The purple election results map. (Photo: Chris Howard/Facebook)

Software engineer and illustrator Chris Howard created this map of the presidential election results adjusted by population density to produce a map that shows a far different picture of the country than we normally see in the simple red and blue electoral map. Mr. Howard posted his map on Facebook this weekend with a note explaining that "most of the country is some shade of purple, a varied blend of Democrat blue and Republican."

"America really looks like this," wrote Mr. Howard. "What really stands out is how red the nation seems to be when you do not take the voting population into account; when you do so many of those vast red mid-west blocks fade into pale pink and lavender (very low population)."

Though people have long been creating purple variations of the electoral map, Mr. Howard said he was inspired to create his map by another series of maps made by Mark Newman, a physics professor at the University of Michigan's Department of Physics and Center for the Study of Complex Systems. Mr. Newman's maps used the electoral maps to create cartograms showing the size of different states  based on population rather than land area. To create his map, Mr. Howard said he used "the actual numbers of votes for each party overlaid with population maps from Texas Tech University and other sources."

View a larger image of Mr. Howard's map compared with the electoral map, a map showing results by county and a third map that displays a shade indicating the percentage won by either party rather than simple red or blue below.

George W. Bush standing next to his portrait in the East Room of the White House. (Photo: Getty)

Former President George W. Bush returned to the White House today for the unveiling of his official portrait. At the ceremony, Mr. Bush encouraged First Lady Michelle Obama to protect his portrait and gave some advice to President Barack Obama.

"When the British burned the White House ... in 1814, Dolley Madison famously saved this portrait of the first George W.  Now, Michelle, if anything happens there's your man," Mr. Bush said. "I am also pleased, Mr. President, that when you are wandering these halls as you wrestle with tough decisions, you will now be able to gaze at this portrait and ask, what would George do?"

President Obama also spoke at the unveiling ceremony. In his remarks, he thanked Mr. Bush for his leadership, particularly in the aftermath of the September 11th attacks, and for assisting with the presidential transition.

"On a personal note, Michelle and I are grateful to the entire Bush family for their guidance and their example during our own transition," said President Obama. "George, I will always remember the gathering you hosted for all the living former Presidents before I took office, your kind words of encouragement.  Plus, you also left me a really good TV sports package. I use it."

The ceremony was also attended by Mr. Bush's wife, Laura, his father, former President George Bush Sr. and his wife, Barbara Bush, and Mr. Bush's erstwhile senior advisor, Karl Rove. Laura Bush also made a speech at the event after  brief introduction by her husband.

"It is my privilege to introduce the greatest First Lady ever -- sorry, Mom," he joked. "Would you agree to a tie?"

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Obama as Lincoln drawn by Victor Juhasz in 2008.

Last week, a Super PAC's plan to paint President Barack Obama as a "metrosexual black Abe Lincoln" dominated the news cycle. Here is the Observer's rendition of what that might look like drawn by artist Victor Juhasz for this paper's cover in November 2008.

We found this picture thanks to the long memory and extensive archives of Scooter NY editor-in-chief Peter Feld. It doesn't seem like we'll ever see the Super PAC version of "black metrosexual Abe Lincoln" since the plan was subsequently disavowed by both the Romney campaign and the Super PAC itself.

Our Obama-as-Lincoln drawing was used for a story on early reports Hillary Clinton would be named Secretary of State in the Obama administration. The full cover image features Obama as Lincoln alongside Ms. Clinton, Joe Biden and a bearded Bill Clinton in 19th Century garb. Check it out below. 

According to a biography written in 1901 by Rowley Cleeve, George Romney was born in 1734 in Kendal, a small town in England's Cumbria County to parents who were "in humble cricumstances." His father, who made furniture, had him taken out of school when he was 11-years-old because, in Cleeve's words, "he made very slight progress with his studies, and preferred to spend his time in sketching or in copying the pictures that he found in papers or books."

After leaving school, George Romney eventually became apprenticed to a local painter named Steele. He met his wife, Mary Abbott, in 1756 after Steele "eloped with a young lady who was one of his pupils."

"Romney had to assist him in his arrangements. They were difficult and involved a vast amount of trouble and exposure to night air at a time when the youth was far from strong. ... Romney fell ill of a fever and was nursed by a domestic servant named Mary Abbott. With this young person the artist fell violently in love and on recovering from his illness married her," Cleeve wrote.

In 1767, George went to London to further his art career. He stayed there for the next 37 years and during this time, Cleeve says, he didn't see his wife "with the exception of brief visits in 1767 and 1779." Mr. Romney also journeyed to France and Italy where he had an audience with Pope Clement XIV who  allowed him to "have scaffolding specially erected in the Vatican that he might study the works of Raphael." He eventually returned to his family "as an invalid" and his wife "received him lovingly and nursed him with great devotion till his death" in 1802.

Check out our slideshow to see examples of George's paintings.

Gertrude Stein (Photo: Wikipedia)

Assemblyman Dov Hikind was not happy with the new Metropolitan Museum of Art exhibition of Gertrude Stein's art collection. Mr. Hikind, a leader in the Orthodox Jewish community, has been harping on the Met to modify the exhibit with a note explaining it "was owned and collected by fascist/Nazi-collaborator Gertrude Stein." After teaming up with Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer to raise the issue at a meeting with museum officials this morning, Mr. Hikind said he was able to convince the Met to add a note about Stein's relationship to the Nazis.

“Visitors have the right to know that this collection exists because Gertrude Stein sold her soul; that she lived in comfort, aiding the Nazi cause while her fellow Jews were being robbed, tortured and murdered," Mr. Hikind said in a statement. “I am grateful to the Metropolitan Museum of Art for accepting the historical accountability of full disclosure. I also want to thank Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer for joining me in correcting this glaring omission.”

Harold Holzer, a spokesman for the Met, said the museum plans to add new text to the exhibit about Stein's experiences during World War II. However, he's not sure yet what exactly the new display will say.

"We don't have the language yet, I'm not sure why hes saying it's a done deal," Mr. Holzer said. "We're going to add something, and we're writing it now, that makes it clear the collection survived through the Nazi occupation of Paris and nobody is actually certain how. And that's the truth.  ... She was known to have been a friend of one of the most notorious collaborators and he almost certainly helped her."

Historians have long debated the relationship Stein, who was Jewish, had with the Nazi regime. During World War II, she lived in Paris and enjoyed the protection of  the Vichy regime that occupied France in collaboration with the Nazis. In 1943, Stein helped Vichy leader Marshal Phillipe Pétain translate thirty two of his speeches into English. In 1934, one year after Adolf Hitler took power in Germany, Stein penned a piece in the New York Times Magazine in which she suggested Hitler deserved the Nobel Peace Prize for persecuting Jews and political rivals.

"I say that Hitler ought to have the peace prize, because he is removing all the elements of contest and of struggle from Germany," she wrote. "By driving out the Jews and the democratic and left element, he is driving out everything that conduces to activity. That means peace... By suppressing Jews... he was ending struggle in Germany."

Though Stein's piece praising Hitler has gained considerable attention over the years, there are some who say the remark was meant in an ironic sense.  Mr. Hikind, however, makes no such apologies for Stein.

"It is a matter of fact that, among other things, Stein lobbied for a Nobel Peace Prize for Adolph Hitler and was only allowed to remain in France and continue collecting art because she aided the Vichy government in its collaboration with the Nazis," Mr. Hikind said in one of his many press releases about the exhibit.

The museum has said they initially included no mention of Ms. Stein's politics because the exhibit was focused on her art collection, most of which was assembled prior to World War II.

"Originally, we said, and I think it was a reasonable statement and remains a reasonable statement, that this is about the art, it's about how the art was colleccted and that happened, with the overwhelming majority of these pictures, prior to 1930," Mr. Holzer said.

Mr. Holzer said the museum decided to make a change after many people, not just Mr. Hikind, asked why the exhibit didn't explain how Stein's collection survived the Nazis, who infamously stole art collections from other Jews across Europe.

"We're not going to out her as a Nazi, everybody knows about this stuff," Mr. Holzer said. "This is not meant to be a political exhibition, but it's certainly not meant to hurt anybody."

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President Obama has no plans to save the Supercommittee.

The man who allegedly took a shot at the White House also shot a video where he called himself a "modern-day Jesus."

Video footage of President Obama circa 1991.