Author: Brendan Barry

  • It’s Been a Little While, But I Haven’t Gone Very Far

    It’s Been a Little While, But I Haven’t Gone Very Far

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    Brendan Barry
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    I last posted to Coffeespoons a year ago. Well, I’m back. Sort of. Over the last year, there has been a lot going on in my family and personal life. Suffice it to say that all’s now relatively well. But the last 12 months forced me to prioritise some things over other things, and a…

  • No Matter What You Say, I’m Still Me

    No Matter What You Say, I’m Still Me

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    Brendan Barry
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    As many long-time readers know, I was long ago bitten by the genealogy bug and that included me taking several DNA tests. The real value remains in the genetic matches, less so the ethnicity estimates. But the estimates are fun, I’ll give you that. Every so often the companies update their analysis of the DNA…

  • Climate Conscientious and Cheaper Cars

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    Brendan Barry
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    Sometimes in the course of my work I stumble across graphics and work that I previously missed. In this case I was seeking a post about one of my favourite infographics, but it turned out I’ve never posted about it and so I will have to rectify that someday. However in my searching, I came…

  • Just Keep Grinding it Out

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    Brendan Barry
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    There are certain journalism outlets that I read that consistently do a good job with information design or at least are known for it. Now I try to keep my media diet fairly large and ideologically broad, but in that there are also still some outlets that feature quality design than others. The New York…

  • Facebook’s for the Old Folks

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    Brendan Barry
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    We start this work week with something that the young people use, but in a different way than older people do, including elder millennials like myself: social media. Of course, as an elder millennial, I remember Facebook when it was The Facebook when it expanded access to Penn State, which I attended for a single…

  • Asshole

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    Brendan Barry
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    Well, it’s Friday. We made it to the weekend. So here’s a nice Venn diagram from Indexed that captures that guy we all know. Credit for the piece goes to Jessica Hagy.

  • Cannon, Howitzers, Mortars—Oh My!

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    Brendan Barry
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    For the last two days I have been writing about the Fort Pitt Museum and some infographics, environmental graphics, diagrams, and dioramas that help explain the strategic value and thus history behind the peninsula at the confluence of the Allegheny, Monongahela, and Ohio rivers. In particular, we looked at Fort Duquesne, the French attempt to…

  • Fort Pitt

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    Brendan Barry
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    Yesterday I discussed some of the work at the Fort Pitt Museum in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Specifically we looked at Fort Duquesne, the French fortification that guarded the linchpin of their colonies along the Saint Lawrence Seaway and the Mississippi and Ohio River valleys. In 1753, the royal governor of Virginia dispatched a British colonial military…

  • Diagramming and Diorama-ing Fort Duquesne

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    Brendan Barry
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    Pittsburgh exists because of the city sits at the confluence of the Allegheny, Monongahela, and Ohio Rivers. As far back as the early 18th century, English and French colonists had recognised the strategic value of the site and as imperial ambitions ramped up, the French finally wrested control of the area from the English and…

  • Datagraphics as Marketing Materials

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    Brendan Barry
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    I spent the last two weeks out of town, and my post for the Friday before didn’t happen because there was a fire at my building—I and my unit are fine—that knocked out internet for about 24 hours. But now I have returned. One of the things I did was visit the city of Pittsburgh…