Examining How We Measure Our Lives
Commentary, critiques, and observations on information design and data visualisation
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Read on…: Back to the Future
We began the week with an infographic about Star Trek on account of Leonard Nimoy’s death. We end the week with an xkcd graphic about stories of the past and future and its mentions of Star Trek. Not just for Nimoy, but now also of Harve Bennett, who was a producer instrumental in the production of the movies that solidified…
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Where to Catch Foul Balls
Read on…: Where to Catch Foul BallsAs we established yesterday, baseball is rumbling back to life with Spring Training. That means it is time to start buying tickets for games. But if, like me, you have never caught a foul ball or home run, you may want to sit in a location where you can optimise your chances. Where is that? Well, now we have an…
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He’s dead, Jim.
Read on…: He’s dead, Jim.For those of you living beneath a Taurusan boulder, Leonard Nimoy died last week. He is perhaps best known—at least to me—for his role of Spock in Star Trek. Clearly your author is too young to have ever watched Star Trek during its original run. Instead, I belong to the next generation of Star Trek fans—the domain of Picard not…
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Understanding Genealogy
Read on…: Understanding GenealogyI came upon this piece a little while ago and realised that it in some ways paralleled my own interest in genealogy. Basically the story comes down to realising that you probably only know a mere fraction of the stories behind all the people who led up to you. To put in another context: “you’re the product of 127 romances,…
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Wars Are Bad, But Not as Bad as They Used To Be
Read on…: Wars Are Bad, But Not as Bad as They Used To BeWar is bad for the population business—arguably good for business business. A year ago, the Hague Centre for Strategic Studies released a .pdf that looked at peace and conflict and their respective drivers. The designers clumsily pieced everything together so that the sum is less than the constituent parts. But, if you isolate each piece and look at it alone,…
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Ukraine Retreats from Debaltseve
Read on…: Ukraine Retreats from DebaltseveThis is a short piece—it is only really an inline map—but it illustrates fairly well why Ukraine’s loss of Debaltseve in eastern Ukraine last week is kind of a big deal. Basically, the now mostly abandoned city is a transport hub linking the two quasi capitals of the Novorossiya. Credit for the piece goes to Gene Thorp.