Author: Brendan Barry

  • Don’t Go, Big Papi

    Today’s graphic is not terribly complicated, but it is near and dear to Boston Red Sox fans. This is David Ortiz’s final year as he announced his retirement at the year’s outset. And of so course FiveThirtyEight examined Big Papi’s chances of getting into the Hall of Fame. Credit for the piece goes to Rob…

  • Where Is Pennsyltucky?

    So last week I mentioned Pennsyltucky in my blog post about Pennsylvania’s forthcoming importance in the election. And then on Friday I shared a humourous illustrated map of Pennsylvania that led into an article on Pennsyltucky. But where exactly is it? Luckily for you, I spent a good chunk of my weekend trying to find…

  • Pennsyltucky

    You may remember my post from Wednesday talking about the likely importance of Pennsylvania in the forthcoming election. I referenced an article from Philadelphia Magazine, which opened with a great map of Pennsylvania. I find the map very much worth sharing, especially on a Friday. I love the island life. Take note of the other…

  • The Decline of the Middle Class in America

    Last week the New York Times published a great piece on the shrinking middle class and they used a series of small multiples to tell the story. They broke the story up into several sections, based on the trends in the data, e.g. in the screenshot below the designer sorted by areas where the middle…

  • Is Pennsylvania the Tipping Point?

    Today we look at a piece that focuses on my native (and favourite) state: the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. (Along with Virginia, Massachusetts, and Kentucky, we self-identify as a commonwealth and not a state.) FiveThirtyEight examines how Pennsylvania and its shifting political preferences might just be the key (get it? keystone) to the election for both candidates.…

  • Comparing Economic and Political Freedom

    Today’s post is just a little scatter plot today of my own creation. I was interested to see which countries fall outside the mainstream when it comes to economic and political freedom, as measured by the Heritage Foundation and Freedom House, respectively. Those are certainly not the only indices that I could have chosen, however,…

  • Pedro Martinez Was A Great Pitcher

    Last week FiveThirtyEight posted a nice article about the best pitchers in baseball. Turns out Pedro Martinez rates pretty highly among them. The late 90s and early 00s were great for Red Sox pitching. Credit for the piece goes to Neil Paine and Jay Boice.

  • Dancing and Boozing

    It’s Friday the 13th. So after a look at Holyrood election results, today we have a look at the correlation between how well people (think they) dance and the amount of alcohol they consume. Credit for the piece goes to Jessica Hagy.

  • 2016 Holyrood Elections

    Last week Scotland voted for its parliament, Holyrood. The Scottish National Party did well enough, the Conservatives picked up quite a few seats, and Labour lost quite a few. The Guardian put together this piece looking at the results and the stories contained therein. But I want to focus on the graphics, the big piece of…

  • Two Tales of One City

    Dickens is not my favourite, but that felt an appropriate title for today’s piece from the Washington Post on Chicago residents’ opinions on, well, Chicago. Turns out there is a notable demographic split on how residents feel about various things in the city. Credit for the piece goes to Emily Badger.