Author: Brendan Barry

  • Squeezing You Into Your Airline Seat

    —

    by

    Brendan Barry
    in

    Airlines want to make flights as profitable as possible. And that largely entails cramming as many people into those hollow cylinders called aircraft fuselages as possible. This is despite advice from Airbus, one of the world’s largest aircraft manufacturers to set a minimum seat width standard greater than US airlines are investigating. Thomson Reuters does…

  • Traffic Jam on the George Washington

    —

    by

    Brendan Barry
    in

    A lot of people have been talking about Bridgegate, a scandal in New Jersey wherein the governor’s office allegedly abused its power to negatively impact the residents of Fort Lee, New Jersey. What actually happened for a few days this past fall? The Washington Post uses aerial photography and illustration to diagram the normal traffic…

  • Brand New Year, Same Old Politics

    —

    by

    Brendan Barry
    in

    Today’s piece comes from this past weekend. The New York Times looked at how states fell on various politically sensitive issues, e.g. abortion and same-sex marriage, depending upon the political control of the executive and legislative functions of each state. In other words, which states have passed legislation to regulate abortion or same-sex marriage? States…

  • North Jersey Traffic

    —

    by

    Brendan Barry
    in

    For those of you unaware of the shenanigans going on in New Jersey, this won’t make any sense. But for those that are, it sucks to be a commuter in North Jersey as this comic map illustrates. Credit for the piece goes to Ruben Bolling.

  • Coaching in Football (the American Kind)

    —

    by

    Brendan Barry
    in

    This weekend we will have yet more football. My preferred team, the Philadelphia Eagles, is of course now out of contention. But more than likely, the coach’s job is secure for at least another year. As we have already seen, however, that cannot be said for other coaches. So the Washington Post looked at ownership’s…

  • The Future of Data Visualisation

    —

    by

    Brendan Barry
    in

    Okay, we have all watched enough science fiction to know that there is not one future, but multiple futures. All options existing as if taken in parallel universes. Today’s post is not about a specific graphic, but rather a short article in the New York Times examining data visualisation. Through the work of Eric Rodenbeck…

  • The Polar Vortex…Or Not

    —

    by

    Brendan Barry
    in

    If you live in the United States, you probably have heard the term polar vortex by now. People have been using the term to describe the bitterly cold temperatures affecting the eastern two-thirds of the country. But the term polar vortex is a meteorological term that means a specific phenomenon. In other words, it’s more…

  • Holiday Tidings…of War

    —

    by

    Brendan Barry
    in

    I’ve been away for over two weeks on holiday. So to spread good cheer to all, today I am sharing an image from a series of maps the BBC put together to try and explain the civil war in South Sudan. Credit for the piece goes to BBC graphics department.

  • Travelling for the World Cup

    —

    by

    Brendan Barry
    in

    Well, travel for the teams, not you. It’s a big issue in Brazil because unlike the last couple of times, the teams need to travel big distances to reach the cities where they play their matches. Thankfully, to explain just how far some of these distances are for some of these teams, Quartz put together…

  • Winds Across the World

    —

    by

    Brendan Barry
    in

    Most of us have likely seen the wind map by Fernanda Viegas and Martin Wattenberg. However, this new wind map takes the idea and makes it a bit more useful. It offers the user the opportunity to look at winds at different levels of the atmosphere. Or you can look at different projections. Some projections…