Author: Brendan Barry

  • Tracking You While You Text

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    Brendan Barry
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    Today’s post comes from the Washington Post, which looks at further revelations about the NSA surveillance programme. Specifically, the Post details how the NSA tracks Americans by what is called co-traveler analytics. The piece does a really nice job of explaining how the tracking works through illustrative examples. Credit for the piece goes to the…

  • The Long and Winding Cotton Production Path

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    Brendan Barry
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    Today’s piece is straightforward, but I felt very good at detailing its story. The Wall Street Journal mapped out the path cotton takes on its way from the fields to the denim in your jeans. Credit for the piece goes to the Wall Street Journal graphics department.

  • The Next Cold War?

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    Brendan Barry
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    The New York Times has a nice piece about the Arctic, which is increasingly fought over by the nations north of the Arctic Circle. Maps like these are always opportunities I enjoy to see the world in an infographic that is not a standard projection, e.g. Mercator or Robinson. The slight change in fill or…

  • Old Healthcare Policy Renewal

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    Brendan Barry
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    Let’s start this week off with cartograms. Sometimes I like the idea, sometimes not so much. Here is a case where I really do not care for the New York Times’ visualisation of the data. Probably because the two cartograms, a before and after of health policy renewals, do not really allow for a great…

  • Television Ownership

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    Brendan Barry
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    Another from xkcd, this time on television ownership. If you are among those trending towards the embarrassed. Well, it’s Christmas season. So get ready to go buy one. Credit for the piece goes to Randall Munroe.

  • Cancelling the Cincinnati Streetcar Project

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    Brendan Barry
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    So Cincinnati was going to have a streetcar. Now it won’t because the recently elected mayor, John Cranley, campaigned on killing the streetcar. I won’t get into the whys and the why nots mostly because I’m not from Cincinnati and others can do it better. Suffice it to say that costs and budget battles played…

  • Let There be Planets

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    Brendan Barry
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    Earlier this week xkcd looked at the planets near Earth (within 60 light years) within their respective star system’s habitable zone. Turns out there are quite a few. Credit for the piece goes to Randall Munroe.

  • College Football Conference History

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    Brendan Barry
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    Your author graduated from art school. That means my college sports consisted of…a fencing team. And dancers. And some of them were cheerleaders for the Eagles I heard. Does that count? I did, however, attend Penn State for a year. So in this interactive graphic from the New York Times that tracks conference membership for…

  • Speeding on Chicago’s Tollways

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    Brendan Barry
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    The Illinois Tollways will be raising speed limits starting 1 January. Part of that process includes researching current driving habits and patterns. This graphic by the Chicago Tribune looks at some of the results. While the map part is necessary to show the routes themselves and the limits on those routes, the more interesting part…

  • Travelling in Space and Time

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    Brendan Barry
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    Following last week’s post about Doctor Who comes another because, since this is the last post of the week, you might as well enjoy it. This interactive graphic from the BBC looks at the Doctor travelling across time. And while you might dismiss it as being silly fun, pay close attention to the layering of…