Bob McDonnell’s State of the Union Rainbow Background

Bob McDonnell has caught a bit of flack for stacking the audience at his State of the Union response with only Republican supporters.  Politico reports that many Virginian Democrats didn’t get an invite until hours before the event.  McDonnell’s office pointed out, however, that even many Republicans didn’t receive an invite until hours before the event as well, and that the invitations went out in waves.

His citizen backdrop suggests that invitations were extended in an order something like:

1.   Republican supporters who lend a certain “diversity”

2.   All other Republicans

3.   All Democrats.

Take a look:

"I got more diverse friends than a middle school text book"

"I got more diverse friends than a middle school text book"

To sum up, McDonnell’s beaming supporters seem to be comprised of:

  • 41% females
  • 47% minorities
  • 18% white men

Now, all politicians do this to some degree.  But the amount of dissonance between his hand-picked Republican supporter backdrop and the actual composition of Republican officials in Virginia is astounding.

Let’s take a look at the Virginia Senate Republican Caucus:

  • 5% female
  • 0% minorities
  • 95% white men

The Virginia House Republican Caucus does not fare much better (as best I can tell):

  • 8% female
  • 0% minorities
  • 92% white men

Next time, perhaps the Republicans will finally convince a couple of their background supporters to hold up signs that say “I’m a gay”.

1 Comment

Dan, January 28th 2010 | Tags: , , ,
Posted in politics

Five things to know: Architecture

This is the first installment of a weekly feature called “Five things to know.”  We’ll explore topics, both familiar and obscure.  Think of it as a primer on interesting subjects that your never thought were interesting.  Sort of like a University of Phoenix for the layperson.

Architecture

Burj Khalifa: You can't say this right.

Burj Khalifa: You can't say this correctly

1.   Not all buildings are made of stone.  While this was true in the middle ages, mankind has since developed buildings made out of metal, glass, ice, plastic, cards, and metaphors.

2.   The tallest building in the world is now the Burj Khalifa.  Until a couple weeks ago, it was known as the Burj Dubai.  The name was changed to spite non-Arabic speakers.  Here is a picture:

3.   Contrary to common belief, the strongest shape in architecture is not the arch, but rather the double arch.  The shape can be seen in every country and every culture in the world, minus North Korea.  They still have stone buildings (see point 1).

4.   The city with the best architecture in the world is Chicago.  Some people would suggest Prague.  Others would say Paris.  These people are victims of communists, or worse.

5.   Architects are skittish and reclusive by nature.  They prefer complex drawings to conversation; mathematics to the written word.  However, not all architects are autistic.  Some merely have Asperger’s.

There you have it, everything you need to know about architecture.  If there are any topics you’d like to know more about, and you don’t trust those shady hooligans at wikipedia, then leave a comment and let me know.

1 Comment

Dan, January 22nd 2010 | Tags: ,
Posted in Uncategorized