Category: Infographic

  • The Drop in the Unemployment Rate and How to Spin It

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    Brendan Barry
    in

    On Friday we received the monthly jobs report. And the furore that arose with it. Principally the anger stemmed from right-leaning commentators who believed that the non-partisan Bureau of Labor Statistics, a government agency tasked with collecting data on employment among other metrics, “cooked the books”/ “massaged the figures”/ flat-out lied to show a significant drop…

  • The Politics of Beer

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    Brendan Barry
    in

    This Friday at Happy Hour as you sip your pint, are you going to wonder what your beer choice says about your politics? Okay, probably not. But you could. And if you did, this chart from the National Journal would help you identify just what your drink is saying. Is your favourite on the chart?…

  • Deaths in Afghanistan

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    Brendan Barry
    in

    We are still in Afghanistan and people are still dying. This graphic from the New York Times looks at those deaths in detail.

  • I Gesture Unto Thee…

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    Brendan Barry
    in

    We are in the home stretch of the presidential campaign and the first of the four debates (three presidential, one vice-presidential) is tonight in Denver, Colorado. Unfortunately debates tend to be less about ideas and more about talking points, gotchas, and zingers. Regardless of the debates’ utility, candidates do not always convey everything they express…

  • Uncertain Planet

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    Brendan Barry
    in

    Someday humanity will find a planet amongst the stars similar in temperament to Earth. One of the best star systems to explore is Gliese 581, a small and faint star some 20 light years away. Calculations show that there are a few planets that could exist in or near what is often called the Goldilocks Zone. The…

  • The Hispanic Vote

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    Brendan Barry
    in

    People make a great deal about the Hispanic vote and how it will affect the election. In every election I can recall. Granted, that’s only  a few presidential elections and a couple more Congressional mid-terms. But the problem is that Hispanics do not vote. In scientific-ish terms, the Hispanic vote is wasted potential energy—they could…

  • This Infographic Is Da Bomb

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    Brendan Barry
    in

    For your Friday comic relief comes the infographic of the week. The content is serious. But the graphic is laughable at best. And undercuts the message in my opinion. Seriously, it’s like the mobile weapons labs, but worse. All over again. Photo credit goes to Mario Tama at Getty Images, via the Los Angeles Times.

  • Average Household Spending

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    Brendan Barry
    in

    This tree map from the Wall Street Journal looks at an interesting subject: average household spending. How much are we spending on housing, on food, on transportation, &c.? But I’m not so sure that the main visualisation is necessary. I appreciate the big colour and splashiness, but the space use seems inefficient. Perhaps if the…

  • Economic Freedom

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    Brendan Barry
    in

    Canada, our neighbour to the north, is sometimes taken to task for being too socialist or too liberal with their healthcare system and regulatory oversight of industries, including finance. But what data increasingly shows us is that we cannot say their more socialist economy is weaker than ours. Rather in several metrics now, the Canadian…

  • Life Expectancy Decline for Under-educated Whites

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    Brendan Barry
    in

    The New York Times published a chart looking at the decline in life expectancy for under-educated whites, i.e. whites who have not finished high school. The life expectancies of blacks and Hispanics offer a stark contrast, for while starting at a lower base, their respective expectancies are increasing.