I was invited to attend an event announcing Cree's plans to expand green jobs in the area, and Governor Perdue was there to give the commencement. The invitation was extended to me and a few other local bloggers by Ginny from the blog, formerly of NBC-17's 30THREADS. She was recently hired by Cree -- an LED lighting company headquartered in Research Triangle Park -- to make a push in social media. As part of their push, they are reaching out to local bloggers like me, and I was grateful for the invitation to witness the events from a reserved seat in the front row. What follows are my reflections on the event (and a peek into the weird way my mind works).
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Let me get the substantive stuff about LEDs out of the way first and then I will take you on the journey of my wandering mind.
The first blue LED (light-emitting diode) was made in 1971, but blue LEDs were not commercialized until 1989. Now they come in all colors, and have been put to awesome use on things like Raleigh's Shimmer Wall. Their expected lifetime is 50,000 hours (5.7 years) -- in comparison, it would take an average of 10 Compact Fluorescents and 50 Incandescents to last that long. Many of the LEDs produced in the 1970s and 1980s are still in service today. Apparently we will be seeing many more LEDs soon because Cree announced plans to add ~600 jobs over the next three years, and Gov. Perdue might have announced her intentions to use LEDs for public lighting (but I couldn't tell because I had a hard time cutting through all the politospeak).
For more on LEDs, Wikipedia has a surprisingly in-depth page.
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Now, wandering thoughts on the event.
Gov. Bev walked in unescorted and greeted some state senators who were standing near the front. The hugs were a little on the stiff side, and I'm not sure but she might have forcibly pressed her cheek against theirs.
Bev sat to the side next to her untouched Le Blue as the Cree CEO delivered his introduction. The first thing I noticed was that Gov. Bev was sitting in a pose I hadn't seen before, with the sole of her right foot perched on top of the back of her left ankle. I thought that was interesting.
One of the first things that struck me as she stood up was her tiny size. There might have been a bit of an optical illusion comparing her size to that of the tall CEO -- the podium only reached the CEO's waist, but Bev's face barely peeked over it. Still, I am convinced she would not be able to ride some roller coasters.
Despite my small-government preferences, there is one thing I really admire about politicians: the ability to use many words to say so remarkably little.
There was an awkward moment where one guy tried to start the whole room clapping. Fortunately for him it worked, but I thought it would have been funnier if it didn't.
I could not tell if the use of repeated sentences was her way of creating a unified theme, or a desperate attempt to stay afloat for her allotted time. Twice in her ~15 minute presentation I counted "green is gold," and three references to "talking the talk." Either way, I believe she was fully successful in selecting language that everyone could agree with but from which no one could extract any real meaning.
Now you know why they don't usually invite bloggers to these things.
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A few related musings:
How do governors travel to local events? I am sure they don't have limos with police escorts or anything that extravagant, but do they at least have someone drive them? Or did Bev just pull up in her Volvo? (I assume that's what she drives.) Also, do they have anything resembling secret service?
How do people know when to clap? The answer, of course, is when everyone else claps ... but how does everyone else know when to clap? I would love to see a function that predicts applause and ovations. Just to get the conversation started, I would suggest some variables like whether the speaker is a politician, whether the hand makes a jabbing motion to punctuate the statement, the length of the pause between statements, and the degree to which the audience is well-fed and caffeinated.
Similarly, what characterizes people who try to start the applause? More importantly, how often are they successful?
Gov. Bev is so good at her speaking style that I have to wonder whether it is her speaking style. Does she use the same style at home? (That is a reality show I would watch.) If it's not her normal style, how did she learn it? She was not formally trained in English or Law, so who taught her how to so effectively combine colloquialisms and ambiguous language into sweet nothingisms ... and are they accepting applications?
