Category: My Work

  • Armistice Day

    —

    by

    Brendan Barry
    in ,

    Yesterday was Armistice Day, a bank holiday hence the lack of posting. So I spent a few hours yesterday looking at my ancestors to see who participated in World War I. It turned out that on my paternal side, my one great-grandfather was too old and the other was both the right age and signed…

  • Hoyle’s House

    —

    by

    Brendan Barry
    in , ,

    John Bercow is no longer the British Speaker of the House. He left office Thursday. Fun fact: it is illegal for an MP to resign. Instead they are appointed to a royal office, in Bercow’s case the Royal Steward of the Manor of Northstead, that precludes them from being an elected MP. Consequently the House…

  • Pub Trivia Scores—The Ryan’s Wedding Version

    —

    by

    Brendan Barry
    in , ,

    So another Wednesday, another pub trivia night. But two weekends ago, I attended the wedding of a good mate of mine down in Austin, Texas. And at his rehearsal/welcome dinner, he and his now wife had a trivia game. How well did their guests know them? Turns out my friends and I, not so much.…

  • Canadian Election Results

    —

    by

    Brendan Barry
    in , ,

    Yesterday Canada went to the polls for the 43rd time. Their prime minister, Justin Trudeau, has had a bad run of it the last year or so. He’s had some frivolous scandals with wearing questionable fashion choices to some more serious scandals about how he chose to colour his face in his youth to arguably the…

  • Where Is That Pesky Mason–Dixon Line?

    —

    by

    Brendan Barry
    in ,

    It’s no big secret that genealogy and family history are two of my big interests and hobbies. Consequently, on rainy days I sometimes like to enjoy an episode or two of Who Do You Think You Are (I prefer the UK version, but the American one will do too) or Finding Your Roots. So I…

  • Brexit Deal 2.0

    —

    by

    Brendan Barry
    in ,

    I’ve been trying to work on a Syrian changing alliances graphic, but the Brexit news today scuppered that. Instead, we take a look at Boris’ deal, which differs from May’s in that it chucks out the notion of territorial integrity, creating a border in the Irish Sea where goods will have to be inspected. My…

  • Oh the Places I’ve Been

    —

    by

    Brendan Barry
    in , ,

    This afternoon I am off on a flight to Austin, Texas for a friend’s wedding in nearby Kyle, Texas. Two years in a row I’ve been to Texas in October. And so that felt like a good enough reason to update my counties visited map that, according to my files, I haven’t updated since 2015.…

  • Back to Being Runnerup

    —

    by

    Brendan Barry
    in , ,

    Another week, another Wednesday, another night of pub trivia tonight. So after several weeks of disappointing scores and placement, the last few weeks has seen us triumphantly returning to second place. And so what better way to show that than showing our rank at the end of each night. More encouragingly, as the line chart…

  • The Vaping Outbreak Spreads

    —

    by

    Brendan Barry
    in , ,

    And now with more deaths. On Friday, Pennsylvania reported its first death from the vaping disease spreading across the country. So I decided I would take a moment to update the map I made a month ago charting the outbreak. Then, the CDC had tallied 450 cases. Now we are at 1080. And whereas last…

  • The Roaming Life of Rev. Dr. Stephen Remington

    —

    by

    Brendan Barry
    in ,

    As many of you are aware, one of my personal interests is in genealogy and my family history. And sometimes, data visualisation can help make sense of my research. This past weekend, I was looking through some of my notes on my great-great-great-great-grandfather, a man named Stephen Remington. One of the outstanding questions is who…