Category: My Work

  • Whip Counts to Authorise Force in Syria

    I was catching up on some news tonight and I came upon an unhelpful graphic that was supposed to be helping me understand the whip count (who is voting yes or no) for authorising the use of force in Syria. Below is the original graphic from Think Progress. I struggled, however, to directly compare the…

  • Syria Crisis

    I did not have quite enough time to develop this piece to what I wanted, but for now it will have to suffice. I wanted to look at the situation in Syria, but I only had time to outline who has what near Syria. Click the image for the larger version.

  • Coffee Pie Charts

    Fear not, this graphic makes about as much sense as the title. The concept is actually a worthwhile exploration of the variation in caffeine across cups of coffee from different cafes and coffee shops. But, this visualisation fails at showing it. Remember, pie charts show the piece amongst the whole. What is the whole in…

  • Urban Population

    At lunch, I felt inspired enough to create a quick chart that looks at some urban population statistics. A caveat about the data, it comes from the Census Bureau’s tables on the top-100 cities. So until a city appeared on that list, I did not chart it. The exceptions are 2000 and 2010, where I…

  • The Carpatho-Rusyns of Slovakia

    If all is going according to plan, I should be somewhere in the Carpathian Mountains at this point, specifically in the Presov region of Slovakia. So as a reminder of just what that means, here is a (recycled) piece I created this time last year about the Carpatho-Rusyns (sometimes known as Ruthenians) living in Slovakia.…

  • British Trident System

    The United Kingdom is one of eight, probably nine nuclear powers. (Israel has never confirmed that it has tested/operates nuclear weapons.) Unlike most countries, the UK only uses one delivery system to operate its weapons: submarines using Trident ballistic missiles. The British Trident system became an issue in the coalition government. While it was supported…

  • Student Debt Levels are Soaring

    Earlier this month the Federal Reserve Bank of New York published a report on household debt. Among the findings was the story that student debt is rising to problematic levels as it may act as a brake on economic recovery. In short, without an economy creating jobs for the young (recent university graduates) it becomes…

  • California Budget 2013–14

    Yesterday I looked at the aboriginal Canadian identity infographic and wondered if bubbles in a bubble suffice for understanding size and relationship. Today we look at an interactive graphic from the Los Angeles Times where I do not think the bubbles suffice. In this graphic, I cannot say the bubbles work. Besides the usual difficulty…

  • On Holiday in Ganister

    Well, actually, your author is driving back from Ganister today. Unfortunately, while on holiday I was not working (nor was I planning to.) So while I could of run silent today, I wanted to share with all of you again a project I created last year about my return drive from Ganister. For all of…

  • Replacing Nomar Garciaparra

    I am a fan of the Boston Red Sox and have been since 1999. The first (and sadly only) Red Sox game I saw at Fenway was the day after Nomar Garciaparra hit three home runs in one game. Two of them were grand slams. For you non-baseball folks (NBF) reading this, that is majorly…