Last month, police in Hong Kong defused a 2000 pound (900 kilogram) bomb found undetonated since World War II. The South China Morning Post created a small graphic to diagram just what the bomb was and how it was delivered (by US aircraft) to Hong Kong.
Credit for the piece goes to Adolfo Arranz.
Today’s piece comes from Bloomberg Businessweek. In the wake of the Pentagon’s decision to push for budget cuts including force reduction and slashing several programmes, I decided to show this chord diagram that shows how the defence industry supports itself.
Credit for the piece goes to Robert Levinson, Dorothy Gambrell, and David Evans.
This is an older piece from the fall, but with the talks going on about Syria this felt an appropriate time an infographic about sarin gas poisoning.
Credit for the piece goes to Jonathon Rivait, Mike Faille, and Richard Johnson.
Tom Clancy died this week. Among other novels, he authored the Hunt for Red October, Clear and Present Danger, and Patriot Games—those three were made into movies. So you may very well have heard of the man. Over at Business Insider, they mapped out the Clancy world by colouring those countries against which the United States has gone to war.
Credit for the piece goes to Walter Hickey.
While we are waiting for Russian help to destroy Syrian stockpiles of chemical weapons, we know that the Pentagon is still ready to strike (most likely with cruise missiles) various targets of the Syrian regime. This graphic from the Wall Street Journal explores some of the options. The interesting bit is the range of Syria’s anti-ship missiles. Because for those of you who do not recall the Israel–Lebanon war of 2006, Hezbollah (known to be aiding the Syrian regime) surprised some by scoring a hit on an Israeli warship with a less-advanced missile than in the Syrian arsenal.
This is only one of several different graphics from that page. Different graphics look at elements of the conflict, including the refugees, timeline of the regime’s actions, &c.
Credit for the piece goes to the Wall Street Journal graphics department.
Guantanamo Bay and the US military prison there almost always spark a debate. For some months now, prisoners have been staging a hunger strike. Increasingly, however, the strike is garnering attention not for itself, but for the US military’s treatment of the prisoners in force feeding them. The National Post looked at just how this is being done in this infographic. Pay particular attention to the illustration of the tube, which is drawn to actual size.
Credit for the piece goes to Andrew Barr, Mike Faille, and Richard Johnson.
I did not have quite enough time to develop this piece to what I wanted, but for now it will have to suffice. I wanted to look at the situation in Syria, but I only had time to outline who has what near Syria. Click the image for the larger version.
The United Kingdom is one of eight, probably nine nuclear powers. (Israel has never confirmed that it has tested/operates nuclear weapons.) Unlike most countries, the UK only uses one delivery system to operate its weapons: submarines using Trident ballistic missiles.
The British Trident system became an issue in the coalition government. While it was supported by both the previous Labour government and the Conservatives, the programme had to be reviewed per the coalition agreement. The review has been completed and it will be made public. But to explain to the public how Trident works, the BBC created this graphic. It does a really good job of showing the reach of the British submarines from one location, but then showing why an adequate replacement would need at least three to four submarines.
Credit for the Trident graphic goes to the BBC. The table is my own work.
More formally known as Operation Chastise, the Dambusters Raid occurred just over 70 years ago on 16 May 1943. That night, 19 RAF Lancaster bombers flew over the English Channel with the objective of busting open three dams to flood and cripple the electricity- and water-supplies to the all-important German Ruhr industrial valley.
Canada’s National Post looked at the bombing raid not just because of the story but also because the unit consisted of not just British airmen, but also those from Canada along with Australia and New Zealand. Per usual, their graphics team did an excellent job illustrating the details of the raid. They traced the route, explained how the unusual bombs were carried, released, and detonated and then looked at the success of the mission.
Credit for the piece goes to Mike Faille, Andrew Barr, and Richard Johnson.
Dornier was a German aircraft manufacturer active during World War II. One of their more interesting designs was the Do-17 bomber, nicknamed the Pencil Bomber because of its unusually thin fuselage. All surviving examples of the aircraft were thought destroyed until one was found on the floor of the English Channel. Yesterday the Royal Air Force Museum raised it from the seafloor to preserve it and eventually display it as a museum piece.
The BBC created this interactive piece or illustration to explore the aircraft. The illustration is not the greatest, but this does appear to be a new type of interactive piece for their design team. Accompanying the piece is a bit of text asking for feedback.
Credit for the piece goes to Tian Yuan, George Spencer, Paul Sargeant and Mark Bryson.
