Examining How We Measure Our Lives
Commentary, critiques, and observations on information design and data visualisation
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Read on…: Organising Western Lands
A few weeks back I looked at my ancestral family’s land grant in Wisconsin. Unlike land on the East Coast that was surveyed and organised by pioneers in different colonies using different sets of rules, after the formation of the United States, surveyed land was organised into townships that had subdivisions. In this blog post […]
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The Sinking of the Scharnhorst
Read on…: The Sinking of the ScharnhorstLast week my uncle died suddenly and today I will be at his funeral back home. So if you will indulge me a personal piece today, we have a graphic from A.J. Watts’ 1970 book Loss of the Scharnhorst. The Scharnhorst was a German World War II battlecruiser sunk in the Battle of the North […]
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Securing Philadelphia for the Papal Visit
Read on…: Securing Philadelphia for the Papal VisitFor those not from Philadelphia, you might not know the Pope is visiting the city in September for a global conference of sorts. While that is great news for the followers and believers, it means absolute hell for the other residents of the city. So finally the security map has been published, detailing just where […]
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Red Sox Hire Dave Dombrowski
Read on…: Red Sox Hire Dave DombrowskiThe Boston Red Sox made big baseball news last night by announcing the hiring of former Tigers GM Dave Dombrowski to head Boston’s baseball operations. The second big piece of baseball news, Boston’s GM, Ben Cherington, has resigned as he does not want to work under Dombrowski. As you might figure, I enjoy data’s role […]
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16th Century Maps
Read on…: 16th Century MapsWhile in Philadelphia last weekend, I managed to make it to the Philadelphia Museum of Art for a little bit. And today’s piece is a nice map—ivory on ebony—from a 16th century Italian writing cabinet. Credit for the piece goes to the workshop of Iacobus Fiamengo.
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Uber vs. Taxi (in New York)
Read on…: Uber vs. Taxi (in New York)I just spent the weekend back in my hometown of Philadelphia and while we walked most places, there were a few Uber rides. As someone who doesn’t use the app and normally will hail a taxi when necessary, I had been looking forward to posting this piece. FiveThirtyEight looked at data for New York comparing […]
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Where in the World Have I Been?
Read on…: Where in the World Have I Been?In January 2011, I made a map of counties I had visited in my life. I just rediscovered the file last weekend, and so today I decided to update the map. So below is 2011 and then after is 2015.
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What is the Minimum Wage Worth
Read on…: What is the Minimum Wage WorthThe minimum wage of $15 per hour does not necessarily mean the same thing to everyone all across the country. Based on where one lives, the purchasing power of a dollar might make minimum wage worth more or less than $15. The Pew Research Centre put together a map showing where $15 is worth more […]