Examining How We Measure Our Lives
Commentary, critiques, and observations on information design and data visualisation
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Read on…: An Arctic Heatwave
Since Christmas was just yesterday, I figured this would be an appropriate way to start the week. The North Pole is sweltering. It’s melting. But, seriously, the scientists are “very confident” that the heatwave is linked to anthropogenic climate change. Their models cannot replicate their observations without adding an anthropogenic signal. Anthropogenic? That’s just a fancy-sounding word for man-made. Credit…
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The United States of Blank
Read on…: The United States of BlankWell, you made it to the Christmas holidays. First, some housekeeping, my posting next week might be a bit sporadic. Not that it hasn’t been sporadic the last few months. Second, it’s a Friday, so let’s take a look at that federal republic of states we talked about yesterday. According to xkcd, of course. Credit for the piece goes to…
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The Federal Funds Rate
Read on…: The Federal Funds RateNeedless to say, this piece from Bloomberg interested me as it displayed how the federal funds rate has changed over time. What I really enjoy is how they colour-coded the two previous hiking cycles as well as what I think everyone presumes will be a new one. And those colours then move on down the piece into the dot plots.…
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Three Months Out
Read on…: Three Months OutThree months ago today I moved out of Chicago and began making my way to Philadelphia. This post from xkcd seemed appropriate for the day. Credit for the piece goes to Randall Munroe.
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Capturing a US Navy Drone Submersible
Read on…: Capturing a US Navy Drone SubmersibleLast Friday China seized a US Navy submersible drone—like the drones the Air Force uses but for underwater purposes—in international waters off the coast of the Philippines. This graphic from the Washington Post shows how, while in international waters, the seizure occurred not far outside China’s Nine-dash Line, which they claim as territorial waters. Credit for the piece goes to…
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The Electoral College
Read on…: The Electoral CollegeWell today we elect the president of the United States. Wait! you say, did we not just do that a few weeks ago? Not really, no. In the run up to the election, I and others saw the possibility that this election could result in a gap between the national popular vote and the electoral college vote. And people think…
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Apples to Apples
Read on…: Apples to ApplesHappy Friday, all. I like a good mulled cider in winter. And I made one about a week ago. And that is about the only real connection to this graphic from xkcd. Credit for the piece goes to Randall Munroe.
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Mapping the Country’s Brain Drain
Read on…: Mapping the Country’s Brain DrainAlternatively known as the zombie food map. Sorry, but I couldn’t resist that one. Today we look at a piece from Bloomberg that maps brain drain across the country. What is brain drain? Basically it is the exodus of people with advanced degrees and education employed in science-y industries and fields. So this map shows us where the brains are…
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Escaping—or Not—from the Oakland Fire
Read on…: Escaping—or Not—from the Oakland FireA few weeks back a fire raged through a communal, creative warehouse in Oakland. The fire claimed the lives of over thirty people. But why? We have the New York Times behind this piece which attempts to explain just what happened that night through a nice mixture of diagrammatic illustrations and photography. Credit for the piece goes to Ford Fessenden and Anjali Singhvi.
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Income Inequality
Read on…: Income InequalityOn the lighter side of things we have today’s post on income inequality. Always a lighter subject, no? Thanks to Jonathan Fairman for the link. Herwig Scherabon designed the Atlas of Gentrification as a project at the Glasgow School of Art and it was picked up by Creative Review. It displays income as height and so creates a new cityscape…