts of earth history, Christian "thinkers" toured the country spouting alternative accounts of the organization our planet and solar system.

This is a perfect example of misguided skepticism. Instead of questioning complex, fantastic explanations for phenomena, replacing them with parsimonious, evidence-based answers, the flat earthers simply deny the evidence - claiming it's widespread propaganda from the Authority - and insert an alternative explanation.

Skepticism is vital for scientific progress and critical, rational thinking in everyday life. Question everything, sure, but allow yourself to adjust that skepticism according to the evidence presented to you.

Continue reading "Flat Earth? F**king Moron"!

R.I.P. Stan Winston

(Photo from LA Times)

Very sad news, Stan Winston, designer/creator of the practical effects and makeup in movies such as Aliens, Terminator, Jurassic Park, Predator, Edward Scissorhands, and Batman Returns died of cancer yesterday. His last completed film was this year's Ironman, and he was next slated to work on Terminator 4 and James Cameron's Avatar. It's amazing that one person was responsible for so many iconic and enduring movie moments, some of my favorite, for sure. You've got to admire the dedication to detail and ingenuity needed to produce models that not only look realistic, but move and interact with other characters. When you see something in a movie that you know is real, not computer generated, in my opinon, it's much more evocative of that wonderous feeling movies are supposed to generate. (This had the effect of producing considerable terror when I, at 10 years old, saw Jurassic Park for the first time.) Practical effects put limitations on how a movie is shot and, often, this leads to more dramatic composition. Just look at how shadows and mist are used in the Alien films, or The Thing. CG effects are nigh ubiquitous in movies these days, but I hope the Winston tradition will carry on in his absence.

My favorite Winston creation? That's a tough choice, but I would have to go with the queen from Aliens.



The LA Times has some nice pictures and a summary of Winston's career. Continue reading "R.I.P. Stan Winston"!

Elements of a good evening

Finals are approaching. I studied all day and rewarded myself.



Otherwise busy with more end of term nonsense. Frak! Undergraduate interviews, experiment planning, conference scheduling, advisory-committee forming, meetings...

Some quick notes.

Today is the 76th birthday of Cheeta (aka Jiggs), the oldest non-human primate. Cheeta appeared in some of the Tarzan movies, Bela Lugosi Meets a Brooklyn Gorilla (which sounds amazing) and the original Doctor Doolittle. There are plans for a ghost-written autobiography.

This article from The Atlantic critiques the state of education in America and offers some suggestions in the spirit of Horace Mann. It's one of those problems without a clear solution and I don't think we're to see any change soon. At least not until unscrupulous, out of touch baby boomers are gone from local school boards and teacher unions. Study your maths, kids!

There is a vacancy at the post of London Underground announcer, and people want David Attenborough to fill it. The woman who has provided the vocals for the "mind the gap" and other Tube voice overs years past was sacked a while back, partly over spoof announcements posted on her website, such as "We would like to remind our American tourist friends that you are almost certainly talking too loudly" (its true, the gits).

Cheers Continue reading "Elements of a good evening"!

So stupid, it burns

Some collector has purchased a cornflake shaped like Illinois on eBay for $1,350! You read that right. No, it doesn't resemble the Virgin Mary or Hanna Montana, but a state.

I find this sort of behavior stupid on principle, but in this case it is especially inane because the cornflake doesn't look that much like Illinois.

Eh? I don't get it. If you flipped it over, it could pass for Michigan, or perhaps Georgia. And why restrict ourselves to the USA? Rotate that flake 90 degrees and you've got a spitting image of the Ukraine. Or Greenland. Definitely Mongolia. I'd pay 5,000 Hyrvnia, easy.

The best part of this is that copycat auctions are springing up. Stuff inexplicably shaped like other stuff! Let the bidding begin. Continue reading "So stupid, it burns"!

Jeff Tweedy on migraines

In a New York Times group blog, Jeff Tweedy, of Wilco, has an account of his lifelong experience with migraines. He describes growing up with depression and panic attacks that, he feels, produced anxiety so strong that migraines developed. As a result, he also became addicted to pain medications.

A lot of people equate migraines and strong headaches. That's just wrong, migraines are often totally debilitating. Tweedy recalls performing shows with a vomit bucket just off stage. He used it between every song. During the making of "A Ghost is Born" his migraines were so intense he was only able to work a couple hours a day. Their recording was actually affected; some songs were kept minimalist only because Tweedy was unable to withstand long sessions.

I've known a few family members who suffer from migraines, and it's amazing how most of the time, nothing helps. Like Tweedy points out, even when addicted to narcotics, his migraines were just as intense. He only got better with management of the stress and anxiety context associated with having migraines. That's easier said than done - he needed antidepressants - and migraines, like many mysterious pain disorders, never seen to go away.

This is so strange to me. I'm around a lot of scientists that try to understand how the nervous system mediates the interaction between an individual's environment and its behavior. The idea is to help treat people's problems, like addiction, depression, etc. A lot of great work is done. Read a personal account like Jeff Tweedy's, however, and it's hard to see where progress is being made.

It's good that people in his position can talk about this kind of problem though. Let it out Jeff Tweedy, let it out. Continue reading "Jeff Tweedy on migraines"!