Terror Attacks Throughout the World

Last week many American observed 11 September in remembrance of the terror attacks that brought down the Twin Towers, a section of the Pentagon, and four airliners in total. So this week we are going to see some fantastic work from Periscopic that highlights several other terror groups operating in the world across the last few decades. 

Irish Republican Army attacks
Irish Republican Army attacks

The charts work as a timeline from 1970 through 2013 and then vertically from January through December. Above and below the timeline, respectively, are the numbers of people killed and wounded. When shown as small multiples, the overall piece can show you which groups have been active and lethal, active but without lots of fatal attacks, and those that are fading out or fading in.

Credit for the piece goes to Periscopic.

Soda

Happy Friday, everybody. I cannot say about you, but I certainly love seeing dialects and regional variations of words, phrases, pronunciations mapped out. So thankfully we have some work by Alan McConchie to look at today, specifically versus the soda vs. pop debate. As the screenshot shows, I come from a solidly soda camp. But I was reminded recently at a wedding that the Midwest is, generally speaking, pop country. Midwesterners have to learn to straighten that out.

It's soda in Chester County
It’s soda in Chester County

Credit for the piece goes to Alan McConchie.

Drought Severity

Not here in Chicago at least. But across swaths of the Southwest, people are experiencing droughts. But the New York Times is on it, with a tracker updated weekly.

Nary a drop to spare in Southwest.
Nary a drop to spare in Southwest.

Credit for the piece goes to Mike Bostock and Kevin Quealy.

Super Moon

Monday witnessed Super Moon. It’s not a bird, nor a plane. It’s the Moon. But bigger. Thankfully the Guardian put together a nice graphic that explains what was going on and puts the Super Moon into context of regular, average guy Moon.

How the (regular) Moon was formed
How the (regular) Moon was formed

Credit for the piece goes to Paul Scruton.

DC Mayoral Elections

In November, among the many ballots will be that of the DC mayor. The Washington Post has a piece showing the power bases of the two main candidates. It also allows you to play with the vote allotment of the three key groups to show how you can build a 50% + 1 vote tally.

Vote scenarios
Vote scenarios

Credit for the piece goes to Denise Lu, Ted Mellnik, and Katie Park.

How Late is Fashionable?

The weekend has come and gone. And with it undoubtedly some house parties. But the looming question over any such party is when will the guests arrive. To answer that Five Thirty Eight took a look at one joint birthday party and here are the results.

One party's arrival times
One party’s arrival times

Credit for the piece goes to Walt Hickey.

This Weekend’s Menu?

Everybody likes to eat out on the weekend. So from Co.Design comes an interactive diagram breaking down the constituent components of some of the best and worst food creations. Personally, I would have to go with the pretzel croissant.

The pretzel croissant
The pretzel croissant

Credit for the piece goes to Lily Tidhar.

Cancelling the Mistral

In a piece of big news about Ukraine yesterday, the French government announced that it was halting the completion of the sale of two Mistral warships to Russia. The first such ship, the Sevastopol (yes, named after said city in Crimea), was due to be delivered in just over a month’s time. The two ships (the other named Vladivostok) would have given Russia the ability to launch amphibious invasions. The reason why this action was not taken earlier? Jobs. The construction of the two ships in French shipyards are a boon to the French economy. But after the recent “incursion” of Russian troops into Donetsk and Luhansk, Paris ultimately reconsidered the deal.

The Wall Street journal provides the graphic illustrating just how potent one of the ships would be.

Mistral design
Mistral design

Credit for the piece goes to the Wall Street Journal graphics department.

Comet Siding Spring

Today we head off to the stars. Well, more appropriately the comets. The New York Times had a piece a little while back that looked at the orbits of several comets that pass near the Sun. Siding Spring in particular is highlighted because of its near approach later this autumn.

Comet paths near the sun
Comet paths near the sun

Credit for the piece goes to Jonathan Corum.

Farewell, Summer (Jobs)

Sorry (American) folks, but Labour Day just came and went. And for us (Americans) that means summer has “officially” ended. Back in the day, for your humble author, that meant preparing to wrap up my summer employment at the Jersey Shore. The Sidewalk Sale was the great clearing of summer stock and most of us teenagers’ last working day. Fast-forward a decade and it turns out most teenagers are no longer working summer jobs. Five Thirty Eight put together a small set of graphics to support an article explaining the decline. (It’s not all recession-related.)

Teen employment in summer by gender
Teen employment in summer by gender

Welcome to autumn, folks.

Credit for the piece goes to Ben Casselman.