A much better county by county 2008 presidential map is found at the New York Times site: It's a little faint, but one nifty feature is the ability to zoom in to see data from any one county: The NYT also has a county bubble map. Blue for Obama, and red for McCain, plus the …
Red counties, blue counties
You've all seen the red state/blue state maps on election night. Here's a map showing the 2008 presidential election on a county-by-county basis: The USA looks red after all! There is actually a lot more blue on the map than there was in 2004, when Bush defeated Kerry: This 2004 map is asthetically much more …
What is it?
Is it... A. Shag carpeting from the 1970s? B. The surface of a cat's tongue? C. The surface of the sun? D. A French impressionist painting from the 1860s? E. A map of magnetic field lines in a portion of the Precambrian Canadian Shield? Click here for the answer.
Nature on canvas
Before there was color landscape photography, there was painting. One of the great landscape artists was Albert Bierstadt, whose Valley of the Yosemite is currently featured on a 42-cent stamp: The Art Renewal Center advertises itself as the internet's largest online art museum, and has hundreds of high-resolution Bierstadt paintings (as well as thousands of …
Some Political Observations
A few random thoughts regarding the election: I listened to McCain's concession speech and Obama's victory speech on NPR on the radio. I didn't see the crowds, but the reporter described the McCain crowd as "monochromatic," and the Obama crowd as very diverse. That the party of Lincoln is so predominantly white should tell us …
President Obama
As you know, I supported John McCain for president. In his concession speech last night, McCain modeled the graciousness and respect that we should have for the president-elect, Barack Obama. The election of an African-American to the presidency is certainly a historic occasion, and a sign that we as a nation are maturing in terms …
A final plug
1. I'm unemployed. 2. I haven't made enough money to pay federal income taxes since 1999. 3. I'm paying for expensive health insurance out of my own pocket. 4. My retirement account is shrinking, not growing. 5. I'm an environmentalist. So who am I voting for? Why? 1. I'm unemployed. The tax plan of McCain …
Good observations
Scientists don't have to be right on everything to make a lasting contribution. Good observations tend to endure longer than interpretations. From Winter, J.D., An Introduction to Igneous and Metamorphic Petrology, p. 424. This is from Chapter 21: "An Introduction to Metamorphism," and referred to the 19th-20th century geologist George Barrow, who first described metamorphic …
Reformation Day — Oct 31
Happy Reformation Day! On October 31, 1517, Martin Luther posted his 95 Theses on the Castle Church doors in Wittenberg, Germany, unknowingly launching the Protestant Reformation and recovering precious truths about the Gospel. The 95 Theses were arguments against the medieval church's practice of selling indulgences, documents which freed one or one's family members from …
Canada election map
Elections Canada has a nice map showing the results of the October 14th national election for the House of Commons: This is more colorful than the red-blue map that we will see on election night here in the US (which I fear will have too much blue on it this year). Here are the Canadian …
100
My grandmother, on my mother's side, lived to be 100. My wife's grandmother, on her father's side, turned 100 yesterday. I guess it looks good for women in my family. Yahoo had a story yesterday: 4 Surprising signs you'll live a long time. Here they are: Don't drink pop. All that sugar either makes you …
Dinosaur footprints part 3
I wrote about dinosaur footprints a few weeks ago here and here. I had recently attended a young-Earth creation seminar where the speaker used very questionable examples of "human" footprints in Permian and Cretaceous rocks as evidence that humans and dinosaurs coexisted. Many of these "human" footprints turn out to be forgeries. A scientist can …
The Environmental Case for John McCain
The attacks against John McCain by some environmental groups (such as the Sierra Club) are unfair. McCain has a well-integrated energy and environmental policy, that reflects his years of environmental leadership, not only in the Republican Party, but in the senate as a whole. From Republicans for Environmental Protection: The Environmental Case for John McCain …
Xe Bang Fai River Cave, Laos
Take a look at the pictures of this cave at the National Geographic site. HT: Geology.com News Grace and Peace
Ice-free Arctic
I was watching CNN today (not something I normally do; I was standing in a line at the post office) and the story was about record melting of sea ice in the Arctic Ocean. The prediction was that the Arctic could be ice-free in the summer within five years. And I was reading Geology.com News …
Cicada molting
A cicada molting, from the Wikipedia Picture of the Day archive. Grace and Peace
Saturn, rings, and moons
From today's Astronomy Picture of the Day: Saturn, its rings edge-on, and four moons: Grace and Peace
Why Evangelicals and other Christians should not vote for Obama
Read Obama's Abortion Extremism, by Robert George. The press reports that many pro-life people say they will be voting for Obama. The Obama message is that his social programs will reduce the need for abortions. In reality, Obama is the most pro-abortion senator, and the most pro-abortion presidential candidate, we have ever had, and all …
Continue reading Why Evangelicals and other Christians should not vote for Obama
Rub’ al Khali
An image of sand dunes and interdune salt flats from Rub' al Khali, the Empty Quarter of the Arabian Peninsula. This vast sandy desert covers large parts of Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Oman, and the United Arab Emirates. This image was on NASA's Image of the Day Gallery for October 20, 2008. Take a look at …
Clean coal
The phrase "clean coal" came up in all three presidential debates. So what is clean coal? The Christian Science Monitor has a brief article describing the concept. The concern now, of course, isn't just that burning coal releases acid-rain causing sulfur dioxide into the atmosphere, or that burning coal is a major source of mercury …
GeoChristian 