Category: My Work

  • A Brief Review of the Boston Red Sox Season

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    Brendan Barry
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    Well the 2017 season ended yesterday afternoon for my Boston Red Sox as we lost 5–4 to the Houston Astros and they took Game 4 of the ALDS. So this morning we will surely see the critiques and hot takes on what to do to improve the team begin to make the internet rounds. But before…

  • Nambia

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    Brendan Barry
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    C’mon. You knew I was not going to let that one slip by. President Trump, in a meeting with African leaders, twice name-dropped Nambia and in one mention held it up as having a nearly self-sufficient healthcare system. Funny thing to mention as the US is on the brink of eviscerating its healthcare system. But…

  • Rising Tides, Rising Disasters?

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    Brendan Barry
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    One more day of Harvey-related content. At least I hope. (Who knows? Maybe someone will design a fantastic retrospective graphic?) Today, however, we look at a piece from the Economist about the rising number of weather-related disasters, but thankfully falling numbers of deaths. The piece has all the full suite of graphics: choropleths, line charts,…

  • The Solar Eclipse as Seen from Philly

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    Brendan Barry
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    As my last two posts pointed out, yesterday was the Solar Eclipse. It certainly garnered media attention as a news helicopter hovered over my building during the height of the eclipse. Very peaceful indeed. But, knowing that my smartphone would not be able to take the best photos of the eclipse, even with a solar filter,…

  • A Throwback to Prior Kenyan Elections

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    Brendan Barry
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    Kenya presently waits for the results of its presidential election, one that pitted incumbent Uhuru Kenyatta against Raila Odinga, a many ran but never won candidate. Now, if you will indulge me, the Kenyan elections have interested me since December 2007, which if you recall provoked sectarian violence to break out across the country. At…

  • Not Alone for Trivia

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    Brendan Barry
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    Well after the last two weeks of recording solo trivia performances, I decided that this week I would showcase a team effort. And we finally placed, ending the performance tied for first place. But if you look closely you will see the final score has us at second. Why when we were tied with the…

  • Another Solo Pub Trivia Performance

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    Brendan Barry
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    This past Wednesday I once again ended up playing trivia at the pub solo. Once again, I decided over the final pint that I would attempt to visualise my performance. One thing to keep in mind is that on Wednesday there were fewer teams competing—five instead of nine. And while I never placed higher than…

  • Pub Trivia Performance

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    Brendan Barry
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    Wednesday night I had the dubious honour of playing the weekly pub trivia solo. Accordingly my team name was Hats Solo. (After I opted not to wear my fedora one night, another regular team called itself Where’s Your Hat?) I started strong, had a second wind, but still faded to a seventh place (of nine)…

  • Energy Production in Pennsylvania

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    Brendan Barry
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    Pennsylvania was the country’s first state to operate a nuclear power plant for electricity generation and is today the second-largest nuclear-generated electricity state after Illinois. But in recent years the triple threat of the Pennsylvania Marcellus Shale natural gas boom, wind power subsidies, and solar power subsidies have hit the state’s nuclear industry hard. Consequently the…

  • US Steel Imports

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    Brendan Barry
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    On Thursday President Trump announced that the Commerce Department would investigate imports of steel to the United States. This falls under the Buy American campaign pledge. A lot of talk in the media is, of course, about the threat of Chinese steel to the United States. So I dug into the Census Bureau’s website and…