Because you can't have depths without surfaces.
Linda Grant, thinking about clothes, books and other matters.
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Net-a-porter UK

Monday 6 October 2008

Don't talk about politics!


One of the most fascinating little gadgets I've seen in ages is this gizmo which allows you to compare the US electoral map over every election going back to 1789 (what happened that year?*)

Particularly interesting is the difference between 1928 and 1932, as Norm points out.

* irony

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow -- that is a neat thing.

Linda Grant said...

I found the early elections very interesting, and that it's not until as late as 1912 that the whole of the Continental US votes.

Anonymous said...

Heh, well, Linda - Arizona and New Mexico did not become states until 1912; Idaho and Wyoming in 1890, Montana became a state in 1889; Utah in 1896(and they had to make the LSD Church give up polygamy to do it). So, there are a whole lot of holes in the map between 1850, when California became a state, and 1912, when the final two in continental US became states.

Anonymous said...

This New York Times Op-Ed graphic, comparing the heights and weights of presidential candidates was very interesting as well.


http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2008/10/06/opinion/06opchart.html

Linda Grant said...

Interesting. If McCain wins, he'll be the shortest president this and the last century.

Anonymous said...

My brother, who lives in the US, says that it's a common topic on the news there to report on the height of the candidate. The tallest one always wins, or so he says. For this reason, he was absolutely convinced that some ex-basketball player who was going for the Democratic nomination in 2004 would win. However, as Mr Over-Tall didn't win the nomination, he has now conceded that there is a gloss on the rule. "Once nominated, the tallest candidate will win". He has so far not ventured an opinion on whether skin colour trumps height.

Now veering way off topic, I found a versatile-looking black evening jacket, which is not formal enough for anything like the Booker event, but might be useful for anything more humdrum. I have not bought it but may do so if there is still money in circulation in November on the basis that I could use it in conjunction with something else I already have.

http://www.anusha.co.uk/product.cfm?id=2115&p=1.

Linda Grant said...

Kerry was taller than Bush.

Anonymous said...

if you want obsessive watching of the current election through polling see www.fivethirtyeight.com i hope they're right