Examining How We Measure Our Lives
Commentary, critiques, and observations on information design and data visualisation
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Read on…: Influenza
The Washington Post has an interactive infographic piece out about the spread of the flu. The big draw is of course the map—people like maps and they are easy to navigate. However, this time the map actually can serve a useful purpose because a virus spreads through the contact of people and communities. And when […]
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Blizzard Snowfall
Read on…: Blizzard SnowfallIf you do not live on the East Coast, you may be unaware that there was some minor snowfall in New England over this past weekend. The Weather Channel went ahead and named the storm Nemo. (I’m going to lay off the suspect and fishy jokes.) I wanted to revisit the storm because of two […]
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Whence the Popes Came
Read on…: Whence the Popes CameFor the first time in centuries, a sitting pope is to resign. Typically most popes have served until their death. The question for many will now be who will be the next pope. Will it be a cardinal from Latin America? From Africa? I looked at the origins of the all the popes since Peter. […]
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Wawa vs. Sheetz…Wawa of Course…Was There Any Doubt?
Read on…: Wawa vs. Sheetz…Wawa of Course…Was There Any Doubt?Once when I worked at the Jersey shore as a kid a woman purchased her books and then asked me the location of the nearest ATM. I replied “Wawa”. She looked at me as if what I said was gobbledy-gook. She asked again. I replied “Wawa” again but with probably a look of confusion upon […]
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All Your Drone Base Are Belong to Us
Read on…: All Your Drone Base Are Belong to UsJohn Brennan’s confirmation for heading up the CIA begins today. He’s been pretty instrumental in strengthening the United States’ counter-terrorism programme, especially the use of drones to eliminate terrorists. For those drones, the Washington Post mapped out the known bases in Africa and the Middle East from which we operate our drones.
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Girls in Science…Just Not in the United States
Read on…: Girls in Science…Just Not in the United StatesThis piece from the New York Times is really well done. With simple colours to differentiate three groups, values are charted on a scatter plot to show the distribution of results for an OECD science test in 65 countries. The results clearly show regional differences in the performance of girls in the sciences depending upon […]